Now there's a lot going on in
this world. Not just now, in the time we're
in now, but through the ages. And there's nothing new under
the sun, is there? And the reason we see wars and
rumors of wars and we see conflicts and different things happening
is because of our sinfulness as humans. Sin is the root cause of all the things that we see.
And everything that we do, even as believers, is tainted with
sin, isn't it? I stand before you a man saved by the grace
of God, and yet still a sinner. We will be sinners until we go
home to be with the Lord. And then we're never sin again.
That's just glorious. But what a comfort for us as
God's people to know that God protects us. That he watches over us. I remember
hearing Henry one time talk about a lady who had lost her mind. She got Alzheimer's. She was
attending his church, and she got Alzheimer's, and somebody
said, the things she says sometimes is not indicative of a Christian. And he said, whether God's people
lose their minds and say things that they never would have said,
God's still keeping them. He's still got his hand on them. See, our salvation is not dependent
upon us, is it? It's dependent upon Christ. My, oh, my. And isn't it amazing
to know and to find out that after God saves you, you find
out about how much He protected you before you were saved? We can now look back and go,
man, I should have died there. I should have died there. I should
have died there. But I didn't. Donny Bell said he was in Vietnam with a .45 on his temple, ready to kill himself. He was
in Kaesaw during the siege. And he said, I couldn't do it. Well, he's a gospel preacher,
isn't he? And I was in tears when I heard
that message, because he was my mentor. And I thought, you couldn't have
done that, Donny, because God wouldn't have let you. He protected
him. Not just to be the folks you
were with, sister, that sat under his ministry, which was greatly
blessed, but all the other people. that has been affected by his
ministry. Isn't that amazing? God protects
them. We're gonna see here today, God
protects his people. We're gonna see a situation here,
similar to the Mordecai event. Remember Mordecai? He had the
hangman thing all made up? Or not Mordecai, Haman, wasn't
it? Which one made the? Haman made
up, yeah, Haman made up all the, for Mordecai. Well, it ended
up Haman was swinging off that thing, wasn't it? You know, that's happened a lot
in this world. We're gonna see a situation where
someone tries to trap Paul, brings him before the Roman pro-council,
which is the Roman governor in Greece. We're going to see the
Roman governor's response to this. It's amazing. But remember,
as we're reading this, God is protecting Paul. And this is a time when Paul
now is going to leave Corinth after this situation. Not because
he has to, but because he's being guided by God to do that. So the name of the message is
God's Protection. Open your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter
18. Acts chapter 18. Marvel that God sent Christ into
this world, God the Father, sent Christ into this world to save
sinners, such as we. That's the whole mission of Christ,
coming to this world, is to save sinners. Ain't that wonderful? Remember on Thursday I preached
on how Christ is God's salvation. You want salvation? It's in a
person. It's in a man. It's in the God-man. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You won't find salvation in a formula. You won't find salvation in man's
doing. You won't even find salvation
in taking a certain theological stand. You'll find salvation in Christ,
in Christ alone. Cassimian said, mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Now, I like theology. You know,
I like good theology. But salvation, good theology
points to Christ, points to his work, points to what he's done.
Right? He's the hub. And all the smokes
come from him. All of it. Man is totally depraved.
God sends a savior, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Man will
never choose God. God chooses a people in Christ
who Christ comes to redeem. Isn't that wonderful? Christ
dies for those people. He didn't die for the whole world.
He dies for those people. That's incredible. God's people
aren't willing to come to Christ. God makes them willing in a day
of his power. And if it was up to us, we'd
fall a thousand times a day. God keeps us and protects us.
It says we're kept by the power of God. Praise his mighty name. It's wonderful. See, it's all
centered around Christ though, isn't it? All of it. Okay, let's
stand up and read Acts chapter 18, verses 12 to 17. This will be our text today. And when Galileo was the deputy
of Archaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul
and brought him to the judgment seat. saying, this fellow persuadeth
men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now
about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews, if it were
a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason that I should
bear with you. But if it's a question of words
and names and of your law, look ye to it, for I'll be no judge
of such things. And he drove them from the judgment
seat. Then all the Greeks took Sothenus, the chief ruler of
the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Galileo
cared for none of these things." Oh, my. This is incredible here. The Jews who hate the gospel,
the unbelieving Jews, just like we did in our natural state,
bring Paul before the Roman governor, the pro-council. He's the pro-council
of Greece. So he's in charge of all of Greece for the Roman
Empire. He's the emperor's representative. Now during our last lesson from
Acts 18, we saw through the eye of God given faith that our Lord
Jesus Christ in a vision spoke to Paul. his ordained apostle. And he says these words, be not
afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace. So what we learned
last week is Paul's just like us. He's afraid in this situation. Ever been afraid? When you're
talking to someone about Christ or when they react a certain
way, ever been afraid? We all have been. You ever been
afraid in general? So the Lord's telling Paul, you
go and preach the gospel, you go and preach Christ, and do
not be afraid. And then he told him, no one's gonna touch you,
no one's gonna lay harm to you. Now who's saying this? This is
the God of the universe. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, risen, who's telling Paul this in a vision. My. It's absolutely incredible. And then, look what he says,
be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace, for I am
with thee. God says I'm with you. Do you
know he's with us too, Brother Eric? Man, we can take that,
can't we? We can take that as our own.
He's with us. If God's saying that to the Apostle
Paul, who's a sheep of God, well, that's for us too. My, isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. He says, for I am with thee.
Then look what he says. No man shall sit upon thee to hurt thee.
No one's going to lay a hand on you to hurt you. And then
I love this. This is amazing. Now, Paul's
already preached and Christmas was saved. He was the chief synagogue.
Now, when the Lord's telling them this, we find out Paul's
going to be with them for 18 months more. And we know what he's, what's
he gonna do? He's gonna preach Christ, right? And look what
the Lord says to him. I have much people, which in
the Greek is, I have many people in this city. Before he's even
preached again, go preach the gospel. I got a whole lot of
folks in there. That's wonderful, isn't it, Chris?
That's wonderful. That means that God's got sheep. That means
that God's got sheep in that city. And they have to hear the
gospel, right? So God sends him a preacher. Oh my, this is wonderful. And he tells Paul, no one's gonna
hurt you. Even with him being brought up
before Galileo, no one hurt him. They just brought him along. They just bought him along. But
what a lesson we have here of God's protection over his people.
And that can bring us comfort amidst all the stuff going on,
right? God will protect us. He watches over his people. Now,
we're aware of everything going on, and some of it troubles us
much. But let us always remember that
God's in control. Man is not in control. They think
they are, but they're not. They're not in control. My. And the Lord Jesus was with Paul.
Think of this. During all the painful trials
that he went through, he was with him. And during this time
when no one would lay a hand on him, he was with him. God
is ever with his people. There's never a time when he's
not with his people. Never. That's comforting for
the blood-washed saints of God. And we see that our Lord said,
I will not let anyone harm you. Now, we know that, remember,
he was stoned in Listeria. God allowed that to happen, right?
There was a reason in that we don't understand. But there was
a reason. But in this circumstance, for
18 months, the Lord says, no one's going to touch you. No
one's going to touch you. And what an encouraging promise
from God that we can lay to our hearts, that even if we go through
persecution, even if it is physical, or even if it is painful, that
God is with us, no matter what. No matter what. Think of the
worst thing even you've seen in a Christian church. God is
still with you. He's still with his sheep. Now
that's encouraging, isn't it? Think of the worst thing you've
seen in the world. God's still with us. Think of before we were
even saved. He's watching over us. My, protecting us. Do you remember the sower and
all that? And the scripture says that some
fell on good ground, Henry Mann preached the message one time
on that, and he said, you know what the difference with that
ground is than the stony ground? That ground's prepared ground.
It's been tilled. It's been taken care of. It's
ready to receive the seed. The weeds are gone. The stones
are gone. You must be born again. God prepares our hearts, doesn't
he? Sister Diane, I remember you telling me, one second you're
looking for Christ, and the next second, boom, you're born again. Just like that. Why? But God had been preparing
the soil of our hearts to receive the word. That's amazing. And the whole
time, even before we were saved, He's protecting us and watching
over us. My. I'll tell you what. Is it any wonder we want to tell
people how wonderful Christ is? Is it any wonder we want to tell
Him, tell people about how He's loved us with an everlasting
love? Oh my. It's absolutely amazing. So Paul receives this encouraging
promise from the risen, exalted God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that his restraining hand would be upon him, that no one would
harm him while he was in Corinth. Think of the ungodly enemies
of Christ who'd come at him before. They're not gonna cause you any
physical harm. They may yell at you, they may
mock you, but they're not gonna lay a hand on you. And the reason our Lord told
his ordained missionary to speak and not hold his peace is because
there's more sheep there. That's encouraging. You see,
I get up and preach the gospel and other preachers get up and
preach the gospel. We know there's more sheep out there. How do
we know? Because it hasn't all stopped. When God saves the last sheep
of that covenant, it's over. There's no more need. But we know he hasn't saved the
last one yet, right? But when he does, it's over. It's over. And Paul was the ordained
apostle who would be used by our sovereign God to preach the
gospel to these saints who are at Corinth, who would be delivered
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear
son. by the irresistible power of God the Holy Spirit. We were
listening to those fellows I like to listen to on the radio this
morning, or on YouTube, and I had them on this morning, and the
one guy was just preaching a sermon by himself, and he said something
that just knocked my socks off. Think of this. We were in the
kingdom of darkness, right? Do you know there's two kingdoms? We were in the kingdom of darkness.
We were under the sway of Satan. There's people all around us
who are in the kingdom of darkness, and they don't even know it. And by the power of God Almighty,
who's greater than all, we've been translated into the kingdom
of God's dear Son, which is the true kingdom, right? All because it pleased God to
do so. Just let that sink in for a while,
eh? We have been taken out of the kingdom of slavery to sin,
slavery to evil. We now have a new spirit within
us that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. We now hate sin
more than we've ever hated it before. We now sin more than
we ever want to, because now we see our sin. We didn't see
it when we were in the kingdom of darkness. We weren't even aware of it. Now we're aware of it. Now we're born again. We're in
the kingdom of God's dear son. And we've always been, even when
we were in the kingdom of darkness, think of this. This is how absolute
sway God has. Even when we were in the kingdom
of darkness, Brother Travis, we were under God's protected
hand. Satan thought he had us, right?
He doesn't know who the elect are, remember that. He has no
clue who the elect are. But as soon as he sees a seed
maybe, someone getting an interest, Do you ever notice that when
the Lord was drawing you to Christ, things were happening that may have prevented you from
coming to Him? I remember after the Lord saved
me going home, and I was pretty wild, as you guys know, in my
past, and my dad said to me after the Lord saved me, I'd rather
still have you in the bars than be in church. That shows you his heart, doesn't
it? But I used to love that lifestyle. Because I was under the sway
of the kingdom of darkness. Now, we love the Lord, we love
each other, we love God's people, we love the Redeemer. That's
all because of the power of God in us, working in us, conforming
us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's amazing. So we've been delivered by the
sovereign, irresistible call from God, the Holy Spirit, all
that are appointed time of love. Look at verses 9 to 11. Then the Lord spake to Paul at
night by a vision, be not afraid, but speak and hold not thy peace,
for I am with thee, and no man shall, no man, look at that,
set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much, many, in the Greek,
people in this city. And he continued there a year
and six months, 18 months, teaching the word of God among them. A wonderful statement. I have
much people in this city. Wonderful statement. Our sovereign
God delivers his chosen blood-bought children from the power of darkness,
not by the sinful works of the flesh or by man's works, but
by a sovereign grace and a sovereign mercy. How? Through the perfect
redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I'm telling
you about something that was accomplished 2,000 years ago. If it was accomplished 2,000
years ago, is there anything for us to do? Is there any laws we have to
follow? If salvation is complete, and
it is, If salvation is finished by the perfect man, by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it has been for 2,000 years, there's nothing
for us to do but look to him. And we get grace to even look
to him. God gives us faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody says, that's too good
to be true. No, it's not. It's the truth. Somebody says,
that's so simple. Yep. And yet it's so profound. It's simple. Look to Christ and
live. And it's so profound. God chose
us and before the foundation of the world in Christ. My, oh
my. But see, this is God's salvation,
not man's salvation. This is what Paul was preaching.
Salvation is only in and through Christ alone. Remember, he says,
for I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Paul was, I think he was a genius.
He says, I don't want to, I'm not,
I'm determined. I know about that stuff, but I'm not going
to even talk about it. I'm going to preach to you Christ. You
talk about a theologian. Man, I'm preaching Christ. Isn't that wonderful? It's amazing. And all of God's ordained preachers
have been entrusted with the same gospel, the same gospel.
If we're not preaching Christ and Him crucified, then we're
not God's preachers. Bottom line. Sister Marsha, that
fellow you heard, he's not God's preacher. Not at all. And you knew by what he was saying. Not God's preacher at all. They're not preaching Christ.
People say, come on, Wayne. No, it's true. If they're not
preaching Christ, they're not God's preachers. Because Paul said, I'm determined
not to preach anything among you, but Christ and him crucified.
Christ has to be the center of the preaching. Travis knows that,
too. When we prepare messages, he's
the center. It's all about him. Now, we talk,
like even in Sunday school, we looked at maturity in Christ.
That was fantastic, but it was all centered around Christ. It
has to be. If it's about what we do, then
we're in trouble. But if our Christian walk and
our Christian life is centered around Christ, well, what a hope
we have. What a hope we have. Let's read
verses 12 to 16 in Acts chapter 18. And when Galileo was the deputy
of Archaea, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul
and brought him to the judgment seat. They're getting all fired
up. Too many people are converting. Oh my, something's going on in
Corinth. And the religious hoo-hoo's getting
upset, aren't they? Saying, this fellow persuaded
man to worship God contrary to the law. Now, they try to bring
him before the Roman pro-council. They don't even know he's Roman.
They try to bring him before the Roman council, and they're
claiming, they're claiming that the preaching of Christ is breaking
the law. And I love, I love how sometimes
the Lord uses unsaved men to straighten people out. not doctrinally,
but we see here, he's gonna give it right back to them. God's gonna use this Roman pro-council
to protect Paul from any persecution. And the persecution's gonna be
flipped from Paul to the high priest. My, or not the high priest, but
the ruler of the synagogue. Look at this, this fellow persuaded
man to worship God contrary to the law. Well, he's not breaking
any Roman law. Look at this, and when Paul was
about, Paul's ready, he's about ready to speak. I'll tell you
what, I've experienced this before when you don't have to say a
word. You guys know years ago I was
gonna write a letter to those fellows that were causing trouble,
and you guys rose up and wrote a bunch of notes. that I didn't
have to say a word. And God took care of the whole
thing, didn't he? Isn't that amazing? But I was ready. That was incredible. Here. Paul, he wants to defend
himself, right? Because he's just preaching the
gospel. I love this. The Lord shut his mouth, and
Galileo, he used Galileo to turn it around on them. This is amazing,
look at this. This is amazing. And when Paul
was now about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews, if
it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O you Jews,
reason that I should bear with you. So he's saying, okay, if
Paul's breaking the law, the Roman law especially, then I'm
gonna take care of this. And this is the pro-council,
this is the highest you can get. It's like a governor of a state. But they had even more power
back then, these Roman pro-councils. They were the emperor's, basically
they were the emperor's representative, that's what they were. They were
representing the emperor. And they were chosen people,
chosen men in those situations. Usually men of influence, senators
sometimes, or generals, past generals. They were specifically
chosen by the emperor for this situation. Look at what he says, but if
it be a question of words and names. I love this. If it be a question of words
and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will be no judge
of such matters. He's saying, if you're tossing
around different views of religion, I'm not having nothing to do
with that. Isn't that how it should be? The government should
stay out of what we believe, right? Yeah. He's saying, I have nothing to
do with this. This is a spat between you all. See, God's using him. Remember
what the scripture says? The heart of the king is in the
Lord's hands. Who put that man in power? Well, someone said,
well, Caesar did it. Or one of the, no, God put him
there. Who puts men in authority over
us? God does that. Sometimes they're wicked men. Sometimes they're good men. Well,
good in the sense is, you know what I mean. Sometimes our rights are protected.
Sometimes our rights are infringed. But God's always in control. See, ultimately, and this is
why I try not to, whoever gets elected as president, I try to
just leave it be because I'm not going to argue with God's
sovereign rule. Right? And I know, think of this,
how many presidents in your lifetime, since you've been a believer
and even before, how many presidents have come and gone and your life
really hasn't changed? We still have the right to meet
and freedom. We still have the right. I can't
have arms because I'm not a citizen yet, but I want to become one.
But some of you have a right to carry weapons and have weapons. That's your constitutional right.
Right? And that hasn't changed. we are
able to come and worship together. Like my son brought it up one
time to me, he goes, you're for freedom of religion. I said,
absolutely. And he even knows, he goes, because if you weren't,
then they could crack down on anybody then. But see what freedom
of religion has allowed us to preach the gospel, the truth, and to still put it out. That's
all comes from God's protecting hand. My, it's absolutely amazing. God overrules the sinfulness
of man. This man is a sinful man, but
God is using him to keep Paul protected. These Jews want him
beaten, they want him thrown in jail, they want him to stop
preaching this Christ. So much so that they say, he's
breaking the law. He ain't breaking the law, is
he? Look what he does. Look at verse
16. And he drove them away from the
judgment day. That means he drove them away. Get out of here! We see God's protecting hand
here. The unbelieving Jews took Paul to Galileo, again the deputy
of Archaea, which is Greece. That's Greece. When you see that
word, that's Greece. That means Greece proper. That's
Greece. And he's the governor of, it'd
be like, again, being the governor of a state here in the US, but
with a little more power. And the Roman governors of provinces,
they commonly held their court in what was in the agor or the
marketplace. So he's either here in the agor,
which is the judgment place, or he's in the marketplace. Sometimes
they didn't have an agor in a certain town, so they'd meet in the marketplace.
So he's in one of two places. And he's there, sitting on a
chair probably, on a raised platform, and people can bring, he goes
all around Greece so that people can bring their complaints or
their things up to him. And he's the final authority,
remember. So that's what he's doing in Corinth. He's there,
he's hearing complaints, so here come the Jews to him. This fellow
here, this guy. And if you notice, if you notice
in the text, if you notice in the text, see where it says verse 13. Notice in the text
here. Where is it there? No, it's not
verse 13. Yeah, Acts 18, saying, this fellow
persuaded men to worship God contrary to the law. This fellow is italicized. So they couldn't even, they said,
this. They were so disgusted with him.
They couldn't even say this, Paul. They said, this. is preaching things contrary
to the law, the hatred and the faminance that was coming out
of them. Oh, my. This, this man, he's persuading
people to worship contrary to the law. Well, contrary to what
they thought, but not contrary to what God
thinks. He's preaching the gospel. He's preaching salvation through
Christ alone. And so Galileo, sitting in the
marketplace, and the Jews, having probably pre-planned, they probably
pre-planned this, they took advantage of the opportunity to bring him,
bring Paul before the Roman governor. And it was purposed by God that
Paul should stay there for 18 months. He's coming to the end
of that 18 months. We're going to see after this
situation, he leaves. He leaves Corinth because it
was time, according to God's will and purpose, for him to
leave. But no, they still didn't lay a hand on him. Because God
had told him, as long as you're in Corinth, the time that I'm
going to have you there, no one's going to lay a hand on you. My, this is all purpose by God. Paul has to continue his missionary
journey, doesn't he? He has to continue. And so the
Lord allows this to happen, these ungodly Jews, to come up and
persecute him. But we don't read where Paul
suffered any physical harm, none at all, from his persecutors. They laid a hold on him, but
they bought him before the judgment seat of Galileo, the Roman official. And look at verse 13. They say,
and this, again, fellow is italicized, persuades man to worship God
contrary to the law. So we see the accusation that
they brought against Paul was that he was breaking Roman law.
He was breaking Roman law. Well, what Paul was doing had
nothing to do with breaking Roman law. He was preaching Christ. The only thing he was guilty
of was preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right?
It's the only thing he was guilty of. The only thing. Paul's desire, which is the desire
of all Christians, was to persuade men and women to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. That you look to Christ by faith.
Because that's all we've done as believers. We're sinners who
are looking to Christ. Saved sinners. Sinner saints
looking to Christ. And Christ alone. And Paul had been delivered from
his own sinful attempt to make himself righteous in God's sight.
Remember he used to try to keep the law before he was saved?
He said, before I was saved, I was walking before the law
blameless. in his mind. But then he said,
everything that I counted precious, such as doing all that stuff,
it's all just a bunch of maneuver. It's all just refuge. He learned from his experience
that those who were trying to earn favor with God by their
own sinful, polluted works of the flesh were on a path that
only leads to eternal damnation. Think of how many people pass
from this world thinking, I'm a good person. Think of how many people pass
this world being a strict Mormon, or being a strict Jehovah Witness,
or being a strict Catholic, or being a strict religionist. And as soon as they breathe their
last breath, they find themselves in eternal torment. And if it wasn't for the grace
of God, we'd all be there too. Who made you to differ? And what
do we have that we didn't receive? Oh, we've received everything
we have. We've received grace and mercy,
redemption, sanctification, All in Christ. We're just a bunch
of mercy beggars, aren't we? That's all we are. My, oh my. Paul had been taught by God the
Holy Spirit that the only one who could make the preaching
of the gospel effectual, too, was the God the Holy Spirit.
And he reasoned with his hearers. We saw that in our past studies.
He's reasoned with the hearers, showing them Christ is the Messiah.
But it has to be revealed to us, right? Has to be revealed
to us. Now let's read verses 14 and
15 of Acts chapter 18. And we see Paul's about to speak
in his defense, but he didn't have to. And when Paul was now
about to open his mouth, Galileo said unto the Jews, if it were
a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason that I should
bear with you. But if it be a question of words
and names and of your law, look ye to it, for I be no judge of
such matters." I'm not going to get involved in that. So Galileo, the man our Lord
Jesus Christ had put on that judgment seat and who was under
his sovereign control. Remember, man can do nothing. Man can do nothing unless it's
fitting to God's permissive will. Oh my, and God's not the author
of sin either. We do that all by ourselves. What does he have to do for us
to be wicked? Just leave us alone. What does he have to do for a
man to go to hell? Just leave him alone. What does he have to do for us
to go to heaven? Everything. Praise his mighty name. It says, But if it be a question
of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it, for I will
be no judge of such matters. Remember Pilate? Remember Pilate
said this? Speakest thou not unto me? No,
not that I have the power to crucify thee and I have power
to release thee, speaking to Christ. And what did our master
say? He said, thou couldst have no
power at all against me, except that we're given thee from above. My, oh my, we see that right
here too, don't we? They're looking to persecute
Paul. They're not given the power to do that. And know that God protects us
like this too, beloved. Sometimes we go through painful
things, yes. Sometimes we go through physical things, yeah. But know that God's, he's always
with us. He's never left us and never
will leave us. Now what was true of Pilate was
also true of Galileo. And it's just as true concerning
all humans throughout the history of man. What peace that can bring
us is born-again blood-washed believers living in the sin-cursed
world. Our great God is absolutely sovereign. Period. He does what he wills,
when he wills, with the armies of heaven, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing in his eyes. Now, that wounds
our pride, doesn't it? Oh, man says, you mean I'm nothing? Well, that's what the scripture
says about us. Isn't it a wonder that God has
mercy on we nothings? What Scott used to say, we're
all a bunch of zeros until you put the one in front of them.
I love that. And that being Christ. You preach
like that, people are like, oh, I don't want to hear that. Well,
yeah, I'd probably offend you, but I'm not trying to offend
you. I'm just telling us the truth. Right? We're sinners in desperate
need of Christ. And so when Galileo said unto
these Jews it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, which
is a criminal offense, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear
with you. And so he's on the judgment seat
to prosecute those who broke Roman law, not those who break things that people think are
contrary because they don't agree with it. If you've broken Roman law and
you get brought up before Galileo, he's going to persecute you.
Right? If I'd broken Roman law and got
brought before him, and I did something wrong, sure as day
coming and night coming, I'm going to get persecuted. You
break the law, what happens? There's supposed to be consequences,
isn't there? Oh, my. I always told my son, I said,
if you get pulled over or anything by cops, if you didn't break
any laws, you got nothing to be afraid of. Nothing. Not at all. Don't even be afraid.
Now, if you broke the law, you might be a little nervous then. Right? Well, Lord, I was only
doing, or sir, I was only doing 75 in a 50. Here's your ticket, sir. Sometimes
the cops will say, OK, well, you know. But they have to uphold
the law. It's just how it is. And let's read now verses 15
and 16. Look at this. But if it be a
question of words and names and of your law, look ye to it. For
I will be no judge on such matters. And he drove them, he drove them
from the judgments. He drove them. Now Crispus, Crispus
was the leader at the synagogue, and remember the Lord saved him.
He was converted. So now they need a new leader
now, don't they? They need a new leader. Well,
we see in verse 17, there's a new leader, Sothenus, the chief ruler
of the synagogue. So Crispus was converted. He
get booted out, right? They wouldn't want him
leading the synagogue now. He's born again, blood-washed child
of God. So out goes Crispus, and in comes Sothenus. And we see the Jews, they've
been driven from Galileo's judgment seat, but some Greeks who were
probably Jewish proselytes, several commentators said, were still
there. And look what happens in verse
18. Look what happens to the ringleader. And all the Greeks took Sothenus,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment
seat. They beat this man. And Galileo cared for none of
those things. Now, he should have upheld the
law. It wasn't right that they beat him. It wasn't right that
they beat him, but they did. And Galileo just sat there and
watched. Watched him just beat this man. Now, remember this too. This
man is conspiring against one of God's preachers, right? He
has got a load of people up and they're going at Paul. I was
telling Sister Diane, there is a gem in here. There's an absolute
gem in here that I did not see until I was putting this message
together. Oh, this, this, this is amazing. So Galileo again should have
upheld the law. It was his responsibility and
he should have stopped them from beating him because his responsibility
is to protect all the citizens of Greece. However, he's to be commended
in the fact that he refused to bear charges against Paul. Those charges that were being
bought against Paul, he said, nope, we're not going to have
anything to do with that. So he's to be commended for that. It's not the business of civil
courts to make rules or judgments in matters regarding the free
exercise of religion. And Crispus was the chief ruler
of the synagogue, but we see he's being replaced by Sothenus.
And when Crispus, he'd been granted faith to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the Jews had already been driven from Galileo's
judgment seat, but some of the Greeks, again, who were probably
Jewish proselytes, were still there, and they turned on Sotheus. And they beat him. They beat him. the same seat
that they bought Paul to be beaten, the ringleader gets beaten. Isn't that amazing? But you know,
our Lord, according to his promise to Paul, would not allow those
men to lay a hand on him. Instead, the beating that Sothenus
wanted to be laid upon God's servant fell upon himself. And many a Haman has been hanged
on the gallows that he built for the hanging of God's Mordecais. Oh, yeah. Now, here's something
with God's amazing grace. Here's what I never saw until
I was putting this message together. And I told Sister Diane, it made
the hair in the back of my head. You ever get that tingly feeling? And you're just in awe? Turn
to 1 Corinthians. Turn to 1 Corinthians. Yeah,
I know you guys already saw it. I've seen y'all there. But this
is amazing. This is absolutely, shows God's
incredible grace and mercy. Incredible. Oh my. God is so good. He's so good. Take note that there's a man
mentioned in verse one, who's a brother. in Christ. Look at the name, beloved. 1
Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 we'll read. Paul called
to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God and so
Theseus, our brother. Praise God! He saved him! Isn't that wonderful? My, isn't
that God's grace? He's just like Paul, he was an
enemy of the gospel. And the Lord saved him. And several
commentators said, when Paul's writing this letter, Sothesis
is with him, he's ministering to him. He's with Paul now. He may have fled Corinth. And
I think they said that he's in Ephesus writing this letter to
the Corinthians. I'll have to check on that, to the Corinthians. So Thetis is with him. He's born
again. He's a brother. And several commentators
said, with them putting his name in there, now they find out that
the Lord saved him. And it would, how did some, they
said several people would be rejoicing over this wonderful
salvation, and then other people who might have had something
against them, right, for causing all that to Paul, be all gone. Washed under the blood of Christ.
Isn't that beautiful? My! God's grace is amazing grace. It's wondrous grace. Saved a
rebel like me, and like you. Oh! What mercy! He's a ringleader
causing all this trouble. God saved him just like that. It says, unto the church of God,
which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, look at that, we're sanctified in Christ, beloved, called to
be saints by the irresistible grace of God, with all that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both
theirs and ours. Grace be unto you, and peace
from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So marvel,
beloved of God, at God's amazing grace, the Lord saved Sotheis. a despiser of the gospel, a hater
of the gospel, a works-based religionist saved
by the grace of God. What a picture of us, right?
Oh, my. Oh, God's grace is amazing. Ah,
there's two valuable lessons we can learn from this portion
of scripture here that we've looked at. The first lesson is
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is an offense to lost
man. It's offensive to lost man. When
we preach, Travis, we're not trying to offend people. We're
just not. We don't set out to offend people.
The gospel's offensive. It offends man's pride because
it says there's nothing you can do to save yourself. Only Christ
can save you. So it's an offense to natural
man. The plain declaration of redemption
by Christ and salvation by Christ alone, through grace of God alone
and through faith alone, is to them that perish foolishness.
How do we know? Well, we were there. We were
there. You mean, you mean I, my free
will, I didn't exercise my free will? Well, no, you're made willing. And the only reason you willingly
came to Christ is because you were made willing. God gets all
the glory, doesn't he? All the honor, all the praise.
See, we fail to realize that the depths of our dead nature
and the will which is tied to our nature, if we have a dead
nature, that dead nature is going to guide our will. But now we're
alive in Christ. Luther's Bondage of the Will
is an excellent book if you can ever read it. He breaks it down
so well. Because when we're made alive
in Christ, now we have a new nature. And that new nature is
now guiding our will. So the will is ultimately guided
by our nature. If you have a dead nature, you're
just going to want to sin. If you have a new nature, you're
still a sinner, but you're going to want to serve God. It's that
simple. It really is. So we can learn
here that the gospel is offensive to natural man. Now think of
this too. Natural man is tolerant to a lot of things. Natural religious
man is really tolerant. They're tolerant of other religions. Right? They think, oh yeah, they're
all good. You know, you talk, I remember
when I was a Catholic, and I used to think that, you know, Muslims
were fine, and Hindus were fine, and Buddhists were fine, and,
you know, they all got their own paths. Oh, there's only one way to heaven. There's only one way to the Father.
We found that out, didn't we? And that's offensive to man.
That's offensive to natural man. The fact that there's only one
way to heaven and that salvation is in a man, not in a method,
not in a formula, it's in a man, the man Christ Jesus. Period. Oh. You know what I mean? What about what I do for him?
Well, the only reason we do anything for him is because the grace
of God working in us. Right? Oh my. God is so good to us. Natural man will not, they'll
tolerate all kinds of things. They'll tolerate man's free will,
they'll tolerate good works, they'll tolerate religious ceremonies.
That's all acceptable to them. I know, I was there. It's all
acceptable to natural man. But they will not tolerate the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. It is an offense
to them. Paul writes this, and I, brethren,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased. Paul preached salvation
through Christ alone, by Christ alone, by his perfect work alone. And he says, if you add circumcision,
then you just made void the gospel of Christ. If you add any works,
a pinprick, remember, a pinprick of your works, you've made void
the grace of God. Praise God for His amazing grace. His amazing grace. The next thing
that we can learn here, last point, is that God's providential
rule over this world works all things together for the good
of His elect. Even the stuff we're seeing going
on today. It's all working for our good and for God's glory. Isn't that amazing? The Jews' persecution was as
much a work of God's sovereign providence for Paul as the benevolence
of Aquila and Priscilla in letting Paul stay in their home. It all
happened according to the will and purpose of God, didn't it? And it's now become evident to
Paul that his work at Corinth is coming to a finish. And beloved,
he didn't flee the city because of fear of the Jews. Nobody got
nothing to fear, does he? No. But he saw their persecution
as an indication that God would have him move on to another place.
Next week, we're going to see. See, he moves on to another place. When God thwarted the Jews' plans,
He confirmed his promise to Paul, didn't he? That no man will lay
a hand on you. Oh, beloved, let us live in awe
and wonder at God's protecting hand. We may see affliction,
we may see pain, we may see sorrow, but let us take this great comfort. I am with thee. And what do we
say? Praise the mighty name of Jesus.
Praise his mighty, mighty name. Brother Dan, can you close us
in prayer?