God Will Take Care Of You

Introduction

Acts 23:11

1 Peter 5:7, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." This verse is quoting part of Ps 55:22.

"casting" - to throw something on something, as casting a blanket on a donkey. In 1 Peter 5:5-7, the believers are encouraged to do 3 things:

• Submit Yourself to God
• Humble Yourself to God
• Trust Yourself to God

Psalms 55:22, "Cast your burden on the LORD,

And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."

"burden" - implies circumstances; the promise is

that the Lord will uphold the believer in the struggles of life.

Acts 21-23 provides us with a commentary of Paul's conduct throughout his life's challenges and it provides us with an example for all believers to give a positive testimony in negative circumstances.

Five Major Observations

• Paul accepted the situation as God ordained it. Facing persecution never caused him to be unfaithful to God's plan.
• Paul used his circumstance as an opportunity. The crowd that gathered to beat and kill him - he witnessed to them.
• Paul was conciliatory toward his persecutors. He did not threaten the hostile crowd or seek revenge; instead, he courteously addressed them as brethren and fathers, and even assigned to their vicious beating of him the noble motive of zeal for God.

Note Romans 12:14 & 1 Peter 2:23.

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."

"Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously"

• Paul exalted the Lord.

1 Cor. 1:31, "Let him who boast, boast in the Lord."

• Paul maintained a proper attitude - one of selfless love. Principle is well outlined in Romans 9:1-3.

It is a miracle to be able to give a positive testimony in the most negative of circumstances. Note the Lord's care for Paul:

I. Persecution's Consistency

Acts 21:28-32, "crying out, 'Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.' (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul."

Acts 23:2, "And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth."

Ananias was Israel's cruelest and most corrupt High Priest.

"strike" - used of a mob's beating of Paul, or soldiers beating of Jesus. It was no mere slap on the face, but a vicious blow.

II. Private Conspiracy 23:13

Acts 23:12-15, "And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. They came to the chief priests and elders, and said, 'We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.'"

"bound themselves under an oath" - anathematized themselves; involving divine judgment if they failed to carry out their oath.

Acts 23:16 only clear reference in Scripture to Paul's family. Romans guarded Paul leaving at 9 P.M.

65 miles N.W. from Jerusalem 470 soldiers

Antipatris - 35 or 40 miles

Paul learned well several things about God's faithfulness:

1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."

Corinthians 1:9, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Thessalonians 3:3, "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one."

III. Providential Covering 23:11

"But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, 'Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.'"

Lord's Confirmation:

"You must also bear witness at Rome" Lord's Comfort:

"Be of good cheer" - take courage Lord's Commendation:

"You have testified of Me"

This passage reminds me of the principle of Acts 23:1

"Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, 'Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.'"

This principle reminds me of Prov. 28:1

"The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion."

A guilty conscience imagines accusers everywhere, while a clear conscience has boldness to face everything; "boldness" - freedom of speech.

Great Truth: Job 1:10, "Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."

"a hedge" - protecting him

IV. Previous Conduct Acts 22:3-5 (B.C.)

Galatians 1:13-14, "For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers."

Philippians 3:5-6, "circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."

V. Powerful Conversion Acts 22:6-16

• Divine Confrontation 6-8
• Divine Communication 9

"spoke to me" - the co-persecutors saw the light (Acts 9:7 they heard a voice) but Paul discerned and understood the words.

Compare with John 12:29, "Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, 'An angel has spoken to Him.'"

Father speaks to His Son.

In Acts 22:9, the message was for Paul alone.

VI. Personal Calling 17-21

Acts 9:15, "But the Lord said to him, 'Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.'"

Acts 22:14-15, "Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.'"

The Lord calls us to Himself in salvation and commissions us to the nations in service. We are saved to serve. We are blessed to be a blessing.