Address—Bill Prost
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Maybe we could sing together?
Him #200 #200.
Once we stood in condemnation.
Waiting thus the sinners doom. Christ in death hath wrought salvation. God has raised Him from the tomb. And then verse 5. Now we have a life in union with the risen life above. Now we drink in sweet communion some rich foretaste of His love #200.
Most that are here tonight, we're at the recent meetings in Vincennes, and during the course of the address that we had, Lord's Day afternoon, I mentioned an incident in the life of the apostle Paul where the Lord appeared to him and.
Said be of good cheer Paul and then told him what was going to happen.
In the future.
And I got to thinking about that a little bit.
Because there are a number of times in the life of the Apostle Paul.
When the Lord particularly appeared to him in a vision or somehow at night, somehow the Lord appeared to him and gave him a very special message.
I believe there are seven of those occasions recorded for us in the life of the Apostle Paul.
And in looking at them from time to time, because I have looked at them more than once, it seems to me that there is an encouragement and perhaps instruction too, for you and for me.
Now, I'm not suggesting, and I know you realize this, that you and I are going to receive.
Sudden visions in the night that give us light as to our pathway or instructions. Yes, the Lord could still do that. And in playing in, in matter of fact, He is doing it very much among unbelievers, particularly in the Muslim world. And many are being led to Christ by seeing a dream or a vision.
That is so clear and so vivid.
And so definite that they have no question that it is from the Lord.
And I believe that in the life of the Apostle Paul, these things happen that way.
It wasn't just some dream such as you and I might have, that we laugh about it the next morning and then forget about it. They were clear and definite.
And I would suggest that even though perhaps we don't get dreams and visions, we need to remember that in our lives. The Lord wants to make his mind known to us.
Now, Paul was a special person.
He had a special place as the apostle to the Gentiles, and not only because of that, but because he was the one whom the Lord chose to give those special revelations of the truth of the assembly from a risen Christ in glory, truths that were not known before, secrets that God kept hidden.
Until the time when he saved the Apostle Paul.
So he was a very special vessel for the Lord and used in a very particular way.
But there is no reason why you and I cannot go to the Lord.
Just as freely as the Apostle Paul. And there is no reason why we can't enjoy the Lord just as much as He did.
There is no reason why we cannot live for the Lord.
As faithfully as he did.
Now I hasten to say that don't look at me, and I don't think anyone of us here in this room would say, well, look at me because I come pretty close to Paul.
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But there's no reason why we can't.
So let's turn to the book of the Acts, because all of these occasions are recorded in the book of Acts, and the first one is in Chapter 9.
Chapter 9 of Acts.
And because of the time factor, we will not spend a great deal of time on these things. But I believe there's a special lesson from each one.
Acts Chapter 9.
And.
In verse, well, we'll start with verse one.
And Saul, that was his name before he was saved, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went under the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus through the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.
And suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven.
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
It is hard for thee to kick against the ******.
And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and.
It shall be told thee what thou must do.
The conversion of the Apostle Paul.
What an event.
Short time before.
This same Saul of Tarsus had been one of those who was instrumental in the stoning of Stephen.
Stephen perhaps was the brightest light in the early church. A man, it says, full of faith and power. A man by whom the Lord did miracles of healing. A man who knew those Old Testament scriptures well. And being full of the Holy Spirit, he went around and preached faithfully and from their own scriptures.
Convinced the Jews that the very man.
In the person of the Lord Jesus, whom they had crucified, was really the Messiah.
Saul was going to have none of it.
And you'll remember the story how that after Stephen had defended himself in front of the Jewish Council, they stopped their ears and rushed upon them, and that fanatical mob took him out and stoned him to death.
What a blow to Christianity. What a blow to the Christian testimony.
And it was a blow in one sense, because it says that the people of the Lord were scattered, all of them except the apostles.
Did that stop the work of the Lord?
Indeed it did not so as they went everywhere preaching the gospel.
But then the Lord does something.
Wonderful.
The Lord, as it were, said.
And a brother put it very well.
He said something like this, that when the hatred and enmity of man.
Put out the brightest light in the early church that there was.
He said it was typical of the grace of God.
And the power of God if this dispensation of grace.
God, very shortly afterward, puts his finger on the very worst one responsible.
And says as it were, all right.
Come and take his place.
Then what does he do? Makes an even greater servant.
Of that salt of tarsus.
Than the Steven that they had still.
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Man would have looked on at the stoning of Stephen and say said what a tragedy.
And it was.
But God got the victory through it.
Knocks this man right down with a light from heaven, which Paul himself describes later on in his life as a light brighter than the sun and in such a way that Paul knew it instantly. This was the Lord that was speaking to him and he got a little bit of a picture of what he was doing because.
When Paul Saul says, Who art thou, Lord?
Immediately the response is, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
That was Paul's first glimpse of the truth of the one body, and he realized that that very one whom the Jews had crucified and pretended was dead, and pretended that the disciples had stolen the body away, was indeed risen and glorified there in heaven, and among other things had the power to strike a man down to the earth.
And make him realize who he was.
Not every conversion today bears those marks, no, But there have been some remarkable conversions in the history of the Church of God working and turning men and women, too.
Right around and saving them in a short time.
God is still working today, maybe not quite as signally as this in a public way.
God is able to turn lives around.
Well, let's go on.
When does the Lord appear before Paul again?
Same chapter.
And verse 10.
All is taken into the city, can't see anything, blinded for the moment, but in verse 10 it says and there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias and to him said the Lord in a vision. That's not the vision we're going to talk about, but Ananias got a vision too.
Ananias And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the street, which is called straight.
And inquire in the House of Judas for one called Saul Tarsus, or Behold, we pray.
And of seeing here it is, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive the sight.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done to thy Saints at Jerusalem, and here that is in Damascus, he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vassal unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel, for I will show him how great things.
He must suffer for my name's sake. And Ananias went his way and entered into the house.
Putting his hands on him, said.
This is beautiful.
Brother Saul.
The Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest.
Has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes, as it had been scales. And he received sight forthwith, and arose and was baptized.
We could say a lot of things about the events surrounding this vision, but the point we want to make is that God spoke specifically to Paul as soon as he was brought to that point and the Lord tells him.
Saul, a man by the name of Ananias, he even got the name, is going to come in and he's going to put his hands on you and you will be able to see again.
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Now you and I might wonder, well, what would that correspond to in your life and mine?
I would suggest just this thought.
That the Lord, when he brings us to Himself, begins a work.
All had new life given to him when he was there on the road to Damascus, and the Lord can do that today too.
He doesn't need to have a Bible in someone's hands. He doesn't need to have a preacher come and preach the gospel to them.
That's most desirable, but the Lord is able to work without that.
And if we had more time, I could tell you at least one or two stories that I heard first hand about people who received life that way and suddenly realized that something was different about them.
Were they truly saved yet? No, I don't believe so. There had to be a point when they realized the full value of the work of Christ.
There had to be a time when the Holy Spirit indwelt.
There had to be a time when they realized the full value of the work of Christ. The first thing is called quickening in Scripture. The second one is what it really means to be saved.
We get new life in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit using the Word of God, and here the Word was the spoken word of the Lord.
The risen Christ in glory spoke Saul.
Any receipt you like, but he got assurance when a man by the name of Ananias came in.
He receives his sight, he receives the Holy Spirit, and he realizes.
That he is truly beautiful.
And that's where we get assurance.
And later on, the Lord gave to Paul a very special revelation, which we will mention at this point, which is most important. And I know this is going over familiar ground with the vast majority here, but it doesn't hurt to mention it. Turn over for a moment to the 13th chapter of Acts.
And we'll read verses 38 and 39.
Acts 1338 and 39.
Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
That is what Peter and John and Steve.
And Philip, those early disciples and apostles of the Lord.
Preached. They preached a wonderful gospel with the forgiveness of sins.
Now, this is going a step beyond what I just said about quickening and then being saved, but we want to emphasize this.
But then verse 39 is a special revelation that all got from a risen Christ in glory, and it's not as clear in our King James as it is in the Derby, but it could read more accurately verse 39 and in Him all that believe.
Are justified from all things.
From which she could not be justified by the law of Moses.
The full results of the work of Christ were not brought out until alleged ministry that the believer is not only saved, his sins are not only forgiven, but the believer is.
In Christ.
Tell a little story here for and those here of a Romanian background will relate to it.
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On my first visit to Romania, we had a very, very nice visit with a dear brother in Christ, and I felt hardly fit to sit at his feet because he had been in prison for helping to smuggle Bibles into Romania during the communist years. But the dear brother could not see the truth of eternal security.
You could not see that once the believer was saved.
That he could not be lost again.
I explained it from scripture from a number of different angles.
And our brother Cornell Vichon, who now lives in Gresham, OR.
Well, he did at that time too. Translated for me.
But I could see that that dear brother wasn't getting it.
And finally, Cornell said to me, Do you mind if I say something? I said, please go ahead. And I believe I had said this, but I perhaps hadn't emphasized it enough at that time. I understood very little Romanian, and I still don't understand very much, But I heard one phrase that came out loud and clear over and over and over again.
Unrestos unrestos Unrestos in Christ in Christ in Christ.
He was emphasizing that every believer was in Christ, could never be lost again.
Well, we won't spend time on that. Our time is going the apostle Paul.
Got the assurance of his salvation from Ananias.
#3.
The go to #3 We have to go a long way down the road. Acts 22.
Acts 22.
Because we don't find this out until later in Paul's life when he tells what happened.
Acts 22.
Verse.
17 Acts 22.
And 17.
And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem.
This is Paul's defense of what he was doing and who he was in front of the.
Jewish Council, or not the council, but the multitude of the Jews outside the citadel in Jerusalem. Council was there, but a lot of other people.
When I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and I and saw him. That is the Lord saying unto me, Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee.
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by.
And consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Deep heart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
All went up to Jerusalem. We won't bother about the time frame here. It was sometime after he was saved. It wasn't right away.
And as you can well imagine, Paul had a burning desire to set things right. Here he'd been a persecutor of the believers here. He had been one who hated the name of the Lord Jesus.
Now I want to try and correct that. I want to try and straighten it out. I want to make amends for what I did, Lord says.
Oh no, I have got other work for you to do. They won't listen to you in Jerusalem.
I am going to send you the gentiles.
I would suggest.
And this is a question that is often asked by believers. How can I know the Lord's mind for my Christian pathway?
I suppose at this point Paul had been a believer for some time, but he was still what you and I would call a young Christian in terms of how long he'd been saved. And no matter at what age we are, I believe the Lord gives us especially when we get old enough. I don't mean necessarily when we're five years old and living in our parents home or something, but the Lord gives us a sense of.
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The direction we should take in our lives now. We aren't all called upon to be apostles. We aren't all called upon to serve the Lord full time without having secular employment. But the point is that Saul got direction for his life here.
Sad to say, as we'll see down the road aways, there was a time when Paul.
Seem to forget this direction the Lord had given him and the reason he's saying this here.
Is in part because.
He had disobeyed what the Lord had told him a good many years ago, so that when Paul says this in front of his huge crowd of Jewish people there in Jerusalem, he was virtually sitting in judge upon himself, wasn't he? If the Lord had said they will not receive thy testimony and you better go to the Gentiles.
Oh, what are you doing in Jerusalem then?
We'll talk more about that later.
The Lord gave him direction and I believe and I speak perhaps if I may do so, not only to the younger ones here, but specifically to you. Many times it's very difficult to have direction in our lives.
But I believe the Lord will give us direction. But He doesn't always show us everything all the way down the road. He does show us the next step.
Does show us the next step and it may not mean perhaps.
So much the direction in a spiritual sense, but even perhaps the direction in what courses we should take in high school. Is that important. It is where we should go, whether we should learn a trade or whether we should go to university or just where we should go. The Lord can give us direction in all of those things, and He did it for Paul.
Well, let's go on. That's number three.
For the fourth one, we have to go back to Chapter 16.
Chapter 16.
Now here Paul has.
Recognized his calling as a servant of the Lord and as an apostle. And I believe others have recognized very clearly that God has given him a special ministry to the Gentiles. And may I say this, that if the Lord has a particular service for him.
And he does. For each one of us, we want to emphasize that man or woman, young or old.
I believe the Lord has a particular service for us and a gift that He has given each one of us to do that service, and you and I.
And do that particular service better than anyone else.
The Lord fits us for that service.
Now of course, sometimes, and I say this just as an aside.
There is a danger when we are young to want to get into service quickly.
I well remember a number of years ago.
At a Bible conference where?
Young sister came up to me and made the comment. I can't remember her exact words, but they were to the effect. You know, the brethren really don't believe much in empowering young people, do they?
Empowering young people.
I knew what she meant. She meant putting young people into positions of responsibility and service and activity.
As soon as possible.
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I thought a lot about that.
I freely confess that sometimes there may be a grain of truth in what she says.
But in going to the Word of God, and this is just an aside, I find in Paul's instruction to Timothy.
That most of what he said to Timothy was could be summed up in a remark that our late brother Eric Smith made to some of us as young people quite a few years ago. He said, remember, it is not what you do that counts, it's what you are.
And he emphasized to Timothy in a number of verses about being an example to the believers in many different areas and soul.
That is what we need to focus on primarily as young people, but if our life is in order and we have understood also the importance that worship comes before service.
Then I believe we can look to the Lord and say, as Paul did on the road to Damascus, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And rest assured a willing heart.
Life that is in order will find no difficulty in something to do. It may not be exactly some great thing, but what's in front of you? Do what you can in your local area and then the Lord may choose to expand. So Paul has been serving for a while here, but notice what happens in chapter 16 and verse 6.
Now, when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia.
Notice this. And we're forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. Really.
Forbidden of the Holy Spirit who preached the gospel? Yeah.
In that area.
After they were come to miss you, they assayed. That means they tried. They wanted to go into Bathinia.
But the Spirit suffered them not. They were sensitive to the Spirit of God. And the Spirit was saying, no, Paul, no, no, not that way either. No, don't want you preaching in Asia anymore, at least not at the moment. And no, you want to go into Bathinia. No, Paul, not that way either.
Let's be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit of God.
We don't decide where we go and what we do. The Holy Spirit is here to lead in God, and He will do it today if we give him his place. Sometimes a man thinks that he's better at it than the Holy Spirit. No, let the Spirit of God lead and guide now, I hasten to say.
This was Paul and his company.
Do we ever read the Lord Jesus who did everything in the power and with the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit?
Having to be prevented from going to an area that he wanted to go to do something.
No, no, there was only one perfect servant who always acted in absolute perfection.
In perfect absolute discernment of the Spirit of God or through the Spirit of God, even the great apostle Paul tried to go this way, tried to go that way, and the Spirit had to say no, Paul, not that way, not this way. Then what happens verse nine or verse 8 And they passing by, Monsieur, came down to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night.
There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying.
Come over unto Macedonia and help us. After he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia.
Assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel. London.
There was a man in Macedonia, took a little while to find him, didn't it? They didn't see him right away. They met some women and Paul had to go through a very difficult experience, he and Silas.
Because the man that the Lord was sending them to was the Philippian jailer.
But the Lord says, I'll show you which way you need to go. We need to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and if we want to go this way or that way.
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Let's not push against what the Lord is wanting us to do. He will lead and guide if we will follow His lead.
OK, Chapter 18.
Chapter 18.
Has ruled along. There has been a good deal of blessing.
Now what happens?
Verse one.
After these things, Paul departed from Athens and came to corn.
What happens in verse 6? And when they that they, that is, the Jews, oppose themselves? And blasphemy shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads. I am clean, and henceforth I will go under the Gentiles.
Verse 9. Here it is. Then speak the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision. Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace.
For I am with thee into no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, or I have much people in this city.
And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among.
Sometimes we need to recognize.
That circumstances are not to guide us.
I speak for myself. It's all too easy to be guided by circumstances, isn't it? It's all too easy to look at the difficulties and problems and say, whoops, I guess the Lord wants me to go a different way.
But when we have a sense of the mind of the Lord, then we can go forward, and the difficulties are only an opportunity to see how the Lord can remove those difficulties, and what a wonderful thing it is to see the Lord work in a removal of difficulty so that we can go ahead.
We find out from Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians, the First Epistle.
That when he went there, it was with fear and trembling. Not because he had any doubt about the gospel, not because he was afraid that somehow the gospel wouldn't have its power. He was afraid for himself. There was a wealthy city, an intelligent city, and he was afraid that he might be tempted to resort to human means.
In order to try and attract those people to Christ.
And the Lord had to show him that it was to go in simplicity. And as he says himself, he sought to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and him crucified. And he didn't use a lot of words of man's wisdom, but he says in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And the Lord reassured him, Paul, don't be afraid.
I'll look after you. I have a lot of people in this city.
Don't you worry about it.
All had to be reassured, because just a short while before, in the previous chapter, he'd been to places like Thessalonica. He'd been to places like.
Berea. And prior to that he'd been in a place called Lystra, where the people were so fickle that one moment they were going to offer him and Barnabas sacrifices, thinking they were gods, and then all of a sudden when they.
The tide turned against them. It says they stoned Paul and left him for dead. So Paul had every reason to wonder how. How were things going to go?
I had been stoned and left for dead. I can think, just as a natural man, that I might walk a little carefully when I went to the next city and wonder what's it going to be like here and what kind of a reception am I going to get. I've never had that happen to me.
Closest I ever came to have anything happen was a man that reached out his first or lifted his first and intended to give me a good blow and instead he just struck my Bible and knocked it to the ground.
I'm afraid I felt sorry for that man.
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I thought, how awful he doesn't come to Christ. What an awful thing you'll have to bear standing before the great white Throne and be reminded that at one time in his life he took his first and smashed it into the word of God, knocking it to the ground. But the point is.
The Lord reassures him, and I believe that there are times in your life and mine.
When the Lord wants to reassure us in the pathway of faith, in the pathway where we may be called upon to serve Him in whatever service He gives us, go forward. Everything's going to be all right. No, don't worry about it. I am with you. No, it didn't mean there were no difficulties. There were some problems. The Jews tried to cause trouble.
But it all just came to nothing because the Lord was working.
Well, let's go on from here. What happens?
Just to fill in the blanks.
As we read in the 22nd chapter, we find that dear Paul.
Wants to go back to Jerusalem again.
And all the way.
On that route to Jerusalem.
His brethren warned him. Don't do it, Paul. No. They're going to put you in prison. They're going to bind you. You're going to get into trouble. It's not going to work. Don't go there.
And Paul was determined, and he had the best of motives.
He wanted to reach his own nation.
I can sympathize a little bit with Paul because there have been times in my life, no credit to me, that I have had a real anxiety, a real concern.
To reach someone with the gospel and haven't really been able to, or haven't really been even able to get to them.
Whether the Lord had someone else in mind to speak to them or what it was, I don't know. But dear Paul, he thought of all those dear Jews and his heart yearned over them. I am a Jew. I'm one of them. This is my nation. They're on the road to a lost eternity. They've rejected the gospel.
I need to get through to them. The Lord had provided for that. He provided a Peter as the apostle to the Gentiles, and there was ample opportunity for the gospel to be preached there. But Paul goes up to Jerusalem and sure enough, just as his brethren had predicted, he gets into trouble.
Big trouble. He's arrested, he's put in prison and.
Everything is going the wrong way.
What happens here?
Verse 11.
And the night following, the Lord stood. This is chapter 23. I beg your pardon? I didn't say that. Chapter 23. I'm sorry.
Chapter 23.
Verse 11 and the night following, the Lord stood by him. Isn't that beautiful?
Paul was all by himself there in prison, Jews hollering and shouting that he ought not to live.
And said, Be of good cheer, Paul, For as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also.
Roll.
All had wanted to go to Rome.
Previous to this.
He got there not the way he expected.
He'd wanted to go to Rome, he said in the book of Romans. I will. After that I will see Rome.
He got there.
Sometimes we get ourselves into difficulty through missing the mind of the Lord, and sometimes it may be with the best of motives, as was the case with Paul.
Sometimes it's true self will and dear Paul had missed the mind of the Lord. Now I say again, who are we to criticize Paul, that great servant of the Lord?
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These things are written for our learning.
All goes up there, gets into trouble, and no doubt he might have thought within himself.
I may be permitted to use modern terminology. I blew it.
I did it, my brethren warned me. I guess I'm finished.
The Lord was gracious. We see the same thing in the Old Testament, incidentally, in a little different way. Elijah, after he had won that signal victory with the sacrifice at Mount Carmel.
And rain had come, and he had destroyed all the prophets of Baal, Jezebel said. Elijah sent a message to him. By tomorrow, about this time, you're going to be like one of those false prophets. I'm going to get you killed too. And poor Elijah runs for his life, and worse still, he intercedes against the people of God instead of forth.
And the Lord said in so many words, Elijah, I can't use you in that state of soul anymore.
You go and anoint Elisha to be prophet in your place, and you go and anoint Hazel to be king over Syria.
And you anoint Gu to be king over Israel and so on.
And the scripture doesn't go into detail, but I believe it broke his heart.
He thought I'm finished and he goes out and he throws his mantle on Elijah.
What happens?
Oh, wonderful.
Elijah says give me a few minutes, give me a bit of time, and I'll come after you.
Elijah says, What have I done to thee? What are you coming after me for? I'm finished. Was he finished?
God gave him 10 more years approximately.
To teach Elijah something. Oh, when there was real repentance, God gave him a reprieve. The same happens to Paul here. I have no doubt, although it doesn't say so, that Paul realized his mistake.
The Lord, says Paul, be a good cheer. Don't go in despair. You're going to witness that role.
What an encouragement. And sometimes when we failed, the devil whispers in our ears, You blew it, You made such a mess. You can never do anything for the Lord again.
The Lord will whisper in the other ear, cheer. There's restoration for you.
Let's go on.
Chapter 28.
Or 27. I beg your pardon, this is #7 chapter 27.
Holes on the waiter roll.
Their ownership.
Everything that's, as we say, sometimes it seemed that on that voyage, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
All kinds of trouble.
Problem after problem.
But what is the wonderful thing about it?
Year on that ship was a man that was morally superior to it all.
How could he be that way?
Because the Lord had already said, Paul, you're going to bear witness at Rome. Was that ship going to go down with everybody on it? No. Paul knew that ahead of time. He knew it before he ever got on the ship that he'd get to Rome. He didn't know all the details. God revealed them as time went on. Here was a man that was morally superior.
Let me tell you as a book that you and I as believers, we may look at ourselves. I can honestly say I do this miserable failure, considering all that we have been that has been committed to us.
But every believer, even A1 who's a failure, is a moral superior when he realizes what he is and who he is.
In Christ, and here all on this voyage, is the moral superior.
And eventually is the one who says, do this, do that. And at first they don't listen to him. Then they begin to realize this man knows what he's talking about.
And what happens here?
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Verse 21 of Acts 27 But after long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Creek, and to have gained this harm and loss, and now.
Listen to this. I exhort you to be of good cheer. Isn't that beautiful? Lord? Says Paul. Be of good cheer.
Then as a result of that, he's able to say to these men on the ship be of good cheer.
The Lord, the believer who listens to the Lord, will be able to hear those words, be of good cheer, but then the Lord uses that kind of a believer.
To encourage others. Oh, it's a day when we need encouragement.
Is it a day to be humbled as we had yesterday? It is. Is it a day, perhaps, to shed tears about the condition of things among believers, including ourselves? It is. Is it a day to be burdened about some of the difficulties and problems among the people of God? It is. But is it a day to be discouraged? It is not.
Oh no, we should be able to save one another. Be of good cheer.
Verse 22. In the middle of the verse. For there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. Or there stood by me this night, the Angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, saying, You're not all. Thou must be brought before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, he repeats it, Be of good cheer.
For I believe God.
That it shall be even as it was told.
Oh, there was the key to Paul's ability to say be of good cheer. I believe God, Do you and I really believe what God has said in His Word? Do we really believe it to be true? Do we really believe what the Lord says when He makes His promises to us and when He gives us encouragement in His Word? Yes. If we look at the circumstances around us, we will be discouraged.
If we look at the Lord himself, we'll be able to say twice over as Paul did, be of good cheer. Why? Because everything is looking bright? No, because I will leave God.
Our time is gone.
Those are seven I believe. I think we covered 7, didn't we?
There's one more which I have enjoyed.
I'll merely mention it, but we can turn to it for a minute. 2nd Corinthians 12.
2nd Corinthians 12.
Verse 2.
I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago.
Whether in the body cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell God. No one such in one caught up to the 3rd heaven and I knew such a man. Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God no how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words.
Which it is not love for a man to honor.
I suggest this one as one final one.
And I would call it #8.
Numbers.
Generally speaking, have significance in Scripture.
And the number seven speaks of divine perfection.
With the number 8.
Speaks of new creation. New creation.
And it is Paul that brings before us that new creation in his ministry.
Now some of the details of it are given more in the revelation in John's ministry, but basically it's Paul who tells us that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, Old things are passed away and so on. And he brings before us how that you and I are part of that new creation, and it is Paul.
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Who gives us the precious truth of all the councils of God going right on into a coming eternity?
When everything will be perfectly conformed to Christ and when in the words of hymn #48 in our hymn book.
All taint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away.
The Lord says, as it were, Paul, I'm going to give you a sneak preview. I'm going to give you a little preview. And he catches him up to paradise. He catches him up there to give him a little preview of what is ahead. Now, Paul. Paul didn't experience it in perfection because he didn't.
I believe have a glorified body, in fact, he says. I don't know whether I even had a body or not. The Lord knows I wasn't conscious one way or the other.
But he says I heard unspeakable words which are not lawful for Amanda Otter.
You and I belong to new creation. We belong to that which.
Is part of that new creation that is going to be fully revealed? Not right away. When the Lord comes, we'll get the full blessing of it. When the Lord comes, it won't be until after the Millennium and the eternal state comes in.
That the full blessing of new creation will be brought in and that's why in describing.
The eternal state, if we could call it that. In Revelation chapter 21, the apostle John uses those wonderful words. Behold, I make all things new.
All things, all things are not new. Until that time, you and I are new already.
That's great.