Now, I want to look at Acts chapter
23, down through the first five verses, and look at three lessons
that we can learn here. A lesson in following the Lord,
a lesson in hypocrisy, and a lesson in humility. We'll try to get
through as much of these as we can. We might get all three.
We might just get one. We'll see. Acts 22 verse 30 is
where we'll begin. On the morrow, this is the day
after that uproar, they seized Paul. Because he would have known
the certainty, that is the chief captain, because he would have
known the certainty whereof Paul was accused of the Jews, he loosed
him from his bands and commanded the chief priests and all their
council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before
them. Now, this chief captain, he's wanting to get to the bottom
of this, find out why these Jews are wanting to kill Paul. Now,
these men that come in, this council, is the Sanhedrin. These are the chief priests in
all the council. The chief priests in all the
council. Now, some 20 years before, this is the council that picked
Paul when he went by the name Saul of Tarsus and gave him letters
to go to Damascus and to bind the believers and bring them
to Jerusalem. And now here he stands before
the chief priests and the council and things have probably gone
on here and they've given Paul opportunity to speak. Now this
is not necessarily a formal judgment that's going on, this is just
them sort of quickly trying to, this chief captain trying to
figure out what's going on here. And so now Paul has time to speak.
And we begin in Acts 23.1. And Paul earnestly beholding
the council, he looked them square in the eye. He said, men, brethren. He's addressing them not as brethren
in Christ, but as brethren of the same country, his kinsmen
after the flesh. This was what he had to say for
himself. I've lived in all good conscience
before God until this day. Now Paul preached that Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. In all the synagogues, in all
the Gentile lands he was in, when he preached, he preached
that it was no more a necessity for the natural descendants of
Abraham that believed God to circumcise their children. It
wasn't necessary for them to walk after the customs of Moses.
And just like men will do when they hear you declare Christ
is the end of the law, that he's fully established the law, obeyed
it in every jot and tittle for his people. He is our righteousness. The law's got nothing to say
to us anymore. When men hear that, they did
to Paul exactly what they do in our day. They cried, he's
an antinomian. He's a lawless man. They accused
him of teaching men to apostatize from Moses, from the law, and
to live without any regard for any civil law whatsoever. This
was what they cried in Acts 21-28. They said, Men of Israel, help!
This is the man that teaches all everywhere against the people,
that is, the children of Israel, and the law. that is the law
of Moses, in this place, that temple, that Jerusalem. And further,
he brought Greeks also into the temple and hath polluted this
holy place. And Paul answers, and he says,
concerning these charges, concerning these charges, for what I've
taught, how I've conducted myself since I've been here in Jerusalem,
I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." Look
over at Acts 24, verse 11. He says the same thing later.
This is what he's getting at there and what time frame he's
talking about. He's talking about the charges
they're leveling against him. He says, verse 11, "...because
that thou mayest understand that there are yet but twelve days
since I went up to Jerusalem for the worship." This is the
time frame that he's talking about. It hadn't been 12 days
yet in our text, but this is what he's talking about. He says,
"...and they neither found me in the temple disputing with
any man." neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues,
nor in the city, and neither can they prove the things whereof
they now accuse me." That is, that he brought Gentiles into
the people. He said, they can't prove any
of those things. But this I confess unto thee,
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the
God of my fathers, believing all things that are written in
the Law and the Prophets. And he says, and I have hope
toward God. which they themselves also allow,
that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just
and the unjust." So his declaration here is, before God I've served
with a good conscience, innocent of these charges. And it so infuriated
that high priest, verse 2, Acts 23.2, the high priest Ananias
commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Now, here's the first lesson. It's a lesson in following after
the Lord. Be turning to John chapter 18
with me. John chapter 18. Now, much of Paul's trip to Jerusalem
shadows, to a lesser degree, the work of our Lord. Paul went
up to Jerusalem to provide money for the poor saints. Christ came
down And he who was rich for the sake of those children given
to him before the world began, he became poor that through his
poverty they might be made rich. Paul was accused of being against
the law, yet Paul himself denied himself his freedom. And he separated
himself and he went in to redeem some brethren who had found themselves
under the law. It was the same as it had degenerated
into nothing more than like taxes. And those fellows needed to pay
what they owed. And Paul went in. to redeem them
what they owe. Christ Jesus was accused of being
against the law. He was accused of being against
the law and the prophets. And yet this One who is equal
with God made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of
a servant, was made in the likeness of man, made of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them, to purchase them that were under
the law. And He redeemed them from the
curse of the law being made a curse for them. You see how Paul shadows
what his Lord did? The angry mob raged upon Paul. Christ Jesus was beaten. He was
spit upon, even unto death. Look here now at John 18, verse
19. That high priest commanded Paul
be smitten. Look at this, John 18, verse
19, concerning our Lord. The high priest then asked Jesus
of his disciples and of his doctrine. Jesus answered him, I speak openly
to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue
and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort, and in secret
have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? Ask them
which heard me what I have said unto them. Behold, they know
what I said. And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers
which stood by, and struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying,
Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I
have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why
smitest thou me? That's what Paul was saying.
He's saying my conscience bears me before God. I have a good
conscience before Him. If I have spoken evil, bear witness
of it, that my conscience can condemn me. And they ordered
Paul to be smitten just like they did the Lord. Turn over
to Matthew 20. And I want to make some observations
to you. It was prophesied before that
the Lord would be smitten that way. In Micah 5.1 it says, They
shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. Our
Lord Jesus knew everything that would befall Him before He came
to this earth. And yet He willingly came to
this place to purchase His people, to redeem them from all iniquity,
to put away their sin and make them the righteousness of God.
And He said, I gave my back to the spiders. He said, I gave
my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and from spitting. And likewise, just as the Lord
knew all that would befall him, through the Spirit the Lord had
told Paul everything or much of what would befall him in Jerusalem. He knew, we saw there in the
chapter before in Acts 21, that he was going to be bound. when
he got to Jerusalem. And Paul said, I'm ready not
to be bound only at Jerusalem, I'm ready to die at Jerusalem.
And this is why he wrote to the Romans and he said, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. Now brethren, the Lord has told
His disciples, that's me and you, the Lord knew what would
befall Him and He willingly came. Paul knew what would befall him
and he willingly went into Jerusalem. And the Lord has told us what
will befall us. Look at Matthew 10 verse 25. Look at verse 24. The disciple
is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It
is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant
as his Lord. If they have called the master
of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of
his household? Fear them not, therefore. He's telling you.
He's telling us. Fear them not, therefore, for
there's nothing covered that shall not be revealed, and hid
that shall not be known. What I tell you in darkness,
that speak ye in light. And what you hear in the ear,
that preach you upon the housetops. And fear not them which kill
the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Look
over here at verse 32. He says, Whosoever therefore
shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before
My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before
men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.
Now, you hear a lot of this world speaking about live so everybody
can see Christ in you. Now what our Lord is teaching
us right here is the more they behold Christ in you, the more
they are going to treat you like they did Christ. Be ready for
that. Verse 34, Think not that I have
come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I came to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of
his own household. He that loveth father or mother
more than Me, he is not worthy of Me." You know what he's talking
about? He's talking about your father
or your mother saying, I don't agree with your doctrine concerning
Christ. And you're saying, oh well, that's
alright. We just agree to disagree. You
denied Him. You denied Him. And he that loveth
son or daughter more than Me, he is not worthy of Me. He that
taketh not his cross and followeth after Me, he is not worthy of
Me. That's trying to find our life. And he says, if you find
your life, you're going to lose it. But he says, he that loseth
his life for my sake, he'll find it. He'll find life everlasting. Have you forsaken all and followed
after Christ? And I'm not talking about just
to these little ones. I'm talking to all of us. Have
we forsaken everything and followed after Christ? You know, following
after the Lord, is giving ourselves. Paul had given so much. He had given everything. He had given so much. But Paul
himself has gone up to Jerusalem and he is standing there giving
himself. He's giving himself. You know,
that rich young ruler, he had a head for religion. But he had
a heart for this world. And the Lord proved his vanity
one way. The Lord told him to stop arranging
his religion around his life in the world and to arrange his
life around the worship of Christ. That's exactly what he told him.
But he couldn't do it. Because he had too many irons
in the fires of this world to leave it all and follow Christ.
That was his life. That was his life. And the Lord
proved his religion was vain. Following the Lord, brethren,
is giving ourselves. You know, I'm a man by nature. This is the same with me. This
is the same with you. We don't mind giving as long
as we don't have to give ourselves. We'll give our money. We'll give
our time. We'll give our body to be burned,
Paul said. But just don't make us give ourselves. We're talking about being willing
to give up this world and to give ourselves to Christ. Turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter
8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. The church at Jerusalem was the
established church. It was the established church.
Been around a long time. The church at Macedonia was brand
new. They had every obstacle that
me and you have right here in this place. Even more. And yet
when Jerusalem was in need, those fledgling congregations in Macedonia
supported that church at Jerusalem. But listen to this now. Listen
to why they did this. 2 Corinthians 8. Moreover, brethren,
we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches
of Macedonia. That's why they did it. Now here's
what this grace was. Here's what God did by His grace.
How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of
their joy, He gave them great joy in Christ. And their deep
poverty, He gave them poverty. They didn't have as much as the
folks they were given to. But by doing this, he made them
abound unto the riches of their liberality. Paul says, for to
their power, I bear record, yea, beyond their power, they were
willing of themselves. He said, they prayed for us with
much entreaty that we should receive the gift and take upon
us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they
did, not as we hoped, but now watch this. but first gave their
own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Let me
read to you what John Gill wrote on this. I couldn't read everything
he said on it. It was all really good, but this
is the last portion of what he said. When it is considered that
these persons had given their whole selves their all to Christ,
had committed all into His hands. They trusted everything to Him,
everything about themselves, all their salvation, all their
daily benefits, everything they trusted to Him. They gave themselves
to Him. And He said, and they devoted
themselves entirely to His service. And Paul says, and unto us. And
Gil says they declared their subjection to his ministers as
servants under him and to his word and ordinances as ministered
by them. And when you consider that, he
said, it need not be so much wondered at that they should
be so liberal in giving away their worldly substance. That's
the least to give their worldly substance. They gave themselves.
They gave themselves. All Paul had to do to get out
from under this burden that he was under, standing before this
council of men, this high priest, this chief ruler of the Romans,
all he had to do to get out from under this was just to agree
with them. And just to say, I'm guilty.
I'm guilty. Are we willing to lay aside the
weight that so easily besets us and to run the race that is
set before us looking to Christ? Or do we want to take the path
of least resistance? Can you hear these words? I gave my back to the smiters. That's giving yourself. I gave
my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. That's giving yourself. I hid not my face from shame
and spitting. And there's not a soul sitting
here that's resisted sin unto blood. Oh, what will we do when times
get hard and waters get deep? when we can't even give ourselves
when times are good? Well, that's a lesson in giving
ourselves. Here's the second thing, a lesson
in hypocrisy. Look back at our text now. Acts
23, verse 2. And the high priest Ananias commanded
them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul
unto him, God shall smite thee. And God did. About five years
later, that high priest was plunged through and died. He said, God
shall smite thee, thou whited wall, for sittest thou to judge
me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to
the law. As long as we deem ourselves
righteous, we're going to prove it by expecting others to bow
to us. As soon as Paul said, I've lived
in all good conscience before God, Soon as he said that, he
said, I'm not backing up. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, and what I have preached is Christ is the end of the lawful
righteousness. He's all our hope and all our
salvation. And that high priest heard him
loud and clear. And that high priest stiffened
up his neck, and he puffed out his chest, and he commanded those
people. He said, smite him and slap his
mouth shut. Slap it shut. Why'd he do that? because he deemed himself righteous.
And that what Paul stood for flew in the face of everything
that he stood for, himself and all his work and all his form
of religion. And Paul said, all you are is
an old, dirty, broken, dilapidated wall that's just been painted
over with some white paint to make it look nice and pretty.
That's all you are. And the reason I say that, Paul
said, is because you stand here judging me according to God's
Word, and you're acting exactly contrary to God's Word. Matthew
23, 25. I want to turn there. Matthew
23, 25. This too is just what our Lord did. Matthew 23, 25.
He said, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you may clean the outside
of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion."
You know what that word means? It means oppression. You know
what it amounts to? It's seeking fault in others
so you can excuse your own rebellion or bribe others to let you off
the hook or to get others to pay you in some way. And that
goes on in pulpits and in pews all over the world. Oppression. Extortion. And excess. That's
the unrestrained heart, and that's why the extortion takes place.
It's because the heart is set on our way, on ease, on pleasure
of this world. He says, Thou blind Pharisee,
cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the
outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye are like whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full
of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also
outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of
hypocrisy and iniquity. We went down to New Orleans this
past summer. If you've ever been there, you
know that all the sepulchres are on top of the ground. And
we walked through one of those cemeteries. And you walk through
there, and there's some that's just broken down and just look
terrible. And some of them so old that
even the, I guess from the floods and all from Hurricane Katrina,
the doors of them are opened up. You could actually walk up
there and look inside them. And they're just dust and just
dead men's bones inside them. And some of them you come to
and they were just this white and beautiful and pretty. And
they had the same thing on the inside of them as those old dilapidated
rotten ones did. And that's what Paul said here.
And I'll show you something else back in our text here. It doesn't
matter how obviously a man is a hypocrite in his religion,
others like him are going to always support him. Look at verse
4. And they that stood by him said, Revilest thou God's high
praise." This is just what they did to our Savior, just what
they did to our Lord. Their hearts were as full of
extortion and full of excess as Ananias' was. And they liked
his extortion, they liked his bribery, and they liked the excess. They liked it. They loved it.
The law said that it was unlawful to smite a man who was not condemned. And the law said it was unlawful
for a man to revile the ruler of the people. And they picked
out the law that suited them best and ignored the rest. That's
what hypocrisy is. That's what it is. You know,
a serial killer will commit murder and then he'll stop at the first
stop sign he comes to. because that law benefits him,
keeps him from getting run over. I think of that, I thought of
that, A.J., when I saw that no country for, what is it, you
know? Yeah, when he went in there and killed somebody and he went
out and drove and he missed a stop sign or something and they T-boned
him. Until we're made to behold our
nothingness, our absolute nothingness. and behold the glory of God in
the face of Christ Jesus. We will defend ourselves and
we will use the law of God, even the whole word of God, good doctrine,
we'll use it all, unlawfully, to either accuse or excuse. You know what Paul said about
that in Romans 2? He said, do you think you're going to be
inexcusable? Oh man, whoever you are that
judges another and you do the same exact thing. We got to be
brought to see that we can't be justified, we can't be sanctified. by anything but Christ Jesus
our Lord. That's it. And when we're all
made to see what we are, then we'll stop crying out against
one another and we'll cry as David did. And he said, Lord,
purge me with hyssop and I'll be clean. Wash me and I'll be
clean. He said, heal the bones that
you've broken. He said, create in me a clean
heart. Renew within me a right spirit. That's the only way, brethren,
with the blood of Christ to be purged from dead works to serve
the living God. To be made so that our soul is
purified in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren. This is by the Spirit of God
through the blood of Christ and it's the only way we're going
to be saved from that heart of hypocrisy. Well, here's the third
lesson, and it's a lesson in true humility. Look back at our
text now. When Paul rebuked them for playing
the hypocrite, they defended themselves. But by the power
of the Spirit of grace, when they rebuked Paul, Paul didn't
defend himself. Paul is still accused, yet he's
the only one who seeks to honor God's Word, and he does so. You
know why? Because this is his Master's
Word. And he don't want to dishonor his master in front of these
religious hypocrites. Verse 5, then said Paul, they
said, you can't smite a man. You smiting a high priest? Then
said Paul, I wish not, brethren, that he was the high priest.
For it is written, thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of
thy people. Now this is the difference between
sinners who have a mere form of godliness and someone to whom
Christ has been made the wisdom and power of God. Paul knows,
he knows fully, he knows completely that Christ Jesus is the High
Priest and the Lamb of God. He knows that. He knows that
Christ has come and he's fulfilled all the shadows that were contained
in the law and all the word of the prophet. He's fulfilled it.
He knows that He's the righteousness of His people, that He's faithfully
obeyed every jot and tittle of the law, and that in Him the
believer has fully established all the law. All the law. He's laid down His life as the
spotless Lamb of God, and He's raised again, and He's entered
in as the High Priest into the holiest of holies, and He has
presented Himself to God Almighty, and He has, by Himself, obtained
eternal redemption for His people, for everyone for whom He died.
And Paul knows that. Paul knows He's purchased them.
He knows that they are His. He knows that they have been
purged of all their iniquity, of all their sins, and that He
is going to speak and call out everyone for whom He died, and
not one's going to be lost. And by His power, they're all
going to follow after Christ. Paul knows that. And Paul knows
who's the head of the church. He knows
that his Savior is the head of the church. He knows he's the
King of Glory. He's the monarch over all. He knows he is. And here's a
chief captain of the Roman Guard who stands here thinking he's
calling all the shots. Here stands a man named Ananias
in the office of high priest, an office at which time does
not even now exist while Paul is standing there. That office
is gone. It's been gone. Christ is the
high priest. Paul knows that. Here's a ruling
council of elders who's standing up trying to be so wise and appear
so righteous, and Paul knows they're absolutely, totally ignorant
of the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And yet Paul tells
them, the Word of God indeed does say, not to revile the ruler
of the people. I can imagine Paul in his heart
is thinking to himself, if you only knew, if you only knew how
your own words are condemning you. If you only knew how this
very word that you're using to try to condemn me is condemning
you because Christ is the ruler of the people. He's the head. He's the king. But I'll tell
you something, Paul knew that. He knew that Christ was in charge. He knew he's the King of kings
and Lord of lords. And he knew this too. He knew
his father and the true ruler of the people, his Lord, he knew
that he had put those men right where they were and he knew that
the Lord had put him right where he was. That's right. That night they came to arrest
our Lord. And Peter took that sword out, and he was trying
to cut that fellow's head off, and the sword just was too big
for him to manage, and he missed him and cut his ear off. And
the Lord told him, He said, Peter, put your sword up. He said, Those
that live by the sword are going to die by the sword. And he said,
Do you not know that I could pray right now to my Father,
and He would give me more than twelve legions of angels? But then how would it be fulfilled?
How would the Scriptures be fulfilled? And so they must be fulfilled.
How would they be fulfilled if I did that? He said in John,
he said, shall I not drink of the cup which my Father has given
me? Pilate tried to push his authority on the Lord. And the
Lord said, you don't speak unto me. He said, why won't you speak
unto me? He said, know you not that I have power to crucify
you and I have power to release you? And the Lord said, except
it were given thee from above, you wouldn't have any power at
all. He said, you can't do anything but what has been predetermined
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Paul said
the same thing. He said, there's no power but
God. He said, the powers that be are
of God. And He said, whosoever resists
the power, resists the ordinance of God. They that resist shall
receive to themselves damnation. You see, the person who knows
who's on the throne, and the person that knows who is the
head of the church, he has a true heart of humility. He knows His
Lord is Lord and His King is King over all lords and all kings. He knows His King has put the
powers that be right where they are and has put Him right where
He is. And that's the substance of humility, brethren. That's
the substance of humility. What if they charge you falsely?
Look over at 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. What if
they charge you falsely? He said, servants, be subject
to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle,
but also to the fraud. For this is thank-worthy. If
a man for conscience toward God... I thought I'd start this thing
out. I've lived in all good conscience
before God. If a man for conscience toward
God endured grief, suffering wrongfully, For what glory is
it if when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it
patiently? But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take
it patiently? This is acceptable with God.
For even hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered
for us." Isn't that what we've seen all through this? Paul is
just following in the steps of his Lord. And this is what we
can expect when we follow in the steps of our Lord. And he
said, he called us, he left us an example that you should follow
his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. I've got plenty to be charged
with. I've got plenty I'm guilty of. He didn't have any. But when
he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. But this is what he did. This
is what Paul did. He committed himself to him that
judgeth righteously. And that's Him who bare our sins
in His own body on the tree. You know what He's saying? He
still went to the cross. He committed Himself to God who
judges righteously. But God gave Him grace and He
still went to the cross. And He still bare our sins in
His own body on the tree. that we, now, being dead to sins,
because He died, we died in Him. We're dead to sin, brethren,
and we should live unto righteousness by whose, that righteousness
is a person, by whose stripes you've been healed, healed. For you were a sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.
Well, here's what I want you to know, closing. I'm sent here,
brethren, to watch for your souls as one that must give account.
I want you to know. I was telling some of the men
the other day, I know what it's like. I've sat in the pew and
I know what it's like to say, what in the world does he do
with his time? All he's got to do is preach
three times a week. I'm out here working. and breaking my back
and doing these things, all he's got to do is prepare a few messages.
I know what it's like to think that. I've thought that. I really
have. Here's what the Scripture says.
Obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves.
For they watch for your souls as they that must give account.
And it says, do this that they may do it with joy and not with
grief. For that's unprofitable for you.
I want to serve you with joy and not with grief. I do. And I find myself finding out
what this grief means. I didn't know what it meant before
and I know what it means now. And my earnest prayer to God
is continually that he would teach us these three lessons.
First one being that forsaken all and following
Christ is to give ourselves first. give ourselves first. Paul said,
if I spoke with tongues of angels, if I gave everything, all my
substance, gave my body to be burned, but I don't have this
love of Christ. That's what it is. That'll make
you give first yourself. He said, I'm just a tinkling
cymbal. Give ourselves. The second thing,
It's for Him to teach us, brethren, that there is no good in us.
Just what Brother Pete prayed, there is no good in us. There's
no point in me exalting myself over you and you exalting yourself
over me. There's just no good in us. To
teach us, brethren, to cast ourselves on his mercy like David did,
and beg God to create within us a right spirit, create within
us a new heart, that he might save us from that old deceitful,
desperately wicked heart of hypocrisy. You know who the last ones in
this whole group right here that stood before Paul was to know
that they were hypocrites? The hypocrites. Here's the third thing I pray
for, that He would teach us to submit ourselves in humility. First of all, trust in our way
to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Do you know that He
is right now reigning in our midst? That's right, over the
church universal in heaven and in earth, over every assembly
where He's put His name, and over every individual redeemed
child of God that He's regenerated and called by His grace. And
even over them that haven't yet been called, He's protecting
them too. Our Lord's reigning and ruling. And when we know
that, brethren, we can just submit. We can, even when we're accused
falsely, even when it goes against everything I know, our flesh
wants to say, I've done enough. I've given enough. I shouldn't
have to sacrifice anything else. Oh, God calls me to hear that
voice. I gave my back to the smiters for you. This is what Solomon
said. A wise man feareth and departeth
from evil, but the fool rageth and is confident. I pray the Lord will bless his
word. Amen.