Greetings and welcome to Witnesses of the King. We're going through the book of Acts together, and we have opportunity today to come to a kind of a crescendo in the excitement concerning Paul as he has made his way to Jerusalem, knowing full well that he is facing difficulty there, imprisonment, afflictions of some kind, and yet he's going anyway. And we're going to join him on his journey, and we're going to meet him there in Jerusalem and see what happens. Now to set this up, I want to refer you back to the previous two sermons in which we've been building up to this point. And Luke, the author of Acts, inspired by the Holy Spirit, was building us up to this point and he was bringing us to understand the situation here. In two weeks ago when we talked about a thy will be done That we saw that this was a sifting done by God for Paul the climax of a great test as he had had it revealed clearly to him that he was to be on his way to Jerusalem that he was then to go to Rome at some point and but that there would be imprisonment and afflictions along the way. And then God sent some believers to challenge Paul on these things, to discuss with Paul and to warn Paul about what was coming in Jerusalem. And we saw that those warnings, while they seem to contradict the information that Paul had, nevertheless proved as a test to Paul and would cause a hardening of his resolve, that he would be further motivated to go And then last time we saw the bond of peace. When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, there was the news that some of the believers had heard that Paul was preaching against the law, that he was instructing Jews not to observe the laws if they were living among the Gentiles. And of course this isn't true. And the leaders suggested that Paul join some men in a ritual that they were doing, a Nazirite vow that they had taken. And that Paul should join them in that, not necessarily joining in the vow, but in their celebration of the vow, in paying for their sacrifices for the vow that comes at the end of it. And so, in order to squash the rumors, Paul agrees to this. How do we know he agreed to it? Well, he did it. And Paul was not known for doing things he didn't agree with. So Paul agreed to this course of action to show that he was serious about the law of God, but at the same time proclaiming liberty to all especially to the Gentiles and so he took this opportunity and did this and up to this point we see that Paul has done everything right and yet it has come to this the moment of truth here in Jerusalem when there's going to be a moment of violence he's going to be imprisoned for the beginning of a rather long imprisonment in various places And the question is, will he have what it takes to endure? Will he hold fast to the testimony of Jesus in the midst of this great difficulty? So let's get to the text and we'll have opportunity to discuss this in great detail afterwards. Here's what it says here in Acts chapter 21, starting at verse 27. When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place, for they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, and they suppose that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the tribune came up and arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another, and as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered them to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers, because of the violence of the crowd. As for the mob of the people who followed, they cried out, Away with him! Well this is certainly an exciting scene and certainly worth taking a very close look at. This is not something we want to pass over as simply an unimportant narrative portion, because what this reveals is the real workings of the Christian life versus the world, the kingdom of God within the kingdoms of men. And this is how we see it played out in the lives of real people. And by examining this text what we're going to find is we're going to find much great advice, much great help in how we would endure similar difficulties. So let's take a look then at the scripture and take a look at a few things. First thing I want to point out is that we're dealing with a situation that reveals in itself the tools of our enemy. Take a look at this list here and we'll go to the scriptures and show this to you. But these are some of the ways in which our enemy operates. You say, wait a minute, Christians are supposed to be good and fun loving people and happy all the time and just getting along with everyone. Why are we talking about the enemy? Well, the enemy, of course, as we know, the primary enemy is Satan, but we know that the world is under the control of Satan. We'll talk about that more in a moment as we go through the list here. And this is just a simple truth, that the kingdom of God has come into the world, and it has come into a world in rebellion to God, and therefore there's going to be interaction, there's going to be conflict. It's inevitable because many resist the kingdom so strongly and this is what we're going to see take place here But let's go back to the scriptures here and look in verse 28. This is misrepresentation They cry out about Paul concerning this and look at the accusation here. He is teaching everyone everywhere against the people the law and this place. In other words, they're saying that Paul is teaching against these things, saying, you know, these things are bad, the Israelites are bad, the law is no good, don't follow it, and the temple is no good, don't bother going there. And this is just blatant misrepresentation. And I want to say misunderstanding, but I believe it's just misrepresentation of what Paul taught. Well, how do we know what Paul taught concerning these things? Well, we have the book of Acts and all of his sermon and teaching there. And we have all of his letters, many of his letters. And so we know what the Apostle Paul taught concerning these things. And this plainly is not Yet, he loved the people of Israel. As he notes, as he laments their condition in Romans chapter 9 and 10, he said he would rather give up his own salvation, if it were possible, in order to have them come in and be saved. And he loves, he has a great love and reverence for the law, and he follows the law, and he takes great care to follow the law. And here he is at the temple, worshiping with other brothers in Christ. And so these are obviously misrepresentations of what he was doing. Now there's also false accusations here in verse 28. It says he even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place. Well they're making an assumption, as we see in the following verse, in verse 29, about Trophimus, who was from Ephesus, And these men who first spotted Paul and started all this were from Asia. So I believe these are the Ephesian Jews who recognized Paul and recognized Trophimus. Remember in Ephesus they tried to give him a hard time and run him out of town. And yet he stayed for a couple years. And so they would be very familiar with him. And so these Jews from Asia, they see Trophimus with Paul at some time previously in the day or the previous day, and then they accuse Paul. Oh, well, there's Paul in the temple. He obviously brought Gentiles into the temple. And they made an assumption. And understand this about truth and error, about truth and lies, and it's simply this, if we have an assumption and we make a conclusion based upon that assumption and we broadcast it, If it turns out that that assumption is false, then what we have said is a lie. And this is why it's important not to make assumptions. This is why it's important to check and double check assumptions that we make. And here they made this assumption and they are committing a lie. Now what is the accusation exactly? Well it's very simple here and I want to read it to you. There was a sign separating the two inner courts of the temple area with the outer court which was known as the court of the Gentiles. It was called the court of the Gentiles because Gentiles could go there. The inner courts in which there was the inner court and then there was the court of the women No Gentiles were permitted to go there. It was separated by a barrier that was about knee-high. And there was a sign posted at the entry to the inner courts from this outer court to the Gentiles. And it says this, it says, no foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught so doing will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. Interestingly, this is the only Jewish law with a capital punishment that Rome permitted them to carry out the capital punishment. As you remember, when the Jews brought Jesus before the Roman authorities, the Roman authorities said, hey, go deal with them yourself. And they said, we can't execute somebody. And that was true. They were not permitted to carry out executions except For this one rule of violating this, a Gentile, that is a non-Jew going beyond the barrier on the temple grounds, that's very important. But that's a real law. It really is punishable by death. And it's simply not true of Paul. It's not what he did. It's based upon a bad assumption by evil hearts that hate Paul and hate the truth. So another tool that we see the enemies of the Lord using here is exaggeration. Look at verse 28 here. They were crying out, Men of Israel, this is a man who is teaching everyone everywhere. You'll find this very common. in argumentation that is done poorly. And this is an error in thinking. This is a wrong way of presenting information. You know, people say things like, well everyone knows this, or all through the scripture we read this, you know, and we see this everywhere. And so they exaggerate to make it seem like this is some kind of a universal truth. Paul had not been everywhere with the gospel. That's just very plain to see from reading the book of Acts and knowing the scope of the world and he's not preached it to everyone. Now he preached it to everyone he could, but he hasn't preached it to everyone. So this is a big exaggeration. Now all three of these things that we've mentioned so far here, the misrepresentation, the false accusations, the exaggeration, these are all very simply lies. They're just lies. And lies are a trademark of our adversary, the devil, that is, Satan. Look what Jesus says about it here in John 8 44. He says, you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning. We'll get to that shortly. and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." This is what will characterize the opposition to the gospel will be lies, whether it's misrepresentation or false accusation or even just exaggeration, it is all lies. And this is really important for us to understand at this particular point. Lying is a very serious crime against God. It is one of the Ten Commandments. It is reiterated in the New Testament as being worthy of the lake of fire. This idea of lying, at its core, is to simply deny God. to deny the sovereign God of the universe by misrepresenting His established creation. If you misrepresent what has happened or you misrepresent what is, you are in fact misrepresenting the God who created it all. It's a high form of blasphemy. And so lying, therefore, is a trademark of the evil one and it is something that he does regularly. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. We would deny anything theologically true about Jesus or the Father or the Spirit, any of the Holy Trinity, we will deny indeed reality itself. Therefore we will be liar and this is how it all began if we go to Genesis chapter 3 here comes the serpent and the first thing he does is question God did God really say you shall not eat of any of the tree of garden and then he outright denies God by saying you should you shall not eat of the fruit or I'm sorry the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die and so he just gives an outright lie. He first questions, then he turns it to a complete lie after he's created sufficient doubt. This is what it says in Ephesians chapter 2 about the world's relationship to the devil, that is Satan, our primary adversary. And Paul speaks of it in the context of addressing believers about the salvation that Jesus Christ has secured for them. And look what he says about their former manner of life. He says this, you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lit, so we all once lived among the sons of disobedience, in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. But really focus on this. We are following the course of the world which is really following the prince of the power of the air. And this is in line with Jesus' characterization of the nature of who Satan is. That he is the ruler of this world. That Paul refers to him in one of his letters as the God of this world. And this is important because by default every human being follows this way until they are redirected by the grace of God. So this is an important point to understand what's really going on here. Why are these people in an uproar? Why are they lying? Why are they in confusion? Why is there violence? It's because they're following Satan's plans and Satan's devices. let's get to this next point on the list here and that is violence if we take a look at the violence here sorry about flipping through screens there but if we look at violence here Satan according to what we saw there in John 644 is also a murderer and this is how Jesus characterizes him I believe I went to the wrong place okay Yeah Seem to have lost that All right. Well say Satan is a murderer and ultimately will will lead everyone to death. It's John 844 two chapters off How's that? Okay. He says he was a murderer from the beginning and for him to say that if Satanism is a powerful charge against one of the archangels a creation of God and and to speak this against Satan. Well, by tempting man and ultimately leading man to his death, of which man is also responsible, but Satan's responsible for having been a part of it, this is murder because he contributed to man falling into death. And so he has a part in every death that has ever happened since the beginning of the world. And this is important. He now seeks only to kill and destroy. This is his mode of operation. And look at the violence here in the passage that we're examining. In verse 27, they laid hands on him. In verse 30, they seized him and dragged him out of the temple. In verse 31, they were beating him. They only stopped beating him when the Romans showed up. They were seeking to kill him. According to verse 31, And this is violence. This is a mild form of murder, if you will, because it is acting against somebody. Remember Jesus said that murder really begins with hate in the heart. And those who just have hatred in their heart are guilty of the crime. And so here are these people acting out violently toward Paul, someone that has been untried and unconvicted of anything. So we are warned by Jesus as he tells his disciples and therefore telling us as well They will lay their hands on you and persecute They will deliver people up to synagogues of prisons be brought before kings and governors For his name's sake in other words that there will be persecution. This is normative for the Christian life and how we deal with it is Continued there in Luke chapter 21, but we won't go into all that now. I've put it in your notes for you But remember Jesus on his last night before he was arrested prepared the disciples for these things He said remember the word that I said to you a servant is not greater than his master if they persecuted me they will also persecute you and finally Peter defines it this way, and he defines Satan's attitude this way. Be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. He is actively seeking out the ability to especially trip up Christians. He's already won the others, and so he's especially an opponent of the people of God. And so this is one of the tools of our enemy here is the violence. There's also confusion wherever Satan goes there seems to be Confusion and as we see in verse 31 of our passage today. There was confusion they you know, they the report to the Tribune was that all Jerusalem's in confusion, which is a bit of an exaggeration, but they would have gone to the Fortress Antonio, which was attached directly to the temple area, so that they could overwatch what was going there, because that was the center of the city. It was a high place, they could see the whole city from there, but they especially could see into the court of the temple and keep an eye on the Jews who were constantly plotting against Rome. And they were constantly among the Jews, those who were rebellious against Rome. And so he comes down and there's such confusion according to verses 33 and 34. He couldn't get a straight answer about Paul. He's asking them, you know, who is this? Who is this man and what has he done? And they're shouting one thing and some another. This should be a familiar scene to us because just a couple chapters ago we're talking about a riot in Thessalonica, I mean in Ephesus, and some cried out one thing, some another for the assembly was in confusion and some of them did not know why they'd come together. This is what comes with the work of the devil. And the question is, that I have to ask here, is it too harsh of me to label all of these people as enemies just because they're involved in this riot? Aren't we going to give them some leniency for ignorance? No. It is evil to charge in without all the facts and take up rioting and slandering and threatening and violence. That is all evil. That is all against the clear commands of God. Why would these people even be here? Well, the answer to that is very simple. There's some selfish motive in every single one of them. Every rioter, every person here, every person accusing, pointing the finger, shouting in this scene has some kind of personal motive. kind of ambition against this let me show you let me show you very simply how this works we go to James chapter 1 and James gives us insight into the human psyche what it is that motivates us and he says this he says each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death Did you see that? These are all led by their own desire. Every single person there has some kind of reason for being there. And the question is, what is that reason? Do they just like excitement? Is there some sensuality in the excitement here and the violence and being a part of it? Do they just want to fit into the crowd? Is this what their friends are doing? And so they're joining in. Oh yeah, hey, there's Bob over there. He's pointing a finger at that guy. Let's go over and help him point his finger. Are they angry over other things? Are they rebellious against the Roman authorities and hoping that a sufficient riot will get things out of hand and we can finally get these Romans thrown out here? Why are they doing this? Maybe some of them in the crowd just want a new television when the rioting gets so bad that the forces abandon the market district, then they can go grab themselves some new wares for their home. Who knows? But we do know this. According to James, everyone there has got some kind of a desire that is being fulfilled by being part of this riot. And so that's why there's confusion because so many are there for different reasons. They don't really know why they're there. They're there that fulfilling some kind of a sick desire in their heart. And then finally another tool of our enemy is what's called rabble rousing. And we get that from a translation in Acts 17 5 where we see this happening in Thessalonica. The Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And so they went and recruited some people who were not even Jews. These people had no stake in this disagreement between the Jews and Paul. They just went and picked up some of these guys who were willing to come and bring their torches and pitchforks, so to speak, and to cause a riot. That's called rabble-rousing. Actively recruiting people to go along with you without really understanding or sharing your true motivations or sharing your passion about the thing. But nevertheless, having some reason to come along, they've been recruited to do so. Maybe they've been convinced it's what's best for the city. We need to get rid of this guy. He's causing all those problems. And when in fact, if they looked at the real cause of the problems, they'd have to point to themselves. The importance of this identification is to know how this must be addressed. These are the tools of our enemy. And the opponents of our faith ultimately break then every rule of logic. They break every rule of God. All in the name of suppressing the truth that would save their very souls. You see the grand foolishness of this and yet we see it active to this day. Now those are the tools of our enemy. The question ought to come then, okay, if those are the tools of our enemy, what are the tools of our Lord? How does our Lord deal with this? What is his stake in this? In this scene, Satan appears to have the upper hand. He has the majority of the people. He has all the forces on his side because the Romans are going to come and be on the side of law and order. If the Jews can convince the Romans that Paul is a threat to law and order, just like they crucified Jesus, they'll crucify Paul. And sometimes these people even have the laws of men on their side because from a strictly Jewish point of view, what they did to Jesus was legal because they killed him for blasphemy. except he was telling the truth. So while they seem to have the law on their side, they didn't actually have the law on their side because they didn't have truth on their side. And here we come to the situation with Paul. He's got nowhere to escape, nowhere to hide. But I declare to you that Paul is in no danger. Now why can I say that with such confidence? Well, if they kill Paul, he goes to heaven to be with the Lord. If he goes to prison, because he's a Roman citizen, the conditions are going to be such that he will continue to minister. I want you to remember something that Paul said in the book of Philippians, where he was writing to them from prison, and he didn't know how it was going to go with him. And he said, I know through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance. Now most people read that and say, well, okay, that means he's going to get out of prison. That doesn't necessarily mean it. Let's go on. As it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed. But that with full courage, now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or death." So his deliverance is life or death. Just the right way in Christ. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. What a profound thing to say, if I go on living, it's all for Christ. If I die, well it's to my gain. He's in a win-win situation here. But that's not the only reason that I say that Paul is safe. We know the will of God. We know that it was revealed to Paul that indeed he would survive. Look at this in Acts chapter 19 verse 21. After these events, that is the riots in Ephesus, Paul resolved in the spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem. After I've been there, I must also see Rome. So Paul knew, and the key here is in the spirit, that he was going to go not only to Jerusalem, but also to Rome. And so he understands he's got another step or two on his journey. And look at chapter 23, a preview of what we'll see there. The Lord stood by him when he's in prison and says, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. He is yet again going to be encouraged that he is going to go on. So Paul at this point, because God has said you're going to go to Rome, Paul is effectively indestructible. And I want you to really ponder that, because I'll tell you the truth, that the life of believers is truly indestructible. And we know this because of the promise of the resurrection, that the New Testament is even careful when it considers believers and their passing, not to say that they died, but to say that they've gone to sleep. In other words, that this is a transition, that we've gone to be with the Lord. And we will be back in bodily form at the resurrection. But have you considered this? That the one for whom God still has plans in his life cannot lose his life until those things are accomplished? And let me put this another way for you. If you are alive and listening to this, which might be a necessity, if you are indeed alive and you are in Christ, that means God has work for you to do for the kingdom. You would not be alive today if it weren't for the fact that God had some things for you to do. So God has revealed to Paul that he must go to Rome. God will give him encouragement later as we'll see in Acts 23. And so the tools of God, what are they then? Well, I don't have a list. And here's why I don't have a list. Because it's all His. He owns it all. Take a look at what it says in Revelation 4.11. As we peek into heaven, John has heaven revealed to him. What's going on up there, John? What are they doing? He says, oh, they're praising God. Oh. What are they praising Him about? And look what it says in chapter 4. Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things and by your will they existed and were created. Boy, that's powerful stuff. By your will they existed and were created. It's all His. He owns it all. Everything. He does according to His own will, which is above the will of man. Quota says in Psalm 115, our God is in the heavens. That means, when it says that, it's referring to the fact He's above all. He's greater than all. He is administering things from up there. He's in charge. And it says He does all that He pleases. This is reiterated by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians in chapter 1. He says this, We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will. What does he work according to the counsel of his will? Well, Paul says all things. Is Paul exaggerating? Well, I want you to really think about that. He must work all things according to the counsel of his own will if he is to fulfill his promise to us found in the book of Romans. Look at this in the book of Romans. We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. In other words, God has promised that all things are working together for the benefit of His people. Now, it's not to say for the benefit of others. That's why we can see disasters happen and things go wrong. And it is nothing but a disaster to the lost. But to the believer, he works those things even to the good. The perfect example is Joseph in the Old Testament. And all that he goes through in the summary at the end of it in Genesis chapter 50, that Joseph looks at his brothers who were very concerned that Joseph was going to take revenge after his father passed away. Joseph says, no look, that's nothing to me because what you intended for evil, God intended for good. And what that means then is even the things that Satan does, even the wicked things that he does in attempts against, directly against God's own people, God is using for the good of his people. I don't know if you're very familiar with martial arts, but some of the martial arts are taught in such a way that you continually use your opponent's moves against them. That when they swing at you, rather than try to simply block it, you take the momentum generated by their swing and Add to it to cause them to lose their balance and to fall and to lose their footing. This is God Fighting the works of Satan all the time that Satan cannot win because God is always ten steps ahead of him and It's like a novice playing a master in chess That Satan cannot win. In fact every move he makes plays right into the plans of God And these are the things that Paul knew. We can review his letters. We can see this is what he understood to be the truth. And this is how he's going to make it through all these things. Through the fear and the pain and the stress. And do you realize that there's going to be for Paul pain and fear and stress. And it's not that he'll be without those things, it's that through those things God will perfect him into the Paul that we needed to write those letters, into the Paul that was needed by the churches in the ancient world to be strengthened and encouraged and taught and led. That God is so good that he would use even the horrible things to perfect his people and bring about Glory for himself and blessing to his people God's got this covered in Acts chapter 21 We have a scene of chaos a scene of despair, but God has got it. He's in control did you notice in verses 27 through 36 as we examine those things going on there that that Paul never said a word. Paul had no occasion for escape. Paul had nothing to say. Now he'll get his say here momentarily, but amidst this chaos, it's God who's in control. Paul ultimately ends up in the hands of the Roman authorities to his protection. And if this information And this information I'm giving you, what I'm telling you here about this overarching will of God, about God accomplishing His purposes and God accomplishing His will, this information is not useful to us unless it's balanced with the great truth that we are accountable for our behavior. See, here at ground level, here on the earth, below heaven, we must choose, and we must fight, and we are commanded to do things like repent and believe, and so we must do those things. We are commanded to endure to the end, to hold fast to God, and indeed, we must. And yes, He holds fast to us, but we must also hold fast to Him, and as His children, He will equip us to do so. If we do not persevere, if we do not make it through the trials and hold on to our fidelity to God, we have no reason to believe that we were ever in His hands. So we must hold on and we must persevere. Now it's a bit of a spoiler alert here that Paul is going to make it through this. But how is he going to make it through this? He's going to make it through this with the power of the Holy Spirit and some good theology. So how do we equip ourselves for this kind of thing? If you're tempted to check out of this sermon because you think, okay, I'm not being persecuted, I'm not really challenged for my faith, I'm content, I'm living my Christian life, I don't need to know all this. You must understand this, first of all, that times can change. and it can affect you in that way. It can affect you later. You might not need this now, you might need it later. But secondly is this, we are responsible for training the next generation of believers. What are we going to teach them? Are we going to teach them what it takes to get through a soft and friendly atmosphere that the United States has largely been for the last 50 or 60 years for Christianity? Well, the last couple hundred years really for Christianity. Are we going to teach them that or are we going to teach them the good stuff that will get them through even the hard times in case the hard times come. And some of us looking around the world today are convinced that the hard times are coming and they are coming quickly. And so we must equip the next generation. And so don't check out of this sermon. Pay attention to how it is that we must equip our children and the subsequent generations that come through our churches. to get through the kind of ordeal that we see our beloved Paul getting through here. First of all, this abiding Christ, and this is outlined in John chapter 15. I'll just refer you there, we don't have time to do it all here, but you abide in Christ through the following things, the next commands. Commune with God in prayer, meet him frequently in prayer, and if you want to know how to pray, Go to Ephesians chapter 3 and look there where Paul prays for the church. That's a good place to start. In fact, all of Paul's prayers for the churches are critically important. And go to the Gospels and look at Jesus' revealed will for his disciples and his church. Pray for those things. God will grant you that which he desires to work in you. And so ask for those things. Set yourself up to succeed in prayer by knowing the will of God through his word. Also, put on the full armor of God, as Paul taught us in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20. And all those things have to do with devotion to God, and prayer, and the Word of God, and abiding in Him. But put on the full armor of God. Let His Word abide in you. words like this. Look at this. Did you know Jesus said this? He says, before his crucifixion, now is the judgment of this world. Now will the ruler of this world be cast out. Our foe is already defeated. We are running what is essentially a cleanup campaign. We're just clearing the battlefield after the victory has been won. And so we stand in defeat. He stands in defeat. We stand in victory. And this is something important for us to understand, that we fight from a position of victory. Just like we saw, we literally have nothing to lose. Should we lose this life while we'll be in heaven with the Lord, shall we continue to live? It is gain for us because we get to continue to minister in the Lord. And so this is a win-win situation for every believer. So we want to make sure that we are being filled with His Word, so that a Word abides in us, so that when the moment of pressure comes, what wells up in our hearts is not fear, but the Word of God, the Word that He has promised will accomplish what He sends it to do. And then finally then, commune with the saints of God. There are far too many professing believers in Jesus Christ that are trying to go it alone. We must commune with the saints of God. In Thy Will Be Done, a couple sermons ago, we saw Paul challenged with the warnings from his fellow believers. These warnings tested him and hardened his resolve. He knew that these people had his back in prayer. He knew he could trust Luke and the others that came with him from the other cities, and Trophimus and all the rest, that they would be praying for him, that they would be helping in any way that they possibly could. They knew that they would even minister to him while he's in prison, and they do. and their faith strengthened his own. If you are not engaged with a local body of believers, then you have no one to encourage you, no one to look you in the face week to week, day to day, and remind you that what you believe is true, that they believe it too. And so commune with the saints of God. All the New Testament promises are provided through the context of a local church. It looks like when we get to this part in Acts chapter 21 that Paul is on his own, but Paul is never on his own. And we're going to see that very clearly in the coming weeks. Well, let's pray together and pray indeed that we may endure these kind of difficulties when they come upon us. Father God, we thank you so much for this word. We thank you for your servant, Paul. We thank you that we can trust you, even in the midst of difficulties, not to keep us from pain and persecution and trials and difficulties and even fear sometimes. Lord, we can trust you to accomplish great things in us despite those difficulties. And you can get us through there because you are our great shepherd, that you walk through the valley with us. And your rod and staff, they comfort us. Lord, I pray this day that you'll give us great resolve to internalize all the truths of you that we can so that we will be ready in the day as the Spirit guides us through these great difficulties that meet many of the people of God. I praise you for this example. I thank you for putting it at the pen of your servant, Luke, to be brought to us this very day. And Lord, we pray that it accomplishes all that you've sent it to do. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I thank you for joining me today in worshiping through examining the scripture and I invite you to contact us. You can contact us at WhiterunBaptist.com I'll answer those emails personally. You can find out more about us at Whiterun.org and you can find the other sermons that I referred to and many more there along with links and other resources that may be helpful to you. So God bless you.