I think the Lord has given me
a message for you all. Turn to Acts chapter 28. Acts chapter 28. We're going to look at verses 11 through
15. just kind of coming in the middle
of this story that you'll all remember and you'll all understand. This is Paul's journey. It started
when he got, you know, when he, he said, you know, change, he
knew that he didn't know what built, he didn't know what was
ahead of him. He just, the Holy Spirit told
him that there was going to be change and he was bondage and
he was going to be held captive. And that started in Jerusalem.
And now he's working his way to Rome because you remember
he, uh, He appealed to Caesar because he thought perhaps his
life may have ended there in Jerusalem. He says, no, I'm a
Roman citizen, I appeal to Caesar. And they go, okay, you're gonna
go to Caesar, you're gonna go see him. The only problem is
Caesar, at this time in the history of the New Testament, the ruler
was one called Nero. And if you know anything about
church history, he loved to kill Christians. He hated Christians.
So that, keep it in your mind, that's where Paul is heading. He doesn't know what's gonna
happen. He doesn't know the future. We
don't know the future. Keep that in mind. Let's just
start in verse 11, in Acts chapter 28, and we'll get to and stop
at verse 15. And after three months, we departed
in a ship, Alexandria, which had wintered in the isles, whose
sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing in Syracuse, we tarried
there three days. And from thence we fetched a
compass and came to Rehjem. And after one day, the south
wind blew, and we came the next day to Petolia, where we found
brethren. and were desired to tarry with
them seven days. And so we went forward towards
Rome. And look at verse 15. And from
thence, when the brethren heard of us, that's the brethren at
Rome, they came to meet us as far as Apiphorum and the three
taverns. And historically these, they're
different names, But historically, as in 2024, these places are
still there. It's a spot in the road. These
two places, the three taverns and Appy Forum. Whom? Whom what? The brethren, who
Paul's talking about. Whom, when Paul saw, he thanked
God and took courage. That's all I want to deal with
this morning. Thanking God for the brethren,
and we'll see a little bit more specifically what that entails, and taking courage. That's active
faith. That's confidence. These two graces, thanking God
and taking courage, these two graces, not only are they admirable,
but they most certainly adorn or recommend each other in every
child of God. And we were back here in the
men's meeting and I heard the word thanking God, which really
my ears perked up. I like to hear that, because
we don't thank them enough. In this country, we who have
more than enough, we don't thank them enough. And we seem to take
courage in our pocketbook, or we seem to take courage in our
homes, or we seem to take courage in our friends or our neighbors.
We don't take courage because of the brethren, We don't seem
to take courage because we know God's on the throne, and He is.
I heard that this morning in the Bible class. And I ask myself,
and I ask us here, when are we without cause to show forth thankfulness
and hope throughout our daily lives? I was going to college. I can't even remember the man's
name. He went to the church that I
went to when I, the Lord began to, I began introduced to the
gospel because I was raised Methodist and there was nothing there.
This man, every time I'd see him on campus, he was going to
be a doctor. I think he is a doctor now. He,
we do say, he'd say, well, let's just stop and thank God. All
the time. And it aggravated me. It aggravated
me. Can't we go forth? Well, the
scripture says we ought to say, in James, if the Lord wills,
we're gonna do this, such and such. But we just run ahead like
he owes us something. No, we know of all people that
God, we do not deserve the least of his mercies. So as we looked
here in Acts 28 and we're seeing his journey and it's detailed
pretty clearly, it's detailed very clearly, he's on his way
to Rome, Paul, and it's been full of difficulties. Shipwreck
and one thing is to get bit by a snake and in a small island
with natives and afflictions and harsh trials, that sounds
like the life of a believer. Doesn't that sound like the life
of a believer? Maybe not to this extreme. Old Scott Richardson
used to say this, there's three phases in a believer's life,
just three. You're either heading in the
trial, or you're in trial, or you're heading out of it. And
the older you get, I know if you're younger here, you got
the world by the tail, and you know, when you start to get a
little older, Even if you don't have aches and pains, you understand
we're more dependent. We know we raise our children,
and I got to thinking about this having a grandchild. We raise
them to be independent. That is so contrary to the scripture.
We are dependent. We are dependent upon God and
His grace every day. Every day, but now we raise our
kids, you know, do this and that, and I understand it. It's a little
different, but to the believer, no, we are dependent. And the older you get, the more
you depend upon His grace. Well, as I said, Paul appealed
to Caesar, and now he's gonna go to Rome. I'd like to, just
look at the particular language. I love the language of Scripture.
All Scripture is given by God and is inspired of God. I'm not
gonna go into that, I just know it's true. It's in the word,
it's true. And from thence, when they, when
the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appiforum
and the three taverns. Now, you can look it up, you
can look in your maps in the back of your Bible. Appiforum
is about 51 miles from Rome. So they traveled, and they didn't
have cars, They traveled 51 miles to meet up with one of like mind. And then there's three taverns
is probably 20, 23 or 24 miles. They walked or they rode or they
whatever, however they got there. Whom? Brethren of like mind. Brethren of like mind. When he
saw them, them, he gave thanks and he took courage. I have a
side note here for all of us here this morning, because I'm
not preaching at the Lord's, got somebody covering at my place.
I'm not preaching, you know, I'm preaching here. So this is
from me, and this crawled on me, it stepped on my toes, not
trying to read your mail or any of that kind of stuff, but we
need to learn some things. I have a side note here, and
I ask myself, and I ask you, is any distance too far to go
to gather together with God's dear saints. Excuses abound. There's any distance. They walked or rode a camel or
whatever, they don't have the transportation we have. But when Paul saw them and he
saw them and they saw him, one whom they highly esteemed, is
any too distance, any distance, too great to gather together
with God's saints. I ask for myself and I ask for
the brethren at Jackson, Missouri, as their under-shepherd, as those
responsible in a sense for them, that the Lord would give us a
hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's part of the problem is
we're just not hungry. We come here Sunday after Sunday
And things get stalled, they get stale, they get dull. And to be honest with you, those
folks have been listening, they've been putting up with me for 35
years. And somebody said they listened
to a message. Out of all the people on Free
Grace Radio, out of all the Sovereign Grace preachers on Sermon Audio,
why would you want to listen to me? I do believe I preach
the truth. but I'm not eloquent, I'm not
all these different things. And so it's a give and take.
It's a give and take, the pastor and the people. So I pray that
the Lord give us a hunger and thirst to sit aside one another
and give thanks, specifically for one another, for Bible Baptist,
this church here, this church here. If we say we love His presence,
we know in the Scriptures that where two or three are gathered
in His name, He will be in the midst of them, Matthew 18, 20.
This is what I want to explore, just these two topics, giving
thanks and taking courage. To expand the Greek, that would
be giving thanks or a spirit or attitude of gratitude, thankfulness,
and indebtedness, and taking courage, an encouragement to
faith, in our taking courage. Come what may, we'll trust in
Him for He knows, our Lord knows what's best for us and He can
do no wrong. So we ought to take courage as
Paul did. He didn't know what the next
day, he didn't know what the next day or the next day, he
may not even make it to Rome. Turn with me to Romans, just
look across the page, Romans chapter 1, listen to what, this
was written before what's going on here at Acts. Paul's writing
to the Romans, to the church at Rome, starting in verse 9. I'm sorry, we'll start in verse
eight. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you
all. He saw the brethren. Now they
weren't all there, I'm sure, just some, a representative of
some, but they traveled so far to visit with him. And this is
what he said before this all took place. I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the gospel of the Son, of his Son, that
without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,
making requests, if by any means, now at length, I might have a
prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you." Well,
the Lord's fulfilling that. If he doesn't make it to Rome,
at least he's seen some of them. He wrote this before. For I long
I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual
gift to the end that you may be established. That is, that
I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith, both
of you and me." See, it's not just one man standing up here
and spewing a bunch of facts or whatever. It's not just the
pastor. It's a church. We all have different gifts,
but we're all essential. In the eyes of Christ, in the
eyes of God, He paid for us, He bought us, we're not our own. I am ready to preach the gospel
to you that are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,"
what? In the gospel, the gospel of Christ, is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. Take courage, live by faith.
So what I am saying is this. The root of our fellowship here
and in Jackson, wherever the Lord's preaching the gospel,
wherever his church is located, the root and substance of Paul's
thankfulness and taking courage is God in Christ and through
the gospel of his sovereign grace. Look at verse nine. Look at verse
nine. For my God is witness, in the
gospel. That's all you talk about is
the gospel of this and the gospel of that. Why? Because you need
it and I need it. That's why it's important. And
that was one thing, I will speak of personal experience, that
over 30 or 40 years ago, one thing I noticed about H.T. Mahan, Henry Mahan, and then
basically all the preachers that associated with him, They did
not deviate into eschatology. They did not deviate into issues
of abortion. These things are not unimportant,
but it should never take the place of the gospel, of the grace
of God. Why? Because take any subject
you want to take, marriage, Husbands love your wife. How do you do
that? As Christ, look at him as he
loved the church. How do you give? It's a grace. Grace is a giving. It comes from
God. Everything goes back, as like Paul's saying, as he's writing
these brethren. Verses nine, verse 12. That is, that I might be comforted
together with you by the mutual faith. And faith is a gift of
God. How's that come? through the
hearing and believing and understanding the gospel. Verse 15, in so much
as in me, I am ready to preach the gospel. Well, why not visit
with, and we'll get a little bit back to this when we get
back to our text, why not, when they gathered together, did they
not talk about the weather? Or did they not talk about the
sporting events that were going on in Rome? Or didn't they talk
about how Nero was taxation? These things are important in
their context. I'm not saying, you know, we've
got to be stoic and every time we see somebody, but I'm saying
this. Every time we gather together, our theme is Christ and Him crucified. Matter of fact, Paul said, I'm
determined not to know anything among you. What does that mean? I don't know. I don't know, it
seems pretty clear to me, except Christ and Him crucified. We
can never learn too much about Christ. We can never, one of
their old writers said, you know, talked about his attributes,
calls them his divine perfections. You can never learn too much
about God in Christ because we can't approach God unless we're
in Christ. Well, look at verse 16, for I
am not ashamed of what? You all, no, or God, no, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why is that so important?
It is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believes,
to the Jew first and to the Greeks. Well, the Lord saved me 20 years
ago, what do I, no. You keep, you keep, because we
sing that song, prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave
the God I love. That's why we're looking at when
the brethren got together, They gave thanks. They gave thanks.
So, He is our all in all. It says, we're here basically
upholding, or however you want to phrase it, Amos 3.3. Two cannot walk together unless
they be agreed. And unless you agree, that God
is totally sovereign, he does the dictates of his will, no
man can turn his hand, they can't say to him, what are you doing?
Let's you understand that. Let's you understand, you and
me are born in sin and have no way to God except for Christ. That's the gospel. The old writers
used to, the three R's, ruined by the fall, redemption by the
blood, and regeneration by Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, Paul
says that to preach the same thing to you is needful. It's needful. It's needful. The truth is no afterthought
to us. The truth is not a side issue
and it's certainly not a minor discussion. Everything Paul is
giving thanks to in our text and giving thanks and taking
courage centered around his relationship to God and His gospel. And we're
included. Everybody here is included. He
is our all in all, and we must hear of Him. And this attitude
of gratitude, thanksgiving, is all centered around Him with
whom we live and move and have our being, Acts chapter 17. So
give thanks. how blessed it is for the brethren
to dwell together in unity. It's like the ointment, and it
is. I tell our folks, and I know
it from fact, there's two troubles that are very difficult for anybody
to concentrate through or to work through, and that's marital
troubles, if you're troubled with your spouse, he's pretty
hard to concentrate, and there's no trouble like church trouble.
So let us lay aside Our pride, let us lay aside our, we think
we know this and we think we know that, and let's just be
sponge. Let's just give thanks. When Paul saw them, whom? When Paul saw whom? For one another. For helping one another in times
of need. The scripture talks about iron sharpening iron, Proverbs
27. That's what we're talking about.
This very place has been here, and I'm not saying it's rare,
but two generations, a lot of times the third one just falls
apart. You can see it in history, you
can see it in this country. You had a man, Maurice Montgomery,
that faithfully preached the gospel, was despised because
he did, was laughed at, was mocked at, and now you have another
man who preaches the same message, the same message. Let us give
thanks for whom Paul saw, whom he saw. Let's give thanks for
the very brethren who show up, the very place we gather together.
We bless him for his sustaining grace that he's brought us through
so many trials. And now he realizes his letter
that he wrote before to the Romans, His labor was not in vain. Well,
he knew that because he said that to the Corinthians. Your
labor in the Lord is not in vain. Can you imagine? You've heard
about, I hear something's going on. And historically, I've been
reading on this and it was probably that Roman, the Roman church
was probably started by somebody at Pentecost because there was,
there was all the nations, kindreds, tribes, they were there. And
then the gospel went out. And the Lord saved his people,
and they went back to, and there were some people there from Rome.
So Paul, he didn't, but he heard about them, and he wrote to them,
and now he sees them. How wonderful, how glorious is
that? And we know always that the word
will have success, will not come back void, says Isaiah 55, 11.
Surely there's more elect in this town. in this county as
there is in Jackson. And we're a small church, but
we're there for a reason. And if we believe in God's absolute
sovereignty, we sing that song that we are immortal here, immortal
here until our work is done. That's right. That's exactly
right. He has you here. to say something to somebody,
or to invite them, or to bring them, or to tell them the good
news. Just like that servant of Isaac. He wasn't, he's, you
know, when he went and met Rebecca, and then he, come and eat with
us, he says, I'm not gonna eat anything until I tell you what
I gotta tell you. And who'd he talk about? Isaac.
That's a picture of Christ. That's a picture of Christ. Oh, we are such undeserving worms,
such lowly wretches of the dust, yet in and by and through Christ,
he has taken notice of us. Let us commune together. Whom,
whom, whom? We, you, me, together, lifting
up our voices in glorious admonition to the God of all grace. Let
us not play church. Let us not be unaffected by the
words and the hymns and the prayers that we hear concerning the truth,
but let us mimic Paul. I can only place my mind and
my thought on a journey, and he knows how far he's got to
go, I'm sure, and how long it's gonna take, and he looks up,
and there's brethren. He's not the same as fellowshipping
with that centurion that he's chained to. He doesn't know anything
about the gospel. I'm sure he heard about it. But
the brethren, the brethren of the grace of God, someone I can
talk to, someone I can fellowship with. Let us mimic Paul every
time we see the brethren. Thank God for keeping you all
and us together and worshipping the Lord of glory. We are indebted,
are we not? We are indebted. I found, oh
boy. Oh, I lost it. I found this hymn. I've loved this hymn for years
by Robert Murray McShane. What a hymn, listen to it. We're
indebted to God's grace and give thanks for one another. When
this passing world is done, when has sunk yon radiant sun, when
we stand with Christ on high, looking o'er life's history,
then, Lord, shall I fully know, not till then, how much I owe. When I hear the wicked call on
the rocks and hills to fall, when I see them start and shrink
on the fiery deluge brink, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not
till then, how much I owe. When I stand before the throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thy art, love
thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know, but
not till then, how much I owe. When the praise of heaven I hear,
loud as thunders to the ear, loud as many waters' noise, sweet
as harp's melodious voice, then, Lord, shall I fully know, but
not till then, how much I owe. chosen not for good in me, wakened
up from wrath to flee, hidden by the Savior's side, by the
Spirit sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on earth to show
by my love how much I know. Can we not do that together?
Can we not? And I think about this occasionally.
The last elect, You ever think about this? He says everything's
going to go on like it has until that last sinner is brought in. Maybe the last elect is in Morton's gap. Maybe the
last elect is in Madison. Maybe he's in Jackson. So what
is our responsibility? Just keep telling them. Just
keep inviting them. But let us, when we see the brethren,
And I struggle with this too. I get aggravated at my folks,
and I'm sure David does you, and you do David. I'm sure that's
this human nature. We confess it, forsake it, and
walk with him. The second point, let us give
thanks, but let's take courage. Let us walk in faith, walk by
faith, take confidence, not in ourselves, not in our abilities,
but in God, in His grace, in Christ, and realize His providence
is for us. Paul, he didn't know what was
ahead of him. He only knew that chains and
being bound and Acts chapter 20 accompanied him. Again, he
was on his way in Jerusalem and then got captured and now he's
on his way to Rome. Do we know that? Yes, we know
that. If we know the gospel, if we
know God is sovereign, if we know without Him we can do nothing,
and it's only by His blood and righteousness that we stand and
can stand. We know these things. Therefore,
He will not leave you and He will not forsake you. Take courage.
I cannot imagine Paul walking and seeing those brethren, knowing
how far they came. And then he took courage. That's what we do. That's part
of worship. We gather together. Like I said, it's not a one man.
You all are praying for me. You're praying for your pastor
where he's at and he preaches the gospel in other churches
in this world. What's going on? And we are thankful
for that. Let us take courage. That's part
of worship, is encouraging one another. We're all not the same
place. We all have differing gifts,
and we all need one another. Take courage, brethren. Together,
one with another, and God is our helper. We don't know what
2024 may bring or beyond, but we know who has it in his hands,
and it's for our good and ultimately for his glory. And like I say,
when they got together, they probably talked about some of
the things that's common during that day. But Paul's like, you
know, that's right, you know, I just came from here and these
things happened to me. But I imagine they dwelt on the
gospel of God's grace and they encouraged one another. And I know the Super Bowl's this
today. I don't care. I don't care. This is what I care about. and God, and his gospel, and
the grace of God, and hearing how are you doing in that grace,
in that gospel. May we take courage. May we take
courage indeed. And I will say this as another
side note about your pastor. I know David. He's just like
me. He's a sinner, and he needs encouragement. and he needs for you to give
thanks. I'm not saying you don't do that, but be a help to your
pastor in this regard. Encourage him in the faith, because
we are sinners just as much in need of spiritual conversations
as anybody else. Matter of fact, I agree with
Tim James on this, and I know Tim James got in trouble preaching
at a conference for saying this, but I totally agree with him.
And sometimes us pastors, we get it turned around. If it wasn't
for you, there'd be no need for me. If there was no sheep, there'd
be no need for an under-shepherd. And us under-shepherds, we'd
get up here. Oh, look at me. I'm serious. I'm not saying your
pastor's this way. I'm saying encourage your pastor.
I know I get this way. Look at me. Look at what I've
done. And then Lord will bring us an older lady and say, you're
the man. Oh, just trust me or my wife
will help me in that, keep me down, keep me low. May we march forward like Paul. March forward to Zion. May we
take courage, walk by faith, exhorting one another. while
in his call today, hearing the word, reading his words, singing
of his hymns, knowing all while that he upholds all things by
the word of his power. Hebrews chapter one, verse two
and three. We need not fear tomorrow, for he has tomorrow under control. Take courage, he has promised
that he will never leave us nor forsake us. And all I'll say
about the political situation in this country is it's a mess.
And you know that. You know that. We ought to be, and Philippians,
think on these things, lovely, pure, that which is honorable,
to exhorting one to another. I just have opinions about what's
going to happen to this country and what's going on. I have opinions.
It doesn't matter. This is unalterable truth. Like Luther said, here I stand,
I can do no other. And may we encourage one another. And may we be thankful one for
another, one to another. We may encounter harsh days ahead.
We're not promised ease in this life. We may succumb to illness,
to hurt, loss of loved ones or loss of our own life. But if
we are redeemed and we have tasted that he is gracious and kind
and full of compassion, I can be bold, I can walk in faith
as he has me to and it'll be okay. He has not left nor lost
one single sheep. Hasn't done it. It cannot be, for he is the great,
grand, and sovereign, and supreme shepherd that loves his sheep. He loves his sheep. So much so,
now we're talking about the gospel again, that he sent his son to
suffer, to bleed, and die voluntarily No man took it. He laid down
his life. There's something amazing about
the scriptural teaching of the voluntary sufferings of our Lord
Jesus Christ. We don't volunteer for much.
As a matter of fact, Linda and I, we've talked about doing some
stuff. It's like, I'm not gonna get paid. I'm not gonna do anything.
He volunteered. He laid down his life for his
people. And not only that, but he rose
back up again. He who speaks and it's accomplished,
he who moves and the world trembles. You wanna know how sovereign
our God is? Take a look at Proverbs 16, 33, not now, but when you
get home. It says, the lot, dice in our
terms, is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing, That
word disposing, look that up. You don't need to look, you know
what it means. But the whole disposing is of the Lord. Now if He is that minutely concerned
with things upon the earth, like our Lord said in the Gospels,
if He, Solomon was not arrayed in all the, like the beauty of
the lilies of the field, and the Father cares for them, how
much more does He care for You and I, for whom He voluntarily
laid down His life. Nothing, Jeremiah 32 says, nothing
is too hard for Him. Our problem is we don't go to
Him enough. Well, it's not that, I don't
want to bother Him. Well, that's just opposite of the scriptures.
Remember that one lady kept knocking on that door, just kept knocking. She kept, she just kept, kept
and kept. until the man got up, and our
Father's not as harsh as that man. Our Father loves to hear
from His people. So I close with this, brethren. Anywhere you look, whether you
look at the past, what God has done for you, whether this very
day, what God is doing for you, or you look in the future, give
thanks and take courage, for He cares for you. Now, if you're
here this morning and you don't know what I'm talking about,
if this is all, this is just all not certain
to you, come unto Him. You're a sinner
like the rest of us. Come unto Him and He'll give
you rest. If you cry for mercy, I agree
with the old writers, If you cry for mercy, God always hears
the cry for mercy. Why? Because He's put that cry
in your heart. So if you don't know what I'm
talking about, your mind's a hundred miles away. Remember this, when
Paul was in dire situation and didn't know from day to day whether
he was going to live or not, when he saw the brethren, those
of like mind, Like faith, he thanked God for him. Why? Because the gospel, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, faith in him, and he took courage. You know, it's like Daniel. I'll
see you. I'll see you at the end. It's
like those three in the fiery furnace. I'll see you at the end of this.
Oh, you don't know that. I do. Our God's able. He's able. Isn't He different? One of the
most beautiful attributes of God that I think, you look at
Stephen Charnock and you look at Arthur Pink. is His immutability,
the fact that He doesn't change. Now we change all the time. He
does not change. If He's loved you, He will love
you with an everlasting love. Your only hope is in Him. Your
only hope is in Him. My only hope is in Him. May you
and may we be found in Him. And then, there's a whole, it's
not going to be easy. but it's going to be glorious
because he's on our side. Thank you.