So excited to preach. This Sunday school, I was just excited to preach that, and I'm just as excited to preach this message today. And I mentioned this in Sunday school, that through the Book of Acts study, we've seen God's sovereign hand at work, and how he protects his people, how he's protecting Paul and those who are with him.

And today we're going to see how God, by His sovereign will and purpose, protects Paul from a plot of 40 men who want to kill him. My, oh, my. And let us realize, too, that God protects us every day in this life. He's always with us. He's watching over us, keeping us from danger.

You ever wonder why sometimes you stop at a light You ever had this happen? You stop at a light, and you're sitting there for two, three minutes, and you go down the road, and there's a bad accident. Well, you might have went through that light, and you might have been involved in that accident. God works in mysterious ways. His wonders do perform. He protects his sheep.

Dan and I, one time, were going together to an event. And if we hadn't stopped for drinks, remember, brother? I got thirsty. I said, let's stop at McDonald's because I got a Diet Coke addiction. And so we went in there and got our Diet Coke. We had to go into the town and come off the freeway, get back on the freeway. And there was an accident just before us. And they had diverted us then to another role. But if we hadn't turned off, we might have been right in the middle of that. Because it had just happened. So you just never know, do you? Just never know. Amazing.

Okay. Open your Bibles if you went to Acts chapter 23. Acts chapter 23. The name of the message is a plot to kill Paul. A plot to kill Paul. We're continuing our study in this letter written about the Acts of the Apostles by Luke to a dear brother in the Lord. This is about the Acts of the Apostles after the Lord's resurrection. And we've seen lately it's focused mostly on Paul. It started off focusing on the disciples in Peter and John and in Barnabas. And Paul, and now we've mostly seen in this latter section, we will see to the end of the book, that's focusing on Paul and how he must go to Rome. Because what did the Lord tell him? You shall, you must, you must go to Rome. God Almighty told him that. God Almighty told him that. My.

Let's stand up together and read verses 12 to 15. We're just going to read a few verses here together. Verses 12 to 15 of Acts chapter 23. Let's stand up and read the scriptures all. It's wonderful to read the scriptures together, isn't it? It's wonderful.

And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would not neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they went more than 40, which had made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now, therefore, ye with the council signify the chief captain, that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though you would inquire something more perfectly concerning him. And we, wherever he come out near are ready to kill him.

So we see here a conspiracy. We see that these men have gathered together in their wickedness and they have conspired together in secret 40 men that they want to kill the apostle Paul. They're not happy that the Romans haven't been in protection right now. They probably heard that there was a big feud between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They probably heard that the Pharisees said, we don't find any fault in this man.

Isn't it amazing how God turned the enemies against each other? turned to Paul's enemies against each other. And so now these men have conspired in secret. They probably met together, conspired. Okay, we're gonna do this. And they swore that they would neither eat nor drink until Paul was dead.

I don't think any of them really fulfilled that, because Paul's not gonna die. I bet you they ate and drank the next day. My, foolish men. foolish man to try to fight against God's sovereign decree, which God said to Paul, you must go to Rome. And if God says he must go to Rome, what's going to happen, beloved? Amen. He's going to Rome, isn't he? He's going to Rome, and there ain't no one who's going to stop it.

Remember in Daniel, it says none can stay his hand in the armies of heaven or among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can stop him. He's the almighty. We're just little finite pieces of dust. He's infinite. My, the pride that we have. My, and it's still in us even as born again believers, isn't it? It rears its ugly heads every once in a while. Oh my, let's be honest.

Now, our last study took us down to verse 11, chapter 23. We saw that Paul was troubled in the spirit. He was troubled in the spirit. And the Lord came and stood beside him. Remember that? The Lord came. And that shows us as believers that there's never going to be a time when God's not with us. And that's comforting, isn't it? We may be lying on our deathbed. He's right there. We may be going through life. He's right there. We go through some of the hardest times in our lives. He's right there. We might think things are going sailing smoothly. Not for long, though, because we know there's always something coming down the road. But things may be going smoothly. He's right there. He's ever with us.

So Paul was comforted by the fact that the Lord stood by him. And Paul was troubled in the spirit because of the hatred that was in the heart of his kinsmen. He had a real evangelistic heart for the Jews. He really did. He loved them, they were his kinsmen. Just like we love lost souls, don't we? Not just our family members, but our friends and people who we meet. I met a fellow last night. 80-something years old. He is from England and I'm from Canada. We just started talking. Well, when he left, I just started praying for him. I don't know him, probably never see him again. Pray the Lord will save him. You know? Or, Lord, if it be your will, let me see him again. Let me see him again, that we can talk about thee.

And by preaching the gospel of God's sovereign grace and his saving grace, right, let us never forget that God's grace is saving grace. It's saving grace. How do we know that? Well, it saved us, didn't it? For by grace you're saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. God's grace is saving grace. My. It's grace that will strengthen us.

And so Paul, he's simply preaching the gospel of salvation through Christ alone, through the merits of Christ alone, by his work alone. And he had shown these unbelieving Jews the greatest kindness that he could do. How? By preaching Christ to them. That's the greatest kindness we can do, is tell someone about Christ. Tell them about our Savior. He saved my soul. Hallelujah. I'm not the same anymore like Sister Lindsay. I ain't the same man I used to be. My, it's amazing. God's grace is amazing.

And what's the greatest Kindness that we can show a hell-deserving sinner, and we were there too. Preach Christ to them, just talk to them about Christ. And I'm not talking, just go right up to them and shake them and say, I'm talking about get to know them, and then tell them about Christ if the Lord opens the door. Tell them about Christ. I know, Chris, you talk to your girls all the time about Christ. I talk to my son, my daughter, all the time about Christ. Sister, you talk to your kids, too, all the time about Christ. That's what we do. Right?

And when the Lord saves them, then you have the blessedness of fellowship with them. Look at Sister Joan and Brother Neil with their kids. Now you guys can fellowship with your kids in Christ. That's wonderful. That's amazing. Whoa. I still got it. But isn't that incredible that we can now, we can now, Joe Terrell, I remember talking to Joe Terrell, and the Lord saved his son. And he said, Wayne, it's amazing. My son will call me up now. He'll ask me questions about the Bible. He'd read scriptures with me. Dad, look what I found. And it would just get him so excited. Now we experience that with each other, don't we, when we start talking about the Lord and our hearts start to burn within us? It's the same thing. It's the same thing, it's amazing.

So by preaching the true gospel of God's saving grace through the merits of Christ, again, Paul was showing these Jews the greatest kindness that he could do. Now their rejection of the truth, after they had heard it, manifested their hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we were all there. I was there. Were you? I was there. I want nothing to do with that. Why? But isn't it amazing to think back of the grace and mercy that God showed us? We didn't perish because we're one of his sheep that he purchased at Calvary's Cross. And he just kept setting people in front of us, didn't he? If you were going to church, he kept the gospel in front of you. Until it was your time of love. And he saved you. Oh my! My!

So all they're doing is manifesting natural man's hatred for God. That's all they're doing. They're manifesting that by their actions. And I remember, to my shame, doing that with my family about people I didn't even know. It was awful. It was awful. And then, as I told you before, the one guy we would make fun of around the dinner table was the first man to give me a Bible. And now you know the rest of the story, right? Isn't that amazing? Now I love that man. Whenever I talk to my brother, I'm always asking, how's Larry doing? How's he doing? My. He showed me kindness. He gave me a Bible.

And so even when our loved ones break our hearts by turning a deaf ear, to what we tell them. Don't stop telling them about Christ. Don't stop living your faith before them. Right? Flaws and all. I told Josh, you saw me at my worst, and I've never had a best, but you saw me when I'm joyful and happy. See, our kids see us at all times, don't they? Oh, my. But when they make it known that they don't want anything to do with us because of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel, when they say, there's nothing there for me, it breaks our hearts, beloved. Breaks our hearts. But we still pray for them, don't we? We still lift them up.

And these words in those times, these words, and for Paul even, you know, Paul wrote these words, and I can see how he did now. When he wrote these words, my grace is sufficient for thee, what the Lord said to him. And that's what we have to remember, beloved. During all those times, God's grace is sufficient for us. For thy strength is made perfect in weakness. When we're weak, He is strong. It's true, isn't it? And He'll never break us. Never break us. It's wonderful.

So our Lord here in verse 11, let's look at verse 11 of chapter 23. Our Lord says to Paul, appears to him, he says, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Now look at those words. This is the God of the universe telling him, as you have testified of me at Jerusalem, we saw that he preached Christ to them. Our God, Every believer can say, my God, my God, he's personal, isn't he? You could say, my God, right, sister? I could say, my God, same God. Paul wrote that, we looked at a verse where Paul said, my God shall supply all your need in or by Christ Jesus. My God, he's my God. Paul could write that confidently, couldn't he? All the tribulations and trials we've seen him go through.

And he's writing to the Philippians while he's in house imprisonment in Rome. He's not there yet on our text, but he's gonna be there. And he says, my God, my God, my God shall supply all your need through Christ Jesus or by Christ Jesus. Woo. Every believer say, my God. Now, all those needs, as I said in Sunday school, they are not wants. We got a lot of wants, don't we? But a lot of wants we don't need. But everything we need is supplied in Christ. I need a Savior. Christ is my Savior. I need to be saved from all my sins. Christ has saved me from all my sins. I need to be justified in order to stand in front of God. Christ was raised for my justification. I need righteousness to appear before God. Christ clothes me in his righteousness. And that's true of every single believer who's born again. That's wonderful, isn't it? So we could say, my God. You see how Paul could say that now? The Lord had appeared to him. My God. My God. Oh my.

He says here in that verse 11, as thou hast testified me in Jerusalem. So what's that little word there? Amen. Must. Does that mean it's going to happen for sure? Yep. Not because Paul didn't say that. We can say, oh, I must do this. And then we don't do it. But this is God saying it. This is God saying this. So must thou bear witness also at Rome. You're going to testify and preach the gospel like you preached it in Jerusalem. You're going to preach it in Rome, Paul. And you're going to do that because you must. And I said you must. That's what God said. If God says must, is it going to be thwarted by anybody? Well, here's these conspirators. We're gonna kill Paul. In their mind, do you see the evil that's coming through them? The depravity of man on display. All Paul has done is preach the gospel. That's all he's done. And then he said, we're gonna take it to the Gentiles. Oh my kaboom. My. All he did was preach Christ. And these are encouraging words to Paul when the Lord says to him that you must go to Rome. It's encouraging to him when the Lord says, be a good cheer, Paul. Obviously, Paul was down. And the Lord Jesus, all through our pilgrimage journey on this earth, is with us, even when we don't feel like he is. Hm. Mine?

So this is a great encouragement to Paul. It's also great encouragement to we who are born-again, blood-washed believers. Our God watches over us. Our sovereign Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who purchased us with his own blood, tells us that we have obtained an inheritance. We've already obtained it. Listen to this, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11. Well, how have we obtained it? Christ obtained it already for us. It's done. Salvation's finished. My. In Romans, turn if you would to just quickly to Romans chapter 8. Verse 28, but keep your finger where we are, because we're gonna come right back to it in Acts chapter 23. Look at this, this is a very familiar verse to us, but I want us to read it together. Because this brings forth that nothing will thwart God's plans, nothing. People have tried to crush Christianity and it keeps going. Because true Christianity is the church of the living God. God Almighty, the Almighty. I like saying it now, the Almighty One. That's what He is. Brother Brian, we're saved by the Almighty One. Whoo! My! Isn't that wonderful? That's true of all of us blood brothers and sisters who are in Christ. We're saved by the Almighty One

Look at this Romans chapter 8 verse 28 this tells us that whatever situation we find ourselves in God is in full control and We Know this is something that believers know something we've been taught by the Holy Spirit of God, right? Look at that all things Now look at that little word, all. Whether they be, we think they're good or bad or we're struggling with it, all things. All things. Work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Now people stop sometimes and they don't, they say to them that love God, but look at the last part, to them who are the called according to his purpose. See, salvation's in a person. Salvation's in a person.

I had a good talk with Neil last week. Wonderful talk. And he said something that I fully affirm. He said, you know, there's gonna be some sovereign gracious in hell. There's gonna be some Baptists in hell, some Presbyterians in hell. You put, no matter what flavor you put on. Because they didn't have holy faith regeneration. They weren't born again.

And when a believer is born again, we are given faith and we have repentance before God, don't we? We're a new creature.

Have you ever seen, and I've seen this in the reform circles and I've seen it in the sovereign grace circles, I've seen people arguing over the stupidest things. I mean the stupidest things. Tearing each other apart. And you know what I say to myself when I see that? No grace. There's no grace there. They're just shredding each other, because, oh, I know this. I know this doctrine, and I'm right.

I'll tell you this. Jesus Christ saved my soul. That's who I'm going to preach from here. And I encourage all to come listen, because all you're going to hear, brothers and sisters, all you're going to hear is Christ. I'm not talking denominations, I'm gonna preach Christ. Whether it's neither Jew nor Gentile, isn't that nice? We're one. And I believe we have that unity here, I do. We have an incredible unity here.

But that's because of the Holy Spirit of God. That's because He's working in us, conforming us to the image of the Son. And all we want to do, just tell me about my Savior. Tell me about the one who's ever with me.

You know why I'm here preaching today? Why I came almost 10 years ago? Because it was God's will. I had finished, two, three years before this, before you guys called me, I had went all through the west, Kentucky, Tennessee, all these different places where they had no preacher. And several of the churches asked me, well, would you consider being our pastor? And I said, nah, I don't feel called here. I don't feel called here. And I went back home and I said to Vicki, well, I guess we're gonna die here. And I was content. Preaching to seven folks. It's fine. I thought, well, this is where I'm gonna be. And then, lo, I get a phone call. Now, as Zane said, the first year wasn't God's timing, was it? But after that year, it was time for me to be here. And now, we've been 10 years together. Seems like just yesterday. But that's all according to the will and purpose of God, you see? And our hearts have been knit together in love, haven't we? That's how Paul felt with these Philippians. He felt that love when he wrote the letter to the Philippians. He felt that love that he had for them. And Paul had that for all saints.

But how comforting it is, we can see here, that all things work together for our good and for God's glory. All things. Even the really painful things.

My. Let's read verses 12 to 15 of Acts chapter 23 now. We see now, the Lord's told him, you must go to Jerusalem, or Rome. And now, men are conspiring, they get together secretly, and they conspire. We're gonna kill this man. We're gonna kill this man. Look at verses 12 to 15.

In the night following, the Lord stood by him, or we'll read verse 11 first. In the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul. Notice he called him by name. For as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews, now these Jews had no idea that God had told Paul, you're going to Rome, you must go to Rome. He didn't care about that. They were so filled with rage and hatred for Paul, what they said. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse. That's serious business. Saying, now what was the curse? They would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Well, if they stayed true to that, then they all died of starvation or thirst. But I don't think they did. Words, just words.

God is greater than anyone. As a matter of fact, God is greater than all my sin. Isn't that wonderful? Look at this. There were more than 40 which had made this conspiracy, more than 40 men. And they came, now, now, it's not enough, it's not enough that they've conspired. But now, they're going to go get the chief priest, the high priest involved. So now they're going to go spread their poison. Now they're going to try to infect others with their plot.

And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great curse that we would eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now, therefore, ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring them down unto you tomorrow as though he would inquire something more perfectly concerning him. And we, wherever he come near, are ready to kill him.

Now, when our Lord Jesus Christ spoke these comforting words to Paul, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness of me. He wasn't telling Paul his troubles were over, was he? God doesn't promise us ease in this life, does he? No. I love what Scott Richardson used to say, the Christian's either in trouble, coming out of trouble, or going into trouble. I didn't know what trouble was until the Lord saved me. I'm not kidding you. Did you? But His grace is sufficient. Isn't that wonderful? His grace is sufficient. I can look back and say, He carried me through it all. That's wonderful, isn't it? That's so wonderful. Our God is so good to us, isn't He?

So here, does the Lord know these men are conspiring? Absolutely. Absolutely. Is he thinking, oh, they're going to throw up my plants? Not at all. He's the Almighty One. He laughs at them. He laughs at them. My.

Our great God and Savior was encouraging Paul to trust Him through all the difficult trials that would come and that he has went through. As we continue in the Book of Acts, we're going to see Paul shipwrecked. And not one of the persons on that ship was drowned, was lost. We're going to see him get bit by a viper on the island of Malta. Something that normally killed a man, and he lived. Just shook it off into the fire. Oh my. He was being preserved for the purpose of God's will to be accomplished. And he would not arrive at Rome until the exact time that God had purposed for him to arrive at Rome.

And this is true of every member of the blood-bought church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a time Every one of us has a time when we're going to be ushered into the glory of the Lord. We don't know when that is, but it's going to happen to every one of us. Isn't that amazing? And Paul had confidence in Christ. He's his rest. He's his shield. He's his defender. He's his redeemer. He's his king. He's his Lord. He says, my God. He's my God. Oh my, it's wonderful.

We see in verse 13 of Acts 23, our text tells us there's more than 40 Jews had conspired together. They bound themselves with a curse. And the curse they bound themselves with was an oath. And when it says curse there, in other words, they anathemize themselves. John Gill says this, anathema is an oath, a vow made to be punished with anathema if not cut. An anathema is let them be damned. I guarantee you they weren't thrown out of the Israel camp. Because the high priest wouldn't want that to be known, that they had a part of that. My, oh, my.

But I'll tell you what. Anathema means accursed of God. So if they were saying, if we don't fulfill this, may we be accursed of God, well, we see that those religious hypocrites did not keep their vow. And our Lord Jesus Christ made sure they wouldn't. Isn't that amazing? Our Lord Jesus made sure they wouldn't carry that plan out. And again, there's no doubt in my mind that these Christ-hating Jews broke the vow, yielded to their hunger and their thirst. But if they died in their sins, they were truly accursed of God for all eternity.

so that we who are the redeemed of the Lord Jesus Christ rejoice in our sanctification, which is in Christ Jesus, being made holy in Christ. That's our only holiness comes from Christ. Our redemption comes from Christ. Our righteousness comes from Christ. He's all our wisdom. And he's the only one, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who God will accept for the salvation of his chosen blood-bought people. Only Christ. I am the way, the, singular. I am the life. I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

Have you come to Christ? Oh, I pray you will. I pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will draw you if you haven't come to Christ. And we who are born-again believers, let us lay hold upon Christ. Let us hold him. Oh, cast ourselves upon him. What does he say? Cast yourself, cast all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. Those are wonderful words, aren't they? Cast all your cares, little insignificant cares that are not insignificant. You ever thought of something and go, I can't take that to God, it's too small. No, it's not. No, it's not. Take it to the Lord in prayer. We have a friend in Christ, a savior, a redeemer. who mediates for us in heaven. It's wonderful.

Now let's read verses 16 to 22. Look at this. And when Paul's sister's son heard. So here's Paul's nephew. When Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul. Well, certainly any nephew, whether you're saved or lost, if you heard that your uncle's gonna be killed, you'd go tell him, wouldn't you? Connor, if you heard Paul was gonna be killed, you'd go tell him. You'd go warn him. Why? Because you love him.

Now, we don't know if this young man was saved or lost. Scripture doesn't tell us that, but he was there by the purpose and will of God. And then what does Paul do? Well, he, being a Roman, he calls one of the centurions over. He's not just calling one of the soldiers, he's calling one of the leaders over, the captain of a hundred, and said, bring this young man unto the chief captain, for he has a certain thing to tell him. So he took him in and brought him to the chief captain, and God has all this orchestrated. This is amazing. This is all orchestrated by God.

And said, Paul, the prisoner, called me unto him and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee who has something to say unto thee. And the chief captain took him by the hand and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is it that thou hast to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee, that thou wouldest bring Paul to-morrow to the council, as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly. But do not yield unto them, for their lie in wait for him of them more than 40 men which have bound themselves with an oath that they may they will neither eat nor drink until they have killed him and now they are ready looking for a promise from thee now think of this this is amazing they've done all this stuff in secret plotting, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. Nobody else knows except for them, right? And the Lord knows, he sees all this.

And then they go to the council, and they say, hey, we're gonna do this. All you have to do is, now they've got others involved, right? And the Lord sees all that, doesn't he? And then, Paul's nephew overhears all this, and he loves his uncle. And he goes and runs and goes in. Somehow he got inside the prison. Well, how did that happen? By the sovereignty of God, right? And he goes and tells Paul. And Paul tells the centurion. The centurion takes him to the chief captain. And then he tells the chief captain what's going on. So that which was plotted in secrecy is now made in the open. See how God works?

I had someone get a phone call about something in the past, and revealed to them was the whole plot, how these folks was going to get me out of the church. And then I went into a certain meeting, and I already knew what they were going to say. Isn't that amazing? That's called God's protecting hand, isn't it? And then you all rose up and said, enough is enough. My, oh my. And that which was plotted in secret was exposed and came to naught. And look what we have now. Oh my goodness. But we had to go through all that pain and all that sorrow, didn't we? Yeah, we did. Heartbreaking. My. But God took care of us the whole way through, didn't he? the whole way through. My! It's absolutely amazing.

Look what now is said in verse 22. So the chief captain then let the young man depart and charged him, see thou tell no man that thou hast showed me these things. Don't you tell anyone that I know this. Because he's got something in mind. He's got something in mind. And it's not killing the Jews. It's foiling what they will do. Who gave him that idea? Amen, brother. God did. God did. And these verses pretty much explain themselves, don't they? They pretty much do. We don't have to spend a lot of time on them, but let us see God's sovereignty through all that.

What does this show us? This shows us that our sovereign Lord is in full control. He's in full control of all things. And he will use whatever he is pleased to use to accomplish what he has purposed. You know that? My, it was his purpose that I would be here and preaching and be your pastor, which is a great honor. And here I am, not in my own strength, but all because it's the will and purpose of God. Isn't that amazing? I'm just as amazed as you all are. I love you like you love me. It's wonderful. It's incredible.

And Paul knew that he must go to Rome because our Lord told him he must go to Rome. So the evil design of that wicked man, wicked band of Jews, could not thwart God's purpose. And let us never overlook that, beloved. Let us never overlook that or take it lightly. The small things our Lord Jesus is pleased to use to accomplish his perfect will in revealing the wicked plots of these Jews, Paul's nephew. Our Lord used Paul's nephew to accomplish his perfect will. We only have described about him as a young man. He's Paul's sister's son, he's Paul's nephew, and that's all we have revealed to us. Our text tells us that Paul's nephew heard about the evil plans of these wicked men, And marvel that it was the predetermined will of God for him to hear those things. For him to hear those things. That he would use that young man to overrule the plot of those 40 men. Isn't that amazing?

And beloved of God, we should never take for granted those things that are providentially arranged for our well-being, both spiritually and physically. May God help us to see his sovereign hand in everything in our lives, how he cares for us, his love and compassion towards us each day.

There's a reason why the Word of God tells us, do all things without murmuring, disputing, that we may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. That's Philippians 2, 14 and 15.

Listen to those two verses. Listen to those two verses in the Amplified Bible. Do all things without grumbling and fault-finding. Oh, man. Remember, sister, I told you guys yesterday that I got so convicted for that part? You know, when we're fault-finding and grumbling, do you know who we're murmuring against? Yeah, Chris knows, eh? We're murmuring against God and his providence.

Oh, I got hit like a Mack truck with this thing this week. It's not hard for me to grumble. Is it hard for you to grumble? Is it hard for us to find fault? I think we become professional fault finders sometimes, right? It's true. We're just being honest. But then we think of the grace and the mercy that God has towards us, and that'll cause us to stop finding fault, and that'll cause us to stop grumbling. Because oh, how merciful he is to us. Oh, how wonderful he is to us.

Turn, if you would, to 2 Kings. 2 Kings, chapter five. Again, the Amplified Bible says, do all things without grumbling and fault finding and complaining, which is against God, and questioning and doubting among yourselves that you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God, without blemish, faultless and unrebukable in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation, perverted, which is spiritually perverted and perverse, among whom you are as seen as bright lights, stars, or beacons shining out clearly in the dark world.

Now, a good illustration of our Lord's providence, his providential arrangements for his elect is found in 2 Kings 5, verses 1 to 14. It's concerning the cleansing of Nahum the leper. Our Lord Jesus had allowed the Syrian army, of whom Nahum was a captain, to win a battle against Israel, God's chosen nation, and a young maid was taken captive and was brought back to the country of the Syrians.

Now the Syrians often, it was not necessarily the Syrian army, but they had conscripts under their armed forces that were like marauders. And they were still part of the Syrian army, but they didn't wear all the things, so they just looked like robbers. And they would raid Israel and take captive people, usually younger women, and women, and kill the men. and steal the livestock and whatever they had, and take them back. Sell the young ones into slavery. And my, this young lady gets taken. And by the providence of God, She ends up in the house of Nahum.

This is a beautiful story. Look at this. Look at verses one to three. Nahum's wife has a servant who waits on her. It's this little Israeli maid. Now, Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master. He was the captain of the host of Syria. He was a general. In honor of, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. Leprosy had no cure. in this time. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, these are the raiders, and had bought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife.

This is all according to God's will and purpose, beloved. Even her being taken into captivity. My, because she's going to testify of our great God, the Almighty One. And the maid said unto her mistress, Would God my Lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy. Look at the confidence that she has in her God, in our God. So much so that she says, if he was with the prophet, Elijah, He'd surely be healed.

Think of this. This girl had been separated from her family. She'd been separated from her parents, all her loved ones. And here she is, a faithful witness to Naaman's wife. A faithful witness of the one true living God. even though she's in captivity. Sounds like Joseph too, doesn't it? Oh my. And she testifies of the power of God that can clean Naaman of his leprosy. My. And now leprosy is a picture of sin in the Bible. And he was a full leper from head to toe. Just like we're full sinners, aren't we? Top of our head to the bottom of our feet. But we've been washed, haven't we? We've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. That's pictured in Nahum being cleansed from his leprosy. Look at this. Verse 4, And one went in and told his lord, saying, Thus, and thus said the maid, that is of the land of Israel, and the king of Syria, said, Go, go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him, look at this, ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold, and ten charges, changes of raiment. That's just 10 fancy pieces of clothing. And he bought the letter to the king of Israel saying, now, when this letter's come unto thee, behold, I have therefore sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou may recover him of his leprosy. He sends a letter to the king of Israel saying, another man, right, saying, You have to recover my captain here of his leprosy. What? He can't even help his own sin, can he?

And look at his response to him. And it came to pass when the king of Israel read the letter that he rent his clothes and said, am I God to kill him to make alive? I can't do anything. that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy. Wherefore, consider I pray you and see how he seeketh to quarrel against me. So what he's thinking right away is he knows I can't do this. And he's seeking to get in a fight with me so he can send his armies down, take over Israel. No, he actually seriously thinks that he can heal. But only God can heal, right? So this shows us that no man can heal another man of their sin. We can't heal ourselves of our sin.

So Naaman came with his horses and his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elijah. I like Elijah. He, he, oh my. Look at this. And Elijah sent a messenger unto him saying, Elijah didn't even come. He's sitting in his house doing whatever he's doing. He doesn't even go out himself to see Nehemiah. And Nehemiah, he's a huge figure. He's a general in the Syrian army. Elijah sends a messenger out to him. Oh my, oh my. saying, go and wash in the Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shall be clean.

Now look at Nahum's reaction is the reaction of a natural man. I guarantee you this is how we all would have reacted if we weren't born again. And we had leprosy, and someone told us to go wash in the river. Didn't even have the dignity to come out and see a high-ranking officer like me. He's Roth. That means he's ticked. He's spitting mad, beloved. Oh, my. But as Roth went away, he's like, let's get out of here. I'm not going to listen to this tomfoolery. How are we sometimes before we're saved and we hear the gospel? The only way we can be cleansed from our sins. Oh, my. Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me. I'm an important man. Surely he's going to come out. Hey, Brother Gene? Surely he's going to come out of that house and talk to me. I'm Nahum. I'm the chief captain. Let's get out of this place. come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God to strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. He wants this big sign and wonder. Are not, and now he's gonna talk about a couple rivers in Syria, are not Abana and Farvar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Well, surely my rivers are better than the rivers here in Israel. Because they're Syrian land. That's what he's saying. He's proud of his nation, isn't he? Oh my. May I not wash in them and be clean?

So he turned away and went, look at this, in a rage. He is so mad. You ever been so mad you just see red? So angry? Oh my, he's just enraged. Now look at this. Now this servant must have been close to him. He must have loved this servant. Because when he's in a rage like that, he's liable to lop somebody's head off. And he could do that. The servant must have been very dear to him. And the servant came near, set aside from everyone, and spake unto him and said, My father, look at that, look at the endearment he has to him. If the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he sayeth to thee, Wash and be clean. Then he went down to the river and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Praise God. That picture's the blood of Christ, beloved. Except we go down the fountain once, don't we? See what he said, I love what the servant said. If he had told you to do some wondrous thing, you'd have done it, right? People try to do all kinds of things to be saved. But salvation's only through Christ and his blood and his righteousness. There's no other way for salvation. No other way.

So what a glorious picture we have before us here of the instruments our Lord uses. Faithful preachers, he uses preachers to preach the gospel. He uses all of us to support the work and get the gospel out, doesn't he? He uses sinners such as we. That's amazing. And then, he allows us to fellowship, having our hearts knit together in love, in and through Christ. We don't have to go through this world alone. We have each other. And you and I have Christ. which is the most important thing, mine.

Scripture says, come unto me, all ye that labor. The Lord says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's wonderful. Rest for your soul. Rest for your soul. Praise the Savior, ye that know him. Who can tell how much we owe Him? My, may we leave here rejoicing as God's people and praying for our loved ones who do not know Christ. Just keep lifting them up, beloved. Family, friends, co-workers, just keep lifting them up. And pray, if it be God's will, that He'd open up a door of utterance for us to speak to them about the wondrous things about Christ. To God be all the glory, honor, and praise. Brother Brian, can you close us in prayer?