So open your Bibles to Acts chapter
9. Acts chapter 9. The name of the
message is divine guidance. Divine guidance. Do you know
every one of us as believers have divine guidance? The scripture says the steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He guides us, beloved. He directs us. Does he not keep
us from falling? Oh, yeah. What happened, Brother
Travis, if he didn't keep us from falling? We'd be in big
trouble, wouldn't we? Yeah. But he keeps us. He watches
over us. We are guided by a sovereign
hand of God, beloved. And he is our shelter in the
time of storm, isn't he? Whenever we sing that song, I
think of back in the days when The Bible was written, and they
would travel through the desert, and they may get hit by a sandstorm,
and if there was a big rock, they'd go into that and find
shelter under that huge rock, right? And that sandstorm would
beat against that rock, wouldn't it? You know, the wrath of God
beat against Christ. In our Roman place. And they
were safe, though, behind that rock, wouldn't they be? Because
that rock would take all the wrath of that storm. Christ took
all the wrath against his people. And he cried this, beloved. It
is, let's say it, finished. Isn't that wonderful? Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. Turn again,
like I said, to Acts chapter 9, verses 23 and 31. Let's stand
up and we'll read. This will be our text today,
too. Part of it will be from 26 to 31 will be our text for
today. So let's stand up and read verses
23 to 31 together. And after that, many days were
fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him. But there lying
away was no one of Saul, and they watched the gates day and
night. To then the disciples took him
by night and led him down by the wall in a basket. And when
Saul was come to Jerusalem, he has said to join himself to the
disciples. But they were all afraid of him
and believe not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and bought
him to the apostles. and declared unto them how he
had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him
and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in
and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name
of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Grecians. But they
went about to slay him. which, when the brethren knew,
they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Taurus.
Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria,
and were edified in walking in the fear of the Lord, and in
the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." So verses 26
to 31 is our text for today. Divine guidance. And as we read that, did you
know that Paul, he was in Damascus, and then all of a sudden, there's
some who want to kill him. And we're going to see that when
he's in Jerusalem, that God gave him a vision that the Grecians
wanted to kill him. My, oh, my. Paul was divinely
guided by our great God to Damascus. And this is when he's in Damascus. It's not after his conversion.
It's three years later. Remember, he spent three years
in the desert. This is where the Holy Spirit
is having Luke pick it up. Three years later. He comes out
of the desert, goes back to Damascus, starts preaching the gospel.
And they want to kill him. The Jews still want to kill him.
My, oh, my. But God in sovereign power and
sovereign protection takes him from Damascus and sends him to
Jerusalem. So marvel, as we see here, the
very one who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, because he did. We see
in verse one, he wants to go and he wants to go and haul Christians
away, doesn't he? He's got letters from the high
priest to take Christians and put them in bonds and bring them
back to Jerusalem. He hates Christ. He hates the
gospel and he hates the servants of Christ. Well, there's been
a great change, hasn't there? There has been. Did he do it
himself? No, he got knocked off his horse, didn't he? He was
born again by the Holy Spirit of God, just as all believers
are. Oh, and remember, the scripture
says he's a pattern of we who believe. OK, so he's a he's a
hater of the gospel and now he's a lover of the gospel. I can
relate to that. I can totally relate to that.
My, oh, my. So marvel at what's happened.
He'd gone to Damascus with the intent to bind our brothers and
sisters in Christ and drag them back to Jerusalem before the
high priest. And now he's fellowshipping with
them. Remember last week we saw he's fellowshipping with them
now. My, oh, my. So marvel at what's
happened before us. The only reason for this transformation
is the transforming power of God, the Holy Spirit. He's born
again. He's a new creature in Christ. And now he preaches the gospel
he once hated, and now he loves. We're going to see even more.
He seeks out when he gets to Jerusalem, he seeks out the Christians.
And they think they think, oh, he's just being fake. No, we're
not. And Barnabas stands up. Oh, my. See, a lot of commentators
believe Barnabas had been to Damascus and had heard him preach.
And that actually the way the reason he says when he says in
verse 27 there, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the
apostles and declared how unto them how he had seen the Lord
in the way. So he knows of Paul's conversion and that he had spoken
to him and how he preached the preach boldly at Damascus. A
lot of a lot of commentators believe that that Barnabas had
went to Damascus and heard him preach. and sat down and talked
to him, and he told him of his conversion on the road to Damascus. My, oh, my. So here he is. Marvel at what's happened. It's only because of God's transforming
power, God, the Holy Spirit. Why are we saved? Why are we
born again? Because of God's transforming
power, isn't it? God, the Holy Spirit's regenerated
us. We can't claim nothing. No, it's wonderful. And this
is true of all believers. Remember, he's a Padre. This
is true of all believers, that the wonderful changes in Paul's
in Saul's life can only be attributed to the sovereign power of God.
Right. That's the only the only way
he can explain what's happened to him is that God did it. The
only way we can explain what's happened to us is new creatures
in Christ, which is that God did it. We do. God regenerated us, didn't he,
sisters? He regenerated us and now we're born again. Now we
seek to serve Christ. Now we love Christ. It's amazing. God's grace is incredible, beloved. It's absolutely incredible. So
what a change in Paul. He goes from a persecutor to
a to a preacher. All by the power of God. And we see now There's three
years past, three years past. How do we know that? Well, turn,
if you would, to Galatians chapter one, Galatians chapter one, the
scripture tells us. And in between verses 22 and
23, when Paul's lowered down or it. So immediately after his
conversion, he takes a he takes a long three year journey into
Arabia. Luke doesn't mention it, but
looking looking Galatians chapter one. Look in verses 15 to 18. Says here, but when it pleased
God, he separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace, the calling there is when he's born again by the
Holy Spirit of God to reveal his son in me. Brother Tom, you've
often said that God has it's a revelation. God has to reveal
himself to us. He's right there in the scriptures.
If God doesn't reveal himself to us, we'll never know him.
We won't know him at all. No, this is wonderful. This is God's grace in action
to reveal something in me that I might preach him among the
heathen. That heathen there is anyone who's not Jewish, Romans,
Asians, Europeans, anybody, anybody who's not who's not of the Jewish
religion, Egyptians, Syrians. Are the heathen. Praise God, he saves heathens. Right. It's wonderful, I'll tell you.
Look at this. Immediately, I conferred not
with flesh and blood, neither when I up to Jerusalem to them
which were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned
again unto Damascus. Now, this is where we're at now.
Now he's being lowered down in the basket from Damascus. He's
got to escape there now. Right. So he'd been three years
in the desert. He returned to Damascus. Right. Then after three years, I went
up to Jerusalem to see Peter and abode with him 15 days. Look
at that. Oh, my. Which is going to be
our text. And then after this, this narrative
with Paul now, then then the Holy Spirit is going to have
Luke switch gears and show us some of Peter. We're going to
be looking at a couple of chapters of what Peter's been doing. Oh, it's wonderful. I'll tell
you. And Saul didn't receive he didn't go to Jerusalem to
receive instruction from the apostles, either. He didn't go
up there to receive his commission from him. He'd already been sent
by God, hadn't he? He didn't even go up there for
their approval. God sent him there. And we're going to see
that later on when we when we look over an axe or another portion
of axe that he's going to bring that forth. So the Lord sent
him, sent Solomon to Arabia. He spent three years in school
with Christ himself. Christ revealed the gospel to
him. He was being equipped. And then he comes, he comes out
of Arabia and he preaches the gospel to the heathen. Oh, my. And we see in our text in verse
23, of Acts chapter nine, the words and after many days were
fulfilled. That's the three years. That's
the three year after those three years were ended, Saul returned
to Damascus. And what did he do? Someone tell me what he did.
He preached Christ, didn't he? I'll tell you, he preached Christ.
That's what he did. He preached Christ and him crucified.
Oh, my. Among the heathen. And this is where Luke was directed
again, remember this, Luke is writing this, but he's being
directed, right, divinely guided by the Holy Spirit to pen these
words. Remember that when we read the scriptures, it's it's
God using these men to write the word. Right. As these men were moved by the
Holy Spirit, they wrote these words. The true author of the
Bible is God, the Holy Spirit. It's God himself, God, the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. My oh my. And so after these after many
days were fulfilled, their text says in verse 23. After the three
years, Saul returned to Damascus, and what do we see now? Oh, the
Jews want to kill him. They took counsel. Why? Why do
they want to kill him? Because he preaches the gospel
of Christ. He preaches salvation in Christ alone, right through
the blood of Christ and that Christ raised from the dead.
I was buried in the ground for three days. Rose was buried in
a tomb for three days, rose from the grave and is now seated at
the right hand of the father, Roland and Raymond. And they
absolutely hated it. They didn't want to hear it.
Did we want to hear it before the Lord saved us? Charlie, we
didn't, did we, Charlie? We didn't want to hear it at
all. But praise God, now we want to hear all we can. God made the difference, brother.
Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? It just
amazes me. So Saul's back in Damascus three
years later. And he's preaching the wonderful
gospel again of salvation through Christ alone in Damascus. And
because of that, in verses 23 and 24, the Jews took counsel
to kill him. Let's read those two verses.
And after that many days, that's the three years were fulfilled.
The Jews took counsel to kill him. Not to not to say, you know,
hey, we're going to throw him in jail. But to kill him. You see the
veminous and the hatred against the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember, I mentioned it in Sunday
school, marvel not that the world hates you. Our king said this
because it hated me before it hates you. In the world, you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. That's
what our master said. My, what wonderful words. And
remember, he said that before all this befell them. So what
words of comfort they can look back on those words now and go,
oh, my, the Lord told us we were going to face tribulation. That
would embolden them, wouldn't it? But be a good cheer. He goes,
brother, he overcome the world. Sister, he overcome the world.
This is wonderful. And he even said, fear not he
who can destroy your body, but fear he who can destroy both
body and soul in hell. They might kill us, but but we're
going to glory. My, oh, my. And we have that
same hope, don't we? They might take our life, someone
might take our life, but we're going home just like that. There
are no waiting either. Isn't that wonderful? My, oh, my. So they want to kill him simply
because he's preaching Christ and him crucified, preaches that
he he he died, was buried, resurrected and now seated at the right hand
of glory. And that the remission of our sins only comes by the
blood of Christ, not by any sacrifices, but only by one sacrifice, the
lamb of God, the lamb, God's lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ. And he proclaimed Christ to be
the Messiah. He's Meshua. He's the sent one. I've been watching, I think I've
been telling you, I've been watching these Messianic Jewish Christians
witnessing to those in Israel. And I love it. They say, they
open up Isaiah 53 and there's Meshua. There he is. There's
the Messiah. Just as I as I as I hear them
do that, I'm thinking of of of what we read earlier in Acts
chapter eight with with Philip in the eunuch. Who is this man?
Remember, and Philip preached Christ and that's what these
fellows are doing, and I tell you, it just lifts your heart.
It's incredible. He's the Messiah. He's the long
promised Messiah. And not only did he come for
Jewish believers who believe in him, but he came for us, too,
right? Gentiles grafted in, right? But
we've always been part of the elect of God. And again, we do
not know who they are. So we preach the gospel to everyone.
Say, come on to Jesus. He's the only savior of sinners.
I'll tell you what, if you're hoping in anything in yourself,
you're in and you die in that situation, you go into a Christless
eternity. But if you trust Christ, If you
trust him and look to him as the only one who could save you
from your sins. You spend eternity with him and you see him face
to face. And you marvel as you look at
the one who loved you and gave himself for you. Gave his life for us. So we say,
sinner friend, flee to Christ because we're just safe sinners. Sinner friend, if you do not
know Christ, flee to him. There's no other hope but Christ
in him alone. There's only one gate, right?
He's not. He's not just one gate, he's all the gates to heaven.
There's only one way and he's the one way. He said, I am the
way he didn't say I'm one of the many ways. He said, I'm the
way, the truth, and the life. And David said, blessed is he
whose sins are not imputed to us. Blessed is the man whose
sins are not imputed to him. Why? Because our sins have been
imputed to Christ. And he paid it all, beloved.
My, what hope. What a salvation that Christ
forgives us from all our sins. I mean, even the secret ones
that no one else knows. They're all washed in the blood
of Christ. And what do we say? Praise is
in. Hallelujah. That's it. Hallelujah,
right? Oh, my. It's wonderful. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ, our Lord. And by God's divine providence,
the wicked part of those Jews was made known to Saul and made
known to the people in Damascus. And remember, OK, these folks
that are lowering him down in the basket, Some of them might
have had relatives that Paul had imprisoned years before. Some of them might have had friends
that were in prison years before. And some of them may have been
the very ones Paul was coming to get in Acts chapter nine.
And you see, remember what we looked at in Sunday school, the
love in the believer is he got the love of God. Right. She had
a brother in our hearts. It's not natural to us. So here
these guys are. They're lower. And you know how
many men it would take to lower a growing man in the basket over
a wall? It took quite a few. Even if
he was 150 pounds, 200 pounds, it takes quite a few. Hold that
rope and let him down slowly and gently. They were risking
their lives doing that, beloved. But see their love for him now.
The one the one they once feared is now a preacher of the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now they love him and he
loves them with that same love. Isn't that amazing? It's wondrous,
isn't it, sister? It's absolutely wondrous. And
that's what's shed abroad in every heart of believer. God's grace is amazing, isn't
it? He takes rebels and blasphemers and turns us into the ones who
praise his mighty name. It's incredible. It's incredible. And Saul would have been a familiar
face to those who are in the Jewish synagogues in Damascus,
because he was going there to be with them and fellowship with
them. And it ends up right that he's he ends up the Lord saves
him. And now he's fellowshipping with the very ones he went there
to persecute. God is truly amazing. And now
he's back again. Three years later. And he's fellowshipping
with them. And they love him so much and
they love the gospel that he preaches so much that they risk
their own lives to lower him down from a basket over a wall
at night. My, only God can do that, beloved.
Only God can make that change in a person. Only God and God
alone. And now he's boldly preaching
the gospel of Christ. So marvel at the sovereign protection
of of God's servant, marvel at the divine guidance that's going
on. God, God guides into Arabia, guides him back to Damascus.
He's being lowered down in the basket and God's going to lead
him to Jerusalem. And then God's going to let him
know that there's a plot by the Grecians to kill him. Isn't that amazing? Think back,
think back of things that that just look back in your life and
marvel. It doesn't even have to be accounts where you almost
died. Just marvel at things that God kept you from. That you may
have wanted. And they might have destroyed
us. And God protected us and kept us even before we were saved.
That's that just blows my mind. And then and then look at his
life or look at look at your life ever since the Lord saved
you. I encourage people to do this, too. You know, don't look
back and see all your sins because we're all a bunch of sinners.
Right. But they're all under the blood. They're all forgiven.
But look back and marvel at what God's done for you through the
years. Just even little wee things. Little wee things. We got a washer
and dryer one time from from Vicki's mom and dad. We couldn't
afford one. Here's a washer and dryer, it's
out of the blue. Praise God. Praise God. There's so many instances of
little things, and it's not just things like that. It's protection. It's all different things. Our
God is so good, beloved, to his people. He watches over us so
much. And again, this wouldn't have
been an easy chore when it says, look, let's read twenty three
and twenty four. And after that, many days were fulfilled. The
Jews took counsel to him, but they're laying away. It was known
of Saul. They watched the gate day and night to then the disciples
took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. And that's not again, that's
not an easy chore. And they were even put in their
own lives and dangers doing that. But think of this, the same the
same sovereign grace that made a miraculous change in Saul had
made us made the same change in those who helped him. Because
they were a bunch of idol worshippers, they were heathen. Now they're born again, blood
washed saints. So the same change God did in Saul, now he's not
and he's done in those folks. It's the same change he does
in you and I, beloved. That's amazing. Did we seek it? Nope. Did we merit it? Nope. Did we deserve it? Nope. Could we earn it? Nope. It's
all comes to us. Salvation in Christ alone is
a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. It's
a gift. From God. Let's just make our hearts sing. Oh, how wondrous. Oh, how wonderful
our great God is. Oh, my, oh, my. So let us marvel here. Let us
marvel here that there are new creatures in Christ. Again, they
knew they knew Saul was just as sinful as they were, and they
knew they were just as sinful as Saul. They all knew they were
just as deserving of God's wrath as the most sinful man has ever
walked in this world. You ever think of that? Who was
that one fellow? Stalin killed 10 million people,
or no more than that, I think, of his own people. were just
as deserving of God's wrath as he was. But God had mercy on
us in Christ, so they realized that they knew they had done
nothing to deserve the sovereign grace of God. They knew they
did nothing to deserve the sovereign mercy of God, that God had freely
bestowed it upon them. And we know that, too, don't
we? We know that. And just as they knew that God
had forgiven them for Christ's sake, which is in Ephesians,
we know that the only reason that we're forgiven, the only
reason we're saved, the only reason we're redeemed is for
Christ's sake. We're the bride of Christ, aren't
we? And he came to this sinful world to purchase our eternal
souls. And how did he do it? by the
giving of His life and the shedding of His precious, precious blood.
God Himself. Take this home and think about
this week. God Himself has redeemed us. Christ is the God-man, right? What great love motivated Him to save us from our sins? was
the eternal, everlasting love of God. The unchanging love of
God, and you know, that love has been set upon us from eternity.
You know, that love was set upon us when we were conceived in
the womb, even before that, when we were conceived in the womb,
that love was set upon us. When we were when we were born,
that love was set upon us as we grew up into our childish
years and toddler years. That love was set upon us, that
eye was ever upon us, the eye of God, the eye of Christ. As
we grew up into a teenager and we became more rebellious and
turned against him and said things that we wish we'd never said,
his love was set upon us. And then the time of love came
sometime in our life, the time of love came. It's called the
time of love in Scripture. And God saved us from all our
sins. He'd already accomplished the work, hadn't he? The work had already been done.
But now it becomes real to us. And we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God and given faith to believe. And here we are. Worshiping the Christ, worshiping
the King. That's a miracle, beloved. It's
wondrous. And the same thing has happened
to Paul and the same thing has happened to these brethren. Oh,
my God had forgiven them and he's forgiven us for Christ's
sake, he forgiven Saul for Christ's sake. So the persecutors now,
now one of the beloved ones of God, he's always been a beloved
one of God. He's always been there. He didn't know it, did
he? Did we? Not at all. And here we are. Praise in his name. Singing songs of praise to the
king. Worshipping him. Loving the gospel. And we don't know who God's people
are again, so. But you know what? Think of this,
too. Before you get mad at someone out there who offends us, because
people offend us, right? One of the unregenerate people
who offends us might be one of the Lord's lost sheep. We don't know, do we? We don't
know. May God help we who are the redeemed,
the Lord Jesus Christ, to learn a valuable lesson from this portion
right here that took place in the life of Saul of Taurus. They
once feared him. They probably looked at Saul
and said, Man, he hates God. He may even said, they may even
said, and I've heard people say it before. Oh, God will never save that
person. Don't say never. He may be a one God's alive.
Did you think they had a clue that Paul was one of the lost
sheep? No, he come to kill him, didn't
he? Ah, now he's a new creature.
So let us not render evil for evil. Let us use our Lord as
a perfect example when we're not to commit wrongdoings to
others because they wronged us. And look at look at our brethren,
Paul had wronged the church, hadn't he? He destroyed it and
wasted it. And now they love him. They're
not holding against him what he did. Isn't it wonderful that
God doesn't hold against us what we said and how we broke his
commandments and his laws? And he doesn't hold against us
for long. Wonder of wonders. Christ has forgiven us all trespasses,
washed under the blood of Christ, so much so that God says, I don't
remember them anymore. And when he looks at us, he sees
Christ because we're clothed in his righteousness. I'll tell you what, this is good
news for sinners, isn't it? The question is, are you a sinner?
Has God shown you you're a sinner? Because I didn't. Did you believe
you were a sinner before you were saved? No, we didn't, did
we? Now we claim it, don't we? I'm
just a sinner. What's that? I'm only a sinner
saved by grace. Let us not graduate from that.
Really. Let us not graduate. That's for
all of us. Everyone. Again, there's no preacher,
remember? We're all level ground, aren't
we? Sinners saved by grace. My, oh my. And sometimes it's difficult
for us to manifest a forgiven spirit towards those who offend
us, especially in unregenerate worldly people. Sometimes it's
really hard and sometimes religious folks, too. Right. Oh, my. Worldly people sometimes
turn against us simply because of our love for Christ and the
truth of his gospel. But what are we supposed to do?
Love him. Did I ever tell you a story about
my cousin? He wrote me on Facebook, said, I'm de-friending you because
you love Jesus too much. And I said, what? He goes, I'm
de-friending you because you love Jesus too much. I said,
I wrote him back. I said, oh, do you love your wife? And he
says, yeah, I love her. And I said, well, Christ, I'm
the bride of Christ and I love my, I love, I love Christ. I
love my bridegroom. I love, I love the one who saved
me from my sins. That's why I wrote it back. I
said, he saved me from my sins. Of course, I'm going to talk
about him. My, oh, my. Don't want to see
it. Don't want to hear it. But we
were all there, weren't we? Never forget the rock we were
hewn from. Never forget where we came from. Born dead in trespasses
and sins to parents who were born dead in trespasses and sins
to grandparents who were born trespasses all the way back to
Adam and when Adam fell, we fell with him. So now all we can produce
is sinners. Right. I'll tell you what, pray
for your children, pray for your grandchildren soon as they're
born, start praying for them. Seriously. Just lift them up,
ask God, ask God to save them when they get over, ask God,
oh, please, please save the souls. Oh, my. Never too early to start,
let me tell you that. Never too early to start praying
for them. And so not only are we to forgive our enemies, but
also and isn't that what the brethren did here? Paul was an
enemy to the church. As he was. Also, not only are
we to forgive our enemies, but also and more so our brothers
and sisters in Christ, when when they wronged us. Because it'll
happen. It'll happen. And we're to love God's family
more than more than anyone other than God himself. And our wives,
of course. Right. And husbands. and children. But you all know what I mean
when I say that. God's people love each other. It's real. It's that love of God shed abroad
in our hearts. So marvel then that the fear
that was in their hearts is gone. It's gone now. The fear For Paul,
who had the reputation of persecuting the church, is now replaced with
love for fellow brethren. That's the wonder, work and power
of God, let me tell you. That is, only God could do that. So the saints loved Paul so much
at Damascus, they put their own lives in danger to lower him
down. Now, let's read verse 26 of Acts,
chapter nine. Oh, my. After, and who orchestrated
all this? Amen. God orchestrated it all. Christ is protecting the sheep,
isn't he? And he does that for every sheep of God. So after he had orchestrated
Paul's escape from Damascus, we read in verse 26, and when
Saul was come to Jerusalem, He has stayed to join himself to
the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and believe
not that he was a disciple. Now, all this is coming about
by God's divine providence, right? He's brought back to Damascus
by the providence of God. He's lowered down. He has revealed
to him that the Jews want to kill him in Damascus. He's he's
put down on the wall, all according to the sovereign grace of God,
divine guidance. And now he's guided. by our great
God to Jerusalem, to Jerusalem. And now what's the first thing
he wants to do? He wants to be with the brethren.
He wants to be in fellowship with them. Isn't that amazing? He now think
of this. He didn't go back to the high
priest. Did he? And say, oh, my mission failed. And here's your letters back.
He didn't even do that, did he? First people he sought out were
fellow believers. Saul's not the same. He's not
the same man he was when he left Jerusalem, is he? Oh, no, he
isn't. And they think he's trying to
trick us. He's trying to trick us. and
come into our assembly that they might arrest us all. I guarantee
you, that's what they were thinking. Right. But Saul of Taurus, he proved
himself to be a true disciple of Christ. And a true disciple
of the Lord. And he now loves Christ, who
he once hated. He loved and he loves the disciples
of Christ. He loves the disciples of Christ
being God's people. He loves God's people now. He
wants to be with them. I can understand their apprehension,
can you? I can totally understand it. They might not have heard of
his conversion. See, they didn't have Internet
access like we do now, instant news, right? They didn't have
any of that. It took months for them to find
out things, years sometimes to find out things that were going
on in other places. Now, the Romans had the courier
system where they could send a letter from Rome to Jerusalem
in a few days by horseback. Because they had all those nice
paved roads that they built and horses fly along those things.
Not paved, stone roads. And they were always up kept.
That's one thing with the Roman, the armies, they kept those roads
up because their legions would have to travel on those to various
places and they could travel so quickly on those roads. It
was amazing. And so remember that all that's
all that's going on, too. So they might not have even heard.
But look, we see the wonder, work and power of God, that again,
he who loves the gospel, he who persecuted the gospel now loves
the gospel. And he preaches the wonderful
gospel of Christ. And in Psalm 37, 23, it says
the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. Our steps are ordered,
beloved. He protects us. It's not by chance that I moved
from Canada to Oregon to meet my beloved bride, and now out
to here. It's all by God's sovereign decree. Tom and I were marveling one
day at how he met Mae Young. He was telling me how he met
you. And I said, that was all orchestrated by the sovereign
power of God. It was amazing. You were stationed
over in Korea and you walk into a bank, right? Yeah, there it
was. It was over. But God had ordained that, you
see, God had ordained that. Isn't that amazing? And each
one of us can say who are our brides, we can say that that
was all ordained by God in our husbands, it was all ordained
by God. My, oh, my. He knew it before we even knew
it. It's wonderful. It's absolutely amazing. So he
did not go back to the high priest. He didn't even go see him. High
priest probably want to kill him now. I guarantee a word got
back to him, but he probably kept it quiet. Because now their
champion is on the other side. Right. Oh, my. So his first concern
was to find a congregation of God's people. And he wanted to
be with them. He wanted to be in the midst
of it. He wanted to join himself to them. But they were afraid.
They were apprehensive. Very apprehensive and very apprehensive. Now, again, the grace of God
had changed Paul. Changed him, just like it changed
us. We who are believers, it's changed us. We're not the people
we were. We're not what the scripture says in 2nd Corinthians that
we're new creatures in Christ. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. But what's new? Now I love this
book. Didn't before. Right. You love hearing a preach beloved.
That's that's that's God that's done that for you. Isn't that
wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. So
he wants to be with the local church in Jerusalem. My, oh, my. And remember. He had persecuted not just folks
in Jerusalem, but folks in other cities. So, again, they may have
had family members and friends that he persecuted. But now. He desires to be in the company
of God's people. He didn't at all before he wanted
to kill them all. I guarantee you want to stamp out Christianity.
And here he is now. He delights. to be with him. And the first thing he does when
he comes into Jerusalem is to seek out other believers. It's truly amazing. It's true. He counted his greatest honor
to be among God's people. That's what I tell you, because
I counted an honor to be your pastor. It's an honor to be here
with you, and it really is. And we all feel that way. I know
Paul felt that way. It's an honor to be with God's
people. to be in fellowship with them. But we see he didn't receive
a warm reception, didn't he? Says, but look at look at the
latter part of verse 26. But they were all afraid of him
and believe not that he was a disciple. He he didn't receive a warm reception. They couldn't believe they couldn't
believe that solitaris could be a true disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they just couldn't fathom it. And again, I believe Paul would
have understood that. I believe he would show them
grace. I really do. He. Even though he knew the Lord
had forgiven him, he carried that weight. Of what he had done. Even though he was washed clean. He carried how he had maliciously
mistreated the true followers of Christ. But knowing now, you
know what made him long suffering and patient with these folks? The fact that God had been patient
and long suffering with him. Brother Travis, think how long
suffering God was with us. We were dead in sins. We didn't
want nothing to do with him. And his eye was looking upon
us. Wasn't he so long suffering with
us, sister? He was so long suffering with us because he loved us with an everlasting
love that would not change. See, God's love is everlasting,
right? And if God's love is everlasting
and God is unchanging, which the scripture says he is, then has that love that he's
had for his people ever changed? Now, that's amazing. That's amazing. Now, I remember my mom, I could
do anything wrong and she'd still love me. Anything. I think that's the
closest thing to God's love is a mother's love for their children.
I really do. But it still doesn't compare. It's not even scratching the
surface. Isn't that amazing? God has loved us with an everlasting,
unchanging love, so much so that he manifested that love by sending
Christ here to die for sinners such as you and I. I don't think we're ever going
to get over that, are we? You know, it's you know, it's the
goodness of God that leads men to repentance. Think how good
God is to us. Now, you could preach on hell
all day long and hell is real, I'm telling you, it's real. It's
real. It's a real place. People are
going there if they reject Christ. But it's the goodness of God
that leads men to repentance. How can God have mercy on a sinner
like me? Only through Christ and because
it pleased him to do so. Aren't you glad that God saved
you? And, you know, not only did God save us from hell and
save us from the wrath of God, but he saved us from ourselves. Where would we be without Christ? What a savior, what a redeemer. So he's Paul's being long suffering
and patient with these people just because he knows how long
suffering God was with him. He was a persecutor of the church.
Now let's read verse 27. But Barnabas took him and brought
him to the apostles. And declared unto them how he
had seen the Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him
and how he preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.
So Barnabas is standing up. As a mediator, right? For Paul. My, oh, my, he's Paul knows to
Paul didn't speak in his defense when I was reading this, I thought
about I thought about four years ago. I was going to sit down
and write something I didn't have to speak and write into
you all. You all were ready to go. Neil
had a paper all documented and everything ready to go, you guys
sent letters out. And I didn't have to say a word,
did I? Paul didn't say a word. Barnabas stood up for him. Man, that made my heart rejoice
when I read that. Endeared me even more to you all. It's wonderful. Paul didn't speak in his own
defense. The Lord sent Barnabas to speak. Mm hmm. And I believe Barnabas had been
to Damascus, like several commentators said, and he'd heard he probably
sat and talked to Saul and heard his testimony of what happened
on the road to Damascus, the conversion to Christ, how he'd
seen the Lord and heard the voice of Christ. And then he then he
probably heard he probably heard Saul preach Christ and rejoiced. And Barnabas was also well known
to Peter and James, the apostles, and he bought he bought salt
to them. He was a true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
proved that by his preaching. He's one of the Lord's ordained
preachers, and he's proved it just by serving Christ. He loves
Christ. So the report he gave to the
apostles and Saul's defense, they believed it. They believed
it. And they. And also, they had the church
in Jerusalem believed it, and then they received solid scholarship.
You imagine the rejoicing that must have went on. Now, the persecutor
is one of them. I tell you, but your word got
out. What did Scott used to say, you
can't keep a Christian quiet or it'll leak out. You'll leak
out, all right. Can't keep a Christian quiet
about Christ. It'll leak out. And haven't we
seen that in our study in Philippians, where now the saints at Rome
are bold, they're waxing bold to speak the gospel? No, it's
not just leaking out. It's flowing out, isn't it? Oh, my. Let's read verses 28
and 29 now. And he was with them, coming
in and going out at Jerusalem. Look at that. He's one of them
now. He's in notice, too. He's in the midst of them. Saul's
not like I'm Saul. He's like, I'm Saul. Saved by
the grace of God, he was in the midst of them, beloved. That's
how we preachers are to be. Don't lift us up. I'll be in
the midst with you guys. I'm one of you. We're all saved
by grace, aren't we? You see, I love this with Paul,
and he was with them. He's with them, just like we
all get together coming in and going out of Jerusalem. And he
spoke boldly in the name of the Lord and disputed against the
Grecians. Now, the Grecians, there are
Hellenistic Jews. Remember, remember, who was it? Who was it? That was one of them.
Stephen was a Hellenistic Jew. I think it was Stephen. What
it means is they lived in Greece or in a Greek city, and they
were still Jewish, though, but they had Greek customs that they
did and stuff. So these Grecians, they're Jews,
but they're Hellenistic Jews. And they don't like them as much
as the Jews in Jerusalem. Look at this. And he spake boldly
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and disputed against the
Grecians, But they went about to slay him. All he's doing is
showing them the scriptures. And they're getting madder and
madder and madder, so much so they know they want to kill him. And Saul continued with the apostles
and the brethren at Jerusalem, we see that. He walked with them,
he talked with them, he rejoiced with them in the truths of the
gospel. He preached and he probably listened to other preachers,
too. And he rejoiced with our dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, just like we rejoice when we
gather together. And they learned to trust Saul,
didn't they? They learned to trust him, just as we see with
the believers in Damascus. And God's born again, blood washed
people, their fear of Paul was replaced with genuine Christian
love, the love of God shed abroad in their hearts. And we see in
verse twenty nine that Saul wasn't a silent member of the church
at Jerusalem. He preached the gospel boldly. He preached in
the name of Christ and he disputed against the Grecians. And again,
they weren't Gentiles, they were Hellenistic Jews, but these unbelieving
Jews, just like those of Damascus and just like the others at Jerusalem. They hated Christ. They hated
Christ. They hated this gospel so much,
so much so that they want to kill Paul. They want to slay
him. They want to kill him. They want to murder him. Now, that there's a lot of hate
there, isn't it? Yeah, we don't we don't buy. We don't want to go around killing
people. But I'll tell you, it's in everyone. It's in every human
to do that. And these folks were so mad at
Paul for just preaching the gospel, they wanted to kill him. Again, look at verse 30. When
the brethren knew, here's the divine guidance of Paul. When the brethren knew, they
brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Taurus.
So while he's at Jerusalem, Saul gained a reputation now, not
as a persecutor, but as a faithful servant of the Lord Jesus Christ,
preaching Christ. Which we saw there in verses
28 and 30 to 30, and he spent time in the company of God's
saints at Jerusalem and faithfully bore witness to Christ, to the
person in the work of Christ, to shed blood as being the only
way for a sinner to be redeemed, to be saved. He preached, you
must be born again. You must be born again. And he preaches not of works,
right? He wrote that, didn't he? For
by grace, he is saved by faith. He wrote that not of works, lest
any man should boast. That's what he preached. He preached
what he wrote, didn't he? Oh, my. See, we have no question
who and what Paul preached because we have it in the scriptures. Have you ever seen 50 ways to
be a better Christian from Paul's words? Have you ever seen I've
got a book that you can buy? How many people hawk books, right?
They're always buy my book, buy my book, preach them fake TV
preachers, buy my book, buy my book. All right. Now we got the word, don't we?
Paul never did any of that foolishness. He actually worked. He was a
tent maker. Oh, my. So he wouldn't be a burden
to the church. And our Lord Jesus Christ made
the evil design of these Grecian Jews, he revealed it, he made
known to Paul and the apostles and brethren at Jerusalem. And
again, now their love, now their love for Paul, again, the love
of God shed abroad in their hearts. They bring him down to Caesarea.
Look at verse 30, which, when the brethren knew, they brought
him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Taurus. He had a
personal escort. They didn't just say, OK, go
your way, they escorted him down. The persecutor is now one of
the brethren. Because of the wonder, work and
power of God. Oh, my, I love this. They tried to kill him. He escaped
out of Jerusalem, all by God's guidance and providence. And
again, they didn't just tell us all, flee for your life. Several
of the brethren gave him a personal escort. They were manifesting
their love for him. Weren't they? In those actions,
they were manifesting their love for Christ. Oh, my. And I bet you they talked
about Christ all the way down there. And their hearts probably burned
within them. Let's turn to Acts chapter 22.
We're going to see where Paul brings this forth. This is fascinating.
Paul brings forth what happened to him in Jerusalem and how he
was warned that the Grecians wanted to kill him. It's all
brought forth here. I love this. When I saw this,
this I was putting together the message last night and I saw
this and I was like, look at it. Look at the divine hand of
God. Look at this. This is amazing.
Acts 22, verses 17 to 21. Oh, my. So God's going to God's going
to overrule the wrath of man here. OK, man's desire and design
is to kill Paul. God is going to overrule all
their designs. He protects his sheep, he protects
his church, doesn't he? He's going to overrule. They've
been plotting in private. They know what they want to do.
And God's going to overrule it all. Look at this. And it came
to pass, this is Paul, that when I was and this is at this time
when he's in Jerusalem, when I came again to Jerusalem, even
where I prayed in the temple, I was in the trance and saw him
saying unto me, make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem,
for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. Look
at that. They won't receive the preaching of Christ. They won't
receive the testimony of Christ. See, the only way we receive
it. is by divine revelation, isn't it, to be born again? Look
at this. And I said, Lord, now he's calling
them Lord. Look at that. They know that
I, I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believe on
me. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I was
standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the remnant
of them that slew him. And he said, Depart, for I will
send thee far hence into the Gentiles. And where'd he go? He went all the way to Rome,
didn't he? He went to the Gentiles, preaching
the gospel. Remember Philippians that we're
reading now in Sunday school and study? That's the first European
city that the gospels preached in. Oh, I'll tell you, God's so good.
He's planned and purposed. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. And we're only good in Christ,
aren't we? We're not good on our own. None good. No, not one.
But we're in Christ. He looks at us and sees Christ
when we're in his righteousness. This is wonderful. So. There's two lessons we can learn
here. Number one, God's sovereign power in the section we've read,
God's sovereign power. The first lesson is God's sovereign
power overrules even the wicked deeds and designs of men in the
accomplishment of his purpose. And we see that even. At the
cross of Christ, but we see it here, too, the wrath of the Grecians. God used to send Paul to preach
among the Gentiles. Popeye be content in Jerusalem.
Man, I'm with my brother in. But God used that to send him
further on because he had a purpose and plan, didn't he? He was to
go to the Gentiles. There he goes, beloved. All by
the sea. Do you see the divine guidance
in all this today? Do you see how God's divinely
guiding him? And in the second lesson, we
can learn from these these these this portion is that God's people,
his servants, his redeemed bloodless again, people are safe until
our work for the Lord is done. You know, we will not live a
second past the time God's appointed for appointed for us, but we
will not die a second before that time. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
absolutely incredible. My oh my, now let's read verse
31 and we'll finish up. Then had the churches rest throughout
all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified and walking
in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost
and were multiplied. The churches of Christ had endured
a long season of persecution and it came from Paul, came from
Saul. They had endured a law, even
even the the Thessalonians, they were dealing with their own countrymen.
Remember when we studied that the Philippians there, they're
dealing with their own countrymen, too. Don't forget the they've
got opposition within with the Judaizers and they got opposition
without with their own countrymen. My, oh, my. But now we see. God saved the persecutor. God
saved the persecutor, the lion who once roared against God's
church. The lions made to lay down with
the lambs. Finds out he's a lamb himself. He's not a lion anymore, is he?
He's a lamb, he always was a lamb, he just didn't know it. Oh, and then we see the church's
head rest. walking in the fear of the Lord,
in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and they were multiplied. Souls
were added to the church. Our God will triumph in the end,
beloved. You know what he says in Matthew? Listen to this. This
is Christ's words to his disciples. And I say also unto thee, thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. That
does not mean he's a pope. No. No, that means a little rock,
a pebble, just a pebble. Christ is a rock, he's the foundation,
right? And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Those words have rang true through all the centuries, hasn't it?
Here we have a church here in Alma, because God purposed and
ordained that this church would be right here and that we all
would be even here today. My, I get so excited with the
providence of God and the sovereignty of God. And how he protects us. So so remember this, I'm going
to close with this, how he divinely guided Saul and protected him.
He does the same for every single believer, every single born again,
blood washed believer. And he brought us down from Canada
to be here, to be here. That's amazing. I never thought
I'd be here. Here we are. My look at that. Isn't God amazing? Truly, truly
amazing. Brother Brian, will you close
us in prayer?