Apostles. We're going to be in a long passage of scripture, but it is mainly in story form. And so we'll move quickly. Normally I have the outline in the bulletin. I do not have that. So if you're going to take notes, let me give you the three main points this morning, and then we'll walk through the passage. The first main point is that God's promises don't exempt us from problems. God's promises don't exempt us from problems, number two. And God often uses unusual means to keep his promises. And number three, God never breaks a promise. As we look this morning and consider this passage, let me ask you this, have you ever broken a promise? Have you ever had somebody break a promise to you? Maybe a promise was made that was never thought, oh, I'll have to honor that promise someday. Just kind of made this promise, yeah, yeah, sure, sure, you know, whatever. But with kind of that attitude thinking, oh, I'll never have to honor that. I'll never have to follow through with that, only to have someone say, hey, you promised. and kind of catch you flat-footed, right? Or someday, sometimes somebody makes a promise, or maybe you've made a promise, and due to unforeseen circumstances, you are unable to fulfill that promise. You meant to, you had full intention to. As God knows your heart, you are completely honest about that, and you meant to, but due to unforeseen circumstances, you are unable to keep that promise. You know, there's great wisdom in the council. Don't make a promise you can't keep. or say anything you don't truly mean. But I'm here today to encourage you that God never says anything he doesn't mean, and he never makes a promise that he doesn't keep. 1 Kings 8, 56 declares, there's not failed one word of all his good promise. So let's look at God's promise to Paul in verse 11, because the whole rest of this passage goes back to this point in the theme that God keeps his promises. Look at verse 11, in the night following, The Lord stood by him, by Paul, and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified of me in Jerusalem, and that had happened, and Jesus is saying, your mission is accomplished. You knew I led you. You knew you were coming to Jerusalem. You knew you were going to face persecution, but you also knew that I had a mission for you at Jerusalem. And as it was my will and as I made it possible and facilitated for you, Paul, to come to Jerusalem and to accomplish that mission, so also, end of verse 11, thou must bear witness also at Rome. But understand that God's promises don't exempt us from problems. So now follow me in verses 12 to 15. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. We're going to talk about this idea of a promise, but it's more than just a pinky promise. All right. It's more than cross my heart and hope to die. This was a life or death intended promise. And they were more than 40 which had made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and the elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though you would inquire something more perfectly concerning him. And we, wherever he come near, are ready to kill him. Opposition to the gospel and persecution should not surprise us. 2 Timothy 3, 12, yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. John 15, 20, Jesus said, remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And here, these more than 40 men, these Jews, bind themselves under this curse And they get into their conspiracy the help of the Sanhedrin. They needed their assistance to pull this off. And as Weersbe notes, paradoxically, the very people who accused Paul of violating the law of Moses contemplate murdering him. You remember in Jerusalem, that was one of their biggest things, the lie that they were spreading about Paul was that he was preaching that you don't, he just disregard the law of Moses. and the very act of what Paul went in with the four brothers as they were completing their vow. These were men who were Christians, but they were Jewish Christians. They were completing a Nazarite vow. Remember Paul himself in Acts chapter 18 in his missionary journey had a Nazarite vow that he completed. See, Paul was not against those certain acts of worship and commitments under Judaism, but when you begin to count those acts as being credit towards salvation, Paul would have preached, no, salvation is of none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done, he wrote to Titus, but of his mercy that he saved me. As he writes to the Ephesians in Ephesians two, for by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not a works list any man should boast. So Paul, though he himself had kept the Nazarite vow as a believer, though he was going with these men to pay the price of the completion of their vows and went as a witness that this was being completed, there was another accusation of him and he was there. Why? Well, because he was trying to He was trying to clear his name so that the gospel would be advanced, that when he came to Jerusalem, Jews within Judea and within Galilee would not reject the gospel because they think, well, Paul is antinomian. He's completely against the Old Testament law. Paul was not against the Old Testament law. He was against the misuse of the Old Testament law to think that you could keep the law in order to earn eternal life. Salvation has always been by faith. It has never been by works. And so now these men who said, and their main accusation against Paul was, and why they wanted him killed, was, hey, he's against the law of Moses. Now here they're willing to violate one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not kill, murder. And they're in a conspiracy to have him murdered. More than 40 men bound themselves under a curse. The word for curse there is anathematized. It's where we get the word anathema. In other words, they curse themselves. Here's what they're literally saying. They are invoking God's curse on themselves if they should violate their vow. And it's reiterated in verse 14. We have bound ourselves under a great curse. Literally, from the Greek, it translates, we have anathematized ourselves with an anathema. This is a super strong, deeply thought out, not flippant or careless or light, This is a vow. These men are making a commitment. It is like being recruited by the military. And when you're inducted in, you take the oath. It's a vow. And these men are taking an oath, but look at this, look what their oath is. They said, we have bound ourselves under a curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. They would not eat or drink until they had killed him. The young man reports that also to the chief captain. We'll look at that in a few minutes. There's a general consensus that people can live between two days and a week without water. Survival guides have what they call the rule of three, that you can survive, a human can survive about three minutes without oxygen, about three days without water, and about three weeks without food. Now, Paul was martyred about nine years after this event. So if these men kept their vow, they didn't live very long. But what they could have done and what they probably did is they went to the priests and they were absolved of their promise. I don't think they probably followed through and starved to death or died of thirst. But their plan was, because remember before that in Jerusalem, when Paul was in the court of the women, because there were those different rooms within that court where Nazarite vows and other things were completed, only Jews were allowed to go that far. There was the court of the Gentiles. then there was a staircase and walls and there was warnings written in several languages that if any Gentile went up through that doorway at the top of the steps into the court of the women through that gate, that they had called on themselves death. And even the Roman empire had given the Jews authority to go ahead and allow them to kill anybody that had violated that law. Well, Paul goes in with these four Jewish brethren and some people from Ephesus, Jews from Ephesus that were there for the day of Pentecost, that celebration, They saw Paul and they saw those men and they assumed because they had seen him in Ephesus that he was with one of the Ephesian Gentile believers. And so that's what they say, hey, he's brought a Gentile and he's defiled the court of the women. And so they drag them there into the court of the Gentiles. The army comes down, the two legions of Roman soldiers with their centurions, and they come down. At least 200 men and they rescue Paul and they take him up to the top of the stairs. And then after that, the chief captain is going to examine Paul by scourging. And Paul says, you're going to beat me, examining me by scourging. I'm a Roman citizen and uncondemned. And of course, then he backs away. And then of course the Sanhedrin is called. They go to the lower level of this fortress of Antonia. The chief captain called them to ascertain what are the charges? Why did you want to kill him? And they start to argue, and then Paul speaks up and he goes, look, let me get to the heart of the issue. The heart of the issue is I'm being called because I believe in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus Christ died, was buried, he rose again. It doesn't even get that far, but I'm sharing with you, that's the essence why I say, look, I am believing and preaching the resurrection of the dead. Jesus died and rose again so that sinners, alienated from God and condemned to eternal death can be cleansed from their sin and receive eternal life by faith and have eternal life. And though Paul doesn't get to preach that far, I believe he wants to. He basically says, look, I'm a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, because the Pharisees in Judaism, you either were more in the Pharisaical side or in the Sadducees side. The Pharisees believed in the literal interpretation of the scripture. They believed in angels. They believed in life after death and eternity. And the Sadducees, Completely denied all of that. And so Paul identifies himself and says, look, I'm in agreement with the Sadducees that of the resurrection of the dead. And that's why I'm being called into question is because I believe in this. Because, hey, listen, as Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers in 1 Corinthians 15, if Christ is not risen from the dead, you're still in your sins. There's no hope. But now is Christ risen from the dead become the first fruits of them that slept? there is confident expectation of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ because he died and rose again. And so this time, though, instead of the chief captain bringing them in because it got to be such a ruckus, they were going to tear Paul apart. And so he sent soldiers in and they rescued Paul. He was being kept in this fortress of Antonia, Well, then these guys hatch this plot and they say, now, instead of us going there, let's invite the chief captain to bring Paul. And here's where you chief rulers of the Sanhedrin come in. You send word to the chief captains, hey, look, all right, I know we were arguing, there was some division, we got in a big ruckus, we turned really violent, we really weren't answering your questions or showing you much respect, but now we're ready to show respect, we're ready to talk, we're ready to look into this matter in a more objective light and determine what our charges are going to be against Paul. And then the plot was as this chief captain would be bringing Paul across this courtyard of the Gentiles down to the courtroom of the Sanhedrin, that more than 40 men would have been hidden and then they would have jumped out and they would have assassinated Paul. that's what they wanted to do. So understand that God's promises don't exempt us from problems. Now Paul didn't know about this yet, but he's about to find out because number two, God often uses unusual means to keep his promises. Look at verses 16 to 30. I know this is a little longer passage, but please bear with me as we read this together. In verse 16, And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said, bring this young man unto the chief captain, for he hath a certain thing to tell him. So he took him, brought him to the chief captain and said, Paul, the prisoner, called me unto him and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. Then the chief captain took him by the hand and went with him aside privately and asked him, What is it thou hast to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul tomorrow into the council, as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly or exactly. But do not thou yield unto them, for there lie in wait for him of them more than 40 men which have bound themselves with an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him and now they are ready looking for a promise from thee or a commitment so the chief captain let the young man depart and charged him saying see thou tell no man now i showed me these things And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready 200 soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen three scorn 10, that's 70, and spearmen 200 at the third hour of the night, and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter after this manner, Claudius Lysias, unto the most excellent governor Felix, sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews, which should have been killed of them. Then I came with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when I would have known the cause whereof they accused him, I brought him forth into their council, whom when I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have done nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or bonds. And when it was told me how that the Jews lay and wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee and gave commandment to his accusers also that they say before thee what they had against him. Farewell. So God often uses unusual means to keep his promises. You see, these conspirators forgot one very important detail. You can't stop God. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 13, consider the work of God, for who can make that straight which he hath made crooked? If God bends something, you can't straighten it. You're not going to thwart the will and the purposes of God. In Job 42, Job says, I know that thou canst do everything that no thought can be withholding from thee. Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonian empire, the most powerful empire in his day, writes this. This is his testimony in verses 34 and 35 of Daniel 4. And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, end of what days? Seven years. through a dream given to Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel interpreted. Nebuchadnezzar was forewarned that he was gonna lift up his heart with pride and that for seven years he was gonna live and act like an animal. That God would preserve his kingdom and he would rule again, which by the way, it's another message that's highly unusual that that would happen. It was a miracle of God. And when his senses were restored to him, this is Nebuchadnezzar's testimony. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes unto heaven, mine understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. or say unto him, what doest thou? God used a nobody, if you will, to inform Paul and the chief captain of the conspiracy plot. This word for young man doesn't mean a little boy, but it doesn't mean, it means a young man, not a child, but not yet of marriageable age, so a teenager. I mean, God, we have it recorded right here in scripture. God used the teenager, isn't that awesome? We had some teens that went on a mission trip to Reno this past summer. God uses teenagers, isn't that awesome? And God used this teenager whose name is not even recorded. He's only described as Paul's sister's son. It was his nephew. Aren't you glad God uses nobodies? Listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, 26 to 29. For you see your calling, brethren. How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God hath chosen yea, and the things which are not to bring to not things that are. that no flesh should glory in his presence. Hey, Christian, there is no excuse for you to not serve God. Say, well, I don't have enough education, I'm not smart, I'm not witty, I can't think quickly on my feet, I don't have an outgoing personality. There's all kinds of excuses that Christians make. But God chooses the weak things of the world and the simple. And when you go to God for wisdom, the Bible says that he makes wise the simple. The psalmist tells us that. And God's Holy Spirit that indwells the believer gives guidance, gives wisdom, gives boldness, and gives a spiritual insight. But God uses us simple, weak, foolish people because of the supernatural power of his grace. And then he does eternally transforming work. and we get to be used of God. Isn't that awesome? What a gracious and amazing God we serve, and he gets all the glory, and he's the only one who should get it, and deserves to get it, and he does. And then, you know what? God also used an unbeliever and his resources to fulfill his promises, and his name is called Claudius Lysias. He's the one in charge of the fortress of Antonia. He had a couple thousand men, Roman soldiers, under him. And God can use unbelievers to accomplish his will. This chief captain Claudius Lysias wanted to make a show of protecting a Roman citizen. The language of verse 27 in the Greek makes it very clear that he is presenting the reason of his rescue of Paul is that he's protecting a Roman citizen. I knew he was a Roman citizen and I went to protect him. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's a, that is a lie. Okay. Because why did he go down there? Well, because there was a ruckus, right? And it was his job to keep the peace. If he didn't keep the peace, he lost his job, which also meant honor and then his future. So he's just protecting his job. And he goes down there and he breaks up this riot and he spares Paul and he brings Paul up. And Paul says, may I speak somewhat to thee? And what does Claudius Lysias say to him? Wait a minute, aren't you that Egyptian? Because there was this Egyptian who led the Saqqari, which means the assassins. It literally means, Saqqari means dagger. The dagger men, weren't you the one that led the dagger men a few minutes back who tried to overrun the temple and turn it into a military fortress? And most of them escaped, most of them were killed, but the Egyptian leader escaped. Aren't you that Egyptian leader coming back, trying something subversive again? That's who Claudius Lysias thought he was, not a Roman citizen whom I need to protect. And yet he is wanting, again, to present himself as one who's on top of things. He's in charge. He knows what's going on. Man, he's got these altruistic motives. Hogwash. He's a guy who's trying to cover for his own mistakes. I mean, he never mentions, does he? Well, you know what happened? Actually, governor Felix, sir, um, I almost blew it. I mean, I actually had him bound with a leather thongs around the scourging post and the guys actually had the whips out and they were kind of limbering up their arms to scourge Paul when he mentioned Caesar Roman citizen. And so I stopped, so I didn't hurt him and I unbound him right away. As soon as I heard he doesn't mention that, why that would not have looked good on the resume. All right, that could have got him in trouble. And why does he get all of these, I mean, he gathers an army of 470 battle-hardened veteran Roman soldiers to escort one preacher. Well, because he's figuring 40 and okay, I need to make sure, and these guys are really desperate, I need to make sure I have plenty of protection for him because if something happens to this Roman citizen, Guess who loses his job in his honor? Yeah, Claudius Lysias. That's why he sent such a great army. But think about that. Here are 200 foot soldiers, and these guys were heavily armed. The big door-sized shields, right? And they would have had the gladius sword, and they would have, some of them were, it says spearmen. Now, it's debatable whether they were spears, which the Romans did have, or whether they were slingers, that they used slingshots, which were also a highly effective, deadly, long-range weapon. Possibly archers, but that doesn't seem to be the case. So either slingers or spearmen. And then 70 cavalrymen, here are these guys on horses, and they're heavily armed. And then Paul, he's put on an animal, and then extra animals, of course, as well, so that they can trade through the night. So God uses an unsaved, self-serving, trying to protect his job and his reputation, unbeliever, to accomplish the fulfillment of God's promise that Paul would arrive eventually safely at Rome. Regardless of the chief captain's motive and method, God uses him, in part, to fulfill his plan. And now, we get to the third point. God never breaks a promise. We're gonna look at verses 23 and 24, and then we're gonna skip down to verses 31 through 35. Look at verses 23 and 24. And he called unto him two centurions, and said, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, horsemen three score and ten, spearmen two hundred, and the third hour of the night, which would have been nine o'clock at night, and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor. Now look down in verse 31. Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the castle, who, when they came to Caesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was, and when he understood he was of Cilicia, said, I will hear that he said, when thine accusers also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall. Now here's Paul riding in style with his own mini army from Jerusalem, 25 to 35 miles Archeologists differ exactly the distance, but to, and I think 25 is probably the closest estimate, by night. Now they had to cover a lot of ground from nine o'clock at night till six o'clock in the morning. Why at night? I've read different commentaries and thoughts and ideas about this just kind of being that Claudius was some sort of a coward or whatever. I don't believe that's the case. I think he was a brilliant strategist. because at night it is harder. They did not have, you know, they did not have infrared, laser goggles, all that kind of stuff. They did not do nighttime warfare very well. And so from Jerusalem to Antipatris, this 25 miles was through broken country that topographically was very conducive for an assassination attempt. And then when you got to Antipatrus, things broadened out, they got flat, and it was much more open, so it'd been much more difficult for them to hide and then attack the convoy. So that's why the soldiers returned, but the horsemen continued on. Now that's still 70 horsemen, and so they could outrun anybody, any foot attackers. And those horses were war horses. They could stomp somebody to death in a hurry. And they were horses that had battle lust, all right? And they were armored. And so the 70 horsemen and Paul riding, that was still plenty of escort from there to Caesarea, and they'd have made much quicker time. And so at night during the part where there's probably the highest percentage chance of attack, it was going to be most difficult for them to really see so that they could make an attack. It's hard to coordinate an attack at night like that unless you have some sort of lighting or some sort of goggles, heat vision goggles, infrared, whatever, night vision. They didn't have that back then. So Paul then makes this 25 mile journey and comes safely to Caesarea. And then the Bible says, that he was protected in this, and really, what it's talking about where he was held in Herod's judgment hall, Herod the Great built a palace, but Herod was known for his buildings, and he built this palace like a fortress. So here's Paul, he's in a super safe place that would've still been rather luxurious, And he's being kept safe until the next leg of the journey. And we know that he spends about two years or so here, but God's going to get him to Rome. But you know, when I think of this, how God keeps his promises, I also think that God kept his promise in John 10, 28. You see, to those who will repent of their sins and accept his gift of salvation, Jesus promised, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. You see, according to Isaiah chapter 53 and Psalm 22 and other Old Testament passages of scripture, God promised that he would send his son, Messiah. Jesus Christ, 100% God, 100% man, born of the Virgin Mary, not inheriting the sin nature, that he would fulfill the law. It's not just that Jesus never sinned, that he never did anything that the law said not to do, but he did everything according to the will of his Father. He completely fulfilled the law, and he's the only one to ever do that because he is perfect, sinless God. Now, the Bible says he was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. The Bible says of Jesus who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. And as the perfect, sinless sacrifice who lived as a human being and yet also 100% God, he willingly, in obedience to the Father's will, went to the cross. He was scourged. He was crucified. His blood was shed. And do you realize Jesus said in that same John 10 passage, no man taketh my life from me, but I lay it down to myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. Herein is my Father glorified. When the Bible says that he yielded up the ghost, it literally translates from the Greek, he dismissed his spirit. They didn't kill Jesus. Jesus willingly gave up his life and died. He shed his blood. And then he was buried, and in fulfillment of his promise, three days later, he resurrected and conquered death. And he gives the same promise to you that he's given to me in John 10, 28. If you will repent of your sin, If you will own in your soul that Jesus is God, that he loves you, that he died on the cross and suffered in your place and paid the price for your sin, that he was buried and he rose again, and if you will believe on him as the living, personal Jesus Christ. And if you will then, for the Bible says, with a heart man believeth unto righteousness, with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. So how do I with my mouth make confession to God and salvation? You go directly to Jesus Christ in prayer. And you would pray a prayer something like this, sincerely meaning it and noting it from your heart. Jesus, I know I've sinned against you and I deserve eternal death. And the second death in the lake of fire forever. I deserve eternal death in hell, but I believe you love me and you died on the cross for me. I believe you rose again and you did that work which I could never do. I can't earn eternal life, I'm not good enough. But you are perfect. and you died and rose again, and you promised if I would just ask you and trust you that you would forgive me of all my sin and give me eternal life, I'm asking you to do exactly that and I'm trusting you to do that right now today. And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. God never says anything he doesn't mean and never makes a promise he doesn't keep. Brothers and sisters, God's promises don't exempt us from problems. And sometimes God uses unusual means to keep his promises, but God always keeps his promises. Let's bow our heads for just a moment. Because we're gonna have a baptism service in just a few minutes, I'm just gonna have our pianist play through one stanza of an invitation song. And here is how I'm asking you to respond. If you are a born again believer, Would you be one of those and say, you know what, God, I know it might be unusual the way in which you use my life. I'm not much, but Lord, you can have all of me. And I'm willing to do whatever you want, however you wanna do it through me, so that your purpose is fulfilled. Thank you, God, you use nobodies like me. Maybe you need the encouragement. You know, I've been buying into this health, wealth, and prosperity gospel, and God's let some tough things happen in my life, and some opposition, and some difficulty, and even some persecution. I thought serving God was gonna be fun and all happiness. But I realized that just because I have the promises of God doesn't mean I'm exempt from problems. But God will be with me in the problems. Maybe you need to heal those problems to Him today. or maybe you need to claim God's promise, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. My encouragement to you is right now in the quietness of this moment that you would just pray something like this, God, please reveal the reality of your truth to me in a way that I can clearly understand it and accept it. and then give me the courage when the service is dismissed to go find somebody who can help me. You've seen our two pastors, Pastor Mike and Pastor Blake. You've seen me up here. Please feel free to come to any one of us after the service. We'll get aside with you in a quiet place, and we'll open up the word of God and show you the way of salvation. It will only take a few minutes. And then you can pray and call on Christ, and you can settle once and for all of eternity that you are right with God, that you have eternal life, that your sins have been forgiven. Because God always keeps his promises. As our pianos play through one stanza of our invitation song right now.