Amen. All right. Well, let's take our Bibles this morning. And I was between a couple of different messages this week of what God has put on my heart. Don't worry. Have no fear. I'm gonna preach one of them, okay? But I was between a couple of messages this week where God would have us to go. And I believe the Lord will have us be in Acts, the book of Acts this morning. And so we'll go to Acts chapter 23, okay? and I don't know about you, but when I hear of the book of Acts, I hear this. I hear a book, or I think of a book, rather, that's full of action and full of activity and full of the power of God and the lives of his people. And I really do enjoy reading through the book of Acts. The book of Acts. You see, the book of Acts is a transitional book of the Bible as it transitions us from the ministry that Christ has completed in His physical body to the ministry that He is continuing through His spiritual body, that is the church. And in this book, the Bible, you'll find the Lord continuing many and powerful and mighty things through the first century church as a church advances day after day with the gospel in great boldness, of course, all for the glory of God. You can read in this book and see where people were hearing about the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he accomplished for their salvation, hearing of the gospel, of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and as the gospel was preached, as the word was preached, you can see from this book how the Holy Spirit of God was moving in the hearts and lives of people, and these same people to whom the Holy Spirit was working in responded to the Lord in thousands upon thousands of people were saved and dozens and dozens of churches were started. I love reading this little book of the Bible. So in short, when you think of the book of Acts, you can write this down. The book of Acts you'll find where the Lord was being magnified and the church was being multiplied. That's what's going on in the book of Acts and it encourages me as I think about this book and as I read This book, it encourages me still, even today, to continue that, to continue to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ, to continue to lift up the name of the Lord, to continue to give and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and still see God do mighty works in the lives of people. And listen, if God can do great and mighty things in the first century, please be rest assured this morning that God can do great and mighty things in the 21st century as well. It's the same God. It's the same gospel. It's the same Lord. It's the same. He can do it. He can do it again. But as we look to this today and consider this today, I wanna come to this portion of scripture in chapter 23 of Acts, and as we come to it, I wanna give you a little bit of context leading up to this chapter, all right? Please understand that Paul has finished his third missionary journey and is already back in Jerusalem. He is already reported back to the church there in Jerusalem, the many wonderful things that God has done through him by his hand and by his preaching, how he was preaching to many Gentiles in Gentile cities. And again, thousands of them believed on the Lord Jesus and multitudes of churches were planted. And of that report from Paul, the elders of the church, the pastor of the church and the church as a whole, no doubt were just excited about all what God was doing. And then that meeting would have been a wonderful meeting, no doubt. But as Paul came back to Jerusalem, Not everybody was excited about it. There were others who found his return to be quite bothersome, and they were not happy of his return. Actually, you find some of these individuals, we're gonna see, you find them quite hostile towards Paul. And those individuals that were hostile towards Paul were those of Jewish religious leaders. You see, these legalistic Jews heard that Paul was back in town, and so they came immediately. As soon as they heard it, they came immediately to arrest Paul. And the Bible says that these Jewish people caused the city to be moved against Paul. So they took Paul, arrested Paul. They beat Paul. And this commotion came to the ears of the leading Romans in this area who were controlling Jerusalem. And they came immediately to investigate of the commotion. And after they couldn't find any reasons of why the hatred for Paul and why the beating of Paul, because someone said one thing and another said another, you know how those rumors go, but they couldn't find any reason, they took Paul then into their custody, into their leadership, and began to march Paul to, as the Bible says, to the castle. But as Paul was being marched to the palace, to the castle, Paul stops and asks the chief officer, he basically said, hey, before you march me off to jail, can I say one more thing to these people? Yes, these people hate me, but I got something to say, something to say to them. See, maybe Paul was thinking this was his last chance to talk to his brethren, the Jewish people. And he had something to say. And he wanted to let them know that the greatest thing that's ever happened to him, and that was this. He wanted to let them know how Jesus changed his life forever. How Jesus saved his soul and changed his life. So there on the steps that day, he basically said this. He said, look, I was just like you. I too was zealous of the law. I used to make havoc of the church. I persecuted believers just like you're doing to me. I used to be just like you until I met Jesus Christ as my savior. You see, Paul knew of the Lord Jesus. No doubt he'd heard what Jesus had done in Jerusalem, of his death, of his burial, of his resurrection. He knew all of that, but that became not just a story, but a reality to him when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus and changed his life, changed his life forever. So in chapter 22 of Acts he told, it was a testimony how God radically changed his life forever and he was wanting his own brethren, his Jewish brethren to know they too could have that same radical change if they would but come to Jesus as their savior. What do these men, these brethren, these fathers do after they heard such a life transforming testimony and these gracious words from the lips of Paul on the stairs that day? What did they do? Well, sadly, these Jewish individuals rejected Paul. They rejected the obvious evidence of Paul's life. They rejected the message from his lips, and they were really rejecting the Lord is what they were doing. And no doubt seeing his countrymen respond such a way with rejection broke the very heart of Paul, because after all, remember Paul in Romans chapter nine said this, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh who are. Israelites. That's a lot of strong language for a man there. He said, look, I will gladly take their place in hell if that means all of Jerusalem will be saved. That's what he was saying. He goes on to say in Romans chapter 10, verse one, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He loved Israel. He loved his brethren. He loved his people. But at this moment, they were rejecting, rejecting him, rejecting the message, The Lord, his heart was absolutely broken. So he's being persecuted by his own brethren, being hauled off to a Roman jail, again being rejected by his own brethren once again, and in this moment he was in a tough, tough, tough spot. It would seem that he'd be hopeless. It would seem depressing. It would seem this situation would be absolutely impossible. But I'm reminded in these types of impossible situations, it is God where he does his greatest work and gets the most glory. And you can say amen right there, all right? It's where he does his greatest work and gets the greatest glory. Because in these types of situations, even Paul was in, God will test a man's faith. And as one person said, a faith that can't be tested cannot be trusted. You see, in situations like these, I like what Warren Wiersbe once said. He said, God brings men into deep waters not to drown them, but to cleanse them. And Paul was in some deep waters. So as you consider these chapters leading up to chapter 23, as you consider the context of the treatment of Paul he's received, understanding the great difficulty that he has faced, and understanding the great, really, adversity that he is currently in, one might think, as you look at Paul being drug up those steps to the palace, and people behind him hating him, even the Romans hate him as well, you might look at Paul and say, well, we'd say around here, oh, bless his heart. Paul, old buddy, boy, I am so sorry. But I don't think it can get much worse than this. Now, I'm not a superstitious person, I promise. But I've learned not to say those kind of words of, it can't get much worse than this. Two words, Hurricane Helene. All right, we know what we're talking about, OK? I've learned not to say that. But I understand in this moment, Paul is in a bad spot with the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jews in general, and with the Romans, but could it get any worse? Well, as we continue to read and come to chapter 23, we find out, yes, it actually goes from bad to worse. That's the title of the message this morning, is when it goes from bad to worse. So look at Acts chapter 23, starting in verse number 10. And there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, take him by force from among them and bring him into the castle. Verse 11. And the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than 40 which had made this conspiracy. Our fathers, we look to your word this morning. I pray you to help us to glean from it, to learn from it, to grow as a result of your word. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. And God help me this morning to preach, to teach your word, because without you I can do nothing. We pray this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. So when things go from bad to worse, in the life of Paul, I want to see three things. Number one, I want to see this. From his life, we see as things went from bad to worse, number one, the Lord stood Look again at your Bible, verse number 11, all right? And when I stop, say the next word. Look at verse number 11. And the night following, the Lord stood by him. Though the situation was very bleak and looked like everyone was against him, and though it looked as if Paul was fighting all by himself, please understand something. In this moment, Paul was not alone. He was not by himself. No, the Bible says clearly the Lord stood by him. You see, in this moment, when it seems as if discouragement and despair would overtake him, where his future definitely would have been uncertain, in the middle of all of that, the Bible says the Lord comes to Paul and stands with him. I don't know about you, but it's absolutely amazing, amazing to me. And I don't know what could have given Paul any more peace in the midst of what he is going through, in the midst of his turmoil, and in the midst of his despondency, in the midst of all of this he's going through, in the midst of prison and loneliness. I don't know what could give him more peace than to know the Lord is with me. The God of all creation is with me. My Savior is with me. Now most of you know that I have a couple of daughters. And she does have some. Bad anxiety, especially at night. She gets scared easily, you know, with a bad dream or hearing a noise at night. She's a light sleeper. I am not. When I'm out, I'm out, all right? But she's a light sleeper, and when she gets scared at night, she will cry out for help. She'll scream and cry, and as a dad, when I hear those blood-curdling screams, I think somebody's broke into the house and is trying to kill my babies, okay? That's what I think, and it freaks me out, especially at 3 a.m., all right? I remember one time she started screaming in the other room, because she was scared, and she woke up in a panic. Well, and so did I. So she was screaming, scared, and I was scared. She came running to us, I came running to her. She ran into our room, I ran into a wall. All right, don't judge, it was dark. But anyway, we were both freaked out. But she gets scared easily. But do you know what calms her fears? What settles her fear and anxiety in those moments? Sleeping pills. Double dose. Hey man, don't judge. Just kidding. Kind of. But do you know what calms her fears in the midst of those moments when it's dark and she's had a bad dream or she heard a noise or whatever? You know what calms her fear? The presence of her daddy or her mama or her big sister. The presence of somebody that's stronger than her, braver than her, mightier than her. At least that's how she perceives it, you see. The presence of her dad or her mom or her big sister calms her fear. You see, in this moment, no doubt, this has been a scary time for Paul, I'm telling you. I'd have been freaked out, too. But do you know what would have calmed him as things went from bad to worse? Knowing the very presence of God is with him. Knowing one mightier than I is with him. Knowing one mightier than the king, than the Caesar, than any Jewish leader is with him. Paul gave testimony when he wrote to his young son, Nephite Timothy, one day in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 19 through 18, he says this, do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me. Having loved this present world, departed unto Thessalonica, accretions to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. Take Mark, bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. Antiochus have I sent to Ephesus, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. Alexander the carpetsmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. Of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly withstood our words. At my first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Listen, Paul was given testimony that even Demas, one of his own preacher boys, forsook him. Alexander the coppersmith did him much evil, and he even went on to say that all men forsook him, but what was it in that moment when those things happened that gave him the strength, the courage to continue? Rather, really, who was it that gave him the courage and strength to continue? It was the Lord that stood Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me. Listen, in a moment of uncertainty and fear, know this. As a child of God, the Lord will stand with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. So what did Paul do when things went from bad to worse? Well, he found out that the Lord stood with him. Number two, he found this truth to be true. Number two, the Lord spoke to Paul. Look again at verse number 11. In the night following, the Lord stood by him and, what's the next word, and? All right, 17 of you, let's get the rest of you on board. All right, verse 11 again, look at it. In the night following, the Lord stood by him and? Said. I can imagine the mind games that had the potential to mess with Paul as Paul is sitting in this jail cell here. I can imagine the what ifs attacking his mind. I can imagine Paul saying, what if I had listened to those Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 and stayed in Ephesus and not come to Jerusalem? After all, God has called me to be the apostle to the Gentiles. Why didn't I stay with the Gentiles? What if I'd have stayed in Ephesus? Or maybe he thought of, what if I listened to that prophet Manasseh in Acts 21 who warned me that this would happen? What if I listened to him? What if I hadn't come to Jerusalem? What if, what if, what if? What if? Let me ask you a question. You ever had those moments and questions in the privacy of your own time and darkness of your own mind? You'll have those what if questions come up. I've had several times those moments. And listen, those happen, but if we dwell on the what ifs of life all the time, it will absolutely drive you crazy. And you will worry yourself to death, you will not move forward, and you'll walk with the Lord. If you continue to say what if, what if, what if, if we try to analyze every single thing we do from every single angle until we're blue in the face, listen, that's not what God's called us to do. God calls us to do this, walk by Faith and not by sight. You can't analyze every single angle. Be wise, absolutely sure. But at the same time, moving forward by faith, not by sight. And in this moment, that's exactly what Paul had to do. He had to walk by faith and not by sight. But yet still, I could imagine the thoughts could be racing through his mind during the nighttime hours in that prison of what if. However, there was something that was gonna give this great apostle peace when things went from bad to worse. In verse 11, it is this. Yes, the Lord stood by him, but also and said. And here's what the Lord said. Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, here it is, look at it, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Where is Paul at this moment in this text? Everybody say Jerusalem. Good job, that's where he's at. But the Lord said you're going to go to Rome. So that means he ain't dying in this prison. That means he's not gonna end here. His story does not end here, no. God said, He's got other things for him to do. So here's what the Lord was doing in this moment. He was giving Paul a promise of his word. You know, we need, when times go from bad to worse, or when it seems you're all alone, or when it seems the one's on your side, we need to simply rest in God's promises. This is what Hezekiah did in the Old Testament. Hezekiah was a good king, not a perfect one, but a good one. And it was a time when Hezekiah broke off the alliance he had with the Assyrians. And after he broke that off, King Sennacherib did not like that breaking of that pact, and so he surrounded Jerusalem. And when you get besieged, when you get surrounded, that means there's nothing coming in, nothing going out. That means eventually the city will starve to death. eventually. And so Hezekiah was in quite a spot, but here's what he needed to lean on during that day of trouble, as he called it, in 2 Kings 19. Here's what God told him. 2 Kings 19, verse 32, therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way he came, by the same he shall return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it for mine own sake, Listen, at this moment when Hezekiah needed something badly, God did not give him a sign from heaven. There was no flash in the sky. There was no roar of thunder. There was no flash of lightning. But here's what God did give him, something even greater. He said, I'm gonna give you my word. He gave him his promise. And God came through on his promise as he always does, 2 Kings 19 and verse 35. And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and spoke in the camp of the Assyrians and 104 scored and 5,000, 185,000 soldiers. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. Listen, I don't know what promise you may need today from scripture, but I assure you, the one you need is in this book. Maybe you need to hear Hebrews 13, five, for he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Maybe you need to hear Philippians 4, 19, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Or Philippians 4, 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Or Matthew 11, 28, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Or 2 Corinthians 11, I'm sorry, chapter 12, verse number nine. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. Or maybe you need to hear this today. You don't know Jesus as Savior. You need to know this promise. Romans chapter 10, verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's a promise from the word of God. There's several more in this book we can go to today. You can rest in, claim, trust in the promises of the Word of God. So what did Paul need when things went from bad to worse? Well, he needed God to stand with him, and he needed God to speak to him, but he also needed this, number three, and lastly. Paul, when things went from bad to worse, was settled in the Lord. Do you know what you don't really see here after God is standing with Paul? And after God has spoken to Paul and given him his promise, do you know what you don't see? You don't see Paul wringing his hands. You don't see him full of worry and anxiety. You don't see that here. Rather, this is what I see. Get the picture, all right? Paul is sitting in jail. with the Lord standing next to him. God's presence in that jail cell, no doubt, was so real to this man. And he had gotten the precious promise from the Lord that you're not gonna just be here in Jerusalem, you're going to preach the gospel in Rome also. And Paul has known throughout his life how God delivered him over and over and over, and he's never failed to meet a promise. Paul knows this. So at this moment, picture this in your mind. Paul, yes, he's in prison, but he has the presence of God, and he has the promise of God, and here's what he does. You ready? You watching? I'm only gonna do this one time. All right, here's what he does. He's in his jail cell, so he gets down, I believe. And he does this. At least I think so, all right? I think so. You say, preacher, you don't see him sleeping. All right, look in your Bible, all right. Look in your Bible, look at verse number 11, all right? And when I stop, you say the next word. Verse number 11, and the night following, all right? Now, look at verse number 12. And when I stop, you say the next word. And when it was... What do you do at night, just before the day, usually? Most of you will go to sleep. Would you do that in the midst of this prison, knowing that there's 40 Jewish people just outside the prison that have made a conspiracy and a pact to not eat or drink until they killed you, knowing that the other Jewish leaders want you dead, and knowing that the Romans, well, they ain't too fond of you either, would you go to sleep? Or would you worry all night long? You see, when things went from bad to worst, Here's what Paul did. He just went to sleep. Why? Because he was settled. What was it that settled him? The presence of God and the promise of the Lord. That settled him. Though Paul didn't know what the future was going to hold for him, he knew he could trust an unknown future to a known God. Say it one more time, here we go. Though Paul did not know what the future was going to hold for him, he knew he could trust an unknown future to a known God. All right, make sure you're with me, all right? He knew he can trust the Lord. He knew it. Now folks, you can too. No, I don't know what the future holds for you. That is an unknown. But I do know We can trust a known God who loves you, cares for you, is gracious, kind, merciful. We can trust him with our unknown future. You can trust him. And so Paul, he knew he could do the same thing. And so by God's grace, let's stop biting our nails and start believing God. Let's stop fretting and start faithing. Just made that up. Let's just stop tormenting ourselves with all the anxiety and worry and distrust in an almighty God that loves you the most. Because you can. And he invites you to. He wants you to. You see, I believe Paul took a page out of David's playbook in Psalm four and verse number eight when Paul, I'm sorry, when David said this, I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. It's interesting, the theologians believe, the commentators of scripture believe that at this moment in Psalm 4 that David penned this psalm when he was on the run for his life from his own son Absalom. And historically for David, this would have been an uncertain time. It was an uncertain time because the political climate was fearful and confusing for him and the people, no doubt. The kingdom would have been divided, no doubt civil war was just on the brink there in the kingdom. But what did David do? I will both lay me down in peace and sleep. For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety. So maybe you're here this morning and you're anxious for the future. Maybe you're here worried about what's next. Maybe you're here worried this morning, you're like, it can't get any worse. Maybe that's you. Well, can I encourage you to do this this morning? Just rest in the presence of the Lord and in his powerful promises of his word. And let his presence and his promises settle you in great time of worry and anxiety. Please, let him settle you this morning. Because dear friend, you can rest in our great God.