God Keeps Us

Good morning. This morning, I am 39 years old. Not today, it's my birthday, but two months in, being 39, solidified, and I rejoice that most of life's major decisions are behind me. I'm thankful I don't, well, maybe not. Maybe not. Let me explain, and I can seek wisdom after the service on what's still ahead. I rejoice that I'm bound in marriage to a woman. I don't have to worry about who I'm going to marry. I'm thankful that I have children. There's a responsibility there that keeps me bound and responsible. I'm thankful that I'm bound in covenant to a church, and I'm very thankful that that church is also my vocation. These are major decisions that had to be made and I recall being a younger man and having a certain excitement and anxiety about all those decisions. Where I was going to live, what I was going to do, who I was going to marry, what life would be like, what career path I would take. Now, at one level, it's exciting because you could do anything you want when you're young and have none of those responsibilities. At another level, it creates a certain amount of anxiety. Especially if you're a Christian, because you can start wondering, well, am I going to choose something out of God's will? Am I going to mess up God's plan for my life? And in the midst of this excitement and anxiety, God blessed me with a great mentor, Dr. Fowler, who many of you have met. And he helped me realize that God's will for me is very clear and simple. It's what's written in God's word. And there, after you say, I'm going to submit to what God has clearly said in His word, it's just trusting and obeying Him, and knowing that you have a lot of freedom to make decisions, and as long as you're not seeking out sin, you're going to be choosing according to God's will. And so there's kind of a wonderful simple truth here. At one level, God's will is amazingly clear. It's clear, and for all of us, it's what He has said. At another level, it's elusive. Because we look back and we can see how God had been guiding and directing and tilting our desire to be in His will. And we look back and we can sometimes have understanding about what God was doing and how we got here. But the beauty of it is we don't have to understand what God is doing to be in His will. We simply have to trust Him. You don't have to have an understanding to be in God's will. You simply have to trust what He has clearly said. There's that universal will of God for all of us, and there's that special will. And I bring this up because we might get into a temptation here to envy Paul. because Paul receives specific visions for the specific will that God has for his life. And God does that because Paul is going to go through some very severe suffering for a very specific purpose. God tells Paul exactly what's going to happen so that he remains steadfast in his life. And we may ask for that, we may ask for the open or closed door policy, but no, it's simply trusting God and obeying. This morning we're going to see how God revealed himself to Paul through a prophet and through friends. We're going to see how Paul remained steadfast in the midst of trial and suffering. Turn with me to Acts chapter 21. We've been walking through Acts, and Christ has risen. The Holy Spirit has come down. The apostles have been spread out. Paul, the unlikely convert, the untimely convert, the apostle who's going to go to the Gentiles, he has been the center of attention. And a key point in Acts was Acts 15. We're going to hear an allusion to it. One of the things that has hindered the church, one of the things that's really bothered the church at this point is how are the Jews who are believers and the Gentiles who are believers, how are they going to be united together? How is God's will being brought about with these two different people groups to be one church? And that's still driving a lot of what's taking place here. The first thing we see in chapter 21, Paul has set his focus on Jerusalem very much like Christ's end of his life. He has focused his pursuit on Jerusalem, and we're going to hear, first of all, that Paul is warned. The first thing we're going to see this morning is Paul is warned. Hear what Luke records in chapter 21, beginning in verse 1. And when he departed from them and set sail, he came by a straight course to Kos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Tara. And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, he went aboard and set sail. And when he had come inside of Cyprus, leaving it in the left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre. Notice the we there. We seem to have picked up Luke. For there the ship was to unload its cargo, and having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit, they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey. And they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home. When we finished the voyage from Tyre, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day. On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip the evangelist who was one of the seven and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. While we were staying for many days a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea and coming to us he took Paul's belt and bound his feet and hands and said, thus says the Holy Spirit. This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart. For I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let the will of the Lord be done. If you're taking notes, our first point here is Paul's being warned, and I would encourage you to write that simple phrase down, that declaration. Let the will of the Lord be done. Verses one to six show us that Paul is on a mission. He's headed to Jerusalem, and there's clear danger. Even those in foreign lands are hearing about the kind of danger that he's going to face there, and they're warning him. But Paul, he's been convinced by Christ and the Holy Spirit that he's supposed to be there, so he's not going to stop. And here, the believers, after Agabus comes and gives this very dynamic prophecy, He binds him with his own belt and declares, you will be handed over to the Gentiles. His friends, his partners in ministry, they don't like this. They actually give him counsel contrary to what this prophet is saying. They're urging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Their first personal response is based on their feelings towards Paul. And I want to say, I think Luke's saying this is good. Luke involves himself here as a we. We urged him because we love Paul. Their affection for their brother said, we don't want to lose you. Don't go. Notice Paul's response. You break my heart. By weeping. Paul's a man who has received a great commission. He's received a call to deny himself and carry his cross and follow Jesus. We see him really respond the way he talks about in Philippians 1. To die is gain. To die for me is gain. I'm okay with dying, guys, because Jesus Christ is risen. But for me to stay, it's with you and for you. He realizes that as his life here on earth is to be poured out, but to die is gain. You break my heart by weeping because I love you, and my mission is to fulfill what Christ says, and if you're going to weep, it's going to make my mission all the harder. I need you to be partnered with me. One of the most difficult things in fulfilling a call and a commitment is how it affects your loved ones. And here, Paul's loved ones are his partners in ministry. Notice what it says here. And since he would not be persuaded. Paul didn't actually ever agree with them. They didn't ever agree with Paul. But since he wouldn't be persuaded, they simply declared, let the will of the Lord be done. They know they can trust God. They don't have to understand why Paul might have to suffer and die. Paul doesn't have to understand it. But they have to all submit together and rejoice that they can be united in this great declaration. Let the will of the Lord be done. You see, friends, when the will of the Lord is clear, like it has been here with Paul, with the revelation from Christ himself, and the clarity he understood from the Spirit, and this prophet Agabus. When the will of the Lord is clear, it cannot be compromised. Now the question is this, how do I know what the will of the Lord is? Again, going back to that question, how do I know when not to compromise? Well, the beauty of it is God has given us so many clear commands. What God has said in His Word, it cannot be compromised. We can stand upon His truth and we can know for certain that if we're trusting His promises and obeying His commandments, we're in the will of the Lord. At the same time, when we're going through seasons where we have to make decisions, we're going through the seasons where we have to make major decisions that have long-term consequences, especially, it can be, it can create anxiety. It can create fear. The point here is that all of life must be under submission to God, praying without ceasing. What's interesting here is that The kind of denial that Paul has to do here is not denying sin. At some level, we all have to say no to sin and yes to Jesus. We all have sinful temptation, we all have sinful desires. To say no to sin and say yes to Jesus is the clear calling of every Christian, and it's usually easy when we see it that clearly. When we see sin, we see that it's destructive, we see it's dangerous, we see it's doing damage to us, it's doing damage to others, it's doing damage to relationships. So saying no to sin and yes to Jesus, while we might battle that a little bit, we might resist it a little bit, ultimately Christians will say no to sin and yes to Jesus. What Paul and his friends are having to do here is another step. He's saying no to self and yes to Jesus. Self-love is our most natural love. You notice the Bible never says love thyself. It says love your neighbor as yourself. It assumes you already love yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself. Here, Paul's having to do self-denial for the glory of Jesus Christ. This is harder. It goes against the hard wiring we have because oftentimes we think we have rights. No, when Christ is our Lord, He has the right to command us. Paul has to deny himself in a way that is over against his natural inclination beyond just denying sin, so that Christ is truly Lord. And he does so because he knows that the ultimate goal is to glorify Christ. So the first thing we see is Paul is warned, and he and his friends have this great meeting. I would have loved to heard the going back and forth. But we see the glorious ending. Let the will of the Lord be done. There's a great declaration. We can trust God. Now let's look to this next step, and what happens. that gets us to Jerusalem, now we're going to end up in Jerusalem. And Paul was warned before he got there, and really the second point is Paul's warned again. There's a second warning that comes from James and the elders of Jerusalem. Look at verse 15. After these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem, and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Nason of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should outlodge. When he had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And then, when they had heard it, they glorified God and said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are zealous for the law, and they have been told about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expense so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from the strangled and from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men. The next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them. So Paul comes to Jerusalem and the first place he appears to go or one of the first places he goes is to go see James and the other elders. After Peter has departed from Jerusalem, James seems to be the one who has taken on that primary speaking role. The elders have gathered with him, and they first hear a report of what Paul's been doing on this mission journey. He's been going city to city throughout Asia, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and seeing how Christ is calling his people to him, and they greatly rejoice. And then they said to him, we hear what's going on, and Paul, we're still dealing with this tension. There's Jews and even Jewish believers who are zealous for the Law of Moses because it was good, and they're worried about what they're hearing. Notice all of this is based upon what they're hearing about, Paul. They're worried about what they're hearing that you're telling folks to not circumcise their children, to not observe the Law of Moses. The Jewish leaders of this church are still dealing with the Jew-Gentile tension. And we see there that they're wanting to make sure that they're still keeping the council commitment they made in verse 25. That's going back to Acts 15. We're continuing to tell Gentiles, there is no other burden other than the ones that we decided upon. But Paul, we think we need you to go and demonstrate that you're still following through with Jewish practices. Now this particular point has caused a lot of frustration for commentators. and for those who are looking to commentators for help. Because many think that Paul is actually denying the gospel by following through with these Jewish customs, but I don't think that's the case at all. Paul is saying, I can continue with Jewish practices because in order to be a true Jew means I can do what has been commanded and believe in Jesus Christ because a true Jew is someone who believes in Jesus Christ. What he's against is making Gentiles follow what Israel received in the Old Testament commandments. He is simply going to say what has been commanded is true and right for me as an Israelite, and I can obey those things. I'm not doing them for my salvation. I'm simply doing them because that's my tradition, and he's seeking to bring a peace there in Jerusalem. He's asked to prove he's a faithful Jew, and he does not have a problem with that. And more so again, we see there, Acts 15 is, that council, it's still in effect. They're continuing on with that declaration. So Paul is warned again. Let's go to the third stage of our story. He's warned, he's warned again. Something's gonna happen. There's tension building up, and here we see Paul is accused. Paul is accused. Look at verse 27. When the seven days' Rome was completed, the Jews from Asia, Seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him. They cried out, men of Israel, help. This is the man who's teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. Let's just pause there. First, it's Jews from Asia. Remember, he keeps getting driven out city by city by the Jews who should be hearing the good word of Jesus Christ and believing, but instead they're resisting it. These Jews from Asia, they've come all the way down to Jerusalem to stir up this crowd as well. Men of Israel, help. And this is so similar to the accusation brought against Stephen. He's teaching everyone everywhere. This reminds me of whenever you're in an argument with your spouse, you avoid words like always and never, you know, these furlatives. Everyone everywhere. I think Paul would say, yeah, I wish I was reaching everyone everywhere. I don't think that's actually the case. Everyone everywhere against the people and the law in this place. No, he's teaching what the people of God are supposed to be. He's teaching what the law really was teaching with Jesus Christ and in this place that Jesus Christ is the true temple. They're misrepresenting Paul. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into this temple and defiled this holy place. Remember, the temple is set up in different sectors. There's the most holy place, and then there's a place for the priests, and then there's a place for the Jewish men, and then there's a place for the Gentiles, which is way out there. Gentiles had their place, but they're saying he brought a Gentile into the more holy places. Look at Luke's description of why they think this. For they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought them in the temple. They actually haven't said what Paul has done, they're all embellishing and they're assuming, they're hypothesizing. Really unhelpful in bringing these kinds of accusations. But it's a very effective, in verse 30, then all the city was stirred up. and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut, and as they were seeking to kill him. Now remember when Christ was being crucified, the priest did not have the authority to kill Jesus. They're way overstepping their boundaries here. They've been stirred up in anger. They're overstepping their rights and privileges as priests and the temple guard. They're about to kill him verse 31 word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion He had once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them There was a a Roman tower near by the temple where they could have seen these things and they're coming down And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers they stopped beating Paul The tribune came up came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some of the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And so he could not learn the facts because of the uproar. He ordered him to be brought into the barracks. When he came back to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. For the mob of the people followed, crying out, away with him, away with him. So we see these accusations, and what we see here is quite fascinating. First, Agabus' prophecy has been fulfilled in the most unusual way. He said you're going to be bound. The Jews are going to hand you over to the Gentiles. What actually happens here, the Roman Gentiles save Paul from being killed by the Jews. This is God's sovereignty. The Jews want to murder one of their own who is trying to teach them what God's Word actually says, and God sends this Roman guard to save him. The Jews are so violent, they're in an uproar. Some are saying one thing, some are saying another. They've just been stirred up into a frenzy. They're crying out, away with him. Again, just as I mentioned earlier that Paul is on a beeline to Jerusalem as quickly as possible, just like Jesus was, knowing he had a mission, he had a time in Jerusalem set by God. The people react to Paul just as they did to Jesus. Away with him. They reject him. They deny someone who's coming to teach them about their own God. Paul is a man of Christ who proclaims Him and follows Him. He states what he sees as suffering for Christ's joy. It's really incredible here how Paul remains on mission in the midst of being dragged out of the temple, almost beaten to death, and having to be saved by the Gentiles. Turn with me to Philippians. If you're using a pew Bible, that's page 981. I'm just gonna read verse 10 very quickly. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His suffering, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Paul here has a certain mindset. He knows his Savior has suffered for him, and he knows he is being called to suffer for and with participating in the suffering of Christ. What we're gonna see here in a moment and what you can see there in Philippians 3 if you read the whole passage, Paul can boast of many things. He's born in the right family. He's born into the right credentials. He has what would be called a good life by culture standards, and he's going to count all that as loss so that he can suffer for Christ. He actually marvels at the fact that Christ would count him worthy to suffer these beatings. It's not the first time he's been almost beaten to death. What we see in Paul is a change of values. That's what Christ brings to us when he saves us. He just doesn't give us a free ticket out of hell. He doesn't give us new life. He actually changes our values. There's a transvaluation. So that we now pursue true glory in really the most surprising place. If you look at verse four after verse three, he could have confidence in all these things. but he counts them as worthless. He now values the things of this world, the things that would have made him somebody in this world. They're all worthless compared to the great glory that he now gets to enjoy in Christ, and he realizes that the glory he enjoys in Christ is found in the suffering. He sees that suffering is never meaningless for the Christian. God uses it to refine us, to sharpen us, to help us repent of more sins so that we can see more of God's glory. He helps us to see that suffering with Christ in this particular way is a glorious place to see the true glory of God. Christ changes our values when he gives us new life and a new law. It calls us to not say whatever I want to do, I'm going to do. It causes us to say, well, the Lord's will be done. It says, I'm going to look for grace and glory in trials. It says, I want to seek in every decision, how can I glorify God most? And this is the one where it's gonna challenge us, American Christians. When we're asking, what should I do? We should be asking, how can I glorify God most? Not, what will make me most comfortable? An elder, as we were discussing this passage, said, hey, you're going to have another opportunity to really go at the prosperity gospel. Yes, right here. But don't talk about our prosperity gospel, because we all have one. We all want to have that self-love of saying, how can I live the most comfortable life? How can I seek to live in the most comfortable way? And we can see here Paul as a model to challenge us. The goal of being a follower of Christ is not to constantly ask, what will make me most comfortable? That is, what will bring Christ the most glory? It's a trans-valuation. Our values have to change. That changes the way we make decisions. And I wanna thank you. Many of you have clearly made those kinds of decisions, but we all have, and I say we all have this kind of innate, what can make me most comfortable? Because we live in a very comfortable world right here. Yes, there's pain, there's suffering, but we enjoy so many comforts that we just expect. One of the things that's been challenging is 1 Timothy 2, eight to 10. We thought about Paul as a model last week. I'm gonna read these words to you from 1 Timothy 2, I'm sorry, 2 Timothy 2, eight to 10. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. Here we see him reflecting on the situation he's in. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure. everything. For the sake of the elect, he's thinking of others, that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory, the ultimate goal, God's glory. The word endure here is actually a word picture. It means to remain under. We talked about that denying of self earlier. It's very difficult to know when do I try to cast off a burden and when do I remain under it. Here Paul is saying, I am going to endure everything for the sake of the elect. I'm not going to try to find the most comfortable life, because that would mean not enduring everything for the sake of the elect and for Jesus Christ. He's simply saying, I'm going to remain under these trials. I'm going to remain under. I'm going to seek the grace to persevere. This is an individual commitment that requires help. First, we need grace from God to endure everything. It is not in our own strength that we do this. It's by looking up to God and crying out as we did earlier. Lord, I need you. I need you, my help and my defense. Second, we need to understand who God is and that He is for me. We need to understand that His love is a commitment to us. And third, we need godly counsel from others. If we go back to that first warning, Paul and his friends, they didn't actually come together completely in agreement, but they were all willing to say whatever the Lord wills is good. And endurance in what God wills is good. He received godly counsel and comfort. Our fourth stage in our story is Paul's defense. We heard Cheryl read most, or all of this, actually last week, or earlier in the service. As Paul said about the brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, may I say something to you? And when you see here in the tribune, there's something confusing going on here, because they don't realize who he is. The crowd has been such a riot, saying one thing, and another thing, and an uproar. They think he's somebody else. He says, I'm a Jew from Tarsus. city of Novosibirsk, a citizen of Novosibirsk city, let me speak to my people. And he let him speak. And here we see Paul says, Paul has a clear order of what he's going to declare. We see him talk about his past, his conversion, his baptism, and then his commission. Luke oftentimes will take sections of what Paul says. I think we may actually have the entirety of Paul's message here. because it doesn't end. Notice it gets cut off before he ends. I also want to make it very clear that what Paul says is not a defense for himself. When Paul speaks, it is to proclaim the glory and gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice when he speaks, he's speaking of himself, but it's also that he can proclaim Christ. He's not giving himself a defense to be set free He wants his people to hear the gospel so that they would believe themselves. Let's look at verses 3 through 5. Paul's past persecution. I am a Jew born in Tarsus, Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. So there we see all those credentials that we were talking about earlier from Philippians 3. He has a lot to boast of in terms of his Jewish credentials, and then it gets a little more sticky. I persecuted this way to the death. binding and delivering to prison both men and women. As a high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed towards Damascus to take those also who are there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished." He's reminding of this because he's saying, I'm not just some pie-in-the-sky guy. I understand what Gamaliel was teaching. I was taught of the law. I was once opposed to this way just as you are today. I was against Christ, he's saying. He's using this as a credential to say you should listen to me about what I'm gonna say about Christ. I was against Christ, seeking for all those of the way to be punished. Look at verse six. Paul tells of his conversion. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting? I can't imagine what he must feel every time he retells the story and the overwhelming just shame that must fall over him. Christ, the righteous one, the glorious one, is asking him, why are you persecuting me? Realizing what he had been doing to the church. And I answered, who are you, Lord? He said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Now those who are with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be able to be told all that is appointed for you to do. And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who are with me and came into Damascus. So we see the conversion here. We see Jesus stopping Paul in his rebellious tracks to speak words of truth, to speak words of light into his darkness. We see Paul responding. What would you have me do? How do I respond? I've been persecuting you, Almighty God. What do I do? So being blinded, He's led, and we see here, next after the conversion, we see Paul's baptism. Before we move on, I want to make a very few clear applications of his conversion. First, you cannot be too sinful to be saved. Now there's a certain fear that folks have that if God only knew what I think and what I've said and what I've done. Folks, Paul was murdering men and women who were purchased by the precious blood of Christ. And Christ pursues him to save him. This is why he can say I'm the chief of sinners. He was zealous in his sin and hatred towards Christ's people. And Christ said, I'm going to die for your sins as well. Your sin is not more powerful than me and my salvation. If you're not a Christian and you're worried about what kind of sin you have and if God can really forgive you, if the church can really receive you, stop worrying. Christ is powerful to save every kind of sinner. If you just looked around and you could see the things that we have thought, and we have desired, and we have said, gather as Christians, you would realize you're in good company of filthy sinners who can be saved by the power of the gospel. Do not let your sin keep you from coming to salvation. Believe that Christ is the one, as we're gonna see later, he is the only one who has never sinned. He died on behalf of sinners. If you believe in him, you can be forgiven. So the first thing we need to hear is that you cannot be too sinful to be saved. Secondly is no one else can be too sinful to be saved. No one is too sinful to be saved. And here I wanna talk to you Christians, us. Well, we cannot reject giving someone the gospel because we do not like them or their positions or their party or whatever it is. No one is too sinful to be saved. It's not our job to convince people of the gospel. It's simply our job to tell them of the glorious truth of the gospel so that the grace of God can save them and we can rejoice. And thirdly, something else I want to apply here, no one can sin against you in a way that you can withhold forgiveness. The promise is believe and then evangelize and then reconcile. In Romans 15, you can meditate upon what Paul says there in verses one to seven. Christ himself bore the reproach of those who reproached you. He dies for those who are persecuting the church. This is why we do not withhold forgiveness. We pursue reconciliation. Now let's turn to the baptism. Let's turn to the baptism. And verse 12. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by the Jews who live there, came to me, standing by me, said, brother Saul, he's already a believer, brother Saul, receive your sight. At that very hour he received my sight and saw him and he said, the God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one and to hear a voice from his mouth. For you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And so we see here Ananias declaring this great benefit. God has revealed Himself to Paul in a very unique way. That this is not normal. You have seen God. You have heard His actual voice. And it's because you're going to be put on a special mission. If we go back to the conversion story in Acts, it's because he's going to have to suffer uniquely. Paul has received this great promise. He's received the great blessing he's heard. And so, and Ananias continues, and now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name. This is amazing. I believe Paul includes this here because he's making it clear, the one I was persecuting in baptism, I've now identified with. He who once I was trying to put to death, I now have aligned myself with in baptism. That's what baptism does. It's a public testimony that I am now aligned with Christ. And so he's recording this here because he's making it very clear. I was once against him. He came and saved me. Now I'm with him and for him. And one of the things we learn about Jesus here. If you're a child, what do I learn about Jesus? He's the righteous one. We've seen this in Acts 3.14 and Acts 7.52, this unique declaration. He's the righteous one. Jesus is perfectly obedient to the Father in every way. He's the only man who's ever lived the perfectly righteous life. And that's important because as the righteous one, he dies for the unrighteous. The righteous one is a title from Isaiah 53 for the Messiah. His righteousness is necessary because he dies for us who are unrighteous. He's appointed to that work. And Paul is now aligned with him. Now look at the last section of what Paul gets to actually say, not his entire message. Paul's commission. When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance, and I saw him saying to me, speaking of Jesus, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me. So here at this time, Jesus appears and says, get out of here. This is about 34 AD. Jesus says, I've got work for you to do among the Gentiles. You'll be beaten by them, okay? You'll be beaten out in Asia. But you need to get out of Jerusalem because they're going to attack you. Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly. They're not going to accept your testimony. So I said, okay, he's arguing with Jesus in the temple. I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him." And Jesus, they know what I've done. This is early on. This is very close to the time of Stephen's martyrdom. He's saying, they know what I've done. Surely they'll believe my testimony because of what a radical change has taken place. Jesus is not convinced. Go. I am sending you far away to the Gentiles. Paul has a unique mission that he must fulfill. He has a unique mission that is connected to him going out of Jerusalem and reaching out to the Gentiles. Now, verse 22, up to this word, they listened to him. In response to Paul, he's not done yet. He's trying to explain to them what's actually happened so that they'll believe in Jesus Christ, but here, whenever he mentions the word Gentiles, they stop listening. We see here the animosity that these Jews have towards Paul, And it's built upon their animosity towards the Gentiles. They cannot believe that God would be such a God that He would accept anybody else but them. They can't get over themselves thinking they're the special, privileged people of God. And let me be very clear, the Jews are the special, privileged people of God. They received God's promise. They received God's law. but they rejected Jesus. Jesus has now commissioned all of his believers to go out to all the nations, and the Jews cannot accept this because they think that the temple is theirs, so that God is theirs. Let's continue. Paul rejected. Paul is rejected. After this word, they listened to him. They raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live. And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered them to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging. Do you find out why they were shouting against him like this? But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen uncondemned? Now, why does Paul bring this out here? It's curious. He could have avoided numerous harassments. He could have avoided numerous beatings. Here he decides to interject, and it sounds like it's because, my assumption is, he's about to, they're gonna try to beat a confession of sin out of him. And so he removes himself from that situation by making it clear, Everything you've done at this point is actually unlawful. He's simply asking about the flogging. When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, what are you about to do for this man's Roman citizen? So he came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He said, yes. And notice he kind of mocks him. I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, I'm a citizen by birth. So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. He was also afraid. He realized that Paul was a Roman citizen. He was bound to him. Luke here is recording for us what's taking place and we're now going to move, Paul's going to be on the move quite a bit. We just spent a lot of time in Luke for 12 days. The rest of Acts is six years. This is a key point because Paul comes to Jerusalem. He comes, just as Jesus did, to proclaim the good news to his people and his people reject him. And now Paul is going to be sent on a mission to go further into the courts of the Rome to continue to give witness of Christ. We're going to see other sermons like the one we just heard. We see here Luke is presenting a trustworthy God. I want that to be our final reflection. God is good. Early on, we had the concern over Paul and his well-being, and they had to submit, let the will of the Lord be done. Because God has always presented Himself as good. He's always given good promises. He's always kept those good promises. It is always aligned with the things we want. It's always better. It doesn't always align with the way we think we would most likely be glorified on earth. It calls us to behold a greater glory. What we see here is that God has been in absolute control. He brought Agabus to give a sign to Paul, to convince him to stay the course. He brought friends that would align with him, let the will of the Lord be done. He brought him before his people, and then he saved them with the Roman troops, and now he's given an opportunity to glorify Christ. God is sovereign over each one of these steps, even sovereign over the Roman troops to save Paul. so that he can keep proclaiming Christ. It is that great God who is the defender and keeper of his people that we get to trust. That's what we learn about God. What do we learn about ourselves? It's okay if we don't understand, as long as we submit. It's okay that we don't understand what's going on as long as we say, let the will of the Lord be done. We're not in a position to demand of God, you need to explain this to me. We're in a position to God, tell me what to do and give me the grace to keep what you tell me. This is why we reflect upon that great truth that Christ is our defender. So we, we, we, we counsel our soul. Oh, my, my soul. Blessed be our soul. Christ is our defender. We cry out, Lord, I need you. We declare, He holds us fast. And now we're going to end in song, as we reflect a love that will not let me go. I rest my weary soul in Thee. I give Thee back the life I owe, that in Thine ocean depths as flow may richer, fuller be. Let's stand and sing.