Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Acts chapter 21. We're going to start a new chapter
this morning. The name of the message is Onward
to Jerusalem. Onward to Jerusalem. Now, last
week we covered the last part of Acts chapter 20, where we
looked at Paul bidding farewell to our Lord's ordained elders
from Ephesus. And he knew that it would be
the last time he would see their face in the flesh. How he knew
that, I don't know, but he knew that. And there was great sorrow
because they wouldn't see each other again, just as when one
of our loved ones within the church or our loved ones within
our family pass, there's great sorrow when we know we're never
gonna see them again. There's sorrow, isn't there?
There's sorrow. But they knew that they would
see each other again in heaven. They all had the same hope, didn't
they? And that hope is Christ. And that salvation is in and
through His blood and righteousness. He's perfect. He's the God-man.
He came to save sinners. Now, as we read this portion
here today, and we study this portion today, I want us to keep
in our minds that all this is happening according to God's
divine will. His sovereign will and purpose
is being accomplished. And don't forget, there's all
these other events going on in the world. If you ever get a chance, look
at one of those Bible timelines. that you can put out and you
can see what was going on during Christ's crucifixion, what was
going on in other places in the world. That was the most important
event this world has ever seen. And then you can look back and
see what was going on in the times of Moses and Noah and all
them afterwards too. It's fascinating. It's fascinating. But all those things were happening
according to the will and purpose of God, right? So this trip,
that Paul's taking to go to Jerusalem is all according to God's will
and purpose. And something that we're gonna
see that just lit me up is the different places Paul goes, he
finds disciples. The gospel spread, Brother Travis,
like wildfire. Like wildfire, beloved. Oh my. You can't bound the word of God,
can you? You can't bind the word of God, can you? People tried
to get rid of it through the years. You can't bind it. You
can't get rid of it. God's word is true. And his gospel
will go forth until his coming back, as we say, until the Lord
returns. It'll keep going. So it was a
very emotional time for them as they said their goodbyes.
So let's stand up together and read verses 1 to 4 of Acts chapter
21 to start out our chapter here. And it came to pass that after
we were gotten from them, and had launched, we come with a
straight course unto Coos, and a day following unto Rhodes,
and from thence to Petra. And finding the ship sailing
over into Phoenicia, we went aboard and set forth. Now, when we had discovered Cyprus,
we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed
at Tyre, for there was the ship was to unload her burden. And
finding disciples, we tarried there seven days, who said to
Paul, through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. See right there in verse 4? And
finding disciples. Isn't that amazing? Found born-again
blood-washed saints. And love this. It's so wonderful.
When Paul was on this trip, he was not alone. Luke was with
him. And he was the writer of the book of Acts, and several
other of the Lord's disciples were with Paul as they sailed
from Miletus after saying goodbye to those faithful preachers at
Ephesus. And remember, they were all together,
and Paul gave them those charges. And he said to them, one thing
that he said to them that really stuck out to me was, he said,
I held nothing back that was profitable from you. See, as
God's preachers and teachers, right, brother, we're to hold
nothing back, are we? Nothing. We're to put the whole counsel
of God before our ears. My. And Paul expected vemin and opposition
was waiting for him when he got to Jerusalem. He knew that this
was now his third missionary journey, and he knew persecution
would come in some form. But he still set his mind to
go into Jerusalem because it was the Lord's will. And the
Lord gave him fortitude, didn't he? The Lord gave him strength
and grace to say, I'm going to Jerusalem even if I'm going to
get persecuted. My, oh, my. And by God's grace
and his Holy Spirit working in him, he continued with bold determination
to go to Jerusalem. How many of us would go somewhere
knowing that we're gonna face persecution? But I'll tell you this, if it
was God's will for us to go there and to face persecution, he would
give us grace and strength just like he gave to Paul. Because
Paul receives the same grace and strength we receive, right? So don't be surprised when you're
persecuted for your faith. Don't be surprised when trials
come and troubles come about our faith. God will give us grace. And he'll give us strength in
time of need. In time of need. Some say, well, I can't go through
that. Well, if he calls you to, he'll give you grace. Just like
dying grace, right? He gives his people dying grace.
And when we need it, he gives it to us. It's amazing. It's
truly amazing. We just read there in verses
1 to 4 that Luke continues to give us a brief account of their
travels. Notice that the Holy Spirit doesn't have Luke go into
too much detail about what happened. We can be for sure know that
Paul preached the gospel. and that when they got together
with these disciples, they talked about Christ. We can know that
without a fact, without a doubt, I mean. Without a fact even being
shown in the text, but without a doubt, too, because that's
what Paul did. He said, I'm determined to preach
nothing but Christ and Him crucified. Now, Cuse was an island in the
Aegean Sea. A straight course to the island
of Cuse would seem to indicate that they had favorable winds.
So again, the providence of God gave them
favorable winds on this journey. Who's in control
of all the weather? It's our great God, isn't it? We saw on Sunday school, He upholds
all things by the word of His power. His power. So they had favorable
winds as they came to that island. And then we see next they came
to Rhodes, which is a Greek island. And they say at the time, and
I imagine it's still true today, that it was an absolutely beautiful
island. A beautiful island. A beautiful
place to visit with many breathtaking sights. Paul wasn't on a sightseeing
tour, was he? Now he would have marveled like
we would at God's creation. I always like to say when I look
at a beautiful sunset, look at the handiwork of the Lord. It's
His doing. See a beautiful mountain range,
look at the handiwork of the Lord. Go to the Great Lakes and
look at those beautiful lakes full of fresh water. Behold the
handiwork of the Lord. It's amazing. And those giant
ships look like just little toys on that as they go out in those,
right? How vast those lakes are. My. Now Paul, again, he's not on
a sightseeing tour. As we see from Rhodes, they sailed
to Petra. a city of Lycarea, which was
a province of Asia Minor. Now remember, he wasn't allowed
to go into Asia Minor at one time. Now he's going there. And
what's he doing? He's preaching the gospel, isn't
he, sister? He's going in there preaching Christ. My, oh my. And our text does not say how
long they were there. Paul and those who were traveling
with him stayed at Petra. But eventually, the ship that
they were on was not going in the direction that they wanted,
or the direction that the Lord wanted them to go on. So we see
in verse two that they had to find a ship that was going to
Phoenicia, which was on the way to Jerusalem. Now remember, all
these ships are there by the will and purpose of God. They're
unsaved men who are captaining these and who are moving these
by rowing or by sail. And they're all going to the
places where God's ordained to be able to pick Paul up and his
travelers. So we always have to look at
the Scriptures with an eye to God's sovereign providence. And who's the one guiding and
directing this? Christ. He's sending his preacher and
his preachers wherever he wants them to go. Is that not what he does? Right? He moved Bill over to
Georgia. He moved Jim down to 13th Street. He moved me from Oregon over
to here. All by his will and purpose.
And now it's been 10 years. Isn't that amazing? It's absolutely
incredible. He does whatever he wills. He
does whatever he wills. Then they left, we see, they
left Phoenicia and they sailed to Cyprus, which was also an
island. And leaving it on the left hand
simply means that they sailed away from Cyprus to the waters
to the right hand. They sailed from the island.
And then they sailed into Syria, which was where Phoenicia was. And they landed at Tyre. It's
a chief city. Tyre was a big city then, big
port. It's a chief city of Phoenicia.
And the ship was what? It unburdened its load. It had a load of goods, and it
was finally at its destination. So it was being unloaded. Tyree was the place where the
cargo the ship was carrying was to be unloaded. And then we see
in verse four that, look at this, some of the Lord's born-again
blood-washed saints greeted them. Now these folks had been saved
by the Lord. They'd been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. They had heard the gospel of
God's sovereign grace. We don't know who preached it
to them. That doesn't matter, does it? We know they heard it.
And the Lord saved them. Says they were disciples. They
were followers. Followers of Christ. A believer
is a disciple of Christ. Right? We're disciples of Christ. We who are the born again blood
washed people of God. And here they meet some. At Tyree. And those traveling with them
spent seven days. Could you imagine what that was
like? Seven days with Paul and Luke and these other unnamed
saints. Doesn't matter what their names
were, does it? They were brothers and sisters in Christ who had
been saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. In Syria, if they're
from Tyre, they're pagan worshipers before they were saved. They're
a bunch of idol worshipers, and God saved them. They'd been redeemed by Christ,
through his blood and righteousness, and they didn't even know it
until the Lord saved them. And so, how did they know Paul was
coming? Well, I imagine Paul went through
the city, probably preaching the gospel, and he met some of
them there. And, man, what a sweet time that
was then. Fellowshipping around the Lord
Jesus Christ, talking about His saving grace and how He saved
us. Well, I'm saying saved us, because now I'm getting... We
can't help but saying what the Lord saved us, can we, as believers? Talking about how the Lord saved
them from all their sins. Getting excited. Remember those
two disciples? Did not our hearts burn within
us? Oh, my. It's wonderful. And Luke doesn't say, but I don't
have any doubt that Paul preached the gospel. If he was there for
seven days, Paul couldn't be preaching the gospel. He'd be
preaching the gospel. And they gathered together, and
the disciples would have come around at least once in those
seven days. Probably, it says disciples,
so there's more than one. And they get together with Paul
and Luke and his companions. And no doubt Paul would have
proclaimed the gospel. He had proclaimed salvation even
through Christ in him alone. And we see here the characteristics
of God's saints. It's the same in any given generation. When we're traveling to different
parts of the country, isn't it amazing that we can go to different
parts of the country, that we're passing through an
area, and we go to where God's born-again, blood-washed people
are meeting for public worship, and if it's possible, we join
with them, and it's a delight. It's a delight for them and for
us to hear the gospel preached, isn't it? And then to meet saints
from other places. It's amazing. The love of Christ constrains
us, 2 Corinthians 5, 14, and we desire to hear the gospel
proclaimed. That's our desire as believers.
We desire now to hear the gospel proclaimed by faithful men. who are just like Paul in preaching
and proclaiming the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation
in and through him alone. And what was Paul and his companions'
motives for preaching or for serving the Lord? The
same motive we have. the love of God in Christ for
us. Don't you marvel that God loves us in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ? As we saw on Sunday school, he
died for the ungodly. That's us. Don't you marvel at
that? I marvel at that. I just marvel that Christ died
for me. I just rolled it around in my
head, to be honest with you, and just rejoice over it. Because I know I never would
have come to Him unless He had drawn me. I'd never choose to
serve Him unless He'd chosen me. I'd never willingly come
to Christ. unless he made me willing. And
how do we know this? Well, the scripture says there's
none that seeketh after God. There's none that understandeth.
That's our state, naturally. Isn't it a wondrous miracle of
God's grace? Here we are, sitting, saved,
born again, redeemed by the blood of Christ. And what do we desire? We desire, like the disciples
in our text do, we desire to gather together. We're gonna
have a fellowship meal. We're gonna have the Lord's Supper.
We're gonna rejoice together. over what Christ has done. Isn't
that wonderful? And our love for the Lord Jesus
Christ, our love for his born-again blood-wet children, gives us
a sincere, God-given desire to be where God's saints meet for
public worship. And remember, we're motivated
by love. That's the... motivation of the believer, motivated
by the love of Christ and for the glory of God in Christ. Right? We don't seek our own glory.
We seek to give God all the glory. Again, like I said, look what
he's done. We're a bunch of sinners here. Those of us who are saved,
we're sitting here, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God.
We've been given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. My,
that'll cause us to rejoice, won't it? That 2,000 years ago, the Lord
Jesus Christ obtained eternal redemption for us by his work,
and he did it all by himself. He didn't need no help. It's
not Jesus has done all he can do, now the rest is up to you.
That's a lie from the pit of hell. Because there's nothing
for us to do. We just look and live, don't
we, by God-given faith. We look and live and go, my,
what a Savior is Jesus Christ, my Lord. He's wondrous. Now let's read verses 5 and 6
of Acts chapter 21. And when we had accomplished
those days, we departed. So, according to God's will and
purpose, at the time appointed by God, they departed. Now, did they say, okay, it's
time to go? Yeah. But it was at the exact time that God willed
and according to His will and purpose. Did we choose to do
things during the day? Uh-huh. Yep. But does it catch God by surprise?
Nope. Not at all. I remember Jacob
was talking to his mom one time, and she said, you're telling
me what you eat for breakfast? God knows what you're going to
pick for breakfast? He goes, oh, absolutely. He knows what I'm going to wear.
He knows what shirt I'm going to put on. If I wear a tie, he
knows what tie I'm going to put on. He knows what pants I'm going
to put on. It's true, isn't it? Nothing catches God by surprise. through the years has been this
teaching that God is sovereign over, over some things. Not the weather, right? Because
people say, well, look what the devil did. The devil didn't do
that at all. God's in control of the weather. Right? It's his world. Now, the evil that we do, that's
us. The sin that we do, that's us.
God's not the author of that. We just do it naturally. And
what does God have to do for us to be sinners? Just leave
us alone. And even we know, even after we're saved, we're still
plagued with sin, aren't we? But look at the mercy God shows us.
He doesn't count that against us because of the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's good news. That's wonderful. So look at this. And when those
days were accomplished, we departed and went our way. And they all
bought us on our way with wives and children till we were out
of the city. And we kneeled on the shore and
prayed. And when we had taken our leave,
one of another, we took ship and they returned again. Look
at the love being displayed by these disciples. They not only
are there, the men, but their wives are there, their children
are there. And what do they do? Well, Paul
says, well, it's time for us to go. And they say, well, we're
going to walk you right down to the beach. We're going to
walk you right down to the ship. And, you know, they're rejoicing
all the time, they're going down there. And then they said, before
you leave, we want to pray. And they knelt down and prayed.
No doubt they prayed for Paul's journey. Isn't that wonderful? What Christian
love is shown here, right? We don't know if they knew Paul
or they just, I would think they just met him. But look how quickly their hearts
are joined together in love. Look at that. So no matter how
far we are from each other, No matter if one of us is gone for
a while, our hearts are still knit together in love. Isn't
that wonderful? It's wonderful. We still pray
for one another. My. So, at our Lord's appointed
time for Paul and those traveling with him to leave, the saints
at Tyree, along with their wives and children, went with them
down to the beach, or down to the seaport. In verse six, when
they had taken their leave of one another, when they said goodbye,
Paul and his company boarded a ship and continued their journey.
And those saints that retiree, they returned to their homes,
just like the Ephesian elders. Now they might not have ever
seen each other again, but what a time they had together. Fellowship
and in Christ Jesus our Lord, it's wonderful. And what encouragement
for we who are the people of God here? What encouragement
for us? The Holy Spirit gives another
illustration here of the love of God that's shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit of God. And it's just wonderful encouragement
for we who are the people of God. Why when we meet people? who are born again and we get
an instant connection with them because the love of God shed
abroad in our hearts. Isn't that amazing? It's wonderful. My. And may we who are the born again
blood washed saints of God be encouraged by these illustrations. The Holy Spirit has set these
forth for us to be an encouragement to us. No matter where we go,
God has a people. You ever been sitting in an airport?
I don't go in the airport much like I used to, but I'd be sitting
in the airport looking there, and there's a lot of people. Too much for me. I like Elmont. Nice and small. But you're in
there and there's a sea of people in there. And everybody's just
go, go, go, go, go. And I sat there a few times and
thought, well, Lord, I wonder how many of these people are your
people. I'll never know. And then you just start praying,
Lord, save these folks if they don't know you. Give them the
gospel if it's your will, right? And I'm not trying to be super
spiritual. It's just something I do. I just get caught up in all that,
looking at all these people from all different places all over
the world. It's amazing. And then here we are. You ever
fly into a city? And you fly into, like I flew
into LA one time. Huge city. You're flying in there,
and you see this city, just, and you think, how many Lord's
sheep are there? Out of all those millions of
people. We don't have a clue, do we? We know there's some.
They're there. Oh yeah. My, oh my. May we be encouraged by these
illustrations. May we take these words from
scripture here to heart. In this was manifested the love
of God towards us because that God sent his only begotten son
into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation, which means atonement for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us,
ought we to love one another? 1 John 4, 9, 11. Now let's read verse 7 of Acts
chapter 21. And when we had finished our
course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemus and saluted the brethren
and abode with them one day. Well, they go to the next place.
Hell, there's more brethren. This is wonderful. This is wonderful, isn't it? There's more brethren. My, oh
my. And you know what comfort that
would have been for Paul and his companions as they were going
along and they meet these brethren? Do you know how much that would
have just stirred their hearts full of love and full of praise
to our great Savior? Number one, for saving those
folks. And number two, for the fellowship
that they have with them. My, isn't that incredible? All
ordained by God. All ordained by God. Now, Timaeus
was a seaport that bordered the land of Israel, about 32 miles
from Tyre. So they came down about 32 miles
from Tyre. We see that Paul and his company
only spent one day there. But what an enjoyable day that
would have been as they met fellow brethren. That would make a day even more
special, wouldn't it? Not that it wouldn't have been
special for them to talk amongst one another, but now to meet
even more brethren, more blood-washed saints, to see how the Lord's
gospels moved, saving sinners. It's wonderful, isn't it? My,
it's absolutely wonderful. Here's some of our Brethren,
the Lord's born-again, blood-washed saints, right there. And we see
that after they greeted one another, they spent the day together,
and no doubt, again, they were talking about the wondrous works
of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he'd saved them from their sins,
how he'd clothe them in his righteousness, and how he shed his blood to
to save them, cleanse us from all our sins. How he rose again
on the third day. Oh, how he's now our mediator.
He's our mediator. He's in heaven right now. Same
things that excites us, same things excited them. Isn't that
amazing? That's wonderful. My. And these saints here, they would
have loved to hear. Now think of this too. Here's
these saints that Paul's meeting. Now they would have loved to
hear. what the Lord did with Paul on those missionary journeys.
And you know Paul, he'd be glorifying God. He'd be saying, look what
the Lord done. He did this, and then they stoned
me, and they left me for dead, and I got back up by God's grace
and strength, and I went right back in that city and preached
the gospel to them. And then I was preaching here
in this place in Ephesus, and a whole bunch of folks, the Lord
say, And God had told me before I went in there, as many as were
ordained to eternal life are going to that city, because I
have much people in that city. And then we find out, and he
would have said this too, because the Holy Spirit put it in the
text, as many of us were ordained to eternal life believed. And
then he'd say, you believed because you were ordained to eternal
life. And you go, oh my, that's amazing. We don't know how young of Christians
they were, but Paul never held back anything that was profitable.
The church at Thessalonica, it's a young church, just infant church. And he says, no one beloved brother
in your election of God, in verse 14 of chapter one. So they'd be rejoicing hearing
these great doctrines from Paul that maybe they hadn't heard
a whole lot. They know Christ died for them. They know they
were saved by his blood and righteousness. But now, well, look what the
Lord done. My, oh my. It'd be in the time,
wouldn't it? It'd be in the sweet time. So these words are so encouraging
for God's people. So encouraging. Malachi 3.16
says this, Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another. We speak often one to another
about the wondrous things of Christ, don't we? Oh yeah. And the Lord hearkened and heard
it. And a book of remembrance was written before him for them
that feared the Lord. What's that Lamb's book of life
called? Oh my. And that thought upon
his name. They feared the Lord and they
thought upon his name. They thought how wondrous he
was. And there's no doubt that these believers We're thinking
about the Lord and talking about the Lord and singing about the
Lord. Now let's read verses 8 and 9
of Acts chapter 21. In the next day, again, according
to God's providence and will, we that were of Paul's company
departed and came unto Caesarea. Now we know Caesarea, that's
where that centurion was, remember? Cornelius. We entered into the
house of Philip. Oh, Philip lives there. Remember,
Philip was one of the six called to serve tables. He was a deacon. He's no longer a deacon. Look
what he is now. Into the house of Philip the Evangelist. Well,
we knew he had to get the evangelism because he was talking to that Ethiopian fellow, remember? And
the Lord saved him. He was reading Isaiah, and he
preached Christ from Isaiah. And the Lord saved him. In the house of Philip the Evangelist,
which was one of the seven, that meaning the seven chosen to serve
the tables, an abode with him, the same man had four daughters,
virgins, which did prophesize. Now, Philip was, again, one of
the first seven deacons ordained to the office in the New Testament. You can find that in Acts chapter
6, 5, if you want to write that down for a reference. But at
the appointed time of the Lord Jesus Christ, God had called
Philip to be an evangelist. To be an evangelist and send
him to preach the gospel. Now here he is in Caesarea, living
in Caesarea. And what's he doing? He's preaching
the gospel. My. And Philip was the ordained instrument
that our Lord used to preach the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch,
which was recorded for our learning in the eighth chapter of the
book of Acts, if you want to write that down for later. We see here in verse eight that
Paul and those in his company, they entered into the house of
Philip. And they spent several days with him in Ohio. Wouldn't
that have been wonderful? But you know what? Think of how
when we get together and talk like we will with our fellowship
meal and get together and fellowship together and how blessed that
is, that time with each other. That's how they felt too. It's no different. Isn't that
amazing? Iron sharpens iron, doesn't it?
Yeah. I learn stuff from you guys all
the time. You be telling me about something from the scriptures,
or you be telling me about something in your life, and I'm just like,
oh my, look at that. Look what the Lord done. It's
amazing. And we rejoice together, don't
we? We rejoice together. So they spent several days together,
Philip, of course, is very gracious and hospitable. He's a servant
of the Most High God, just as all of God's people are.
We're all servants. We're servants of the Most High
God. And Philip had been given to hospitality, and he graciously
opened his home to Paul and his companions. and mark how God's
grace makes people gracious and makes God's people generous.
And we see that all the time here. With our fellowship meals,
we have our conferences and giving the pastor a love offering and
taking care of them. And when we find out there's
a need even in the body, we help out. It's amazing. Absolutely incredible. And Philip counted it an honor
and a privilege to have God's servants and saints as guests
in his home. Vicki and I love it when we have
the Lord's preachers in our house. And I know several of you have
put up different preachers, too, and put up even different people
of the Lord that come down. And I know you guys stay with
Brian and Linda a lot. And for saints to open up their
home is wonderful. And that's always a time of sweet
fellowship, isn't it? Always, always blessed by it. It's amazing. Matthew chapter 10, verse 41
and 42 says this. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet
shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous
man in the name of righteous man shall receive a righteous
man's reward. This isn't gathering crowns either.
It's not that. It's just how excited we get
with one another talking about the king and being blessed by
him. And whosoever shall give to drink
one of these little ones, that's all of God's people. as a cup
of water, cold water, in the name of a disciple. Verily I
say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. My, oh
my. We see in verse nine that Philip
and his wife were blessed with four daughters. And at the time
of Luke's writing, these daughters were not married, they were virgins.
And God the Holy Spirit had given these young women the gift of
foretelling. future events. And we see that
they did prophesize and keeping in context with what was waiting
for Paul at Jerusalem. Now, there are no prophets today.
None. There's no apostles today. I
just heard about the police busting some guy, called himself an apostle,
and he was running this scam, getting all kinds of money from
people. I think he had four different houses worth millions of dollars.
Well, they got him. Take that false preacher away.
He's just stealing money from people. That's all he's doing.
He's no concern for those people. And matter of fact, they don't
even preach the gospel, do they? They just say, give me more money.
I need a chant. Remember that Oral Roberts guy?
That guy was a crook. He said, God told me if you don't
give me, what was it, $7 million or something? I'm gonna, he's
gonna take me home. No, he wouldn't take you home,
he'd send you to hell. And that's where that fella is. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Just a wolf. My, oh my. God's people, Henry
Mahan used to say, God's people are gracious because God's made
us gracious. God's people give grace because
we've received grace. God's people give mercy because
we've received mercy. Because that don't come to us
by nature, does it? Nope. But oh, the Lord changes
his people, doesn't he? My. Now the Holy Spirit had given
these young men, or young women, I mean, the gift of foretelling
future events and keeping it within context was Paul was going
to go to Jerusalem and they were going to prophesize about him
going to Jerusalem. And Philip's daughters warned
Paul for telling him of the danger that he would be in if he went
to Jerusalem. Now, this passage of Scripture
is not teaching, as some false religions say, and try to assert
that women are allowed to preach or pastor churches. That's not
what this is teaching. But people take these words and
twist these words and say, look. Nope. Only men are called to
preach the gospel. I remember talking years ago
to someone I know, and they said, well, that's kind of sexist of
you, Dan. It was one of my kids. I won't tell you which one. And
I said, nope. It's what God commands. It's what God commands. So what can we say about a church
that's pastored by a woman? And you all know I'm not putting
women down. I don't know what I'd do without
my wife. She's truly my help me. And all you ladies, we lift you
up. But if a woman's pastoring a church, you can know for sure
that's a false church. That's a false church. God did not put her there. But we see these four girls. These four girls are going to tell Paul. I forgot to put verse 10 in my
notes. And when we tarried there many
days, there came down from Judah a certain prophet named Agabus. So here's Agabus now. Let's read verses 10 to 12. and bound his own hands and feet,
and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem
bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him
into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things,
both we and they of that place besought him not to go to Jerusalem.
So now, Agabus comes down from Jerusalem. Now, some people have taken this
and said, well, there's a contradiction right there. Paul said he was
bound to go to Jerusalem. And then these saints are warning
him not to go down. How can both be true? Well, I'll
show you this. Paul was bound by the Holy Spirit
of God to go. The saints, out of their love
and concern for Paul, didn't want him to go. It's not a contradiction
at all, is it? If we knew one of our loved ones
was gonna go into danger, a dangerous zone, and may not come back again,
what would we say? Please don't go there. But we're gonna see that they
finally submit to the will of God. They love him. They love Paul. They love him. They don't desire
him to go into danger. They don't, and this, see this
agabus? It'd been more than 15 years
since Paul seen him. This was the man, he was no stranger
to Paul, because, or his gifts and his calling from God is,
Abagas was the well-known prophet of God who, along with other prophets, had
foretold of a coming famine, which was to come to pass. exactly
as he prophesized. Look at verse 27 and 28 of Acts
chapter 11. Turn back to Acts chapter 11. And we're gonna see here. And in those days came prophets
from Jerusalem unto Antioch, verse 27. Verse 28. And there stood up one of them
named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should
be a great dearth throughout all the world. Now, notice that.
This is a case that can tell us that in the text, world doesn't
mean the whole world. It means in Caesarea. It means
in Israel. Because that's all they knew.
The Romans called the world their empire. And Judea was part of that. Why? Through all the world, it
says. Which came to pass in the days
of Claudius Caesar. So it came to pass when Caesar,
Claudius Caesar, was on the throne. So exactly how Agabus had said
came to pass. Now we see Agabus illustrated
what was waiting for Paul at Jerusalem by taking Paul's own
girdle, which is a waist belt, and he bound up his own hands.
He didn't bind up Paul's hands, he bound up his own hands and his feet. is the term his
own hands indicates that it was not Paul's hands, but Agabus'
hands and feet, and that he was bound. And this, Agabus gave
a true prophecy of what was going to happen to Paul when he got
to Jerusalem. He was going to be bound and taken away. Look what he says, thus saith
the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man
that owneth this girdle. That was Paul's girdle. and shall
deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." Who was he delivered
into? The Romans' hands. We're going to see that as we
journey through the rest of this book. We see in verse 12 of Acts chapter
12, this prophecy coming from the lips of Agabus pricked the
hearts of Paul's traveling companions and also those who were the household
of Philip. And they began to plead with
Paul, begging him to reconsider and change his plans about going
to Jerusalem. Look at this, verse 12. And when
we heard these things, this is Luke writing, both we, that's
companions of Paul, and they of that place, that's Philip
and his family, and Agabus, besought him not to go to Jerusalem. So
now everyone's telling Paul, don't go to Jerusalem. Oh, and remember, Paul's bound
in the spirit to go to Jerusalem. He has to go to Jerusalem. And
by the grace of God, he's going to go. And he was not about to
allow anyone stop him either. No. Anyone keep him from going
and doing what the Lord had proposed for him. Look at verse 13. Then
Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? His
heart was breaking over how they were. Their love for him was
so evident. For I am ready, look at this,
oh, this is God-given fortitude, this is God-given grace. For
I am ready to be bound only, not to be bound only, but also
to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. My,
now that's God giving him grace, right? That's God giving him
fortitude, beloved. What an example we see here of
Paul, set for all of us believers to follow. Like Paul, we should
be willing and ready to lay down our lives for him, right? And
we are. But God will give us strength, won't he, when that
time comes, if that time comes. My. Look at verse 14. And remember, too, we rest and
trust in Christ to give us strength just to make it through each
day, just to make it through what's here before us right now.
And we know without Him, we can do nothing, right? We take that
to heart. I can't preach a single word
without Christ. I can't pastor a church without Christ. I can't
serve God without Christ. I don't have the strength, but
God gives it, doesn't he? Because without him, we can do
nothing. Isn't that amazing? That's why, again, we say, look
what our Lord done. I know I'm saying that a lot
today, but it just makes my heart go boom and makes my head just
be overwhelmed. It's incredible. Just incredible. Look at verse 14. Here we go.
And when he would not be persuaded, he's like, no way. Look at this. I love, I love this. We ceased. And I love what they said, saying
the will of the Lord be done. See, they were wanting their
will to be done, which was keep Paul safe, which
is a natural response, isn't it? For those we love. I love how they just submit to
the Lord. And they say, they say, not my
will, but thy will be done. Is that
not what we say as believers? An event will come up, something
will come up, and we say, whatever your will is, Lord. I don't understand
why this is happening, but I'm gonna trust you through it all.
And I know you're gonna carry me through it. Because hasn't
he done it faithfully? This is the thing too. We can
look back and see his faithful hand all through our lives, from
when we was just little, little, little, little, little, and not
even knowing him, till even right today. Oh, our God's great, isn't he?
He's great. He loves his people with an everlasting
love, an unchanging love. the will of the Lord be done.
That's what we say here too, right? The will of the Lord be
done. He'll be done. These true disciples of our Lord
Jesus Christ, they love Paul more than they could ever have
put into words. And they express their love to him by their sincere
pleadings for him not to go to Jerusalem. But we also see that
their love for Christ superseded their love for Paul. when they ceased and said, the
will of the Lord be done. Right? It's beautiful. And we certainly do not want
to fight against God. And they did not want to, you
know what? They didn't want to fight against
God, which would have put them in rebellion against God, right?
And do you notice how they all said it? See the Holy Spirit
working in their hearts? The will of the Lord be done.
We love you, Paul. We can't even put into words
how much we love you. We don't want you to go up there,
but the will of the Lord be done. We'll submit to his will. Right? They were idol worshipers at
one time. And now they're submitting to the one true living God. Isn't
that a miracle? It's a miracle. And Jerusalem
was about 75 miles. Look at verse 15. And after those
days, we took up our carriages and went to Jerusalem. Carriages
there is just their baggage. They took up their baggage. And
off they went to Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem was about 75 miles
from Philip's house in Caesarea. And when they went to Jerusalem,
they would have had to go up to Jerusalem because it was built
on Mount Zion. So that's why it says, we took
up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem. Notice that little,
just a little thing in there. Something we just passed by,
but they had to go up. They had to travel up. And then
verse 16, look at this. This is wonderful. I love, I
was reading this to put a finish to this message and this just
lit me up. Look at this. There went with us also certain
of the disciples from Caesarea. A bunch of them said, we're going
with you, Paul. You know why? Paul's going there to preach
the gospel. Paul's going to say, Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
Jesus is the true Passover Lamb. A whole bunch of them saying,
we're going with you. So now not only Paul and his
companions are going, there's a whole bunch of them going up
to preach the gospel now. Isn't that wonderful? And look
at this. Look at the Lord. We've seen
how the Lord has provided all the way, right? And look at this. I'll tell you, I ask you a question.
During the Passover in Jerusalem, would there be anywhere to rent?
An inn to rent a room? Oh, they'd have been packed full,
just like we have now. They'd have been packed full.
There would be nowhere for them to sleep. People had their families
come, and then other people would rent the rooms at the local inns
and stuff. We call them hotels, but they'd
just be an inn back then. So there'd be no room. It's Passover.
The whole city's full of people from all over the place to come
and celebrate the Passover. Paul and his companions are going
there to preach the true Passover, aren't they? They're going there
to preach Christ. And look how amazing the Lord's
provision is. Look at this. They went with
us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea, and brought with
them one Nason of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should
lodge. Oh my goodness. He was bound to go to Jerusalem. He didn't know if he was going
to find a place to lay his head. But the Lord provided a man when
he stopped at Caesarea, of the disciples of Caesarea, named
Nasson, a Cyprus, and they lodged with him. There'd be plenty of food in
Jerusalem for them to purchase, right? Now they got a place to
take it and spend as much time as they need in Jerusalem. See God's provision all along
the way, not just of their needs, but also spiritually of their
comfort and being built up with being with other saints of God.
It's amazing. God is so good. So marvel at
how we, who are the Lord's people, we love to spend time with one
another. And we see when Paul and his company left Caesarea,
some of the Lord's disciples from Caesarea, they came with
him, not only to accompany him again, but to preach with him,
to proclaim Christ, to witness to the Jews that would be in
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, to proclaim Christ is the Messiah,
Christ is the true Passover lamb. And we took a man with him named
Nasa, an old disciple. from Cyprus. And he was probably
a Gentile because that name is a Greek name. That name is a
Greek name. The old pagan worshipper now
turned to be appraiser of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he owned
a house in Jerusalem. And because lodging would have
been scarce and expensive during those times, during the day of
Pentecost, we see that The Lord had graciously moved him to offer
his house as a place for them to stay while they were at Jerusalem.
God provides, doesn't he? God provides. So we see God's
sovereign will and purpose being accomplished all through this
journey to Jerusalem. And let us rejoice, because the
same sovereign will and purpose It was God's will and purpose
that Paul would go to Jerusalem is the same will and purpose
that guides and directs us today. Isn't that wondrous? And he brought
us down from Canada to be here with these dear people, all according
to his will and purpose. And he brought you guys from
different states when you lived in different states to be here. Isn't that wonderful? Some of
you are natives to the state, right? He brought us to be with
you. That's amazing. He's provided
a place for us to come to worship, to come hear the gospel proclaimed
each week. My. And we see God's sovereign
will and purpose accomplished. And again, this is what guides
us every single day that we're in this world. Let us never forget
that, that God is ever with us. Glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Brother Travis,
can you close us in prayer?