Well that was a mighty big chunk
of scripture that I just read for you and one of the wonderful
things about our God and Saviour and about His Gospel is that
our God reigns and our God always gets His people where He wishes
them to be and Paul was sent as an apostle to the Gentiles
and Paul was going to get to Rome And you might have thought,
well, this is a pretty easy way to get to Rome. He was nearby
when he was in Corinth. All he had to do was hop on a
little ship and go across the water. But the Lord had another way
to get them there. And the journey of Paul and the
journey of our Lord in this world is pictures in so many ways of our
journey through this world and if we don't see things that are
relevant to us in this day and see pictures of our Lord Jesus
Christ in this day, then we've missed the point of the picture.
We've missed the point of the Holy Spirit having all of these
things recorded for us. And so we would like to have,
in our flesh, we'd like to have as easy a journey to Zion as
we possibly could wish it to be. But like all of the Lord's
people in this world, we will enter the Kingdom of God through
much trial and tribulation. And in the midst of those trials
which are God-sent trials, and troubles which are God-sent trials,
and floods which are God-sent floods and fires, we have the
remarkable promise of our God, isn't it, that he's with us in
those trials. And it may, to us, so often seem that the Lord
is absent and might seem to us, why on earth did he do it that
way? And yet, there'll come a time when we will all, with the eyes
no longer of faith, we'll see that the Lord has done all things
well. So the big picture of all this
is the absolute sovereign hand of our God, isn't it? And the
absolute necessity of the Lord with his ordained people getting
to hear the gospel, the sheep, My sheep, he says, will hear
my voice. All the sheep will hear the voice. The sheep in Rome will hear the
voice. The sheep in Jerusalem will hear
the voice. And they'll hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they'll hear it in such a way that they'll find themselves
amazed at his grace and amazed at his mercy. And they'll never
cease to be amazed at his providence and his provision, but most of
all, they will never cease to be amazed at his person. See,
I know whom I have believed, says Paul. This is eternal life,
said the Lord Jesus Christ, in that verse we cope from John
17, verse 3. This is eternal life, that you
know him. You know him. And so knowing him causes us
to find ourselves at rest in who he is. So in Acts 21 and
the chapters following, we have an extraordinary picture of the
Lord taking Paul and Luke and other brethren on this extraordinary
journey. You might remember that Paul
now, after this event, spends two years in jail in Caesarea. He then spends that time on the
ship, spends a season on that island in the Mediterranean,
with ship having been destroyed all around them. And God made
a promise to Paul, not one of these will be lost. Not one of
them will be lost. And then we have Paul in Rome
in jail. So these are the last days of
Paul's freedom. It's the last days of Paul having
that freedom to go where he saw fit. So let's just follow on
something of his journey and then in the second half I'd like
to look at the situation in Jerusalem that caused such consternation
and has still caused such consternation amongst believing people, genuinely
believing people for this last 1900 years. So let's just go back and have
a look at some of this journey. It's interesting, isn't it, in
verse 4. The first four verses are a travelogue of where he
went, and you can take a map out and find where he went. But
it's lovely, isn't it, that Paul finding disciples. There's no
mention that he'd ever been there in Tyre before, but he finding
disciples. That's the Lord's activity, isn't
it? He's on the search for his sheep.
Paul finding disciples. We tarried there seven days,
who said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go
to Jerusalem. Paul had on this journey, when he had left southern
Greece, he had to change his travel plans because the Jews
were lying in wait for him. Most likely the Jews who were
offended at the preaching of the gospel in Corinth and other
places there in southern, that part of Greece, the plan would
have been fairly simple. If we can get Paul on the boat
and we're on the boat with him, he can just disappear over the
edge and we don't have to hear from him again. The word of God
can be silenced. And so Paul took another journey
and all the way on that journey as we saw in the previous couple
of chapters, he was warned that bonds and afflictions abide him
wherever he went. So Paul knew what was happening.
He knew why he was going to Jerusalem. He had a gift for the churches
in Jerusalem and he had these trophies of his grace that he
gathered from the Gentiles and we'll see as he goes to Caesarea
you'll find more. So this is Paul's fifth trip
to Jerusalem now. We departed, verse 5, and when
we had accomplished those days, we departed and went on our way
and they brought us, they all brought us on our way, their
wives and their children who were out of the city. And we
kneeled down on the shore and prayed. These are glorious pictures,
aren't they? Paul, no doubt, had reason to
tell them, given that they were concerned through the spirit
that he shouldn't go to Jerusalem, that he, like, with them, like
the Ephesian elders, would have no more time with them. But the
seven days were seven days that had bonded them together. And
there they were on that shore, weeping, kneeling down and praying. And when we'd taken our leave
of one another, we took ship and they returned home again.
And they went to Ptolemus and they saluted the brethren and
abode with them one day. The next day, we were of Paul's
company, departed and came into Caesarea. And we entered into
the house of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven. You
can read about Philip in Acts chapter six. He was one of these
men that was full of the Holy Spirit. He was there because
of the disputation amongst the brethren in Acts. And so they
chose these seven men full of the Spirit. And we read that
after the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, Philip ended up in Caesarea. And it seems that as an evangelist,
he had a base in Caesarea and then travelled around. He was
one of the seven. This man had four daughters which
did prophesy. And this is a fulfilment of the
prophecy of Joel, isn't it? That your young men and your
young women will prophesy. Joel 28. I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall see dreams
and your young men shall see visions. The longer you go on. the more you love the shalls
and the wills in the scriptures. They had to wait a long time
for Joel's prophecy to come true. But on that day at Pentecost,
Peter could get up before that crowd and say, this is happening
now. What was promised is happening.
Hundreds and years later, our God is faithful to his promises. And as we tarried there many
days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus.
We read about Agabus in Acts chapter 11 verse 28. Agabus was
the one that promised by God's Spirit working through him that
there was to be a famine over all the land of Judea. A great
dearth throughout all the world which came to pass in the days
of Claudius Caesar, Acts 11.28. So Agabus was a prophet. We've
spoken again and again about these gifts of prophecy and these
gifts of healings and these gifts of miracles and they were gifts
which were there to confirm the Word of God and to confirm the
Gospel to those people. They aren't needed now once we
have the full revelation of God. You've got to remember these
people had no New Testament. And who, who do you determine
is telling the truth? And so the whole God in Hebrews
chapter two says that he bore witness to these people through
the signs and wonders that he gave them. So Agabus was genuine
prophet. And I love what he says. And
I want you to notice the shells in it because the shells come
to pass. And when he was come unto us,
he took Paul's girdle, he took Paul's belt, so he acts out what's
going to happen to him. And he 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. When God says shall
through one of his prophets, The shall must come to pass.
What was to happen in Jerusalem was a must, a shall from our
God. The musts. The Lord Jesus Christ
must go up to Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ must suffer
and die. The Lord Jesus Christ must gather
all of his people. We live in a world where God's
eternal covenant and God's eternal purposes and God's providence
is just the outworking of the remarkable plan of salvation
that God enacted before the foundation of the world. that there would
be a people to the praise of his glory, that when the Lord
Jesus Christ finished that work, as we read in Psalm 24, he would
ascend back up and everyone would ascend back up with him, who
were united to him. And they ascend into heaven's
glory, perfectly fit and perfectly righteous and perfectly fit to
be citizens of that place and to stand in the presence of God. So that's salvation, isn't it?
It's another way of thinking about salvation. Paul met the
Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory on the Damascus Road. No
one would have thought Paul was a saved man. No one would have
thought Paul was likely to be saved. Salvation is being in
the very presence of God Almighty in all of the glory of His holiness
and surviving. On that great day, on that day
that people will meet with when they leave this earth, they will
meet Him. They'll all meet Him. And His people, for His people,
it will be the most delightful homecoming. And they'll realise
that they've always been in his presence. And he's always been
there for them. And no matter what the circumstances
of their life are, he says, I never, ever, ever leave you, nor forsake
you. We're joined to him, brothers
and sisters. We are one with him. But that love in the hearts of
these people. Luke was there, wasn't he? Luke
was there. Philip was there. All of these
men that we read about in Acts chapter 19 that had joined Paul
on his journey. So Paul had gathered these people
from either end and in the middle of his ministerial evangelistic
work and he'd gathered, they're all there. When we, when all
of us heard these things, both we and they of that place, besought
him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what mean
ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready. Not only not to be bound only,
but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Ready. Ready. Ready to die. He had been near
to death on so many occasions you can read about them in second
Corinthians. He had been near to death and considered to be
dead by those people who took him outside the city of Lystra
and stoned him to death. He says, I'm ready. I'm ready. See, God's children will be given
the grace that is needed for dying at the time of dying. I don't think there's one person
in their flesh that ever looks forward to it in any way whatsoever.
It's an extraordinary thing to contemplate, and it's a good
thing to contemplate. But Paul was not about to die.
God had a purpose for him. He revealed that purpose later
on in this. His purpose was for him to go
to Rome. See, Paul was an appointed apostle of the Gentiles. So he
wasn't expecting that the people in Jerusalem would welcome him.
In fact, in Acts chapter 9, when he went into Jerusalem, he was
converted in Acts chapter 9 and he began preaching the Gospel
in Damascus straight away. And as soon as he went to Jerusalem,
he had to have Barnabas bring him in because he had such a
reputation. And then he spoke boldly, Acts 9, 29, he spoke
boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the
Grecians. So the Grecians would have been
proselyte Jews who were there in Jerusalem, gathered by the
hand of the legalists, gathered by the hand of the Pharisees.
And they found him offensive, and they went about to slay him,
which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea
and sent him to Tarsus." And so Paul's presence in Jerusalem
had caused a stir at the very beginning of his ministry for
the Lord. And extraordinary, in verse 31
of Acts chapter 9, it says, and then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified. They were comforted,
walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy
Ghost, and were multiplied. See, Paul's activities that caused
such offense to the Grecians in Jerusalem had been the cause
of this comfort and the fear of God coming upon people and
the multiplication of them. It's remarkable, isn't it, to
think how the Lord multiplies his people. You walk in the fear
of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. God comforts his people in this
world by reminding us again and again of the character of our
God, that he's not to be trifled with, and that he is absolutely
sovereign, and his people are secure and safe. And then these
men, Luke and the others, Philip, Acts 21 verse 14, when he could
not be persuaded, we ceased. That's a wise thing to do, isn't
it? To cease. To cease. The will of the Lord
be done. So there is a time for us to
hold our peace. there's a good time for us to
say nothing. And it's nearly all the time.
It's nearly all the time. The will of the Lord be done. And after those days, verse 15, we
took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem. And so now this
band that had been gathered from Paul's ministry in Asia and what
is now modern day Greece, This band is added to. They went with
us also certain disciples of Caesarea and brought with them
one Nason of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should lodge. Nason
had a house in Jerusalem. There's quite a band of them
now. We're looking at a band of maybe 20 people. They're all
going up to Jerusalem. And when we were come to Jerusalem,
the brethren received us gladly. And the day following, Paul went
in with us unto James, and the elders were present. And when
he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God
had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. That word particularly
means one by one. We wanted to study the Book of
Acts because we wanted to be looking at the birth and the
growth and the Lord's work in gathering His people together
in a church. And He wants us, as the old saints
did, to set up our Ebenezers. and to be able to say, thus far
the Lord has helped us. We want in all situations to
be drawn to be looking away from ourselves and looking away from
our flesh. But there is a point, there is a point where the Lord's
people need to stop and consider the remarkable things, the remarkable
acts of grace, the remarkable acts of God's providence that
have brought us to where we are. Each and every single one of
God's children has a particular journey. And that journey might
not be straightforward, that journey might be rough, that
journey might have extraordinary ups and downs, but it's a journey
directed by God. If I'd had my way all those years
ago when I went to Bible College and I was zealous, I was all
set to go to South America. And we'd spent a lot of time
looking into going to South America, and we'd almost received approval
to go to South America, and then we couldn't afford it. It was
too difficult. And then we got accepted to go
to Tanzania, and we looked closely at going to the Cote d'Ivoire
in West Africa, and we looked at going to Thailand, And in
every situation when we sort of pushed and said, where are
we going? God just closed the doors. God closed the doors. And they were shut in our face
in such a way that we had no doubt. That's not it. In January
of the year 2000 the doors opened to India and within weeks we
were accepted. Within weeks and within six months
we'd packed up everything and closed up the farm and we'd gone
to India. And there hasn't been a time
in our lives prior to that or since that where we would have
even been able to go to India for all sorts of reasons. God sent us there and he made
it so abundantly clear. He sent us there and he brought
to us a knowledge of the gospel and a knowledge of the greatness
and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I had never seen.
And I thought, when I get back to Nara, these people in Nara
are going to be so excited about this news. You wait till I show
them these remarkable things I've seen in the scriptures.
I didn't know that there was an eternal covenant. I didn't know.
been able to write bits and pieces of papers on some of those things
but somehow I didn't know all of these things and I didn't
know about our freedom from the law and the glory of what the
Lord Jesus Christ had done. And I loved Him and I was faithful
to Him and I went over there telling lies about Him. And the
Lord had to humble me and arrest me. And then after my time there,
finished at the school, or we were finishing at the school,
I spent the next six or eight months pleading with the Lord
every day. I would go to a quiet place and
I would plead with him. I said, please don't send me
back to Australia. No one wants me back in Australia. I can't,
for the life of me, see any possible fruit. And I was effectively
saying to God, if you really knew If you really knew what
I know, there's no way in the world you'd send me, but you'd
leave me here in India. I had a hundred students who were basically
like my flock there. And I was busy, when I wasn't
teaching at school, I was busy down on the plains teaching pastors
and preaching in churches and all sorts of things seemed to
be happening. And I kept saying, what on earth
is in Australia? Please don't send me back there.
And then I contrived all sorts of things with the school to
work out some way where I could stay at the school and Lisa could
come back and look after the children here. And I could sort
of go backwards and forwards. And I had all these schemes worked
out. And they were good schemes and they were workable schemes.
And I took them to the principal and he said, no way in the world.
We don't want you here. Basically. So where do you go? We have a history, brothers and
sisters, and we can look back on that history and we can raise
our Ebenezers. And when I went to Norman, Beth
asked me to speak in their house church and run a Bible study
on Ephesians. And I thought, well, these people will just
write these words down. These people will find these
words that are in this book exciting, won't they? They'll find them
amazing. They'll find it wonderful that all of their sins are completely
put away, and they're perfectly accepted in the beloved, and
they've got no obligation before God anymore. Because the Lord
Jesus Christ has taken all that obligation. He is their sanctification.
He is their righteousness. Sadly, sadly, there were two,
two, weren't there? That thought that that was a
delightful message, that salvation simply is of the Lord. That on
Calvary's tree, he bore all of our sins and they don't exist
any longer. And in his work of perfect righteousness, we have
a legal right to enter heaven because of the work of another. We go into this world as Paul
did. You go into this world with a
sense of expectation. And then when we go into this
world we actually meet God's reality. And it never works out. It never works out according
to our plans. And you get to the stage, and
I trust the Lord will cause you to do that, is to just be at
rest. You love those pictures, don't
you, when Jotja Hoshipat went out to do that battle. He was
promised to have that great win, wasn't he? And how did he go
out to that battle with this enormous army, completely outnumbered? He sends the musicians out first. They go out singing praises of
God. And the Lord said, the battle
is mine. The battle is mine. You stand still, as he said to
Moses at the Red Sea, where there is no hope in front of you and
you are surrounded by enemies. You stand still and you'll see
the salvation of the Lord. So we have in Acts a glorious
history and we have in the life of our fellowship and the fellowships
of all the people we know around the world, we have the most remarkable
signs of the providential care of God. Greg Elmsquist's church
exists in Florida, and all of those people that we find so
much encouragement from, and Ben and Tom and Brad will meet
in a few short weeks' time, that church exists now because a man
was sick. A man was sick and couldn't preach
in Greg's church, and Todd and Ibert's sister happened to be
in that fellowship that Greg was in. And Todd and Ibert's
sister said, my brother just happens to be in Orlando this
weekend, and he just happens to be free. And the gospel came. The gospel
came to that reformed legalistic fellowship. And Greg, who had
been a preacher and a pastor and a missionary director for
20 odd years, met the Lord Jesus Christ and Trish. My point is
simple, isn't it? The Lord The Lord never takes
his eyes off his children. The Lord is ever present with
his children and the Lord directs the steps of providence of all
of his children and he'll direct the steps of providence that
you will fall into the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
you'll find, you'll find that you're in his arms from before
the foundation of the world. That you, children of God, were
a gift of the Father to him. Imagine how precious that gift
is. You are children of God so precious
to him that he shed his life's blood for you and bore your sins in
his own body on the tree. And he's the one who's promised
to feed his flock. I love what Isaiah 40 verse 11
says, he shall feed his flock like a shepherd. A shepherd is
watching over the flock all the time and in the Middle East the
shepherd didn't follow along behind and he didn't need sheep
dogs. He was in such intimate relationship
with those sheep that when he went to that corral in the morning
where all the shepherds had all their sheep gathered in a common
corral, the shepherd would come along and he'd call out his sheep. And he'd call out his sheep by
name and he would walk to where they were to go. And they'd all
follow along behind him. And another shepherd could call
those sheep all day long. Another shepherd could dress
in exactly the same clothes as that shepherd. So he smelt like
him. Another shepherd could imitate
the shepherd's voice and they'd never follow. Those sheep would
follow him. Those sheep would follow him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the
lambs with his arm. He gathers the lambs with his
arm. That arm is the arm of omnipotent power, brothers and sisters in
Christ. It's a powerful arm. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and he'll carry them in his bosom. and shall gently lead those that
are with young. Our God is a great shepherd and
he's a good shepherd. And the journey that we have
and the journey that Paul and Luke and Philip and James and
all the others is a journey that's ordained by God. And one day,
we, like these men, have done for the last 1,900 years, we'll
see that that shepherd is the most remarkable shepherd, most
remarkably faithful shepherd, and he gathers his flock. May God find, cause us to find
ourselves delightfully in his arms. I don't know the journey
that lies before you, no more than Paul knew the journey that
lay before him. But he says, I know whom I have
believed. I know whom I have believed.
May the Lord make us faithful. May the Lord give us the faith
that comes from heaven's glory and reflects the faithful one. Let's have a break.