I please God to bless us together
this evening as we consider further in the Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 23. We'll commence this evening from
verse 12 down to verse 24. As we read together, we saw that
this was an occasion when there were that group of men who gathered
together and made a vow that they might indeed kill the Apostle
Paul. But we see how God wonderfully
and gloriously delivered him from that situation. Indeed,
these kind of things should be an encouragement to us to realize
that we come tonight to the same God who can do great things in
our lives, whatever we might need. Remembering last Friday
when we finished our little meditation on the 11th verse, when the Lord
spoke to the Apostle Paul, and it was night, and the night following
the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as
thou has testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also
at Rome. Well, little did Paul know what
was before him, and little did Paul know what deliverance he
would receive, and how the Lord's promise would be so wonderfully
and faithfully declared. Because he'd had this wonderful
word from the Lord one night, and the next day there were certain
of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse,
saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed
Paul." Well, it was a very sad statement to make, wasn't it?
The Apostle Paul had been preaching the gospel, and it would seem
these men, possibly the Sadducees, of course, who did not believe
in the resurrection, who Paul had spoken against, may have
been so angry that they decided to get rid of Paul. And so they
banded together and decided that to kill him, and in order to
make that more positive, they came to this situation and decided
not to eat nor drink anything until they had killed Paul. Well,
of course, we know in fact they didn't kill Paul. And we know
that he was delivered. So presumably they did actually
eat and drink and they didn't actually carry out what they
said they were going to do. And they were more than 40 which
had made this conspiracy. It's quite amazing, isn't it,
when you see a group of these men so evil in their desires
And the poor apostle was just naturally by himself, but God
was with him. And you see, my friends, when
God is with us, then it matters not really how many people might
rise up against us. If God before us, who can be
against us? Realize we have such a gracious
and glorious savior as the Lord Jesus Christ, who is able and
who is willing still today to do great things. And the Conspiracy
was, and they came to the chief priests and elders and said,
we have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat
nothing until we have slain Paul. So they were very forthright,
and they came and they told these people exactly what they were
going to do, and therefore they had a plan. Well, many people
have plans, but you see that the Lord is on the throne. And
people may plan, but they may not be able to fulfill those
plans. Because if God stops them, they will not be able to fulfill
them. Now therefore, ye with the council,
signify to the chief captain that he bring down unto you tomorrow,
as though ye would inquire something more perfectly and concerning
him and we, wherever he come near, are ready to kill him."
No doubt they thought this plot was a fairly foolproof plot. They thought it had a lot of
validity with it, and they thought therefore that the Chief Captain
wouldn't refuse such a request, and the face of it looked very
plausible and very reasonable. But of course, they didn't count
on the fact that Almighty God was completely aware of everything
they planned, and He knew how He would bring that planning
to nothing. And it was really quite amazing
as we read this next verse. And when Paul's sister's son
heard of the lying in wait, He went and entered into the castle
and told Paul. Well, there wouldn't have been,
of course, that many people who would have heard that which had
been planned. We know not how he came to this
knowledge, but nonetheless, the Lord ordained that this young
lad would come to his uncle and be able to speak to him. Perhaps
he'd been able to come in freely into the castle to bring food
for Paul, because it seems there wasn't any difficulty for him
to go in and to see his uncle. And so, what a favor it is to
realize that you see, God knows the end from the beginning. And
God ordained that this young man should be the person that
should be used to come and be the cause how Paul was to be
delivered from this situation. Well, the Lord still does great
things today, and the Lord can still do great things today. How often perhaps we tend to
limit the power of our God, or that we might have more faith,
more faith to seek earnestly his face and to seek for his
honor and glory. And so we're told, and when Paul's
sister's son heard they're lying in wait, he went and entered
into the castle and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions
unto him and said, bring this young man unto the chief captain,
for he hath a certain thing to tell him. And it would seem from
this that the apostle Paul had behaved himself so well and graciously
that he was able to call the centurion. He didn't have to
call perhaps those who might've been closer to him, but he was
able to call the centurion and the centurion didn't reject his
request but he came so he took him and brought him to the chief
captain as the apostle requested and Paul called one of the centurions
unto him and said bring this young man unto the chief captain
for he hath a certain thing to tell him so he didn't doubt the
validity of that statement. We might think perhaps, well
surely he would think, well let me hear what it is, tell me what
the reason is, tell me about it. But no, we see again the
Lord overruling in this providence and making this man, this senior
person, centurion, somebody over a hundred men, to be willing
to come to the chief captain and bring this young lad to him. So he took him and brought him
to the chief captain and said, Paul, the prisoner, called me
unto him and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who
hath something to say unto thee. So here was this young man then
brought into the presence of the chief captain. And the chief
captain took him by the hand and went with him aside privately
and asked him, what is it that thou hast to tell me? And this
young lad told him, and he said, the Jews have agreed to desire
thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul tomorrow into the council
as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly. But do not now yield unto him,
for there lie in wait for him of them more than 40 men, which
have bound themselves with an oath that they would neither
eat nor drink, till they have killed him, and now are they
ready, looking for a promise from thee." So, in a few very
simple words, this young man spoke to the chief captain. I mean, you can imagine, can't
we, the tremendous difference between this very senior soldier
and this lad who had come to him with this position. Now, we would think perhaps he
would question him more closely as to whether this thing was
true and ask him perhaps many questions. But it seems he asked
him nothing. It seems that he believed. that
which this young lad has spoken. And again we see, don't we, the
overruling power and providence of God, who has the heart of
all men in his hands. And that's good to remember,
isn't it? That the hearts of all men are in God's hands. And
God here controlled the heart of the centurion, He controlled
the heart of this chief captain so that he was willing to listen
in the first place and then to take heed to the words that had
been spoken and to come and to deliver or at least make a preparation
for the deliverance of the Apostle Paul. And so he He told, this
young man told the centurion, the chief captain the situation
and he told him again not to yield. It's quite amazing, isn't
it? The strength and the boldness of this young man telling this
chief captain what to do, but do not thou yield unto them. Well, we might think this is
amazing, isn't it? A young lad speaking to the chief
captain in these terms. And of course in those days it
wasn't something that you were really able to do, to speak to
somebody high in authority like this person. Nonetheless, in
God's purpose, so it was. So the chief captain then let
the young man depart and charged him, see thou tell no man that
thou showed these things to me. Quite clearly he didn't want
any plans that he might be able to provide for the escape of
the Apostle to be jeopardized and therefore he told him not
to tell anybody that he'd been told about this. And then we
told him what the told what the Chief Captain did. And it was
very significant. It wasn't just, well, I think
I'll send Paul off then. He can go quietly by himself.
No, it was very different to that. This Chief Captain, he
then got together, really a little army, we might say. And he called
under him two centurions saying, make ready 200 soldiers to go
to Caesarea. Well, not only 200 soldiers,
but also three score and 10 horsemen. And not only horsemen, but spearmen,
200 at the third hour of the night. So here we have then,
we have kind of 400, 460, it's 470 men taking Paul on this journey.
It's quite amazing, isn't it? To think of so many. might think well just a couple
of soldiers might well have been adequate but no in god's providence
there were all these people provided to go with the apostle paul and
he was told and provide the them beasts that they may set port
on and bring him safe unto Felix the governor and so Paul was
able to ride comfortably not have to walk it was many miles
that they had to traverse many miles that night but you see
what a blessing it was that God had ordained how the apostle
was to escape how he moved various situations so the young man would
hear what was proposed and then the centurion made willing to
come and tell the Chief Captain and bring the lad to him, the
Chief Captain then willing to hear what the young lad told
him and to recognise it as a true situation and then prepare this
large company of people to take Paul safely on his journey to
Felix the Governor. Well, we should be encouraged,
shouldn't we, tonight, that as the Lord looked after his servant
Paul, so he looks after his people today. So he did that for Paul,
which he wouldn't have envisaged, but my friends, he can do the
same for us today. We have a God who can do and does great things. May our faith be increased to
trust in the Lord at all times. Amen.