SPEAKER_01: Welcome to DeSoto Hills Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_01: Our Sunday morning services are weekly at 9 and 10 30 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: You're listening to an audio recast of this past week's service.
SPEAKER_01: We hope you enjoy.
SPEAKER_01: God bless.
SPEAKER_00: If you have your Bibles this morning, we will be in Acts chapter 22.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start in verse 22 and read down through chapter 23, verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: As you turn there, as I was studying and preparing this week, I thought of a movie that came out several years ago.
SPEAKER_00: It's based on a true story of a soldier named Desmond Doss.
SPEAKER_00: Desmond Doss was a medic uh in the in the army, in the military uh during the uh invasion of Normandy, and then he became famous for a battle at Hacksaw Ridge.
SPEAKER_00: Hacksaw Ridge was, if if you don't know about it, if you haven't seen the movie, it's set on a the battlefield was at a steep embankment, and the only way for the Allied forces to get there was to climb ropes or this rope ladder and get up there.
SPEAKER_00: And then once they got on the battlefield, they faced insurmountable uh I mean the the enemy was just coming and kept coming and coming, and they faced all kinds of casualties and and things like that.
SPEAKER_00: And Desmond Daws, he was just a medic.
SPEAKER_00: He uh didn't have a weapon or anything like that.
SPEAKER_00: And as as the battle went on and the Allied forces at one point retreated, went back down the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Doss stayed behind.
SPEAKER_00: And as he was there, he would quietly go around the battlefield because if the enemy had found him, they would have shot him.
SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't have cared if he was a medic or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: And he would go and he would find soldiers who needed attending, who needed attention, and he would he would treat them to the best he could, and then he would drag them to the edge of the cliff and tie a rope on them and slowly lower them to the ground.
SPEAKER_00: And and history tells us that each time he lowered one to the ground, he would say a quiet prayer that said, Lord, help me get one more.
SPEAKER_00: Help me get one more.
SPEAKER_00: By the end of the day, he had actually saved somewhere around 75 soldiers that day.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he would even treat and save the enemy soldiers and lower them down as well.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, help me save one more.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the the Christian life can be filled with peril.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a life of ease that we've been called to.
SPEAKER_00: It is filled with with sometimes dangerous times, but at least times that are hard and difficult for us to go through.
SPEAKER_00: But in that as we go, we we can learn the alliance, learn the prayer of Desmond Dawes.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe not, Lord, help me save one more, but maybe we can say something like, Lord, help me take one more step.
SPEAKER_00: God, help me to make the next step that you're calling me to.
SPEAKER_00: Help me to take one more.
SPEAKER_00: Kind of see that in the life of Paul today.
SPEAKER_00: We really need to begin the passage by looking at the last verse.
SPEAKER_00: And in this passage, I'll read it quickly.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna come read the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: But in the last verse, Paul says this, or Luke writes this, on the following night, the Lord stood by him, the Lord stood by Paul and said, Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: God is coming to Paul and he is encouraging him, yet also challenging him.
SPEAKER_00: He is encouraging him that he has done well.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, you have done well in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: But Paul, one more step.
SPEAKER_00: One more step.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to go to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, let's take one more step.
SPEAKER_00: And he is encouraging, challenging him to take that one more step, but also at the same time encouraging him.
SPEAKER_00: And what we see in Paul this week, what Paul has done throughout this passage this week is we're gonna see him courageously witness to the kingdom of God among the Jews in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: We saw it last week that he presented his salvation, his testimony experience of his salvation experience, but but we're gonna see some more things come up and he him face a riotous crowd and people rioting and coming after him.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna see uh a Roman uh tribune judging whether he should be condemned or not.
SPEAKER_00: And while we may not face some of the same challenges, we probably are not facing a rioting crowd when we go and we're called to be a witness to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're probably not facing a tribune who is deciding, judging whether we should be condemned or not.
SPEAKER_00: We're probably not facing those things.
SPEAKER_00: But but I hope what we can see and what we can recognize is that no matter where God has put us, because I believe God puts us in the places that we are, whether that be our job, school, the city we live in, the family that we're in, wherever, none of it is by happenstance.
SPEAKER_00: Just as God had Paul right here at this place, he has us right here at these places that we are, and we can, wherever God has us, we can proclaim the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge for us is really the same challenge that we've seen throughout this book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: Be witnesses to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: So the question that we seek to answer today is this How did Paul courageously witness?
SPEAKER_00: We know he courageously witnessed because God's gonna tell him, take courage.
SPEAKER_00: You've done well in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to go to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: He's done well, he's been courageous in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: How has he been courageous?
SPEAKER_00: How was he able to do well and receive the Lord's praise in Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_00: We hope to see that today.
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you if you're able to stand with me as we give honor to the reading of God's word, again, starting in Acts chapter 22.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start reading in verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: Up to this word, they listened to him.
SPEAKER_00: Then they raised their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.
SPEAKER_00: And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out that they were shouting again find out why they were shouting against him like this.
SPEAKER_00: 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 and uncondemned?
SPEAKER_00: When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, What are you about to do?
SPEAKER_00: For this man is a Roman citizen.
SPEAKER_00: So the tribune came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Yes.
SPEAKER_00: The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum.
SPEAKER_00: Paul said, But I am a citizen by birth.
SPEAKER_00: So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and their tribune also was afraid, and he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen that he had had and that he had him bound.
SPEAKER_00: But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and be and he brought Paul down and set him before them.
SPEAKER_00: Looking intently at the council, Paul said, Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.
SPEAKER_00: And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
SPEAKER_00: Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall.
SPEAKER_00: Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law, you order me to be struck?
SPEAKER_00: Those who stood by said, Why would you would you revile God's high priest?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.
SPEAKER_00: And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged them all.
SPEAKER_00: Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply.
SPEAKER_00: We find nothing wrong in this man.
SPEAKER_00: What if a spirit or angel spoke to him?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for the opportunity that we have now to study, to encounter.
SPEAKER_00: God, you have revealed yourself to us through this word, and so we pray that today we see you help us.
SPEAKER_00: Open the eyes of our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So again, the question, how did Paul courageously witness?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the first thing I think we're gonna see happening in Paul's life, and and hope we we've mentioned it already some today, is Paul relied on God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: He relied on God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: He believed that it was God who had brought him there for this reason and that God was going to continue to work in his life.
SPEAKER_00: He believed in God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: We see that, first of all, in the Jewish resistance.
SPEAKER_00: Say, Grant, how can we see God's sovereignty in people who are rebelling and rejecting him?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's look and see see how we see that.
SPEAKER_00: So we talked last week.
SPEAKER_00: Paul gave his salvation experience.
SPEAKER_00: He gave the experience of being in the temple and having a dream of God sending him to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: We we saw that last week in verses 21, and he said to me, That's the angel, go for God's, that's God, for go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: And then when the Jews heard this in verse 22, up to this word they listened to him, but when they heard this, then they raised their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.
SPEAKER_00: And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air.
SPEAKER_00: What happened is God had brought Paul, God had used Paul, God had taken the gospel message to the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: God had done all of this, and now God was ready for Paul to go to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: And he had worked this plan and worked this design out so there's this last chance for the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul comes to the Jews and he gives them a salvation experience, but they are so opposed to the idea that a Gentile be brought into the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: They're so opposed to it that they begin rioting and throwing him and throwing him out.
SPEAKER_00: And the the Roman tribune really doesn't know what to do with him.
SPEAKER_00: So he's taking him out.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're gonna see happen in just a minute, Paul is going to appeal to Caesar, so he is going to be taken to Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: But in the Jewish resistance, what we're gonna see is God hardening their hearts so that Paul can now freely go to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: We've talked about this.
SPEAKER_00: Remember the story of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Remember?
SPEAKER_00: God told Moses to go to Pharaoh, and in that story, we find ten times that Pharaoh hardened his heart.
SPEAKER_00: But we also find ten times in that same story that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
SPEAKER_00: What we see in that story is God's sovereignty working.
SPEAKER_00: What we see here in this story is God's sovereignty at work.
SPEAKER_00: He is moving Paul to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: He is sending Paul to Rome, and he is doing it.
SPEAKER_00: He is using the hardness of the Jews' heart here, the hardness of these folks' heart.
SPEAKER_00: He is using that to send Paul to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: We also see it in the Roman impatience.
SPEAKER_00: At one time he was carrying Paul away.
SPEAKER_00: Remember back earlier in chapter 22, he was carrying Paul away because he thought Paul was a guy from Egypt who had tried to lead a rebellion, an assassin who had tried to lead a rebellion against Rome.
SPEAKER_00: He finds out Paul's not that guy, so he gives Paul the opportunity to address the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: And now Paul does that, and now the Jews are coming after Paul more.
SPEAKER_00: So he's just trying to get to the bottom.
SPEAKER_00: So he takes Paul in, and instead of sitting him down and questioning him, which would seem like the right thing to do, he sets Paul up.
SPEAKER_00: He has him out and they're tying him out and laying him out to whip him.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just going to ask him questions, he is going to beat the truth out of Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Now, why is he is he going to these great leaks all of a sudden?
SPEAKER_00: We're not real sure, other than he is just impatient and he's trying to get to the bottom of this.
SPEAKER_00: So he so he has Paul spread out.
SPEAKER_00: They're tying him up so that they can whip him.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, Paul he looks over at the centurion there and says, Hey, is it legal for you to beat a Roman citizen who has been uncondemned?
SPEAKER_00: This is the first time Paul has mentioned his citizenship.
SPEAKER_00: Here.
SPEAKER_00: We've seen it.
SPEAKER_00: He mentioned it back in Philippi earlier in Acts, but this is the first time in this situation why Paul has waited so long.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know, we're not sure, other than just God working and God's timing.
SPEAKER_00: But the centurion is totally taken aback by this.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to the tribune and says, What are you trying to do to us?
SPEAKER_00: This guy's a Roman citizen.
SPEAKER_00: The tribune comes to Paul and says, Are you a Roman citizen?
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And the tribune says this, this is interesting.
SPEAKER_00: The tribune says, I paid a bunch of money to be a citizen.
SPEAKER_00: I paid a large sum so I can be made a citizen.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, I'm a natural born citizen.
SPEAKER_00: I was born a citizen of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: See, in this, what we see God doing in Paul's life.
SPEAKER_00: Is there's really no no better person to fulfill the ministry that Paul is fulfilling than Paul?
SPEAKER_00: God has worked his life to this.
SPEAKER_00: He was born in Tarsus, of a well-known Jewish community.
SPEAKER_00: He was raised in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He was educated by Gamaleel.
SPEAKER_00: Yet he was a Roman citizen.
SPEAKER_00: Who better to take the message to the Jews and then the message to the Gentiles, and then who better to fulfill the prophecy that we saw back in Acts chapter 8 that Paul was going to deliver this message even to kings?
SPEAKER_00: Who better than Paul to take this message to the Caesar?
SPEAKER_00: Because a Jew couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: It had to be a Roman citizen.
SPEAKER_00: Paul has worked and orchestrated and moved.
SPEAKER_00: God has worked and orchestrated and moved in Paul's life to have him right here.
SPEAKER_00: And what Paul is doing is he is relying on God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: God has brought him here, and God's gonna take him where he needs to go.
SPEAKER_00: Church, hear me.
SPEAKER_00: I've already said it, but let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: You're not in this place by accident.
SPEAKER_00: You could say, Well, my job brought me here.
SPEAKER_00: You may have it, God may have used your job to bring you here, but you are you are in this place, in your position in life, because God has directed your path and has you here.
SPEAKER_00: He has worked and moved in your life and have you has you here for this moment.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if we are going to be courageous and we are going to courageously proclaim the kingdom of God, we need to recognize that God has got us exactly where he wants us and he will take us exactly where he wants us to be.
SPEAKER_00: We must rely on him.
SPEAKER_00: We must trust him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul relied on God's sovereignty.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, we see that he relied on God's word.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that the tribune at this point, he decides, hey, I still got to get to the bottom of this.
SPEAKER_00: So he calls the council, the Jewish council, together.
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't go to the temple because he can't go to the temple.
SPEAKER_00: So he brings them to him, and they are gathered together, and he brings Paul in, and he's going to try to get to the bottom of this.
SPEAKER_00: So they sit down in this room together, and Paul begins, and he begins to talk.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I love in verse 2, he says, or verse 1 of chapter 23, he says, Brother, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up until this day, which I have to pause.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know right now Paul is living his life in good conscience to the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: We believe that.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, there was a day when Paul was Saul.
SPEAKER_00: We've even seen Paul lament the times when he was Saul and some things that he did.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see it even more that he laments that time.
SPEAKER_00: So how can he say, we we come to the question, how can he say that he has lived his life before God in all good conscience up to this day?
SPEAKER_00: I think in order to see that, we we have to turn back to John chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: We sang this morning, we basically sang John 3.16 in a psalm.
SPEAKER_00: But let's move down past John 3.16.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at, let's start reading in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he says whoever believes in him, that's Jesus, whoever believes in him is not condemned.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the judgment.
SPEAKER_00: The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.
SPEAKER_00: For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed.
SPEAKER_00: But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
SPEAKER_00: How can Paul, with his past of Saul, say he has lived his life in good conscience?
SPEAKER_00: I believe he can say that because he has believed in the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He is no longer condemned, he no longer stands before God condemned because he has been saved.
SPEAKER_00: He has been transformed, he has believed in the name.
SPEAKER_00: His works, even his evil works, have been exposed.
SPEAKER_00: They have been shown out so that they can be forgiven by his Savior who died for him.
SPEAKER_00: His past has been forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: So he can say, I've lived in a good conscience.
SPEAKER_00: But right after that, what we find back in Acts is these Jewish leaders, we see their hypocrisy because as soon as those words come from his mouth, the high priest looks at people who are standing by Paul and has them slap him in the mouth.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Your words are untrue.
SPEAKER_00: This is not right.
SPEAKER_00: This can't be so.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul immediately looks in verse 3, and Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall.
SPEAKER_00: Are you sitting to judge me according to the law?
SPEAKER_00: And yet, contrary to the law, you order me to be struck.
SPEAKER_00: Now, immediately upon reading this, I'll be honest with you, immediately upon reading this, I thought about Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 23.
SPEAKER_00: In Matthew chapter 23, verse 27 and 28, Jesus says this woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
SPEAKER_00: So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
SPEAKER_00: Now that immediately that was the passage I thought of.
SPEAKER_00: And the sentiment is pretty much the same.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is saying, look, you are a hypocrite.
SPEAKER_00: You're saying you judge by the law, but you have me, you have me struck, even though I'm only speaking the truth here.
SPEAKER_00: You are hypocrite.
SPEAKER_00: But notice that Jesus says whitewashed tombs, and what Paul calls him is a whitewashed wall.
SPEAKER_00: Many commentators believe that Paul is actually referring back to a prophecy of Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: In Ezekiel chapter 13, Ezekiel the prophet is writing against false prophets of the day.
SPEAKER_00: Prophets who are coming and telling Israel, look, you have nothing to worry about.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is good.
SPEAKER_00: We have peace.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about anything.
SPEAKER_00: It is okay, when in reality it was not okay.
SPEAKER_00: They were telling Israel exactly what they wanted to hear.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he says, beginning in verse 10 of Ezekiel chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, Peace when there is no peace.
SPEAKER_00: And because when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash.
SPEAKER_00: Say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall.
SPEAKER_00: There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out, and when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, where is the coating with which you smeared it?
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God says, The Lord God, I will make a stormy wind and break out in my wrath, and there will be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end, and I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare.
SPEAKER_00: When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thus I will spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, the wall is no more, nor those who smeared it.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: What he's saying here is the people of Israel, they've built up built up these walls, and they have this false security, metaphorically speaking, in their lives.
SPEAKER_00: They have built up that everything is good.
SPEAKER_00: Things were good, and they wanted to hear good things when in their hearts they had turned away from God.
SPEAKER_00: So they built up these walls that that were false walls that couldn't stand.
SPEAKER_00: And the prophets who should have been saying, No, your hearts are far from God.
SPEAKER_00: No, instead of doing that, they whitewashed the walls, they made them look good and told them the things that they wanted to hear and said, Everything is gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00: But what God said is what's going to happen is I'm going to come in my wrath because your hearts have turned away from me, and I'm going to tear down the walls, and your whitewash has done nothing because you have not said and proclaimed the message that I have called you to proclaim.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul is doing in Acts is saying, you are proclaiming this message that everything is okay when it is not.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's some debate about this.
SPEAKER_00: Some think Paul is speaking sarcastically.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know he was the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: Some think, though, that because they were not in the temple, they were in this Roman place, that the high priest could have been there without his priestly garments, sitting in a place of position, that he was just among the people that he actually, and Paul has not been in Jerusalem long.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he has been traveling, he's not been in Jerusalem long.
SPEAKER_00: There's a good chance that he doesn't know who the high priest is, actually.
SPEAKER_00: And so then what he does is, I didn't know he was the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: So what we find in Paul is we find him repenting here in honesty, I believe, because he says, You shall not speak evil, for it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.
SPEAKER_00: There he's quoting from Exodus chapter 22, verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: I think what's happening in Paul's life is this.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, as he has faced each situation, where we find him turning to is words of scripture.
SPEAKER_00: When he gets slapped, he turns to scripture.
SPEAKER_00: When he does something wrong, he turns to scripture and repents.
SPEAKER_00: Where we find Paul, and I think where we find Paul in this, and why God is said he has proclaimed well the kingdom of God, while he has proclaimed this well before the Jews is because Paul's life has been so in tune with the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: He knows what God's word said, he knows how God's word applies to his life, he knows how God has revealed himself through the word because it is so much part of his life, and he has become so reliant upon the word of God, and he must continue to be reliant as he goes to Rome and church.
SPEAKER_00: We must be as reliant upon the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Not my words, not your words, his words.
SPEAKER_00: We must allow his words to tell us when we wrong when we're wrong so we can honestly repent.
SPEAKER_00: We must his words must be must be so in part and in tune with our lives, so as things come up, we can take his word and we can apply it to what's going on in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: We must be in tune with God's word as Paul was.
SPEAKER_00: We see him relying on God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, this morning, where we see Paul.
SPEAKER_00: We see him relying on God's sovereignty, we see him relying on God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, we see him relying on God's resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: He recognizes in the group that there's Pharisees and Sadducees.
SPEAKER_00: And he comes and he says, in verse 6, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees.
SPEAKER_00: It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.
SPEAKER_00: What Paul realizes and narrows it down to is it is because of the resurrection that he is on trial.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me?
SPEAKER_00: If there were no resurrection of Jesus, Paul would not be there proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: The reason he's there, the reason he's faced persecution after persecution after persecution, the reason he's there even before his brothers, the Jews, and proclaiming and receiving this torture and receiving all this these things is because of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: If it were not for the resurrection, Christianity is nothing.
SPEAKER_00: We are just another religion.
SPEAKER_00: But the resurrection changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: It is because Jesus arose that we have hope for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: It is because that Jesus arose that we have hope for today.
SPEAKER_00: It is because that Jesus arose we have victory over death.
SPEAKER_00: It is because that Jesus arose that we have victory in this life.
SPEAKER_00: It is because that Jesus arose that we have anything that we have.
SPEAKER_00: It is because Jesus arose that we can take yet one more step.
SPEAKER_00: It is because that Jesus arose that we have life ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: It is because of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: And when Paul comes, he is telling them that he is relying on the resurrection of Jesus Christ by the will of the Father, because that is where real hope is.
SPEAKER_00: Chuck Colson.
SPEAKER_00: Because the resurrection removes despair.
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Think about where Paul is.
SPEAKER_00: He's been cast out of the temple.
SPEAKER_00: He is standing before a Roman tribune who is going to either condemn him to live or die.
SPEAKER_00: He is standing before brothers and sisters who want him to die.
SPEAKER_00: Yet there is no despair.
SPEAKER_00: Because the resurrection is real.
SPEAKER_00: Church, if we are going, if we are going to courageously proclaim the word of God, we must know the resurrection is real.
SPEAKER_00: Because the resurrection is real, we can rely on the sovereignty of God that He has you here.
SPEAKER_00: Right here at this place in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Right here.
SPEAKER_00: He has given you his word and his revelation of himself.
SPEAKER_00: And he has given you the hope of the resurrection so that we can be witnesses to the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let us do that.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, here's the pivotal moment.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus Christ arose from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: He died taking upon himself the punishment for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: We sang about it.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about it for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
SPEAKER_00: God did not come into the world.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already.
SPEAKER_00: This is the judgment that Jesus is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_00: If you have never walked into the light, come today.
SPEAKER_00: Come today.
SPEAKER_00: He came to save you.
SPEAKER_00: He came to remove your guilt.
SPEAKER_00: So you can stand like Paul in good conscience.
SPEAKER_00: If you've never trusted in Christ your Savior, we invite you to come in just a moment as we stand and sing.
SPEAKER_00: If you have, but you need to know that God is going to faithfully walk with you as you courageously proclaim the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not doing that.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this morning you need to repent.
SPEAKER_00: You need to say, I will proclaim, I will be a witness to the kingdom of God just like He has called us.
SPEAKER_00: However, God's moving in your life, if you're looking for a church home, we would love to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: However, God's moving you, we invite you to come.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for this moment and this opportunity that we have now to respond to your call upon our lives.
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that you will give us the faith that we need to answer your call.
SPEAKER_00: However you are moving, however you are leading, however you are working.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, God.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to come to you.
SPEAKER_00: Draw us to you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSoto Hills.com.