All right, brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Acts 21. Acts chapter 21. The subject this morning is the
answer to our prayers. The answer to our prayers. I
thought having looked at Paul's prayer request concerning his
visit to Jerusalem and to Rome, that we would look this hour
to see how God answered that prayer. This will help us to
see how God answers prayer. He answers prayer, but He does
it in His own way and in His own time. Now let's look at Acts
21 verse 3. This is a little before he gets
to Jerusalem. Acts 21. Now when we had discovered
Cyprus, we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria. And
we landed at Tyre. There they are at Tyre. There
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. The Spirit of
God told him not to go to Jerusalem. Or at least he spoke through
this man. Well, then they go to Caesarea
there at Philip's house in verse 10, and it says, And as we tarried
there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet
named Agabus. And when he was coming to us,
he took Paul's girdle, and he bound his own hands and feet.
And he 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 up to
Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean
ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of
the Lord Jesus. Paul really thought he was going
to die at Jerusalem. He really did. And he was ready
to. It says verse 14, And when he
would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord
be done. That's what's being done here.
It's the will of the Lord. Verse 17, And when we were come
to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. The brethren. And
the day following, Paul went in with us unto James, and all
the elders were present. And when he had saluted them,
he declared particularly what things God had wrought among
the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard, they glorified
the Lord, and they said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how
many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they are
all zealous of the law. and they are informed of thee
that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise
their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it
therefore? The multitude must needs come
together, for they shall hear that thou art come. Do therefore
this that we say to thee, Now listen to what James and these
Jewish brethren, you get the picture here, the Jews had heard
Paul was preaching against the law. And they, the Lord had just
fulfilled the law and he's just bringing them out from under
the law. Now they're wrong that they're not under the law, they're
wrong about that, they're in error, but they're true believers.
But they think that they should be and they think Paul's preaching
against it, so they don't really like Paul too much. So here's
what they come up with, this is James and the other Jewish
believers, this is their way of saying how we can get them
to see Paul, that you really do observe the law. So they come up with this, they
said, verse 23, we have four men which have a vow on them.
That meant they owed a sum of money. And more than likely because
at this time Jerusalem had fallen on hard times because Paul was
taking that offering up to them because people fired them from
their jobs, they wouldn't hire them in jobs because they were
Christians. And so these men have a vow on
them that they took under the law and they owe a sum of money
that they can't pay. And so they're saying, So Paul,
verse 24, them take and purify thyself with them and you be
at charges with them. You pay what they owe to get
them out from under this law. That they may shave their heads
and all may know that those things whereof they were informed concerning
thee are nothing. But thou thyself also walkest
orderly and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles, which
believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no
such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered
to idols, and from blood, and from strangle, and from fornication.
Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself with
them, he entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment
of the days of purification, until that an offering should
be offered for every one of them. They went, took them in there,
shaved their heads, they had to wait seven days to pay the money.
It says, and when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews,
which were of Asia, When they saw him in the temple, they stirred
up all the people, and they laid hands on him, crying out, Men
of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth
all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place,
and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted
this holy place. For they had seen before with
him in the city, Trophimus and Ephesian, whom they supposed
that Paul had brought into the temple." That was two Gentiles
they thought Paul brought to the temple. And all the city
was moved and the people ran together and they took Paul and
drew him out of the temple and for with the door was shut. Now
you can see Paul, I could see where Paul would see a beautiful
picture in what they asked him to do. He could see a picture
of Christ, he could see this was me, I was under the law and
I couldn't pay what I owed to the law. And Christ came and
paid it for me and redeemed me from the curse of the law. And
so Paul was willing to do that, he was willing to go up under
the law and pay what those men owed by his own vow and get them
out from under that. But there's just too much flesh
in that. In the idea that if you do this
and you're going to convince everybody, Paul, that you really
do keep the law. He wasn't supposed to be convincing
people he kept the law. He was supposed to be convincing
people Christ has kept it. There was too much flesh in that.
There was too much earthly wisdom, carnal wisdom, in trying to get
these Jews to receive these Gentiles, and especially Paul, and unite
with them. There was just too much flesh
in that. I have no doubt Paul saw something in it that pictured
Christ, and that's why he did it. But the spirit of God's gonna
have to convince sinners. You can't convince them by what
you do. And trying to do something like that, especially Paul was
putting himself back under the law. of which Christ had redeemed
him. But you notice here the Lord
moved all of this and they laid hands on Paul. And you see the
charge they made there? If we preach the total depravity
of all sinners, you know what they are going to say? You preach
against the people. That's what they accuse Paul
of. He preaches against the people. If you preach total depravity,
you preach man can't save himself by his will or his works or his
worth, and people are gonna say you're preaching against the
people. Then they took him and they said he's preaching against
the law. If you preach Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.
If you preach Christ is righteousness and sanctification. If you declare
to sinners you're not under the law, you're under grace, they're
gonna say you're preaching against Moses. They are going to side
with Moses every time. The unregistered man will reject
Christ every time and side with Moses. You know why? He is exalting
his works every time. They said he is preaching against
this place. If you preach that the kingdom
of God is spiritual, that it's a spiritual Israel made up of
God's elect from Jew and Gentile. If you preach that Mount Zion
is a spiritual heavenly mountain, Jerusalem is a spiritual heavenly
mountain, we don't worship God carnally, we worship Him in spirit
and in truth. You preach that, they're going
to say you're preaching against Israel, natural Israel. He's
a bigot, he's preaching against the natural Jews. You're preaching
against all our church building, that's a holy place. And all
the things we do there is holy. You are preaching against this
place. That is what they are going to say if you tell them
the truth. God is not worshipping with his hands. He is worshipping
spirit and the truth. And then they said they accused him of
polluting their holy place. Why? Because they thought he
received those filthy sinful gentile dogs. You receive sinners. You receive sinners, you be kind
to sinners, you be gracious to sinners, that God's called by
His grace and given faith in Christ, you're going to be accused
of polluting the holy place and the holy things and all of that.
I don't know a preacher that preaches the truth that's not
been accused of those things at one time or another. You're
going to be accused of these things. As a believer, you're
going to be accused of these things if you stand for the truth.
It's just going to happen. But why do they do it? What are
they saying? Why do men do this? They seem
sincere. They seem to really rejoice in
spiritual things. But what's the real cause for
which they make these accusations? Our Lord told us. He said, if
I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin. but now they have no cloak for
their sin. How many times a year you preach the gospel to somebody
and they say, well if that's true, if Christ is all, and really
my works have nothing to do with it, my baptism has nothing to
do with it, my church membership has nothing to do with it, you
mean to say all these times that I've done all these works, that's
not going to credit me anything? If Christ is everything, then
you're saying I'm lost. You got it. You got it. Now your
sin has been revealed. You trust in you, not him. Now
you don't have a disguise anymore because the gospel rips away
all your religious charade and exposes it. Christ said, if I
had done all the works among them that no other man did, And
He's the only one that can work these works to save His people.
He's the only one that can fulfill the law. He's the only one that
can work the work of redemption. If I had not worked these works
among them, they wouldn't have had sin. but now they've both
seen and hated both me and my father. That's the heart. When
people reject Christ for Moses, when they reject Christ for carnal
things, when they accuse you of preaching against the people
and they want to defend man's puny little will and they want
to defend all their religious works, they hate God and they
hate Christ. That's the issue. Acts 21, verse
31, let's read out. And they, the Jews, went about
to kill him. They went about to kill Paul.
Tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that is, the Romans,
that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Israel was under the
power of Rome at this time, and the Romans heard about all this
uproar taking place down there amongst the Jews, and so here
they come. And they immediately took soldiers and centurions
and ran down unto them, and when they saw the chief captain and
the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. The Jews saw all these
Romans come, they quit beating Paul. And then a chief captain
came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains
and demanded who he was and what he had done. And some cried one
thing, some another among the multitude. And when he could
not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be
carried into the castle. The Roman guard, they were in
such a frenzy that the Roman guard just said, take this man,
Paul, and carry him into the castle. Go throw him in jail.
And when he came upon the stairs, so it was that he was born of
the soldiers for the violence of the people. Now one of the
things Paul asked for at Rome, he asked the Romans to pray for
him. One of the things was that he would be delivered from those
who did not believe at Jerusalem. God did it. He delivered them
from him. First, he allowed Paul to be
falsely accused. He allowed Paul to be beaten.
He allowed Paul to be in the middle of this riot. But then
God used the Roman soldiers to arrest him and throw him in jail.
And hence he delivered him from those that didn't believe. Do
you think that's what Paul and the Romans were thinking when
they were praying to be delivered from those unbelievers? Probably
not. That's how he did it. Read on.
Let's go to chapter 23. As Paul was in jail one night,
the Lord appeared to him to comfort him. Look here, Acts 23.11. And
the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, Be of
good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem,
so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Paul, in between there,
I'd encourage you to read chapters 23 through towards the end because
Paul preached the gospel every chance he got in the midst of
all this riot and all this stuff going on. He preached Christ
to them. And the Lord tells him here, you've testified of me
in Jerusalem, and so you must bear witness also at Rome. In Romans 15, Paul said, you
pray that I might be delivered to Rome by the will of God. The
Lord did it. Do you know how the Lord did
it? He shuffled Paul back and forth between rulers and kings
and judges, some Jewish, some Roman. He put him on a long journey
over land and sea. It took a long period of time
to carry him there. The Lord even sent a hurricane
as he's traveling and shipwrecked Paul, tore the ship apart, shipwrecked
him on the Isle of Melita where Paul preached the gospel. He
preached the gospel to him in the ship, he preached the gospel
on that island. And then the Lord finally at last delivered
him to Rome. Do you think that's how Paul
what he was asking for when he asked and the Romans asked that
he would be brought to Rome to be able to preach the gospel
to them. You think that's how they expected the Lord would
do it? through arresting Paul, through his name being maligned,
and him being falsely accused, and him going months and months
and months on this journey, and perilous journey, and being shipwrecked,
and during a hurricane. You think that's what they thought
when they said, I could see them picturing Paul just taking a
pleasant little journey on his own down there to Rome to see
Him. That's not how the Lord did it. The Lord did it, He answered
it, but He didn't do it the way they asked. Verse 30, Paul said,
pray for me that when I get to Rome I might be able to preach
the gospel to you and be refreshed with you. Acts 28.30 says, Paul
dwelt two whole years in his own hired house. That means that's
a jail, basically a house arrest where Paul paid the expenses.
And he received all that came unto him. preaching the Kingdom
of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding Him. Look back
at verse 24. It says there, and some believed
and some believed not. Some believed the things which
were spoken and some believed not. So, the answer to our prayers. God answers the prayers of His
people. He does, he hears this, he answers this for the sake
of Christ, but he doesn't always answer them in the way we expect
or in the time we expect. So that's what I want to look
at. First of all, the Lord Jesus hears and He answers our prayers,
but He answers them according to His will. according to His
will. He delivers us from unbelievers.
He'll deliver you from unbelievers, but it won't be in the way you
expected. You believe when Paul was, when
he was, these men grabbed him in the temple and pulled him
out, slammed the door shut, and they began to accuse him and
then beat him. Do you think Paul at that time
believed the Lord was going to deliver him from them? It'd been
hard to believe the Lord was answering your prayer, wouldn't
it? But the Lord was answering his prayer. All that was necessary
to happen. When the Romans came down and
they arrested him and they put him on their shoulders and got
him out of the grips of the Jews and they took him up the stairs
and they put him in jail, do you think Paul at that point
said, well, the Lord delivered me from the unbelievers. Here
I am in jail. He did. He did deliver him from
them. But that's how he did it. He put him in jail. He causes
his people. He wanted them to be received
as brethren. When he got to Jerusalem, they
received him. They received the gift. They received the offering
from the Gentiles. The Lord made that happen. But
it always ends up different than how we expected it would end
up. He delivers us wherever He will, have us to preach the gospel. The reason the Lord did what
He did every step of the way is because He would have Paul
preach the gospel to those people all along the way. Everywhere
he went, he preached the gospel. Remember that. If you're in the
middle of a trial, we have a tendency to, when things are not going
the way we expect them to go, we have a tendency to not even
think about speaking the Lord, the gospel to the people around
us. the Lord put you right where you are in that circumstance
you're in, as bad as it is, look for that opportunity to preach
the gospel right there. That's what Paul did all the
way through. But the point I'm making here is the Lord's way
of doing things is so much different than how we would have done it.
But that's good, you know why? Because Isaiah says, the Lord
said, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither your ways my
ways, saith the Lord. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your way, and my thoughts
than your thoughts. We get in this habit of thinking
when we pray, we need to say specifically what we want, that's
fine, to make your request known, that's fine. But the specific
way you want or what you want may not be the best. But it's better that God does
it His way. Here's why. Because He's able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. According
to the power that works in us. It's better that I don't have
to be the one to dictate how it's going to happen because
I'm limited in how I would do it. God does it exceeding abundantly
better than I would ever think about doing it. Might not look
like it while it's happening, but that's how He's doing it.
God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep and
unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright
designs and works his sovereign will. You fearful saints, fresh
courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and will break with blessings on your head.
His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud
may have a bitter taste. The sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err. Scan his works in vain. God is
his own interpreter. He will make it plain. Whatever
he does, this is certain, concerning those he foreknew, concerning
those he predestinated, those he called, those he justified
in Christ Jesus, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. He's working all things together
and He's working all things together on purpose and He's doing it
just for you, His people. No matter how bad it may appear
to you, the bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the
flower. So we have to trust and we have
to wait on the Lord. As the Lord answers our prayer,
we can be assured that the Lord is an ever-present help to us. He's with you. Even though the
trial is hard, it's tough, He's with you. He came to Paul and
He comforted him. You know where Paul was? He was
in jail. He was bound with chains. You
know at that time, now don't expect that your brethren are
necessarily going to come to you. Some will. The Lord is going
to give some faith to help you. And some did. Paul speaks of
those few brethren that stood with him when everybody else
turned against him. But the majority, they just couldn't
get past the fact of what men said about him, of him being
beaten by the Jews, of him being thrown in prison, because they
were looking at that providential hand of God and they were looking
at that and they were saying, this is what their thought was,
if he was a true prophet, God wouldn't have let that happen
to him. Isn't it sad that when Paul wrote
in the epistle to Timothy that he had to write in parentheses
when he mentioned being an apostle, In parentheses, he wrote something
to the effect of as God is my witness, I'm true and I lie not. He had to verify. He had to appeal
to God to verify that he was really an apostle. And yet, while
brethren rejected him because of these things, the Lord used
him to write three-fourths of the New Testament. and plant
all the churches of the New Testament, all the Gentiles. And yet, the
Lord was with him the whole time. The Lord was with him. The Lord
stood with him the whole time. Trouble is going to come from
those who reject this gospel of free grace. That's just going
to happen. That's going to happen. Our Lord tells us to expect it. The servant is not greater than
his Lord. They did these things to Christ, they're going to do
them to you and me. But he's going to make you suffer
in a lighter way, but in a like manner as he suffered. If you
go back and you read all the things that happened to Paul,
it's amazing how much it resembles what happened to our Lord Jesus
Christ. When our Lord Jesus Christ, He
came to Jerusalem like Paul did. And He came with an offering
like Paul did. And He came to go under the law
for His brethren like Paul did. He came to be at charges with
us and pay the debt we owe to bring us out from under the law.
That's what Christ did. And what happened? He was rejected
and despised by men. And they killed Him. Well, they
didn't kill Paul, but he was despised and rejected, and he
underwent something very similar. He was doing something very similar
to what Christ did, and he suffered something very similar to what
Christ suffered, though in a much lighter way. They accused Christ
of preaching against the people. They accused Paul of the same
thing. Was Christ against the people? Scripture says he didn't
come to condemn the world. The world was condemned already.
We were condemned already by our fallen Adam, by our own sin
and transgression. We didn't need somebody else
to condemn us. We were condemned already. Christ
came that His elect scattered all over this world might be
saved. He didn't come... He's not against
the people. He came for His people. Not for all people, but for His
people. The Lord was accused of preaching
against the law. That's what they accused Paul
of. He was preaching against the law. Was Christ against the
law? That's why he made the statement. They were accusing him of being
against Moses and the law and that's why Christ made the statement.
I didn't come to destroy the law. The laws must be fulfilled. The law must be honored. That
law is God's law. It's got to be upheld in every
form and every way. Christ said, I didn't come to
destroy it. I came to fulfill it. He's the only one that could
fulfill it. When he looked at those Pharisees
and said, accept your righteousness, exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you'll in no wise enter into the kingdom
of heaven. What was he saying? He was saying, these men who
are the most spit polished men they are on the outside, whited
sepulchers on the outside, you've got to be better than they are.
We're talking about strict legalists. We're talking about strict men
who watch their diet and who watch what they wore and who
watch where they went, what they said, who they hung around. I
mean, these men, you wasn't going to be able to accuse them with
the law, not outwardly. And that's why the Lord said,
they're not good enough. You got to have a better righteousness
than they have. And he said, and I'm the one
that came to fulfill it. That's why Paul said in Romans
3 at the end, he said, we don't make void the law through faith.
That's what people accuse us of. Well, you make void the law
because you said everything is by faith in Christ. So you make
void the law. No, we don't make void the law.
We're telling people the only way you can keep the law is through
faith in Christ who kept it for us. And then he says, just like
Abraham did. Abraham kept the law. Abraham
kept the 10 commandments as well as the whole 600 plus commandments. He kept them all. 430 years before they were given.
How? He believed on Christ. He believed
on Christ. Though no, Christ wasn't against
the law, but you are going to be accused of that because Christ
was accused of that. That angry mob, they accused
Christ falsely. And they accused Paul falsely.
And you're going to be accused falsely. Scripture tells us to
make sure to live your life so that if you are accused, it's
not true something that you did. But he also tells us, but you
will be accused falsely. As much as you in your heart
want to obey God and as much as you try outwardly to obey
Anybody that wants to accuse you can't accuse you. And in
this day and time, they can ruin you. Because everybody is so
self-righteous. And the least offense is so magnificent
an offense. Oh, reject God, that's fine.
Reject Christ, that's fine. Reject the brethren, that's fine.
Reject the gospel, that's fine. Oh, but don't let me catch you
looking at me the wrong way. But that happened to our Lord.
But listen to this. When all those things happen
to you, He shall stand at thy right hand, at the right hand
of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.
That's Psalm 109.31. He will stand for his people
and save you from those that will condemn your soul. Thirdly,
I want you to see this. As we see the Lord answer Paul's
prayer, don't be discouraged when God's providence appears
to be working just the opposite of what you asked Him to do.
Don't be discouraged by that. Trust the Lord's promise. Trust the Lord's wisdom. Wait
on the Lord. In all our difficulties, in all
our trials, Christ is teaching us this one very important lesson. Don't trust you. That's what he's teaching. Don't put your confidence in
man. Man will disappoint you. Man will disappoint and you will
disappoint you. don't trust in you. Proverbs
3.5 says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not
unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths. Paul was rejected by men, falsely
charged, arrested, carted all over the land and sea, under
armed guard, he was thrown in a dark jail cell, but it was
all under Christ's control on purpose, every bit of it. Answering
Paul's prayer, that's what he was doing. He was answering the
petition Paul made, but he was doing it according to the will
of the Lord. He was doing it his way and how he determined
before the world was made. And he was teaching Paul again
what he had taught Paul before in Asia when he was thrown into
that den of lions and was almost killed. Go to 2 Corinthians 1. I'll show you what he was teaching
him right here. This is what he's teaching you and me through
these trials. If we don't learn this, we missed
it. But he's not going to let you
miss it. Look at 2 Corinthians 1.8. He said, We would not, brethren,
have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that
we were pressed out of measure. That's when you can't do anything.
That's when you don't see a way out and you can't take the steps
to get out. You can't do anything with your
hands. You can't say anything with your lips. And God will
put you in situations where you literally, physically cannot
do or say one thing. You can't defend yourself, you
can't do anything to work your way out of the trouble. That's
a great place to be, to be pressed out of measure to where you can't
do anything. That's the only time you really
trust the Lord. That's when you really find out what it is to
wait on the Lord. And look what he said, above
strength insomuch that we despaired even of life, but we had the
sentence of death in ourselves, here was the reason God did it,
that we should not trust in ourselves. But in God which raiseth the
dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver,
in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us, ye also helping
together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us
by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on
our behalf. That's why he's doing it. He's
making you not trust you, he's making you trust the Lord. That's
it. That's it. And not only does the Lord answer
in His way, the Lord may wait a long time before He takes you
out of the trial. He may keep you in the fire a
long, long time. But you remember when, go to
John 11, I want you to see this. Do you remember whenever Lazarus
was sick? And they came to the Lord, and
this was such a good petition. They came to the Lord and they
said, Lord, he whom Thou lovest is sick. He whom Thou lovest
is sick. And he loved Lazarus, he loved
Mary, he loved Martha. But look at this, John 11 verse
5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her
sister and Lazarus. When he heard, therefore, that
he was sick, he abode two days in the same place where he was.
He didn't go. Why? Lazarus was sick. Lazarus was dying. Why didn't
he go? Right then, Mary and Martha called
for him. They needed him. They were begging
for him to come. Why didn't he go right then?
Because he loved him. He loved him. You say, well, how's that love? How's that love to not come and
help me when I call for help? Look back at verse 4. He waits
for the same reason He waited for them. Here it is. When Jesus
heard, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. That's why He waits. I'll tell
you something, and you that believe for a little while, you know
this, you can verify this to the younger believers. When the
Lord really does things where he's showing you his glory and
showing you your utter weakness, he arranges everything in the
trial so that there is absolutely no mistaking that he did it and
you had nothing to do with it. So He may bring you into some
very strange providence that just is totally against you,
that brings you to where you're pressed down above measure without
strength, despairing even of death. And He may wait a long
time. Make sure you've exhausted all
the avenues that you could of getting out of it to where you're
just at the point now where your hands are down and you just say,
Lord, Thy will be done. And then He works a miracle and
He makes you know, I did that. You didn't do it. The Lord gets
all the glory and you know it and you glory in Him. That's
what He does. That's how He works these things
to make us to see that. He alone is anointed to open
the prison to them that are bound. He's the only one that's anointed
to do that. He does it through preaching, he does it when he
converts you, he does it when he saves you from your sin, but
he does it also in trials. When the trials get you hemmed
in like you're in a jail cell and you can't break free, he's
the only one anointed that can open that prison and let you
out. And He's going to do it in His time, in His way, in His
will to make you know He did it, you didn't do it. You didn't
do it. Now one last thing. Remember,
He's using us to accomplish His purpose. He says, I know the thoughts
that I think towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. That's His purpose. He's going
to give you an expected end. But also know this. Look at Acts
23 verse 11. The night following the Lord
stood by him and He said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou
hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also
at Rome. The Lord saves sinners to save
sinners. The Lord saves His elect to save
His elect. He saves His elect to use you
and me to preach His gospel to preach Him that He might call
other elect sinners out. And the fact of the matter is
because He's redeemed us We have to be called out. He's bought
us with his blood. He's justified us with his blood.
He's made us righteous by his blood. So we have to be called
out of darkness into his marvelous light. And he's going to do that
through the gospel because that's how he said he was going to do
it. So he's going to spare you who he's using to preach him
to other sinners. Paul had this assurance. The
Lord told him, you must preach my name at Rome. So when Paul
was in that hurricane, and that hurricane was raging, and all
the men was throwing the wares over, and they were getting ready
to jump ship, some was trying to let down the lifeboat, Paul
said, cut that lifeboat. You don't need that lifeboat.
Christ is your lifeboat. I must preach the gospel at Rome. Nothing is going to happen. We
are going to be delivered out of here. And they cut the life rope and
let her fall. You can't have any backup plans. You can't have any plan B with
God. He's all. Christ is all. And because He's
going to use you and me to preach this gospel, because He must
call out His people, we can be sure that He has a purpose for
us. And He's going to use us for
that purpose. He's the Father of mercies. He's the God of all
comfort. He comforteth us in all our tribulation. In the middle of it, in all our
trials, He comforts us just like He did Paul. But why is He doing
that? There is a purpose. That we may
be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort
wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, we are going to suffer for His sake
and those sufferings abound in us, so our consolation, our comfort
also abounds by Christ. He is using you to suffer. After
every trial, this is what I found. And it's sad, and this would
be so with you, but as time goes by, you lose these things a little
bit. But when you're fresh in the
fire and you're fresh out of the fire, every time he's done
that, he'll use you to comfort others. He gives you more knowledge
of Christ and his ways so that you can tell it to your brethren
when they're suffering. He gives you more knowledge of
His grace. He makes you forbear. He makes you long-suffering. You know when you're in a trial
and some don't forbear with you and some aren't long-suffering
towards you, you know what that does? That makes you appreciate
long-suffering. That makes you appreciate forbearance.
That makes you appreciate how He's been long-suffering with
you and how He's been forbearing with you and it makes you want
to teach that to your brethren and be that to your brethren.
Mercy, forgiveness. Those brethren that spoke to
you about Christ and remind you of Christ and turns you and calls
you to remember what was important during the trial, that reminds
you when you see a brother in trial, I need to remind them
who's in charge. I need to remind them Christ
is doing this and that he's redeemed us and he's doing this for a
purpose and he's going to save them. He reminds you, He uses
you in your trial to suffer, and the consolation Christ gives
you, He causes you to give that same consolation to your brethren.
And Christ is that consolation. He makes you aware when the trial
comes and you are suffering, you can say, with what Paul said
on that ship, Sir, be of good cheer. Sirs, be of good cheer. I believe God, it shall be even
as it was told to me. He gives you assurance of that.
So brethren, remember this now. When you're suffering, Christ
is controlling the trial. Nothing's happening but what
He's doing. It's all for a purpose. It's all been predestinated before
the world was made. He's doing it to save His lost
sheep. He's doing it to save you, teach
you, make you a comforter, make you valuable to your brethren.
And you're in the grip of His sovereign hand. You're in the
grip of His precious blood and His satisfied justice. That's
security. And He promises you this, I will
not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. He says,
because I live, you should live also. Nobody's going to really
hurt you. Scripture says that. They're
not going to hurt you. They might hurt your flesh and they might
cause physical tears, but they're not going to hurt you. It's going
to be for your good. At that day you are going to
know I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. You
are going to know you are one with Christ through all these
little trials and then in the last day. But go to Isaiah 43. I want to read this and I will
be done. Remember this right here. This sums it all up. Isaiah 43, 1. But now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, you old sinner you, He that formed
thee, O Israel, his delight, fear not, for I have redeemed
thee. I've called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. When you pass through the waters,
I'll be with you. When you go through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God. The Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior, I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba
for thee. Since thou was precious in my
sight, thou has been honorable and I have loved thee. Therefore
will I give men for thee, people for thy life. Fear not, for I
am with thee. I'll bring thy seed from the
east, I'll gather thee from the west, I'll say to the north,
give up, to the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far,
my daughters from the ends of the earth, even everyone that's
called by my name, for I've created him for my glory. I formed him
and I made him. I pray that'll be a comfort to
you. God bless his word, amen.