Accepting Gods Providence

Pastor Mike will be speaking on Accepting Gods Providence. He will be reading out of Acts 23:12-35.

You see, friends, we need to remember that God is working even through those who do not believe, even through those who do not trust in Christ as their Lord and savior. We see that God can use unlikely means to accomplish his purpose. Hello. This is pastor Mike Sanders with Hopeworth Having, and we are delighted to have you with us today and thankful that you could join us as we begin to study God’s word. Today, we’re going to be in Acts chapter 23 verses 12 through 35, and we’re gonna talk about accepting God’s providence.

You and I go through trials, and we face many struggles, but yet somehow in the midst of all that, God is still in control. So I want you to grab your Bible, and let’s learn about accepting God’s providence. You have your bible this morning. I want you to join me in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 23 is where we’re gonna be at this morning as we study the scriptures together.

Now we have been going through the book of Acts for quite some time, And last week, we ran into that great verse of chapter 23 verse 11, where Jesus said to the apostle Paul while he was in prison, To be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must also bear witness at Rome. As we transition to verse 12 all the way through verse 35, a starking situation encounters the apostle as he is being dealt with and as he is seeing this promise that Jesus gave to him that he would bear witness to Rome. We reminded you last week that the apostle was under the understanding that this would be it. He would not go beyond Jerusalem and that his ministry was complete. It was finished, and this would be the end of not only his ministry, but his life.

But God gave him a promise. You will bear witness at Rome. And so he knew that God had a plan and a purpose. As we read verse 12 through 35, and we won’t be able to read every verse, but we’ll certainly highlight things in these verses. The thing that you’ll notice is the word God.

Jesus, holy spirit is not even mentioned in this narrative that Luke gives us about what is unfolding in the life of the apostle. It is a reminder to me of the book of Esther. Because in the book of Esther, there is no mention of God. There is no mention of Jesus or Holy Spirit, but yet it is the inerrant, infallible word of God. And in this section, as Luke writes under the inspiration of the spirit of God, it is no less his word.

But even though we do not see the words God mentioned in this section, just like the book of Esther, we see God’s fingerprints everywhere. And that’s a reminder to each of us this morning that even when we cannot see God, we must remember that God is working in various ways to accomplish his purpose. We get discouraged. We sometimes see things that are happening nationally, perhaps even personally in our own lives, and we think, man, where is God? God is not there.

He’s not responding to my prayer, but I want to encourage you this morning that our God is always accomplishing his purpose. And he is always at work, and even behind the scenes, our God is in control. The apostle reminded the Corinthians in first Corinthians one verse nine that God is faithful. By whom you were called unto the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our lord. The main idea of this passage, if you like to take notes, I want you to get this down.

The main idea of this passage is that god is sovereign. God is sovereign in the life of the apostle, that even though he is facing some dark days as he is in prison, he is getting a tremendous amount of opposition and pushback according to the scriptures as he is just simply trying to share the gospel and witness to people. But we cannot forget that as we see this narrative unfold that our god is sovereign. And as you are living your life, as you’re dealing with the different problems and struggles of life, do not forget that god is sovereign, that there is the irresistible progress of his purpose happening in your life. God is even in control when we’re going through trials.

He has not forgotten us. He is in control. And as long as God is in control, we can be like the apostle as we see here. We can remain calm. We can remain confident.

We can remain courageous in these days. We live in some unique times, don’t we church? But we are confident that God is with us and that God is going to use his servants even in difficult circumstances. The psalmist said, be gracious to me, God, for man tramples on me. All day long, an attacker oppresses me.

And as you read through Psalm 56, we see the confidence of the psalmist. We see his courage. We see his trust in God, and it continues to be a pattern for you and I that we’re not quitting, we’re pressing on, and our confidence is not in this world, but is in Jesus Christ. Can God’s people say amen? Now, in this first section, we see that God uses an unnamed nephew to stop a plot that has been planned against the apostles.

So I want you to pick up in verse 12 with me, and we’re gonna look at a few verses. 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 40 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.

Look at verse 16. Here’s the providence of God working effectively. So when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their ambush, he went and entered to the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, take this young man to the commander for he has something to tell him. So he took him and he brought him to the commander and said, Paul, the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you.

He has something to say to you. Verse 19. Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside and asked privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he said, the Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though he were going to inquire more fully about him. But do not yield to them, for more than 40 of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him.

And now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you. So the commander let the young man depart and commanded him, tell no one that you have revealed these things to me. More than 40 angry religious people were plotting to kill the apostle. This was not the first time because we see in Acts chapter nine in verse 24 that the bible says that they plotted and it became known to Saul, who at that time was before his name had changed to Paul, and they watched the gates day and night to do what? To kill him.

Now why did they wanna kill the apostle? For telling people how to get to heaven? For telling people how to be saved? For telling people how they can have their sins forgiven. This is what they were so upset about.

But here we find that these angry individuals, these 40 individuals had made an oath, an oath to God. They were essentially saying that they would be judged by God if they did not kill the apostle Paul. But the Bible teaches us in verse 16 that Paul’s sister, her son, heard this discussion. We don’t know if he was a teenager. We don’t know if he’s a young adult.

We don’t know exactly how old he is, but he certainly was a young man, and he was able to articulate the plot against the apostle. Amazingly, that this nephew would be an advocate for the apostle, that this little young man would be used of God to foil plans of the religious leaders to kill the apostle and to hinder the gospel and to stop the plan of God. Again, I can’t help but keep relating this passage back to the book of Esther, and you remember that Esther was reminded for such a time as this. For such a time as this, you see the life of the apostle Paul was saved because someone was willing to get involved. Someone was willing to say, I’m not gonna have a I don’t care attitude, but rather I’m gonna do what I can because God has placed me here in this moment to hear these words, to pass this message on to the people who can do something.

And for such a time as this, this young man, Paul’s nephew, was used in a great way to make a difference to save the life of the apostle Paul. I think about our lives. I think about how God is calling us to be involved. It’s easy to just be here in life and just kinda take a back seat and we’re just gonna let happen whatever, but rather we need to understand that we cannot be passive in our faith. We cannot just retreat in our faith, but God is calling us to engage a culture.

He is calling us to engage people, our friends, and our family, and to take the gospel to them. And to not only take the gospel to them, but to be an instrument of righteousness, to be a light, to be salt in a world that so desperately needs examples and needs people to speak the truth and stand up for the truth, and to be a key role in what God is accomplishing, not only in this world, but what he is accomplishing in our own personal lives. Too many parents are passive in raising their children. I remember one time I was at where do you think pastor Mike would go to eat breakfast? Cracker Barrel.

That’s right. And I was witnessing to one of the waitresses trying to get her to come bring her children to church and all that. She said, oh, I just I let them decide. Now friends, it takes everything I got not to just really say what I need to say, but I’m gonna tell you something. I can hear say what I need to say, and what I need to say is that there isn’t a one of you, at least I’m not aware of, that when your children needed a bath, you said I’m gonna let them decide.

When your children needed to eat dinner or lunch or breakfast, whatever, you didn’t say, well I’m gonna let them decide what they want. You see, when it was time for dinner at the Sanders household, we had three children. We never took a vote. I told our kids there is no democracy here. This is not a republic.

There is no representation, and I know you don’t like it, but it’s a mom and dad dictatorship. Because if I’d let my kids vote on what we’re gonna have for dinner, it’d be ice cream every night. And I just don’t understand why parents today are passive in raising their children, and training them in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and training them to love the Lord, and partnering with the church and local ministries in our community to do everything we can to influence them to love Jesus Christ. The truth is we’re not passive in other areas, but we’re passive when it comes to spiritual matters. And see, we need to step up.

How about you, husbands? You need to step up and quit being passive in your relationship with your wife. You need to step up and be involved and be a leader in your home. And a leadership does not mean dictatorship, and it doesn’t mean that you’re trying to bark orders to your wife, but you need to lead spiritually, and you need to be that example, and you need to pray with your wife, and you need to do what is necessary. Don’t be passive because for such a time as this, God is calling us to be active.

This nephew could have just sat back and said, I’m not gonna do anything. Hey, it’s no big deal. But no, he chose to get involved, and I wanna encourage you to stand up. Stand up for the gospel. Stand up for your family.

Stand up for the right things. You say, well, I’m getting a lot of pressure. Listen, friends. Our goal is not to isolate our kids from the world or to even isolate ourselves from the crazy in the world. It is to insulate ourselves, to insulate our children with the gospel, with the word of God, with the truth of God, to put the spiritual weapons in their hands that they can be able to continue to progress forward for God and to be able to combat the enemies of God and to make a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you wanna be isolated, not listen. If you got Amish in your family, I’m sorry, but I’m gonna say it anyways. Go be Amish. But if you wanna stay engaged in the culture and you wanna stay active in the culture with being passive, step up for such a time as this. The Lord often uses little things and even little children to accomplish great purposes.

And he used this nephew, his name is not mentioned, but he’s Paul’s nephew. He’s not mentioned, but God uses him. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are, God can use your life. The apostle told Timothy to let no one despise your youth. I began pastoring at 23 years old.

I know it’s hard to believe and I feel sorry for those folks. It’s a wonder they have even still survived. But here’s the thing, God can use young people, can he? He can use our children, he can use our grandchildren. Don’t ever despise the young people and say, well they don’t know anything.

God’s hand can be upon them and he can use them in a great way to touch the world for Christ. Let’s get behind these young people. Let’s walk up to them. Let’s put our hands on them, and let’s say God’s got his hand upon you, and he wants to use you. Now whether that’s in full time ministry, or whether that is out there in the job force, or whether that’s in the military, wherever God calls them.

I want God to use the young people for his glory. Can God’s people say amen? Now here’s what it’s gonna take, church. You’ve gotta be an encourager of the young people. You gotta be someone who steps into their life.

You can’t just run out of here so you can get to Cracker Barrels quick as possible. Don’t worry. The Presbyterians have already beat us. The Methodists are way ahead of us. Alright?

And so don’t worry about that. I don’t get to do the breakfast nor the brunch or even the lunch. I get to do the litter. But I want you to know, let’s be an encourager to these young people. Let’s be an encourager that God can use them for his glory and that wherever he sends them, that his hand is upon them.

And just like this young man, God used him in a very special way to make a huge impact. The second thing I wanted you to see in accepting God’s providence is that God uses Lysias to protect the apostle. So now we’re in verse 23, and here we have this commander, and he called for two centurions, the bible says. And he said prepare 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night and provide mounts to set Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor. He goes on to write a letter to Felix the governor.

We’re not gonna be able to take time to read all that, but here’s what I want you to see is that God’s purposes are supported through unlikely means in your life. Who would have thought that a commander named Lysias, a commander who did not even believe in God, but God would use that commander to protect the apostle, that he would use the governor Felix to protect the apostle. So Lysias, he immediately responds to this threat that he’s heard from the young man, and he decides he’s gonna make plans to transfer the apostle to Caesarea, to get him to the place where he could eventually be at, where he needs to be. Lysias regarded the Jewish threat as a very serious threat. One that he said, I gotta protect this guy.

Now it was God working in his heart. It was God who was moving him. The Bible reminds us that the King’s heart is in the hand of the Lord and that he turns it whichever way that he wills. You see, friends, we need to remember that God is working even through those who do not believe, even through those who do not trust in Christ as their Lord and savior. We see that God can use unlikely means to accomplish his purpose.

I want you to look with me at verse 29, and notice what the scripture says. Here’s what Lysias says in his letter to Felix. I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, meaning the Jewish law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or change. You know what he’s saying? He’s saying this guy’s innocent.

This guy’s innocent, and I’m writing to you. I’m sending him to you because I need you to intervene. I need you to do something. How did it all start? It started with a young man who heard a discussion about some angry people who wanted the apostle Paul killed, and this young man rather than just sitting back and say, I’m not gonna do anything, he jumps in.

He gets involved. God uses his life. He tells the commander. The commander says, don’t tell these people that you told me. He steps up.

He could say, well, I’m just gonna let it happen. But he doesn’t. He steps up in a very big way, and he says, I need to let you know. He writes a letter, he puts together a team to transport the apostle, and he says, I’m going to write this letter to explain his innocence. This is what I love about the scriptures because we learn a lot of practical things is that there’s nothing wrong with us using the laws of the land to protect our innocence.

Amen? There’s nothing wrong with us fighting for the truth, and we understand that many of these truths that we have in our own constitution and the things that we have in our own laws and justice system, that they were put there and they were lifted up out of the scriptures and put there by godly people who understand biblical principles, and one of those biblical principles is that a man or a person is innocent till proven guilty. How about that? And this is what the commander is making the case for in verse 29. He said they are making accusations, but he’s innocent.

They haven’t made any charges, but there’s nothing deserving of death or chains in his life, and so he wants the governor to intervene. Let me say something about this as far as application. First of all, as believers, we should always be honorable citizens. We should always be the best citizens. When God looks at our lives, we should not be the rebel rousers, we should not be the rioters, but that’s not our purpose.

We’re to be the best citizens. We’re to be honorable, and we are to be the kind of citizens that we not only live honorably before God, we’re not rioters. The scriptures teach us that in first Peter. We’re not gonna sit there and have these big rallies against people or anything like that, but rather we’re going to follow what the law says, and we’re gonna use the laws. I praise God they struck down Roe versus Wade.

They called me and they said, pastor Mike, the radio station called me, so what do you think about it? And I was so rejoicing giving God praise because listen, how many lives have been saved? How many little children are living because of this great powerful work of God in the lives of the supreme court justices? God uses means to accomplish his purpose that are not always the way we would like them or do them how we want them, but we can always take comfort, church, in trusting in God’s sovereignty. And here’s what I mean, when I say the word sovereignty, some of you are like, what in the world are you talking about?

Here’s what I mean, just two simple words that I mean. That God is in control and God is in charge. Even though there may be chaos in this world, even though there may be challenges in this world, that we can trust God sovereignly, not just in our nation, but we can trust God sovereignly in our own personal lives. And when it seems like the rug has been pulled out from underneath you, you can have confidence that God is in charge, and he is working effectively. Every setback in your life, every trial, every tragedy, God is working effectively in those different circumstances in your life.

Now the third thing I want you to see is that God uses a Roman army to transport the apostle Paul. Remember that our main idea is that God is sovereign, he’s in charge, he’s in control. How is that manifested in these verses? It is in the final few verses that we look at this morning is God uses this Roman army to transport the apostle. Look at verse 31.

Then the soldiers as they were commanded took Paul and brought him by night to Antipitris. And the next day they left the horsemen to go on with him and return to the barracks. And when they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Sicilia, he said, I will hear you.

And when your accusers also have come, and he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s praetorium. Now what you’re seeing here is this. Let’s go back again to verse 11. You can’t disconnect these verses. Here is the apostle.

Remember, he is in prison in verse 11. He has been thrown in there unjustly. He has been falsely accused, and they are making every effort to destroy his ministry. He’s discouraged, he’s defeated, but the bible says the following night the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer. Or be courageous, Paul.

For as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome. And what you’re seeing in verse 31 through 35 is these soldiers are going to transport the apostle exactly where he needs to be. Now they thought maybe they were taking him to prison, that he had been a rebel rouser causing problems in the Roman Empire. But really what was happening was God was transporting his preacher safely to Rome so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be proclaimed and more people would come to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God has an infinite number of options when he’s working, and he is using those options to bring about his perfect will in our lives.

You see something happening in your life, you don’t like it. Have you given it to God? Have you taken it to God in prayer? Have you entrusted it to God and you said, lord, maybe your way is not my way. How about that?

Isaiah the prophet said that my thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your way. See, sometimes we fight against God because he’s not working the way we want. Some of us have control issues. We want everything to be like we want it to be. And if God doesn’t work the way we want it to be, we’re not gonna surrender our lives to God.

And if God doesn’t answer the prayer the way I want it to be answered, then we’re not surrendering our lives to God. But how about this, what if God worked in a different way in your life to accomplish his great purpose so that it wouldn’t be you that received all the glory because of your strategies, because of your methods, because of your programs, because of your process, but what if God worked in such a way that he received all the glory? That it wasn’t the methods of man, but it was the spiritual work of almighty God. Ephesians one eleven reminds us this, that in him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things. He works all things, church.

And all means what? All, and that’s all that all means. He works all things according to the counsel of his will. And I know that’s not easy, because when tragedy enters our life, it’s hard for us to agree to the all things. It’s hard for us to accept the providence of God, but all things according to the counsel of his will.

The triumphs in your life and the tragedies in your life. The transitions in your life. All things are working according to the counsel of his will. What is to be my response? We are to submit to God’s plan and God’s power because we have this promise from Philippians one, I think it’s verse seven, that he who began a good work in you will complete it or perform it or finish it.

What God starts in your life, he finishes. As you and I are submitting to him, as we are surrendering to him, what God begins, he always completes so each one of us can rest. We can rest all of our concerns, all of our burdens, all of our problems, and we can cast them on our father who holds the whole world in his hands. And we hang on to the promise that the apostle Peter taught us to cast all our care upon him. Why?

He cares for you. It’s not just that God answers prayer or that he hears prayer, but that he cares about our prayers. And you, my friends, can accept the providence of God in your life, because his fingerprints are all over your life, and he is working out his great purpose in your life. Our questions are many when it comes to suffering, and we’re kind of like the dog chasing its tail, trying to figure out why certain things have happened to us or around us. And we understand that God is in charge, and he’s in control.

But there comes a time where we just have to accept God’s providence and say, this is God’s will, and this is what he has caused or allowed in my life. And that’s really a hard pill to swallow sometimes, but we know the Lord, even in the midst of those trials, has a plan. And the key for us is to accept what God’s will is. May his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.