Well, as we are making our way through Acts, we are in chapter 22 of the book of Acts. We're going to look at verse 22 chapter 22 verse 22 and we're actually going to read through Chapter 23 of the book here. So it's a bit of a longer text this morning, but I think it all holds together, and hopefully it all makes sense, but you can tell me afterwards, Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
First, remember that we need the Holy Spirit now. We need the Holy Spirit to open up our hearts, our eyes, our ears, unless the Holy Spirit is among us and working among us, we are here in vain. We are just wasting our time. We need God to open up heaven to us that we might see and behold it so let's pray for that now, our Heavenly Father, we recognize that apart from you, we are indeed dead in our sins. We are blind, we are deaf to the spiritual, eternal, the good, and we have hardened hearts. And so Lord, we plead to you, as those in Christ, that you would help us to see and behold more and more this day, the beauty and glory of our Lord, Jesus Christ, soften our heart and hearts, unstop our deaf ears, that we might receive Him by faith alone. Lord, help us to love what you love, to love your son, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
People of God. Here God's word for us this morning, from Acts chapter 22 beginning in verse 22[22] Up to this word they listened to him. Then they you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” [26][6] Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” [7] And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. [8] For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. [9] Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?” [10] 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 him into the barracks.
[11] 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 you must testify also in Rome.”[12] When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
[13] There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. [14] They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. [15] Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly.
And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”[16] Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. [17] Paul called one of the centurions and said,“Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” [18] So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” [19] The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” [20] And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.
[21] But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” [22] So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”[23] Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. [24] Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” [25] And he wrote a
letter to this effect: [26] “Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. [27] This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen. [28] And desiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council. [29] I found that he was being accused about questions of their law, but charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. [30] And when it was disclosed to me that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.”[31] So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul raised their voices and said,“Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” [23] And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, [24] the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. [25] But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul was and brought him by night to Antipatris. [32] And on the next When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” [27] So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” [28] The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” [29] So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
letter to this effect: [30] But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and day they returned to the barracks, letting the horsemen commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
letter to this effect: [1] And looking intently at the council, Paul said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” [2] And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. [3] Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?” [4] Those who stood by said, “Would you revile God's high priest?” [5] And Paul said, “I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for go on with him. [33] When they had come to Caesarea and it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul people.’” also before him. [34] On reading the letter, he asked what province he was from. And when he learned that he was from Cilicia, [35] he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod's praetorium.
letter to this effect: He who has ears let him hear the Word of God. You may be seated.
letter to this effect: Some of you have adult children, and some of you have adult children who are not currently walking with the Lord. And as a parent, it is indeed heartbreaking, isn't it? You love them. You long for them.
letter to this effect: You long that they would know Christ.
letter to this effect: You see them making destructive choices or choices that have maybe even allowed them to be content in this world, but it's leading them ultimately to spiritual ruin, and it's painful to see those that we love so much, who maybe even they grew up in the church, and they know the promises and they know the gospel, and yet they are rejecting their baptism.
letter to this effect: You could be silent, but maybe out of great love, you realize you can't just be silent, and you have to speak the truth and love. You cannot just allow them to be led into eternal ruin, and so maybe you step in to speak the truth and love to them, to confront them, to call them to remember their baptism, to call them to Christ.
letter to this effect: But when you go to do that, and maybe it's happened to you, it doesn't go, maybe how you hoped it would go, it may be backfires. They get angry, and maybe they just double down and their rebellion, the loving intervention that you hoped to do for your children it meant to rescue them is instead, is brought more rejection and heartbreak.
letter to this effect: And I think that scenario is actually the scenario that we have here in our text. Paul, he.
letter to this effect: Jerusalem. Paul loves Jerusalem, not just the city, but the people there. This is his people. This is his family, his very own relatives, as we hear, are living in the city as well.
letter to this effect: But even previously, as he's addressed the city, he has called out to them, fathers and brothers, and we'll see that he'll address them as brothers again, that there's a real intimacy in the relationship that Paul has with them. This is not Paul in just some foreign Gentile land who doesn't know them from Adam. This is his family, his people, and that's the very reason why he's gone to Jerusalem, hasn't it? Remember, the spirit has warned him, Paul, if you go to Jerusalem, what's going to be waiting for you is suffering and chains. So why would Paul go? Why would he go to Jerusalem, knowing that even pain and suffering chains wait him, because you know who are parents in that situation, you will do anything so that your people and your beloved children and those you love might know Christ, and that's why he goes.
letter to this effect: He knows that suffering awaits.
letter to this effect: He knows that chains await, but he loves them there, and so he must share the Gospel.
letter to this effect: And as he does and he witnesses to them of Christ, he is not received is he with open arms? He is received with anger. He is received with hatred. And this is where our text kind of begins with dust is really literally been thrown into the air. Robes are torn.
letter to this effect: Rage is taking over, and why?
letter to this effect: Why are they so angry? And I would say it's not so much that they've been confronted by Paul, but it's because they've been confronted by Christ, and they will not submit to their king.
letter to this effect: They want to rule themselves.
letter to this effect: They hate the message that Paul has declared to them, that salvation is not earned. It is not merited, that the righteous one is the one only way you could be saved. That is the righteousness that you need.
letter to this effect: It is found in the righteous one. That is in Jesus. And He will save whom He will save. He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy on. Those who believe in fact are true Israel.
letter to this effect: If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved even Gentiles now when they hear that, that the message of good news is not only going to them now, but even to the Gentiles, that God would be merciful to the Gentiles, this is where things get worse for Paul.
letter to this effect: But I also just want you to note too, is if Paul's message was simply to the people of Jerusalem when he showed up, is people of Israel, those whom I love, God just wants you to try a little bit harder. Just work a little bit harder. And you know what? I'm going to give you five steps that you can follow as you seek to uphold the law the best you can. And I think if that was a message Paul gave, he would probably be not met with such anger or hatred. We might even be Thank you. We'll try a little bit harder to keep the law to be better people, to make God happy. And I would also posit to you that is so often the message that you might hear from many pulpits too. Work a little bit harder. Here are the five steps you can do and go on your way.
letter to this effect: But that is not the gospel.
letter to this effect: Remember, the Gospel starts that the wrath of God abides over us all. The wages of sin is indeed death, and that is what you and I deserve. The judgment of God, the wrath of God, we are not good. We are fallen.
letter to this effect: We have rebelled against a Holy, holy, holy God.
letter to this effect: But out of his great love for which He has loved us, why we were yet sinners, he would send his son to come and die for us to take all of our sin upon himself, all on the cross and by faith, then also receive His righteousness. And that is the message that Paul has declared to them, and they hate it, not so much because they hate Paul, but because they hate Christ.
letter to this effect: Now Paul is struck. His life is really hanging by a thread. He is stretched out. He is nearly flogged again. He is dragged and he is the target of an assassination plot in our text.
letter to this effect: But Paul doesn't shrink back, and I think as we read this text, it should cause us to ask why Paul isn't Superman. Paul is a regular man like you and me.
letter to this effect: How?
letter to this effect: Can Paul and maybe even, how can we as Christians or as parents, have such courage in the face of such hostility and suffering?
letter to this effect: And I think we'll see three things in this text, because Christ is risen. Because Christ is risen, is the first reason we can have hope. We can have courage. We have nothing to fear, because our Lord and Savior is indeed the resurrected Lord.
letter to this effect: And we see that beginning in verse 22 bleeding into 23 to verse 10. Now the other reason why we can have courage in the face of suffering, in the face of difficulty, is because Jesus remains with his people. He hasn't left his people. We see this in 23 verse 11. Do you remember the name of the book?
letter to this effect: What is the book that we're looking at? Now it's sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles, but remember what I like to call it. It is the continuing acts of Jesus, by the power of his Spirit, through His apostles, Christ is still at work. He has not left his people. He has not abandoned his people. He is with his people. And then third is Jesus still accomplishes His purposes. Nothing is outside of his control.
letter to this effect: The rage and the fury that we see is all being perfectly orchestrated by the king himself for his purposes to be accomplished, and we'll see that through the rest of chapter 23 Well, let's get into it now that we can have courage, we can have confidence, because our Lord has risen. Now the crowd has erupted the moment Paul has began to talk about the Gentiles. And in verse 22 they say, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live. The crowd is not hungry for truth. Obviously, they are hungry for the death of Paul.
letter to this effect: And again, if you just think about Paul and his relationship to the people in Jerusalem, just think about the heartbreak that that should bring. These are people he loves and longs for.
letter to this effect: You think about people in your own life, and then you share the gospel with them, and then now they say, We want you dead.
letter to this effect: That's the kind of hatred that Paul has received the Romans, they step in again their attempt to have this cleared up previously. In the previous text, if you remember, it was a few weeks ago, two weeks ago now, they thought this could easily be cleared up. They talked to Paul. They realized, well, he's a Jew, just like them. I'll just let him speak to them, and hopefully this misunderstanding will be cleared up. There'll be peace again in Jerusalem. That's really just what the Romans want. Can't we just have some peace here? But it doesn't go how they hoped it would. But the Romans, they also do not understand, still, why the crowd is so disruptive and why everyone hates Paul so much.
letter to this effect: What has he done? They are asking so they are going to prepare to flog Paul, because maybe he's not being honest.
letter to this effect: Maybe we can get some information out of him. And remember what the Romans were really good at, death and torture. So this is what they're good at doing, and that's what they are about to do. They are going to motivate Paul to figure out what's really happening here. And also remember, these are not just leather whips.
letter to this effect: These are leather whips that have pieces of bone and metal embedded into them. They are designed to tear the flesh off your back, and that's what Paul is about to experience here.
letter to this effect: Now, Paul, apparently, it seems maybe very calmly. It's hard to know exactly, but it seems, commonly to me, in verse 25 he says, Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned? Remember, it is uncondemned, not uncircumcised, as you might have heard earlier, but an uncondemned man, and Paul says this, and it stops everything, because Roman citizens were to be treated with respect. A Roman citizen was not to be beaten without a trial, and they were not to be interrogated by means of torture. And if you were to do that to a Roman citizen, you should expect to die yourself.
letter to this effect: So it scares them quite a bit when they find out that Paul is a Roman citizen, also a Roman citizen, could insist on a trial in Italy, rather than in the outside province. Now, one of the questions is, how did Paul get this Roman citizenship? He grew up in Tarsus and then spent a lot of his time in Jerusalem as he grew up. Well, Tarsus was a prominent city in those days, and often given special privileges, Paul has inherited this Roman citizenship, we are told. So what has mostly likely happened is that Paul's father has either done some service to Rome beforehand, or even his father purchased it himself, and it has simply been now passed on.
letter to this effect: To Paul, and God uses that to preserve Paul. At this time, the Roman soldiers now unbind Paul, and they command that the Sanhedrin have an emergency meeting to give clarity of what's going on, what's happening. Why is this man being charged? Why is the city in such discord? What is going on? You can sense the frustration of the Roman soldiers. Has Roman law actually been violated? Or is this just a Jewish scruple, which we actually don't care about? So the Sanhedrin, if you recall, that's is the highest court in Jerusalem. It's called together there. And now we are in chapter 23 verse one, and says that Paul looks at them intently as they gather together. And Paul now stands before the highest court in Jerusalem. And this look of Paul, this intent look, is not one of arrogance, it is not one of defiance. It is one of courage. Look of someone who has a clear conscience, who is not guilty of doing any wrongdoing, and says, Brothers, notice the humility of Paul. You know, people who have beat him, tried to tear him apart, tried to kill him, and yet he still dresses them at a very respectful way, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.
letter to this effect: Now that doesn't mean at all, and we know that Paul is not sinless. It means that he's living his life before God and not man. It means he's seeking to live his life of one of repentance and in faith, and it also means that he's innocent of the accusations that they are bringing before him.
letter to this effect: Now once Paul says this, high priest orders Paul to be struck and to be struck illegally, because Paul had not been judged yet. There had been no trial yet. Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 28 says it is illegal. It's not right. It's against the law to strike someone who has not been judged or tried. And so Paul responds in verse three, in a very aggressive way. It seems God is going to strike you. You whitewashed wall.
letter to this effect: Are you sitting to judge me according to law, and yet, contrary to the law, you order me to be struck. This is essentially what Jesus has said to others, that sometimes you who teach the law, do you? Do you not teach to follow. Do you not seek to follow it yourself?
letter to this effect: Now this was the high priest.
letter to this effect: And those who stood by said, Would you revile God's high priest? And Paul said, I didn't know, brothers that he was the high priest, for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Now, the Office of high priest doesn't matter who was sitting in it was to be a respected office, according to the law. And Paul quotes the law acknowledging that what he did wasn't appropriate, and he immediately repents. And how did Paul not recognize this was the high priest? Well, one he's been out of Jerusalem a long time. And also, I think this is probably a meeting that is called in haste, and the high priest probably did not have the time to get in all of his high priestly robes, because that's typically how you would identify the high priest. He would be decorated and dressed quite differently. So this, anyway, he doesn't recognize them, and he seems to quote the law to say, I shouldn't have said that. Paul's anger probably got the best of him. Here, Paul is in need of a Savior, isn't he, but the confidence and courage are found you and me when we confess our sins and when we repent and when we rest in the risen Christ, remember we rest in thee our shield and our defender. A guilty conscience is what produces fear and hiding, but a clean conscience produces courage. You know, the guilty conscience calls us to hide.
letter to this effect: Some of you have dogs, and they do something wrong. What they they know you see it on their face, they hide, they whimper, they they cower because they're guilty, but they haven't done anything wrong. They happily wag their tail and come up to you on a sense that that's us in a clean conscience. We we can have courage to approach it. We have no fear. We have no worries. We haven't, haven't done anything wrong. Now, what should we do when we have or when we don't have a clear conscience? Well, we go to Jesus. We cry out, wash me, cleanse me, make me new.
letter to this effect: The Sanhedrin, we're told up told is made up of both Sadducees and Pharisees. Paul perceives this and remember the the Pharisees, they believed in the resurrection, and the Sadducees denied it. That's why they were sad. You see, remember that because they don't believe in the resurrection. Now Paul speaks, and he divides the room in verse, six brothers, I'm a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I'm on trial. Now, Paul so.
letter to this effect: See it to himself, as with a Pharisee, up to a point he's not trying to divide the room. But the heart of the issue is the resurrection.
letter to this effect: The heart of the issue is that Jesus is the Messiah, that the Messiah must suffer and die, but He is not dead. He is risen.
letter to this effect: And if Christ is risen, death is defeated, judgment is satisfied and fear is removed, because death is now the very doorway to everlasting life. Do you remember Paul would write to the church in Rome? There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ, Jesus for you. Now no condemnation for you who are in Christ, Jesus, and that is what gives Paul courage and confidence. Is because of Christ, because Christ is risen, because Christ is Lord, because Christ sits on the throne, he is not dead. Now, dissension and division occur.
letter to this effect: The Pharisees would say, we find nothing wrong with this man.
letter to this effect: Maybe he's heard from God. And you know what's also interesting about the Pharisees and other places in Scripture, we are told that scripture that the Pharisees, some of them come to faith, but there's not ever a single Sadducee that we're told that does now the chamber, it gets violent. This is like C span finally getting what you hope that ever would happen, you know, a dreary court, and now they're like shoes are being thrown it's messy, it's violent.
letter to this effect: The Roman soldiers have to step in again, and as Paul's about to be torn in the pieces, and they take Paul back to the barracks.
letter to this effect: Now Christ. Now, Paul's courage is not simply found in the resurrection of Christ. It's also found secondly that Christ is with him, and he's with us.
letter to this effect: That night in verse 11, the Lord stood by Paul, the risen Lord Jesus, Christ is with Paul and says, Take courage. Take courage, for you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.
letter to this effect: Your mission isn't over, Paul, my plan is still unfolding now, because Christ has said that, is there any possibility of Paul not making it to Rome?
letter to this effect: What if Paul gets shipwrecked, for some reason? Do you think that might stop him from getting the Rome? It won't. And he does get shipwrecked, what if he gets bit like by like poisonous animals? Would that stop him from getting the Rome? It would probably stop me. But the whole point is, Jesus is with him, and Jesus's will is going to be accomplished, and nothing and all of creation is going to stop that. And this is also, if you remember, this is a very similar promise to what Jesus gave his disciples, and also to the church. In the Great Commission.
letter to this effect: You remember before Jesus even says, Go into all the nations, teaching them all the things I've commanded, baptizing them.
letter to this effect: Do you remember what Jesus said right before he says go, he says, Love I'm with you. I'm with you to the end of the age.
letter to this effect: This is why you don't have to be afraid when you go, when you are witnesses, because I'm the risen Lord, and I'm with my people. I haven't forsaken you. I'm with you.
letter to this effect: I'm with you always.
letter to this effect: The Westminster Confession of Faith says they whom God has accepted in his beloved, affectionately called and sanctified by His Spirit, shall certainly persevere there into the end and be eternally saved.
letter to this effect: God is you are in God's hands, and nothing can separate you from that we are united to Christ. Remember Romans eight, what shall separate us from the love of God?
letter to this effect: Will, rulers separate you from the love of God.
letter to this effect: Will, kings, Will, presidents.
letter to this effect: Could justices and courts separate you from the love of God.
letter to this effect: Could trials and sufferings separate you from the love of God?
letter to this effect: Could death separate you from God?
letter to this effect: Is there anything in all of creation that can separate you from the love of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
letter to this effect: Is there a single thing in all of creation that can separate you from the love of God in Christ?
letter to this effect: No, do you believe that?
letter to this effect: Think about that rest in that and that should.
letter to this effect: Give you all courage and no fear that you are never left alone.
letter to this effect: You have never been abandoned.
letter to this effect: You are never forgotten.
letter to this effect: So as the Lord tells Paul, so he tells you, now, take courage.
letter to this effect: I'm with you.
letter to this effect: Finally, Paul takes courage, because God's providence.
letter to this effect: Providence is over it all. God's purposes are being worked out, and we see that through the rest of chapter 23 the narrative picks up back in chapter verse 12 of chapter 23 there are more than 40 men who take an oath that they're not going to eat or drink until Paul is killed, till he's dead.
letter to this effect: Now, they recruit the Sanhedrin.
letter to this effect: They go to the high priests, and they tell them, we're going to vow to break the sixth commandment. That is, we're going to we're holy people.
letter to this effect: We love God, but we're we're vowing to break the sixth commandment here. We're going to kill we just need you to break the ninth commandment and lie.
letter to this effect: And we're going to lie to the Romans. We're going to tell them, you know, we're sorry about that whole dust up and and the the trial. Just give us one more trial and we'll sort it all out. We'll behave, but then on the way, as they take him, we're going to ambush and kill him.
letter to this effect: You see how their hate of Christ is uniting them. This is indeed Psalm two in real life, the nations raging, the peoples plotting in vain, the kings of earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. That's exactly what's happening here. But an unexpected person, providentially overhears the plot. Paul's nephew. Now even then, Paul has family. Paul has family in Jerusalem. His sister apparently lives in Jerusalem. I think probably what happened is, when Paul goes to study with Gamaliel as a young child, maybe his family moved at that point from Tarsus to Jerusalem, and his sister is there, and his sister has a son. This is Paul's nephew, and he overhears the plot, and now he goes and he tells Paul, and the Centurion takes him to the commander to listen.
letter to this effect: I just noticed that there's no miracle that occurs here in the text. There's no angel that has intervened to stop what's happening. God just uses an ordinary bully, a conversation and a decision made, but it is all God's will, all the providence of God. God's orchestrating it. All the Roman commander responds, and he responds for 40 men, we're now going to have 200 Roman trained soldiers, 70 Roman soldiers now on horses, and an additional 200 spearmen. This is probably at least two thirds of the entire army that is there in Jerusalem. Are going to now escort Paul out of Jerusalem.
letter to this effect: God is going to use Rome as an instrument to ensure Paul gets to Rome. God is not absent, is he? He's working here. Paul is about to do, actually, some of his most significant work, much of the New Testament is now about to be written. Paul will write the letters to many of the letters to the church now and and God's giving Paul time to do it, as he's in chains. And we can be thankful for that, that much of the Bible, in the New Testament we have in front of us, is because God has providentially allowed Paul to be in chains, providentially protecting Paul as he is slowly making his way to Rome, and eventually, as we'll look at next week, he will be sent to governor Felix, who is the governor of Judea of the area.
letter to this effect: Now let me just end here with this. When we come to this text, it's a long text, and when we read it, it seems chaotic, it seems violent, it's there's injustice, there's corruption, there's conspiracy, and again, it's one of those texts of like, what exactly are we to get out of this?
letter to this effect: And it looks like everything is just out of control, but it's not because behind it all, the risen Christ is still reigning.
letter to this effect: He is still present with his people, and he is accomplishing His purposes, and even when we think even back to the cross, wasn't that a similar situation, Christ being falsely accused, beaten, unjustly, condemned, unlawfully, and it just seems like it is, in many ways, the most chaotic and evil and wicked situation.
letter to this effect: Action to ever occur in human history. But we also know it was the will of the Lord to bruise him. We also know that by His stripes, we are healed. And even through that great evil and that terror, God is using it for His glory and our good, and he's doing that again here in Paul's life, using it for His glory and even for Paul's good. And we can also say the same thing in our own circumstances, though terrible, maybe suffering and challenges of the such.
letter to this effect: We can take courage in this life, not because life is easy, but because Christ is risen, because Christ is with his people, and because Christ rules over it all, he is still king, and nothing and all of creation will separate you from his love, and nothing will dethrone him. So let us take courage this morning and rest in Christ all the more.
letter to this effect: Let's pray our Heavenly Father.
letter to this effect: We, thank you for giving us your word we thank you for the reminder that we can indeed have courage this morning and not be afraid.
letter to this effect: And Lord, I confess I'm such a fearful person, so afraid of man, so afraid of circumstances, so afraid of death. But Lord, help us to look to you. Give us heavenly eyes to remember that Christ is victorious. He is risen, risen indeed, that He has not left his people, that he is with us now by the power of his Spirit, and He will be with us through the end of the age. And Lord, you are working all things for your glory and your perfect Providence, not a hair will fall from our head, not a spare to the ground. Apart from your sovereign, will we thank you for Jesus, and it's in his name we pray, Amen.