Greetings and welcome to Heritage Reformed Presbyterian Church, March 2nd, 2025. It's good to be gathered to worship the Lord with you all once again. This Tuesday, we do start our new book study going through St. Clair Ferguson's, I guess, commentary of sorts, like a group study on the Book of James. That meal will start at 6 p.m. and the study around 7 or so. We may still try to incorporate some praying or singing, I think at least prayer, in that also. I believe there's still copies in that box back there on the table. For those families that haven't got a copy yet, you can grab one. I do think we're going to try to read the book together on the Tuesdays that we meet. You have to read ahead. You can if you want. There's 12 chapters in the book, is that right? I think it's about 12. And so, again, we meet every other week. About 24 weeks or so, God willing, we'll be through that book. God willing, this evening. I believe we're going to actually meet at 630 at the Bug Guys office building tonight. And we try I don't know if we've been consistent with this we try to give some kind of short report at least in an email if not in the bulletin but we will try to do that and give a brief report of our meetings to you of course the minutes of the meeting are available to anybody and so on so if anybody wants to see any of that you're of course welcome to do so are there any other announcements yes Oh yes, that's right, thank you. On Tuesday, we will be meeting at our house, the Boer residence, for a group. Basically, I think what we've been doing is alternating between the McKenzie's and the Boer's every month, so this is the Boer household month to meet at our house. Okay, if there are no other announcements then, let us prepare our hearts and minds for worship with a moment of silent prayer and meditation. Brothers and sisters, please stand to receive God's call to worship, taken from Psalm 100. Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Let us now confess our need for God's grace together. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Beloved, now receive God's greeting. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. As God has welcomed us to worship him once again on this Lord's Day, let's do so now, remaining standing and singing 230, holy, holy, holy, 230. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty Early in the morning Our song shall rise to Thee Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, Blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee, Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee, Who were to darken evermore, shall we? Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, Though the eye of sinful men thy glory may not see, Only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, perfect in power and love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Amen. Let us come before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, indeed, we come into your triune, holy presence to worship you, to give you the praise that is due your holy name. Father, we ask that at this time you would indeed receive our worship as it comes to you through your Son, representing us in heaven above and in the power of your spirit. So that is, our worship is Trinitarian, our redemption is Trinitarian, and indeed, your people are your one body, your one bride. So Lord, we come before you to give you the praise, do your name, to worship you in spirit and in truth and to receive all good things from you at this time now of worship. We ask all this in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. I'm going to go ahead and ask, is anybody warm? I just turned it down. You turned it down. OK. Because you're warm. OK. All right. Well, let us continue now in our worship. And let's hear from God's law from Psalm 119. And we'll look at verses 121 through 128 of Psalm 119. I have done justice and do not leave me to my oppressors. I am your servant. Give me understanding that I may know your testimonies. It is time for you to act, O Lord, for they have regarded your law as void. Therefore, I love your commandments more than gold, yes, than fine gold. Therefore, all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right. I hate every false way. Well, here again, as we continue through, God's thing that we aren't very comfortable with, I think, stands upon his own beliefs, convictions, and his actions before God. Really, in this prayer to God, I have done justice and righteousness, and so based on that, he's pleading with God, do not leave me to my oppressors, to the evildoers. Protect me, provide for me, Lord, as you promised to do. We ought to be able, if we are serving the Lord, to call upon him in this way. At the same time, yes, we must acknowledge our sinfulness, our waywardness, that we do not do this perfectly, but we should also see this as, in part, a duty and a command on us to examine ourselves, to see, by God's grace, that we're walking with the Lord, and then to call upon him in light of that. Lord, I am walking in integrity and uprightness. Deliver me because that That is something that we should pray. That is what the Bible teaches and gives us as an example As well now, it's not only that in here you see in verse 125 I am your servant. Give me understanding that I may know your testimonies, right? There's an acknowledgement. Of course that we're still growing in the Lord and wisdom and and knowledge and holiness. And at the same time, there's this call upon God, Lord, act. It is time for you to act. Your name is not being hallowed. They have regarded your law as void. And you see the boldness, we could say, going before the throne of grace to ask for, or even in a sense, humbly coming to the Lord and petitioning, Lord, it is your time. It is time for you to stand up for your name and your glory and your honor here. He loves his commandments, verse 127, they're better than gold. Yes, fine gold. Therefore all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right, I hate every false way. Again, our motivation for following the ways of the Lord is that wisdom itself, God's word. Salvation is better than anything else we find in this life. It is the true gold, the true pleasures, the true blessings. So pursue that and to hate and turn away from every False way and we're gonna see even in our sermon today Contention about the way Christ as the way and so it's amazing how this even fits together. I just now noticed that Myself here, but considering this together now. Let us come to the Lord and and prayer, confessing our sins, confessing our shortcomings, but also praising him for his grace and for his deliverance of his people who are seeking him. Let us now pray together as printed there in your bulletin. Holy and just Father, you love your people and work in our hearts to serve you. Abide with us in our distress. When the wicked seek us out, cover us with your protection and keep us faithful to you. Teach us your word and give us confidence in it. For we often go astray and return to the sinful pleasures of this world. Teach us to hate every false way and false word against you and your will. Rise up to defend your name against those who hate you. Do not let us turn away from righteousness and obedience. Cause us to persevere through every trial as your son has done for us and continues to work within us. Amen. We'll hear these words of pardon from John Also appropriate Psalm 119 John 15 verses 16 and 17 says You did not choose me. This is Jesus speaking to his disciples You did not choose me But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain Now whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you These things I command you that you love one another. And so this is good news indeed. God has chosen us for salvation. God has appointed not only that we would be saved, but as true salvation is, that we would be fruitful. We would be fruitfully We would serve the Lord with the fruit of his spirit, keeping his law and his commandments, such that whatever we ask in the Father's name, he gives to us as we are walking according to his will. Well, we just saw prayers and calls in Psalm 119 there. Lord, deliver us from evil. Rise up for your namesake. Based on, we can say, the fruitfulness of the psalmist himself, we too should be able to point to that in our lives and use that in prayer to God. That is not a boast. If we understand rightly, it is God who gave us the fruit and appointed it there. We're saying, Lord, reward your own working in us. The sanctification that we have come to, that you have moved us to, bless that by providing for us as your people, certainly for the assurance of our salvation, but also for the growth of God's people. for the defeat of the enemy, of the wicked, of those who deny Christ, that we would overcome, that we would press on in holiness, that we would be delivered from evil as we pray in the Lord's Prayer, and so on. Well, Jesus here tells us and comforts us that we did not choose him, and we did not even, at root, we're not the root. We have fruit, but the root of that is from Christ himself. He brought us, he grafted us into himself, and he's working his Holy fruit in us and so we pray these things and call upon him in light of this as well In our prayers to the father and he blesses our prayers when we do that And of course, when we do that, we have confidence as well in the Lord. If we're asking him for these great blessings, then certainly we have confidence of our salvation. And so be assured of your salvation, and even more than that, grow in your salvation and in your prayers to God and holiness, and he will bless us, and he will increase indeed our love, as it says in verse 17, for one another. Well, knowing the great love of God for us, and as we're continuing through Psalm 119, Let us sing from that psalm. 119 in, stand together and sing, your word sheds light. 119 in. The light that it gives us, how it keeps us on that faithful path of following God. Everybody ready? Your word sheds light upon my path. A shining lamp it guides my feet Your righteous judgments to observe My solemn vow I now repeat Severe affliction, Lord, is mine Send help according to your word Accept my sacrifice of praise, and make me know your judgments, Lord. In constant danger is my life, your righteous law I'll not forget. I have not from your precepts drank, Despite the snares the wicked set. Your precepts are my heritage. They daily make my heart rejoice. To keep your statutes faithfully shall ever be my willing choice. Amen. Please be seated. And now, at this time, we will have Ezra Boer come up and take his vows, professing faith in Jesus Christ. And I guess Ezra, do you want to stand on this side right here? That'd be good. All right. You can stand right here, OK? We had, here, how about you stand where you're kind of like this so you can face me and the congregation. There you go. Just like that. Good job. Uh, we had a class probably seven or eight months ago now, and as it was part of that class to come and profess faith in him. And we've seen some growth and godliness and attentiveness in the worship service, especially according to your mom over there as well. And, uh, we're now ready to, and, uh, let me read this and then I'll get to your actual vowels in just a moment. Okay. So it says, the session has satisfactorily examined the one standing here before you and has previously announced his name to the congregation. On behalf of the session, I now call Ezra Boer to make public profession of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and thus become a communicant member of Heritage Reform to Presbyterian Church. Beloved brother in the Lord Jesus Christ, we thank our God for his grace, which was given you, and that you have accepted God's covenant promise, which is signified and sealed in baptism, and that you have his holy church, and have desired to have full communion with the people of God here at Heritage. And now, Ezra, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you will respond with them by saying, I do, okay? So, first question, do you heartily believe the doctrine contained in the Old and the New Testament, and in the articles of the Christian faith, and taught in this Christian church, to be the true and complete doctrine of salvation? And do you promise by the grace of God steadfastly to continue in this profession? Do you openly accept God's covenant promise, which has been signified and sealed unto you in your baptism, And do you confess that you abhor and humble yourself before God because of your sins, and that you seek your life not in yourself, but only in Jesus Christ, your Savior? Do you declare that you love the Lord, and that it is your heartfelt desire to serve Him according to His word, to forsake the world, to mortify your old nature, and to lead a godly life? I do. Do you agree to submit in the Lord to the government of this church and also, if you should become delinquent, either in doctrine or life, to submit to its admonition and discipline? I do. Alright, now congregation, members of the church, I'll ask you to stand. Do you, the members of this congregation, promise in the presence of God to safeguard this covenant, receiving this brother in the Lord and to the living fellowship of this covenant? both for the edification of his faith and the strengthening of this church, and at all times setting an example of godliness before him, so that he may behold for his comfort your faithfulness as an encouragement in his walk with the Lord. If so, answer, we do. We do. All right. Now, Ezra, I charge you, beloved, that you, by the diligent use of the means of grace in studying the word of God, in praying, in worshiping together and taking the Lord's supper, which you'll do for the first time today by these means of grace and with the assistance of our God, that you will continue the promises that you have just made to God, right? That you trust him and believe in him and are gonna walk with him. May the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Well, let us now have a time of prayer together. Lord our God, we thank you that by your word and spirit, we know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. May Ezra confess, who confessed your name today, never cease to wonder at what you have done for him. Help him to continue firmly in the faith, to bear witness to your love, and to let the Holy Spirit shape his life. Take him, good shepherd, into your care, that he may loyally endure opposition in serving you. May we, with all your children, live together in the joy and power of your Holy Spirit. We ask this in the sure hope of Jesus Christ, who is our risen, ruling, and returning Lord. Amen. Now, the elders will come forward and we will give you the right hand of fellowship in the church. Money, buddy. All right, you can be seated. Thank you. All righty, well, let us continue now in our worship to the Lord, coming to Him in prayer, making our requests known to Him with Thanksgiving. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, it is a wonderful thing to see your people and your young people especially to come before you and profess faith in you to affirm their vows, even as we have seen that in many of the children's lives, doing the Communicant membership class with them. and seeing their full answers and their expressions and their questions, Lord, and their sincere faith, God, even at a tender age, we see the work of your saving grace in their hearts, and we thank you and praise you for that. Indeed, as we all must remember to walk worldly according to your word and your will, we ask for your strength to do that day by day, and even for our children who have not yet professed faith in you, Lord, we know that You have brought them into your church, into your kingdom as part of your covenant to be nurtured in it, to be brought up in the faith and to be brought to the table of our Lord in sincere faith in their own hearts. And so, Lord, we thank you for that. And as we come together as your one body, your one people, every man, woman and child and infant and baby that is here and even in the womb here, Lord, we Thank you that you have brought us into your fold. Father, indeed, as you call us to pray and to be anxious for nothing but to make all of our needs known to you, Lord, to cast our cares upon you, for you care for us and are happy to answer our prayers as your people, we come in that confidence and in that comfort indeed. As we've seen from the psalmist in Psalm 119 as well, we know, Lord, that we may pray humbly yet boldly. And so we come to do that now for our country and our nation, Lord. We acknowledge that many in our nation have gone astray. Many of our churches have turned away as well. But Lord, we thank you for your saving grace to us here at Heritage and for the other faithful churches you have in our community and throughout our nation, Lord. We thank you so much for that, for our fathers, the pilgrims and others who came here long ago and settled this land and came explicitly in your name to even evangelize the native Indians and others who were here. But Lord, that was hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and we've seen many ups and downs since then. We pray for a new reformation, a new reviving in our country, in our land, starting in the hearts of people that they repent and believe and follow you, but expanding outward from that into everything, in every sphere of life, in government, in our homes, in our churches, in our schools, all over, in our work, in our business, God, that you would truly see people living, thinking, and following you in your holy will. Father, we also pray for the church here, that it would be faithful and steadfast, not only here at Heritage, but all true and faithful churches, that we would grow together as a people for you and your glory, that we would be a faithful and strong witness, that we would withstand opposition and persecution, and that we would not cower in fear or lose heart when hardship comes, but trust in you, knowing you will provide. Father, we pray for those doing this in a public way, churches and Christians, individuals who are resisting some of the greatest sins and crimes that, sadly, our nation has become known for, murdering children in the womb of its mother in abortion. the sexual rambit immorality that is praised and paraded down the streets, and the LGBTQ depravity and wickedness. Also, Lord, the general just despising of your name, the taking it in vain, the blaspheming of it, the calling upon other gods, the false praise and worship of you, all of this, Lord, breaking every commandment that you have given us. We see so often today And we grieve it. We grieve it, Lord. We desire that we would turn away from these things, truly, as a people, as a nation, that we would call out to you, lamenting the ills of our nation and its sins, that we would repent of our own personal sins, to whatever degree we may have our hands in it as well, and that we would encourage and call others to walk in your will and trust in your Son, Jesus, for salvation and renewal. We pray to that end and more specifically in our own congregation for each family, each individual, each child, each adult, for parents raising and teaching their children, for husband and wife trying to work through marital struggles and difficulties, whether there's kids still in the home or not. Lord, we need your help. We need your grace in these matters day by day. to be built up in you and in love for one another. Help us in our marriages to especially represent Christ in the church. It is the institution you have ordained, that picture is that, that is the greatest human help to us as man and woman in marriage, to help us to honor you in our marriages, help our husbands to lead and to lead in love and take responsibility and exercise their authority for the good of their wife and children, help the wives to submit and follow and obey their husbands even as they obey Christ, as you call us to do in Ephesians 5, and help the children to obey their parents and their instruction so that they would grow up and live long in the land and receive all the blessings you give body and soul. Father, we pray for the physical well-being of the congregation and the church. Many have family members, parents or children or siblings or others ailing or themselves suffering under difficulty. We pray, God, that you would deliver them from that, that you would give healing of body through exercise and diet, through medicine, through surgeries, through whatever may be needed however you may choose to bring healing. We pray that we would be healed and that we would overcome and bear up under affliction for however long you give it to us. Father, we also know that ultimately your will is not for us to live forever in this state of sin and suffering, but to die and then rise again to glory. And so, Lord, we pray that we would live well, but that we'd also die well, that we would go to that state of glory, our souls coming before you, awaiting the return of Christ and the redemption, the resurrection of our bodies as well, that we would live well for you, that we would suffer well for you, and that we'd come to our deaths honoring you, confessing you with a confidence in you, that even in our dying, you do not forsake us, but you're with us and you will sustain us. Father, we pray for our sister churches and our denomination for Kings Reformed in Florida, for First Presbyterian in Suriname, for Reverend Pachter and his health. We're glad again to hear of his pain relief. We pray that that's the sign also indeed of answered prayer of healing. of reduction and removal of the cancerous tumors and the cancer in his bone, and so on. We pray again that you would bring the right man to be minister alongside of Pastor Pacher there as well, and for the next generation of coming at that church, that they would be led well by a godly shepherd, and the Elder Roy as well there also. For our sister church, for Asgar Hammond, the pastor there, and the K-12 school in Surreal. We pray that you would be with the students there, knowing they come from all sorts of ethnic, racial, national backgrounds all over the world. It's quite an amazing thing. We pray, knowing that many of them hold two other religions, even, that coming to a school that is explicitly Christian and Reformed and hearing the Westminster Confession and the Scriptures and the Word of God, that you would use that as a great, not only educational tool, but even more importantly, evangelistic means to see many young persons and their parents saved and brought into your kingdom. And for the church that is there, of course, with Reverend Hammond as well. Father, we pray for the Good News Bible Series, which is part of Reformation Christian Ministries, and just this past week, Lord, having a conversation with a minister in India, a reformed minister, to see perhaps these courses translated into other languages there, the Bengali and Hindi language that believe hundreds of millions of people speak God we pray that this would be done and that again a sound biblical Christianity would expand and grow in these regions as well knowing that many are Hindu or other false religions or the Christianity that is there is sadly Often like it is here today, Lord, full of error, Pentecostalism, and other deceptions. God, we pray that you would bring a more pure and faithful Christianity to those lands and that this would be a means to that end. Father, we pray for other local churches here that are standing upon your holy word, preaching it faithfully in season and out of season. We pray for Swan Station Baptist, for Faith Bible Church, and many other churches, God, that they would indeed hold fast to your holy word and preach for the people and to the people and in the community so that they would be saved and sanctified and grow in you and that your glory therefore would shine forth as we indeed are born again to obey you, to bear your fruit, to keep your commandments and to see the blessings flow from that. Father, finally, we come to honor you and worship you in the giving of our tithes and offerings. We know, Lord, that you love a cheerful giver. We know that all that we have is not our own. And just as we come to gather you and to sort of have a tithe of our time on the Lord's Day, we also have a tithe of our income that we give back to you. And we pray that it would be used well by the congregation of the church. We continue to pray, Lord, of course, for our own facilities, our own building. And indeed, that if it's your will, church, that we have been praying about and praying for, that we understand may be in need soon of a new minister. If it's your will, Lord, that you'd bring our congregations together, together in some ways once again, and that it'll be a blessing to everyone to serve more people, to have a place to gather and worship it as our own. Lord, indeed, as we've seen in the Psalms, we have been praying and praying at least with some diligence on these matters and praying with integrity of heart and so, God, we pray. that upon that, in your kindness and in your mercy, you would answer these prayers, you would grant us these prayers, and that it would be good for all and glorifying to you. And again, Father, we ask all this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Let us now continue in our worship with the giving of our tithes and offerings. so so Brothers and sisters, let us now stand together to sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Amen. Please be seated. and if you have your Bibles, Acts chapter 19, and we will be finishing Acts 19, looking at verses 21 through 41 together. As we come to do that, let us come to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we ask again for your help. Lord, we know that we are mere creatures that, suffering and groaning under sin, our own waywardness of mind, we need your help to be focused and attentive. Lord, I pray that no matter where our minds may have been thus far, that we would be attentive now to be fed from your holy word, and then to be fed from your table afterwards as well. And so, Lord, we pray that you'd give us attentiveness of mind and openness of heart to receive and hear your holy word. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Acts 19, beginning at verse 21, hear now the word of the Lord. When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. And about that time there arose a great commotion about the way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together, the workers of similar occupation, and said, Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover, you see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods, but are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship. Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians. So the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions. And when Paul wanted to go in to the people, the disciples would not allow him. Then some of the officials of Asia, who were his friends, said to him, pleading, that he would not venture into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make his defense to the people. But when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And when the city clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus? Therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, The courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly. For we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering." And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. Let's start the reading of God's Holy Word, and may He add His blessing to it. Well, our sermon is titled, Resistance to and Unity in the Gospel. And really you see that, those two contrasts, or I guess in some ways you could say parallels, happening here. The gospel being resisted by this Demetrius and the guild of silversmiths who have made their living off of really making these little images, perhaps on coins or other pieces of metal, of this temple of Diana. Kind of like a trinket or a memorabilia that we may have today. You go to a certain place, you buy the t-shirt, it's got the logo, the image on it, that kind of thing. They're upset because, well, Paul, in his preaching by the power of the Spirit, is being effective. He's been going around saying, these little statues and icons and images that you make, that you attribute to this or that or the other god, are not in fact gods, but merely your imagination. perhaps coupled with demonic influence, and they cannot save you, they cannot redeem you, but there is one who can save and redeem, and he can also damn and destroy, Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth, the one who came lately at that time for them, recently, and has risen to glory, right? Paul is continuing to preach that. Success is coming with the proclamation of the gospel to the point where it's starting to make a dent in the cultural and religious practice and the economics of the people, especially there in Ephesus, where their commerce, their industry, a sort of a, we today might call it a tourist town, but it was even more than that for them. Yes, many made their pilgrimages there to honor the actual Temple of Diana that was constructed there, But it was not merely a tourism thing, this really was their holy religious exercises to one of their chief gods or goddesses here. uh, Diana. And so that whole group of people rejecting the gospel, they're turning away from it, they're resisting it and raising that resistance. But on the other hand, what we see here is unity in the gospel through Paul, through the fellow disciples and Christians, and of course, from God above, protecting and delivering them from this assault and this attack. And so our sermon theme, putting that together, is resisting Christ brings selfish wrath and chaos as they're confused there as they gather in the theater, but following him yields sacrificial unity. Paul is ready to die for his friends that are taken in there, Gaius and Aristarchus. The disciples are ready to not see Paul die and to protect him, not letting him go to the theater. And so this sacrificial unity is seen among the people of God, while the chaos and wickedness, on the other hand, is seen by those outside of Christ. And that points to the final destination of all those, either outside of Christ, moving away from Him to damnation and destruction and misery, or those in Christ to greater unity and harmony and peace and truth and righteousness. And so from our sermon theme here, we have three points. Our first point While Paul plans more Christian ministry, Demetrius is planning and raising a three-fold resistance to the gospel. That's verses 21-27. And then verses 28-34, an angry mob gathers to harm Christians, but the Christians gather to protect one another. Verses 28-34. And then finally, verses 35-41, God delivers his people from the uproar through the city clerk's fear of disorder. So God defends his people and even uses this city clerk, this local magistrate there, to protect Gaius and Aristarchus, the Christians that were with Paul. All right, so let's look at that now in some detail together. Back there at verse 21, our first point, Paul is planning here more ministry The church it says in verse 21 when these things were accomplished that's talking as you probably recall from last week The people turning away from their idols burning their magical books that taught them witchcraft and so on It amounted up to 50,000 pieces of silver. The gospel word that Paul's preaching is prevailing and the evil spirits are being driven out by Paul, but not the false teachers and the seven sons of Sheba, who were the sons of a chief priest, showing the true priesthood is now with Christ and his resurrection power from on high at the right hand of the Holy Spirit. All of that is coming out. All these things are being accomplished. Paul has been ministering there for several years now in Ephesus, and it's time for him to continue on. He's had good success, but his apostolic calling is to go from here and there and everywhere to plant and establish churches. And really, when it says in verse 21, to go back to Macedonia and Achaia, that's back in Philippi and other regions like that, he's been there before. So he wants to, again, re-strengthen the churches that have been established. And then after that, you see in verse 21, he's going to go to Jerusalem, which is where the church, the New Testament covenant church, the outpouring of the spirit began among the people of God, the Jews and so on there. He wants to go there, essentially report his ministerial success to the other apostles that are there, and then begin his fourth, ultimately really his final missionary journey to go see Rome, to go to Rome and proclaim the word of God there as well. So Paul is continuing his planning. his ministry, his teaching. Of course, we learn from that, too, as Christians today, whether we're ministers or any position that we're in in the church, laypersons, it doesn't matter. We should plan our duties, our callings, our job, our occupation, how we're going to do that. We should expect the Lord to bless as we plan. We shouldn't just sort of fly blind, as it were. Paul is not doing that. And in fact, you see in verse 21, it says, Paul purposed in the spirit to do this. And you can discuss or have these minute considerations, whether this is the Holy Spirit being spoken about, or simply Paul in his own spirit, purposing this. But we know as Christians that both usually function and work together. You don't purpose in your spirit apart from praying to God. expecting to have a sense from God himself and his spirit that this is what you ought to do. So Paul is making those types of plans in his ministerial journeys here and that's what we see going on in verse 21. He's looking forward, he's looking ahead. But God's not going to allow him to leave Ephesus without having some more challenges and difficulties there as well. Even though Paul sends a head to to Macedonia, look at the end of verse 22. He himself, Paul, continues to stay there in Asia, which is where Ephesus and so on are at at that time, for the time being. Well, at that point in time, just as he's planning to press on elsewhere, after having much ministerial success, verse 23, we see a commotion arises, a hardship comes up because of, as it says there, the Way. Now, the New King James that capitalizes Way, perhaps indicating this is referring to Jesus Christ, the Way, the truth and the life as he calls himself in scripture. And certainly at root, that is what this great commotion is about. It is about Jesus as the Christ, the one who lived there on earth in Nazareth just a few decades before at the time of Paul preaching here and teaching and the way that he taught, right? He taught that he alone is the way to salvation. He alone is the way to serve and please God. and being taught, of course, that there are no other gods. Now remember, we're in the Greco-Roman world, the Roman Empire here. They had Zeus, they had their many gods, they have Diana here, the daughter of Zeus that we're reading about. That itself was a scandalous message. Just to be a monotheist, to just believe in one god here, would be radically different than all the pagan countries and cultures that were around you, their religion, their culture, of course, were blended in together. We see that with the shrine here, the craftsman Demetrius and others making these things to, these emblems to remember the temple of Diana and having visited there and paid homage to her and so on and so forth. Well, that's going on. Demetrius, verse 24, this silversmith that we mentioned earlier, he made a lot of money. selling these things, kind of like the holy, you know, whatever, mineral water you might see on the televangelist today or something like that. But this pagan here, he had perhaps some true devotion to Diana, but the greatest concern that he had, as you can see, is his bottom line, his money, his income. Verse 25 he called them together his fellow craftsmen Had a similar occupation. He said men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade, you know, we make our living This is our business our industry in this town and community. This is how we get by this is how we live and and provide for our families, and so on and so forth. But he says, here's the problem, verse 26. In this region, throughout Ephesus, almost all of Asia, that'd be Asia Minor there, this Paul, the Apostle Paul, has persuaded and turned away many people. He's saying, gods are not made with hands. So we are in the business of really making images of the gods made with hands, printed on coins, whatever the case may be, We're going to lose our business by this because many are going to stop, just like they burned the books of witchcraft before, repenting and believing and coming to Christ and looking to Paul for healing and salvation. They're not going to look to these gods, these idols anymore, and therefore they're not going to buy the stuff from us any longer that reminds them of the temple of Diana. so on. So verse 27, not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute with our money, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed. whom all Asia and the world worship. And that's why I titled, you know, I put this point that Demetrius is raising a three-fold resistance to the gospel or to the way here. He's making a economic appeal resistance. We lose our money, our industry, our commerce. Because from time immemorial, they have been the guardians, as it will say later on, of this Diana. So he's appealing to their history and their heritage as the people of Ephesus. We are the ones who house this glorious god, Diana. And then, of course, that is also connected to their religion, their way of worships, economic, cultural, and religious resistance he is raising to the way of Christ. Which also shows you the gospel impacts all of these things as well. And Christians are not severed. from the culture, the Gospel of 11 for the good, the culture, the religion, the economics, everything in life, when we're living faithfully before him and thinking through these things in these ways. So all of this is going on. If we think back to the Old Testament, we know that God had commonly revealed himself to his own people, that he alone is God. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is. One, hey, look at that, very good. One god, that had to be stressed, again, because they had many gods, the gods of the valleys, the gods of the hills, the gods of the mountains, the god of, you know, this, that, and the other. So their affection was divided, their allegiances were divided. They didn't know which god to appease. The gods themselves would fight and contradict with one another. We've talked about this before, but it needs to be brought to mind here once more. This is the worldview, if you want to call it that, of Demetrius and the others there. Paul is actually telling them very good news that their hearts were softened to hear it. You don't have to appease all these fickle, changing gods. There's one God, and this God is so gracious and merciful, he's even sent his son Jesus to atone for sin, to be the payment for sin, for his people, for all who repent and believe and follow him. And then your devotion is only to this Lord, the Lord himself, who in mercy sent his son to propitiate, to pay for sin. That's a massive blessing and upgrade from these fickle and harsh at times gods who demanded all kinds of things, sacrificing their own children at times even to appease them and all the rest. But they could not see that. You cannot serve the true God and money. They were making money. off of these false gods. They had some self-deception in their heart to believe that this Diana was true. As we said, there's some cultural pride there as well. And through that three-fold appeal Demetrius makes, he's able to gather an angry mob, as it were, to sort of march and take by force some of the Christians there, as we see Gaius and Aristarchus in verse 29, into the theater to try to get a hasty sentence on them to get them in trouble. So, Demetrius lacks a renewed heart, as many still do today, and they are in love with their idols and following that. Well, we too today, of course, even as Christians, can make idols of our hearts and our minds. We need to think about that in a sober way. God willing, we're not doing it in such a crass fashion as they may be doing it. But we should consider our own devotion, and especially on the Lord's Day in our nation today, when we have forgotten Sabbath worship and rest in many ways. Many churches today don't even have church any longer on Sundays because it's inconvenient, where they just say, well, come any day of the week, it doesn't matter. And so we've gone to that point where we once had 60, 70, whatever years ago, Many businesses still would close on Sundays and encourage people to gather for worship, take a time off from work, worship the Lord, gather together, to now where that's almost decried even in the churches. And so when we're called to make our pilgrimage, so to speak, to worship the Lord in corporate worship on Sundays, we disparage that and cast our cares and our devotions into other things. You know, maybe some people are burdened with work and cares on Sundays, others it's entertainment and fun, you know, football or whatever the case may be. Not to say that enjoying sports in itself is wrong, but to say that we should be focused on worshiping the Lord on His day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. There's a hallowing of the day that is to be done there, and we should be careful to do that. Now, what that looks like in absolute detail, of course, is going to depend on various circumstances and so on and so forth. But if we remember at base that God has called us to keep His day holy, to focus on that, the focus of the worship and the pilgrimage of gathering together as his people, and the whole day to reflect upon that corporate worship, to think about the blessings he's given us, to take a rest and a break from our physical labors. That will frame the day and keep it holy, as the Lord has called us to do. It'll be a blessing for us. It'll be a spiritual oasis for us as well. And so we should consider that, whether it's on Sundays or any day of the week. How are we framing our lives? How are we approaching the Lord? Are we worried with the cares of life? Are we chasing after the weekend, you know, work hard during the week to make money so that you can spend it all on your pleasures on the weekend, rather than worshiping and serving the Lord throughout the week, taking dominion for him and his glory in his name, and then enjoying time off on the weekend? for rest and worship and so on and so forth. We, too, as Christians, should consider these things and work through these in our own hearts and be an example to others as well. Well, that leaves us then to our second point in verses 28 through 34, that an angry mob gathers, from Demetrius' words, to harm Christians. But the Christians gather to protect one another. So verse 28, when they heard this, when they heard all that Demetrius was saying here, they were full of wrath and they cried out, saying, great is Diana of the Ephesians, right? This is their pride and joy, so to speak. And especially, remember, Demetrius is addressing his fellow silversmith workers. They especially have reason to say this. They want to make money still. Greatest Diane of the Ephesians. Yes, we want to say that so that we can keep our job and keep people, you know, buying our stuff. Well, they are able to work up the whole city into some degree of confusion as they come into their theater there. Verse 29, the whole city was filled with confusion and rushed into the theater with one accord. And along the way, they grabbed, they seized Gaius and Aristarchus. These were Macedonians of the region there, and they were Paul's travel companions. They were converts to the Christian faith. They couldn't find Paul, evidently, in their hasty that tribunal or whatever they're trying to form here, but they could find some of his followers. And so they grab him, some Christians here, and they bring him into this theater. Now I've looked it up on Google and so on. This theater still is there. Now it's, yeah, somewhat in ruins, but this theater that sat about 25,000 people, you can still look at online or visit today in Ephesus and so on. His magnificence was such that it was one of the ancient wonders of the world, wonders of the world with the hanging gardens of Babylon and all that. It was well known. This theater, just as the Temple of Diana, was well known also. In fact, I'm sorry, let me correct what I said. It was the Temple of Diana. That was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. The theater that they were in, there's many theaters like this, this was a large theater, but it was actually the Temple of Diana. That was one of the ancient wonders of the world that people would flock to and gather in. It was about a hundred thousand square feet, the largest structure there in the ancient world. At that time, every spring, they had a week-long festival called Artemision, where they came and sort of gathered together in their pagan worship there to the goddess Diana. She was the goddess of fruitfulness and fertility. You may have seen descriptions or depictions of her. It's kind of weird-looking. She's covered in either clusters of grapes or breasts. to show fruitfulness and so on. You can look at it and make a determination which one it is in your own mind, but the point is to show fertility and fruitfulness and prosperity and hunting and these sorts of things. So that was one of their goddesses, one of their prominent goddesses, and they built this magnificent temple there. So that was, again, part of their religious and cultural pride. in Ephesus. Well, in their fury of losing their income and their status and their culture and all that, they charge into the theater with these complaints. Now this stadium, as I mentioned, has about 25,000 people that can be seated in there. Likely there are some already in there before this commotion got started, but now thousands more are flooding in, but it's very hastily done. This Demetrius has whipped people up into a frenzy, and so there's some confusion. Not everybody really knows what is going on. And as we're gonna see at the bottom here, the city clerk, when he comes in to try to restore order, he kind of says the obvious, what would be obvious to them, not so much to us today. But everybody there knew, right, that this is where the temple's at. This indeed is where Diana is. Why is everybody shouting that? We know that. That would be like, I guess, I don't know, living, in Chapel Hill and saying Great is the Tar Hills of North Carolina or something like that. I don't know, it would be like everybody's shouting about that when everybody knows that in that region, that's what they are known for, this sports team or that great site or whatever the case may be. They were stating the obvious, what everybody knew. So why were they all just going around shouting this all of the sudden, that Great is Diana of the Ephesians? Well, that's part of the confusion that's going on here. when they rush into the theater with this Gaius and Aristarchus. Now notice the unity. We've seen the disorder and anger and wickedness of the unbelievers here. In fact, look at verses 28 and 29 on that point. Verse 28, it says, they were full of wrath. And then verse 29, the city was filled with confusion. The whole book of Acts has had this theme that we've been seeing. Those filled with the Holy Spirit and godliness and righteousness and the wicked being filled with wrath, confusion, and anger. Again, we're all moving in one of two directions. But with that in mind, verse 30, when Paul wanted to go in to the people in the theater there, the disciples would not allow him. Now, again, I think the reason is obvious. Paul is the ringleader of preaching here of Jesus Christ, the true way, which is what Demetrius is upset with. And so if he goes in there, almost certainly he's going to be mobbed. He's going to be destroyed and be killed. And the disciples are actually using more discretion than Paul this time. You see Paul's heart. You see his love, which is good and proper. It's proper for him to want to go in there and be willing to die. in the place of Gaius and Aristarchus. These are his travel companions. What kind of minister would just be like, God, let them suffer for my faithful preaching here. I'm going to go and just hide somewhere. That would be evil. But it would also be foolish and wicked if the disciples did not use their discretion, even as long ago when David, King David, wanted to go to the battle to say, no, King, you are worth more than 10,000 of us. A similar thing is going on here. Paul, you're worth more than all of us put together. You have this higher, greater duty and calling, and besides all that, it's unwise and foolish for you to rush in here. They are not allowing you to do that. You know, the Greek tense there is saying they're basically, you know, they're holding him back. They're repeatedly urging him, do not go in there and throw your life away. You see in verse 31, even some of the officials of Asia, the Greek word is literally Asiarchs, the rulers in Asia there, who were his friends. Paul's preaching has even managed to befriend some of these rulers who oversaw what happened in the theater that they're in. They even send messengers to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater. Now this does not say that these rulers are converted, in fact, The evidence is that a lot of times these rulers even were priests of the region of their gods and were in charge of what would happen and be conducted in the theaters. Whether these were that or not, it's not clear that they were converted to Jesus, but they at least had sympathy for Paul, and they also likely didn't want any more of brouhaha to come about, says, sir, please, Paul, do not go in there. This isn't gonna help you or help the situation at all. They urge him, as well, to not enter in. And so the point of bringing all that out is to see, one, the unity that is forged among the true people of God. We love each other. We care for one another. We're willing to die for one another because our God, Jesus, has died for us. And if he would lay down his life for us, what does the Bible say? Greater love hath no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. Well, we are friends of God and friends of one another, fellow Christians, and we should have such righteous, sacrificial love for one another. Christ shows his love, as Romans 5 says. He demonstrates his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, he died for us. While we were enemies of God, died for us in order to make us friends of God, reconciled to God once again. And so you see that love, that Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit poured out upon his people, producing this love, producing this unity. And you already see God's hand, providential hand in that, in loving his people and providing for them as well. You already see it here, for example, with these rulers, these officials of Asia. God providentially having them also urged Paul, do not rush in to there as well. Well, we got more interesting people and names coming up. Let's keep going. Verse 33, and they drew Alexander out of the multitude. the Jews putting him forward. So it seems that in this commotion and confusion in this theater, and by the way, I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet, but the theater was used for multi-purpose, many different things, even as sometimes we may see that in our own stadiums today. It would be used for sporting events. It would be used to conduct business, and it'd even be used like a courtroom. In fact, they met, I believe, about three times a month. They had gatherings where the public could come and bring their lawsuits and their cases and so on. That's what the city clerk's gonna mention here in our text in just a few minutes. They had all of that kind of business and commerce and entertainment going on in these types of theaters. And of course, there being They're dragging in Aristarchus and Gaius for the latter purpose of, you know, rendering some kind of judgment against them as being followers of the way. Well, in that midst, they draw out Alexander from the multitude. The Jews are said to put him forward. Now, why would the Jews put one of their fellow Jews forward here? Well, this is likely referring to the unbelieving Jews, not any Jews that had converted. That's why they're still being called Jews rather than Christians or among the people of Paul. We don't know who this Alexander is with certainty. We know elsewhere Paul speaks of Alexander the coppersmith who gave him much trouble. Is it possible coppersmith, silversmith, one of the similar workers there, and he's an unbeliever, and he's a Jew, and they put him forward to try to quiet things down? That's possible, but we don't know for sure. But it's likely, when it says in verse 33, he motions with his hand and he wants to make a defense to the people there, probably given the Jews are putting him forward, he's gonna say, look, we're Jews, but we're not Christians. We're not preaching Jesus as the Christ. We're not the ones causing this commotion. We're not, in that sense, the ones that are in league with Paul, so don't punish us with the followers of Christ, the followers of Paul, and so on. they're probably trying to make some distinction between the two. Remember, the Romans, the Greeks at this time, they didn't always make a distinction between the Jews and the Christians, right? Christianity grew out of the Jewish people there. So they still see this as like an intramural debate, whether Jesus is the Christ or not. So sometimes the Jews and Christians were punished together, even though they were at odds with one another very much so about actual salvation in Jesus the Christ. So all that's taking place, but he can't even get a word in because the crowd is so rowdy. Verse 34, when they found out that he was a Jew, all with one voice cried out for about two hours, great is Diana of the Ephesians. So whatever precisely he was going to say, he didn't even get to say it because they keep shouting for two hours, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Well, that of course gets the attention of the city clerk. But the point here in our second point is we see the sacrificial love of the people of God, the disciples coming together, not shirking back. It's always been like that. Remember what happened with Jesus when he was betrayed, the disciples scattered and they ran away and they betrayed him. And Peter himself denied Jesus. Well, now filled with the spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, they're gathering. They're united. They're ready to die for one another and also protect those who should be protected. And you're using wisdom and discernment. No, Paul, don't rush in there. And so on. Well, the wisdom of this world is just lacking. The anger and the bitterness and the vitriol of Satan and his people not repenting and following Christ leads to this chaotic, disheveled, hasty gathering. They won't even listen to This Alexander who might even be somewhat sympathetic to them. Now the Jews were monotheists, so they didn't worship, you know, Diana And that's one reason why they didn't want to hear him because he's a Jew because they were already rejecting the pagan gods even though they rejected Jesus as the Christ. All that's taking place here and that brings us then to our third And final point, that God delivers his people from this uproar, from the uproar, through the city clerk's fear of disorder. Now, what is the point of saying that? The city clerk is not converted, but he himself fears his fellow pagans and his pagan overlords. the Roman higher-ups, remember the Roman Empire is over them, they kind of let the local regions rule with their own local people and pay their taxes as long as it didn't cause a stir. Well, the city clerk is saying, hey, we're causing a stir here, we gotta stop, cut it out. So verse 35, when the city clerk had quieted the crowd after several hours, he said, men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana? And the image which fell down from Zeus, and maybe a good example for North Carolina is like, you know, you see somebody marching to town square saying, we're first in flight, you know, or something like that. It's like, who doesn't know that? It's not like everybody's a license plate or something. So he's saying, what, you know, what is everybody shouting this for? Everybody here knows this. People come from all over the world to worship at our great temple. Shut up, you're causing problems. And further, There's really, it seems to be, almost an apologetic defense of their pagan belief in Diana here that the city clerk is purting for. Whether he personally is fully convinced or not, for his own skin's sake, do not get in trouble. The city clerk may not sound like a high position, but at least locally there, my understanding is that it would be the highest official in Ephesus, but then he would have to directly report to the more provincial authorities and the Romans and so on. But he's trying to make an argument appealing really to the faith of the people of Ephesus in their goddess Diana They may be subtle, but it does come out here. He's saying look everybody knows the truth of Diana Everybody gets that further. We know that she's not a mere statue carved out of rock or stone or whatever the case may be and Look at verse 35, it says, this is the great goddess Diana and the image which fell down from Zeus. So they had long believed that Zeus, who was supposed to be her father, sent her down from from the state of glory for their paganism to them on earth to be with them there in Ephesus. Some have said that maybe there was a meteorite or something that hit nearby and that stone they thought was Diana coming down. But whatever the case may be, you can see the parallels. They're pagan parallels to the Christian faith here. Just as we would say, look, we know that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that He came in the flesh and He died and He rose again, right? You're reciting the Apostles' Creed. He's giving them the pagan creed here, right? Of Diana and saying, where's your faith? Basically, do you believe in Diana or not? You listen to Paul when he says this is all fake and nonsense just as Christians today We defend the faith against those who say Jesus is just a man or wasn't God or he didn't rise Whatever the case may be He's using a similar appeal to them to, in a way, bolster their faith in their God. But really, his too, his motive and root is, hey, we don't wanna get in trouble and lose our freedom. They don't really love these gods, just as the demons behind these false gods don't really love their followers either. He says, verse 36, therefore, since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. And then he says, look, you can't actually have any charges that stick against these people. If you brought these men here, this Gaius and Aristarchus, followers of Christ, of Paul, if you brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. He's saying they've not broken into your temple and stolen the gold. They've not blasphemed your goddess. Now, is that true or not? Probably they have not vocally done that because they're not preachers or the Apostle Paul, which is one reason why it would not have been good for Paul to have rushed in there, because he could be charged easily with blaspheming their goddess, in a sense. And in another sense, he's trying to say, well, Diana's more than just an image. She came down from heaven like lightning. So, you know, he's using that as well to argue against they're not really blaspheming because Diana's more than just a carved image. So, if Paul says there's a carved image, that's not really God, that doesn't even impact Diana because we believe she came down from heaven. That's kind of the argument that's being made here. So, they're saying you have no charge, you have no case against these men and we've been shouting great is Diana for hours and causing all kinds of danger and promotion. Verse 38, therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls, right? The Romans For other faults, they had a good system of jurisprudence and court systems. And I mean, some of that's still reflected, I think, in our American court system today. Calvin and Geneva and others, they use that as well. They've shaped it and changed it to be more faithful and biblical in certain places. But there was a good system that was there. And he's saying, you know, innocent until proven guilty, that kind of thing. You need to go and actually have a proper court. As I mentioned earlier, they had court cases three times a month there and so on. let them bring charges against one another. Verse 39, but if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in the lawful assembly, implying this is not a lawful assembly. Verse 40, for we are in danger of being called in question for today's uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering. When he said these things, he dismissed the assembly. So he was able to prevail upon them, perhaps appealing to their sense of faith in Diana and the fact that they could lose their freedom, if not their lives, from the Roman Empire for causing disorder for no good reason and a major stink. And really what we should see back of that is God's providential hand protecting his people, delivering them from evil. This wasn't a supernatural act of God, but it was his ordinary provision, his providential care of his people. the Asiarchs earlier telling Paul not to rush in and now the the pagan city clerk even saying look there's no case to be made against them here you need to cease and desist basically so God works in this way through the preaching of the word through the civil sphere and government and into the culture of the people why today would we divorce these three certainly they are distinguished certainly Paul was not going there as a lawyer. He was going there as a minister, preaching the gospel. But the impact of that impacts everything, and it comes into bearing on everything. And as Christians, collectively, we have all sorts of different callings, including being lawyers. Calvin was a lawyer. Calvin used his law degree and his wisdom for the council at Geneva, where he was a pastor and sat on the city council as well. Christians should not cut themselves off from these things. Our Reformed forefathers certainly did not do that. It would be foolish. It would be, I would even say, clearly contra against the example of Scripture itself. Yes, after Paul, after the apostles and that foundation of the New Testament was laid, you see more and more of the gospel leavening society and culture and government and so on. We see that beginning to happen already in the New Testament, in the New Covenant. And of course, we saw that many times in the Old Testament, Joseph rising to power. Daniel and others, and so on and so forth. The Lord uses the sword of justice that he has ordained, the civil government, to protect his church, to protect his people, to promote righteousness, and we talked about the Sabbath earlier, to encourage people to gather and worship. You can't have forced conversions by the point of the sword, but with the government you can encourage what is conducive to worshiping the Lord, encouraging that, promoting that, instead of promoting, you know, drag queen story hour. permitting things like that and so our nation once understood this we should desire to see that again but the problem is the church has forgotten that the church is immoral the church isn't standing on the Word of God and it's not living a godly example out by and large to others to see the work of grace in our hearts. We don't have, sadly today, the same kind of unity that we see, at least at this moment, between Paul and his disciples and the others to gather together there to defend the truth, to defend the faith, and to defend one another. If you stand too faithfully, especially publicly today, and today It would be likely the Christians would be like Alexander, the Jew there, coming forward and saying, we're not like that kind of Christian that goes out publicly and says you shouldn't have drag story hour. No, no, no, we're not. We're going to live like Jesus, right? We're going to be real relaxed and calm. We don't want a commotion in our town. That would be bad. We can't have that. We can't have the world turned upside down for Jesus Christ. You know, you'd get Christians like that today. Distancing themselves. That's sadly where we're at a lot of times. That needs to change. That needs to change. And further, you see, this wasn't a commotion caused by the Christians. It was literally the silversmiths not liking the fact that they were losing a little bit of their income, and they're the ones that got into this sort of uproar. Well, those living and doing wicked and malicious things publicly, we need to live as Christians in such a way, with such fiery gospel zeal and faithfulness in life, that they would be so provoked to chaos and wrath and disorder that they would raise such a stink in town square that our people, talking about our magistrates and local leaders, would say, you know what, enough of this depravity. We're not going to let you do this anymore. That's the kind of strategic thinking that we need to have today. And then call them all to repentance and faith so that they would be saved. and call it other sinful lifestyles, and find joy and delight in honoring and serving God again, and so on. And so as Christians here at Heritage, we need to press on in righteousness, we need to press on in holiness against all idolatry, we need to make sure that we're doing the first things first, in other words, You know, we might have these big visions of grandeur, of transforming a town, a city, a community, a nation, or whatever, but if you're not loving your wife and children, if you're not reading your Bible, if you're in over your head in sin and wickedness and depravity, you've got to start there, of course, and work those things out in your own life. On the other hand, we can't be more pious, so to speak, than the actual faithful Christians. It's easy to make the excuse, well, I'm never gonna read the Bible enough, I always need to pray more, and therefore I should never publicly, or in a way that could be publicly risky or something like that, do something faithful. Well, don't use that as an excuse. an excuse either. And when I say something publicly faithful, I'm not necessarily talking about marching down, you know, Times Square or something like that. I'm simply saying being a Christian publicly and, you know, rightfully standing on the Word of God, rightly living before others, praying in public. When you see somebody publicly just cursing and blaspheming God, say, you know, sir, you should not do that. That is dishonoring to God. You know, little public things like that that we would be nervous to do. We really should be more nervous that we don't do them and that God is ashamed of our lack of zeal for His glory and His name and really a lack of love for our neighbor who is blaspheming God and needs to, out of love, be told to stop so that he would come to God. It is easier to refine a righteous fire than it is to provoke or stir up a righteous fire in a lukewarm heart and a lazy mind. And so we need to fan the flames of our devotion in our homes, in our churches, in our communities to serve and love the Lord, as we see the people of God doing here in our text as well. We need to defend one another in the cause of Christ, encourage and exhort one another, and as we do so, we will see God's providential hand help us as well. Now, it's not always the case that Paul escaped this way. At times, he was brought in. He's already been stoned and imprisoned and left for dead and so on. He ultimately will face a martyr's death. There's no guarantee that faithfulness is gonna secure removal from persecution. But it's actually something kind of amazing that's I think taking place here also Paul and perhaps some of these others too have become enough Accustomed to the hardship that they faced Paul saying what would be one more stone? Think about that mentality. What would be one more persecution at this point for him? We don't think like that I don't want to face this But Paul's saying, I'm ready. I'm ready to go in there and throw myself. In fact, in I think it's 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 15, he talks about facing the wild beasts. And he's referring to this time here in Ephesus. It seems to be the wild beasts that were wanting these people, that were wanting to tear him limb from limb. Well, he was ready to face that. He taught, he learned obedience from the things that he suffered, just like Jesus Christ is said to have learned obedience as a man from the things that he suffered, willing to lay down his life. Well, that's part of the way, too, that was being despised. The true way of Christ, to take up our cross, to follow after him, even when it leads to hardship and suffering. We keep praying, Lord, deliver us from evil. But we face whatever God may send our way knowing he will sustain us in one form in this life or the next he will deliver us from that great evil and so Let's take up our crosses and follow after Christ and let us see there's there's two paths that everybody's walking on either resistance to God and Jesus Christ leading to chaos confusion damnation or unity in Christ leading to holiness righteousness love for him and love for One another as we come to the table now of the Lord and the Lord's Supper Remember, this is a table of union and communion with the Lord and with one another what a perfect picture of that we have among the people of God here their unity is in the shed blood and broken body of Jesus Christ that Constitutes their unity is his spirit poured out and now by his spirit Christ comes to feed us and strengthen us in that love and in that bond at his table in this sacramental meal. So, come in faith and receive it and be united all the more to Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word. We thank you again that you have redeemed us through the blood of your son and you have given us your Holy Spirit so that we pursue righteousness. We pursue peace of all men but it's a holy peace, a peace that is around your goodness and your truth. Lord, we know there is no other peace apart from that, no matter what is pretended or feigned. It's a lie. We see that with these silversmiths and these other workers, that they look out most for themselves and their own money, and they cause to create a disorder and an uproar, so that even their fellow pagans had to rebuke them for their disorderly, violent, murderous conduct. Lord, let us be faithful to you. Let us live righteously for your name and glory. Let us see that spread abroad, here in our community, but it must begin in our own hearts, in our own families, and family to family in our churches here at Heritage. Help us to do that well, to love one another, and to be an example publicly to others of that, so that more people, individuals and families would want to come and worship and be brought into, not the name of our church, but the name of Jesus Christ. Your name, your glory, your power, moving and working in and among us. We pray for that. We pray for great holiness and growth and godliness. We pray that many families would come. And we pray now that you would bless us in this holy meal that we partake of together as your holy people. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, let us come now to the table of our Lord, and you'll see there printed, it should be in your bulletin as well, the forms for that, the disciples of the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer also. Let me read this together to you now. Dear congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us give full attention to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord as they are delivered by the Apostle Paul. For I receive from the Lord what I also deliver to you. For the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That's, of course, from First Corinthians chapter 11. And with that in mind, also, we do urge any visitors here, if you're not a member of a Bible believing and teaching church, please refrain from taking the bread and the wine as it is a meal of union and communion with those who belong to Christ's church. We welcome you to come to join in fellowship and membership and then partake of the Lord's Supper. But we say that for for your good and safekeeping and as a call to come and be part of the flock, to be part of the body of Christ, and to be blessed in that as well. Well, that we may now celebrate the supper of the Lord to our comfort, let us reflect upon these words. Our Lord Jesus, in John 15, tells us that He is the true vine, and God the Father is the vinedresser. Every branch that is in Christ that bears fruit is pruned to bear even more spiritual fruit. But every branch in Christ that does not bear fruit is taken away. Jesus calls us to abide in Him, to remain in Him, by feeding upon His Word and His Sacrament. We cannot bear the fruit of the Spirit unless we abide in Christ, the Vine. While Christ has filled us with His Spirit, it is only through our union with Him that we have the Holy Spirit. Our union with Christ, he and us and we in him, is our salvation. Apart from this bond in Jesus Christ. Salvation is not just a shot, like a flu shot. It's not just a one time you said a prayer. It's a union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from that bond, we would no longer be covered by his blood and no longer filled with his spirit. As we abide in Christ, praying to him, hearing his word, and obeying it, receiving all that he says with gladness, fellowshipping together as his people, and coming, as we do now, to his table in faith, in all these ways we learn indeed that Jesus calls us his friends. We are friends of God because Christ has redeemed us and made the Father and his glory known to us. Jesus can do this because he is God. And when we draw near to him by faith, we are strengthened in him by his spirit. As we remember Christ's death, let us remember that it is only by his broken body and shed blood that our sin could be paid for and our reconciliation to God be accomplished. Let us proclaim the Lord's death with somberness, knowing our sin required his suffering, but also with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that Christ is risen to glory above. And it is he himself who now nourishes us with his risen life, having defeated sin, death, and the wiles of the devil. By doing this, Jesus has revealed to us that the Father is full of mercy and grace, slow to wrath, and forgives. that we may obtain the Lord's blessing. Let us humble ourselves before God of true faith and implore him for his grace in prayer. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, who by the blood of your only begotten Son has secured for us a new and living way into the Holy of Holies, cleanse our minds and hearts by your word and spirit, so that we, your redeemed people, drawn close to you through this holy sacrament, may enjoy fellowship with the Holy Trinity through the body and blood of Christ our Savior. We know that our Ascended Savior does not live in temples made by hands, but is in heaven where he continues to intercede on our behalf. Through this sacrament, by your own word and spirit, may these common elements now be set apart from ordinary use and consecrated by you, so that just as truly as we eat and drink these elements by which our bodily life is sustained, so truly we receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and true blood of Christ. Answer us, O God and merciful Father, through Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying, Our Father, who is in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Well, as we come to the table of our Lord, we'll confess our common Christian faith together from the Apostles' Creed. We call it common because we do not borrow the table from other Christians, other Bible-believing Christians, members of Bible-believing churches. This is an ecumenical creed. It's not a creed belonging only to the Reformed faith. This is a creed that all Christians affirm, the Apostles' Creed. And if you confess this and believe this sincerely and have joined yourself sincerely to God's Church, to His people, you are welcome to the table of the Lord and His body and blood presented to you in the bread and the wine for the nourishment of your souls as received in faith. So then let us now come together and confess a common Christian faith through the Apostles' Creed. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Beloved, hear these gracious words of Thomas, spoken by our Lord. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, let us lift up our hearts to the Lord. Let us lift them up to the God of our salvation. The Lord Jesus in the night when He was betrayed, He took bread and made given thanks. He broke it and said, This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. oh um Brothers and sisters, take, eat, remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is given for the complete forgiveness of our sins. After this, our Lord took a cup and gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And the two outer rings are wine. Sorry. um Brothers and sisters, take, drink, remember, and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed for the complete forgiveness of our sins. Well, beloved, as the Lord has now nourished our souls at his table, let us go to him once more in prayer and thank him. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing of this holy feast. Although we are unworthy to share this meal with you, it is by your invitation and dressed in Christ's righteousness that we have come boldly into the Holy of Holies. Instead of wrath, we have received your pardon. In place of fear, we have been given hope. Our high priest and mediator of the new covenant has reconciled us to you. He even now intercedes for us at your right hand. Please strengthen us by these gifts so that, relying only on your promise to save sinners who call on Jesus's name, we may, by your Spirit, honor you with our souls and bodies. To the honor and glory of your holy name, amen. Well, let us respond in song and close our service standing together and singing 446, be thou my vision, 446. 446, and we will sing all five verses together. Everybody ready? Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart. Not be all else to me, save that Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day or by night, Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light. Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word, I ever with Thee, and Thou with me, Lord Thou my great Father, I Thy true Son Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one Be Thou my battleship, sword for my fight, Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight, Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower. Raise Thou me heavenward, O power of my power. Rich is I, ye not, nor man's empty praise. Thou mine inheritance now and always, Thou and Thou only, first in my heart. High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art, High King of heaven, my victory won, May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun! Heart of my own heart, whatever befall, still be my vision, O ruler of all. Well, I forgot the other hymn, so we're going to sing it now. Let's also sing 196 at the Lamb's High Feast. remembering what the Lord has done for us at his table here. I believe it's good to sing that as well. So let's sing also 196, remembering what the Lord has done for us at his table. 196. Everybody ready? At the Lamb's High Feast we sing praise to our victorious King who has watched us in the time Flowing from His pierced side. Praised be Him whose love divine, Gives His sacred blood for wine, Gives His body for the feast, Christ the victim, Christ the priest. Where the past go, what is for, Death's dark angel sheathes his sword. Israel's hosts triumph and go. Through the wake that drowns the foe. Praise we Christ whose blood was shed. Paschal victim, paschal bread. With sincerity and love. Equimena from above. Mighty victim from the sky, Powers of hell beneath thee lie. Death is conquered in the fight, Thou hast brought us life and light. Hymns of glory and of praise, Risen Lord, to Thee we raise. Holy Father, praise to Thee. With the Spirit ever be. Beloved congregation, lift up your hearts unto the Lord and receive His parting word of blessing, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord.