I please God to bless us together
this evening as we meditate in His Word. Let us turn to the
21st chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and we'll read verse
14. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter
21, and reading verse 14. And when he would not be persuaded,
we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. this account of Paul the Apostle
as he was journeying to Jerusalem. We know that he was directed
of God and that he believed he would come to Jerusalem. And even in this chapter we see
the several occasions when the people tried to dissuade him. because they were fearful of
what might overtake him when he came to Jerusalem. But we have the position where
the apostle tells them, what mean ye to weep and to break
my heart? For I am ready not to be bound
only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. We see surely there the depth
of the blessing of God in the Apostle's soul and the commitment
that the Lord gave him so that if he was to die at Jerusalem,
Then he was content for that to happen. And we read these
accounts, don't we? And yet we need to just recognise
the truth and the weight of the words that they contain. Realising how the Apostle was
so wonderfully moved by the Holy Spirit to carry out that which
God had instructed him to do. And he was willing to carry it
out even unto death. Well, we know, of course, although
not recorded in the Word of God, but he did actually suffer death. He was actually, we believe,
crucified, and he died a painful death. But nonetheless, we're
thankful that God was with him and God supported him. and did
bring him safely to Jerusalem. He came by land and he came by
sea, but eventually he came to Jerusalem. Well, the people then
were endeavouring to stop him for his good. It wasn't because
they didn't want him to go, but they didn't want him to go because
they were fearful for him. And so we come and we read this
14th verse. And when he would not be persuaded,
and he couldn't persuade him to cease from his desire and
his aim to go to Jerusalem. And when he would not be persuaded,
they ceased. And then what did they say? The
will of the Lord be done. Surely we see the grace of God
here on both sides. We see Paul very willing to follow
the directions that the Spirit was leading him in, and we see
his friends willing to agree to that situation. and to acknowledge
and to bow down under the will of the Lord. The will of the
Lord be done. Well, it's good to read these
accounts, isn't it? And it's good to take them to
heart and to realize that such details are written so that you
and I today might be instructed in our life. Because in the Apostle's
life, one thing was very, very clear, and that was every step
of the way was ordained by Almighty God. And yet, the many journeys
he took, as we know, were fraught with trouble, difficulty, opposition. It wasn't easy at all. In fact,
it was very much different from that. It was very hard. And how
he suffered. Suffered many, many things. He
tells us, doesn't he, when he wrote to the Corinthians, he
gave us a list of some of the things that he had to endure. And, you know, he was beaten. And well, he was beaten here,
wasn't he? In this account we read here.
And what was he doing? He was only speaking the truth
of God. But you see, the people didn't
want to hear it. And therefore, they beat him
and would have killed him, had it not been for the chief captain
who came down and delivered him. And so we should recognize that
the testimony, the example of Paul was for the honor and glory
of God, because there were many times of wonderful deliverance. wonderful occasions when the
Lord so ordained things that should come to pass that the
Apostle would perhaps know about them. Remember when he was in
the castle, there was that young lad who heard the plot against
him. And he came and told the apostle
Paul, who then told the centurion, who then told the chief captain. And through that, the apostle
was delivered from that plot to kill him. The Lord knows his
purposes for each one of us. And it's a wonderful blessing
if we can commit our way unto the Lord. and trust also in Him. We are indeed very insignificant
creatures of the earth. The Prophet Jeremiah spoke on
the occasion when he was directed to go down to the potter's house. And that's a good little example
for us. The Lord spoke and He said, Jeremiah,
arise and go down to the potter's house. and there I will cause
thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter's
house, and behold he wrought a work on the wheels, and the
vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter. So he made it again another vessel,
and it seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of
the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do
with you as this potter, saith the Lord? Behold, as the clay
is in the potter's hand, So are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. Well, it's a great blessing,
isn't it? For you and me, if we are able to recognise that
we are just as a lump of clay and the Lord is moulding us,
in accordance with His all-wise plan for us. And the Lord moulds
it in that way, that right way, that way which will be suitable,
and that way wherein we shall be useful in the service of God
in whatever position that may be. And again it's good when
we're willing to just be as a lump of clay and it means therefore
whatever the Lord has in store for us, we should be willing
to be moulded, to be suitable for that purpose. Because the
potter made many things, didn't he? Cups and plates and jugs,
all had a different use. And so it is in the Church of
God. The Lord moulds us for different
purposes. for different situations in his
service. And it's a good thing if we can
acknowledge that the Lord has a perfect right to do what he
will. Just like we read here, when
the Lord said, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this
potter, saith the Lord? Well, the Lord gives us grace
to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of God as the heavenly
potter. Because he won't make us in a
wrong shape. He won't make us to be unsuitable. The Lord will mold us to be suitable
for the work that he has for us to do. in the case of the
Apostle Paul. The Lord had a great work for
him to do. We don't all have great works
that the Lord has for us to do. But whatever work the Lord has
for us to do. And there is work for all his
people to do. We should not sit and fold our arms and say, well,
there's nothing to do. There are always things to do. And may we find the Lord. Therefore, dealing with us, as
he dealt with the Apostle Paul, led him on a difficult journey
sometimes. And you know, on those journeys,
there were many stops he had to make. But all those stops
on those journeys were for a purpose. He met with this one and that
one and a group of Christians here and a group of Christians
there. The Lord had ordained the way
that the Apostle should come to Jerusalem. And then, of course,
we know when he left Jerusalem and went to Rome again, that
was an amazing journey. But the Lord was with him. And
never forget the occasion when he was on that ship in the middle
of the Mediterranean, when that hurricane came upon him, and
he was able to tell the men on the boat that stood by me this
night, yes, the Lord God, whose I am, and whom I serve." Yes,
that's a blessing, isn't it? To be able to come and stand
before people and confirm that we've heard, as it were, the
direction of Almighty God and the instruction from Almighty
God, that one whom we serve. Well, here was these people then
willing for the will of the Lord to be done. The will of the Lord
be done. And that's really, surely it
should be our concern in our lives, that the will of the Lord
be done. Sometimes the Lord turns our
plans upside down in order to accomplish His plans. God's plans
are far, far better than our plans. And the plans for the
Apostle Paul not only to be found serving the Lord in a physical
way so that he could then preach the unsearchable riches of Christ,
but the Apostle Paul was led along so that he was blessed
with that fellowship with the sufferings of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His path was a path of spiritual
blessing. We might look at it and say,
well, you had a very difficult life. Well, he did, but he also
had a life of spiritual blessing. He had a life, the Lord was with
him, and the Lord encouraged him, and the Lord used him. He
used him very wonderfully on so many occasions, especially
when things appeared to be going very, very contrary. The will
of the Lord be done. Remembering that occasion when
the Apostle was told to go into Macedonia, into Philippi, and
he went there obeying the word of the Lord. You see, you and
I would think, obeying the word of the Lord, everything's going
to be wonderful and rosy with no problems. Well, the Apostle
Paul had to prove the support of God. when he and Silas were
taken, when they were in the marketplace declaring the truth
of God and they were beaten and put in prison. Yes, for obeying
the word of the Lord. Naturally, that must be very
difficult and very painful for our flesh to think, well, I've
done what is right, and everything seems to be wrong. Well, the Apostle Paul may have thought
that, but there's no indication of that in the account. And in
actual fact, when all those things appear to be against them, what
do they do? What was their reaction? And
it's a good testimony for us because the will of the Lord
was being done. And at midnight, they sang praises
to their God and the prisoners heard them. This wasn't something
done in a corner. They weren't complaining. You
might think, well, they had reason to complain. Well, they may have
done. Sometimes we may be complaining. Well, we should perhaps consider
the Apostle Paul and his life and realize the will of the Lord
was being done, and it was being done for a specific purpose. And that purpose was that the
jailer and all his house should be converted. Well, it was a
most amazing occasion, wasn't it? And the will of the Lord
was done. When the Apostle set out on that
journey to Macedonia, he wouldn't have had any idea what was in
front of him. But the will of the Lord was
done, and it was done gloriously. And you see, in that time, when
he was suffering, surely, in that prison, he must have recognised
the joy of being counted worthy for suffer for the sake of the
Lord. tells the Apostle, he tells Timothy,
doesn't he count it all joy? He speaks to him and tells him,
if we suffer with him, we should also reign with him. Well, the
will of the Lord is to prepare you and me for our eternal home. And in all of our lives that
will be a different, but it will in all of our lives also have
a common theme, and that will be to show us more of our unworthiness
of any blessing, and also to bring us closer to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and to enable us to look ahead to the blessings which
the Lord has prepared so that We may in measure be able to
enter in, like the Apostle did when he said, for me to live
is Christ. To die is gain. What a different
explanation, what a different statement the Apostle makes to
the people of the world. Because the people of the world,
they want to live this life to the full. They have no concern
really about the eternal state of their soul. What a blessing
then if you and I are directed by the Lord to have a concern
about our eternal soul. Now, sometimes we may be left
like perhaps God's servant David. You remember what David did? He numbered the people. There's
no need to number the people. Jehoiab didn't want to number
the people. But David desires to number the
people. And we read in the second book
of Samuel, right at the end, we have that occasion where the
God's servant David, he called for the people to be numbered. Well, the Lord was not pleased
with that at all. And we're told that David's heart
then smote him. He realized he'd done wrong.
That's a blessing when God smites us, gives us that recognition
that we smite ourselves. Because we've been foolish and
we've done wrong. And David said unto the Lord,
I have sinned greatly in that I've done. And now I beseech
thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done
foolishly. Well, it's good to come and to
acknowledge our sins. You know, the will of the Lord
be done. And the will of the Lord is being done in David's
life. to show to him the evil of his
heart. We might think, well, surely
David, a man after God's own heart, wouldn't do these things.
You see, left to ourselves, we'll fall into every sin, every snare. And therefore, for when David
was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet
Gad's David seer, saying, go and say unto David, thus saith
the Lord, I'll for thee three things, choose thee one. that
I may do unto thee. And what did David say when those
three things were listed? He said, well, and David said
unto Gad, I am in a great strain. Let us fall into the hand of
the Lord. For his mercies are great, and
let me not fall into the hand of man. What was really being
said? The will of the Lord be done. David was submitting himself
to God. He confessed his sins. And we
might think, well, surely that was enough. Well, God was dealing
with him. And God was leading him on further.
And God was leading him to this situation so that he was able
to say, in similar words, the will of the Lord be done. Well, we know that these things
work for good in David's life. Many people had to die because
of it. It must have been most agonizing
for David to realize that his sin caused the death of so many
people. Again, these things are written
in the Word of God for our instruction. The will of the Lord be done. Now, let's cast our mind to the
Lord Jesus Christ. when he instructed his disciples. And what did he say when he instructed
them how to pray? He said, thy will be done. Thy will be done, our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Praying to his Father
in heaven, thy will be done. Well, it's a blessing, isn't
it, if we're always mindful of that, that God's will may be
done, not left to ourselves. How often, how often we find
ourselves with our little plans and we think they're right and
good, but are we able to come and say, the will of the Lord
be done. Now then, in this case here,
the will of the Lord was done. apostle did come to Jerusalem
and there was blessing there and it was wonderful he was able
to preach the people you see in that captive state and then
of course later on when he was a prisoner He was able to come
and speak of the great truths. And of course, as we know, he
came before Felix and preached the gospel. The wonderful opportunities
were given to him which would not have occurred had he not
been arrested and put in prison and kept captive. The will of
the Lord be done. Well, it was done, and God's
name was honoured and glorified by it, wasn't it? What a mercy
then it is for us today, as you and I may consider these things
and to recognise perhaps that, well, people may be advising
us in a different way, but what a blessing it is if the Lord
directs us and the Lord speaks to us The Lord encourages us
so that we are not dissuaded from doing God's will, like the
Apostle, like we read here. And when he would not be persuaded,
we ceased, saying, the will of the Lord be done. Well, may God's
will be done in all of our lives. And may that will be to bring
us closer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, if we suffer with him,
we should also reign with him. That means no suffering, no reigning. But the blessing is, if we suffer
for Christ's sake, we can anticipate that by His grace, we shall one
day reign with Him eternally. And then to praise Him for all
that He's done in redeeming our souls, yet redeeming our souls
from the pit of destruction, and made us willing in the day
of His power to do his will, the will of the Lord be done. Amen.