Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19980906.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING
Part LIII: God's Sovereign Oversight Of His Servants' Geographical Placements
A. Overcoming The Obstacle Of A Destructive Clique In Achieving God's Service Assignment Location
(Acts 23:11, 12-35)
  1. Introduction
    1. As we learned in Acts 16:6-10, our service for God necessarily involves His geographical placement of us.
    2. However, because of the angelic conflict that wages around the believer, there can arise great obstacles against our arriving at or staying put where God wants us. These obstacles can be so big that the believer may quit trying to arrive or stay put in that assigned location, or question what is God's will as to location.
    3. One hurdle may be a clique that wants to keep the Lord's servant from being at his God-assigned location.
    4. Acts 23:11, 12-35 reveals God's involvement in Paul's experience in this issue with lessons for us today:
  2. Overcoming The Obstacle Of A Destructive Clique In Achieving God's Service Assignment Location:
    1. Jesus appeared to Paul in Jerusalem's prison to encourage him that as he had witnessed of Christ in Jerusalem, it was necessary (dei) for him to witness also in Rome, Acts 23:11.
    2. Yet, there arose a big obstacle to Paul's making it to Rome, the barrier of a murderous clique, 23:12-15:
      1. A group of 40 Jews took an oath neither to eat or drink until they had killed Paul, Acts 23:12-13.
      2. Having taken this oath, they went to the religious leaders with a plan of arranging for the captain to bring Paul into the sanhedrin for questioning so they could ambush and kill him en route, Acts 23:14-15.
    3. Well, Christ promised to be with the disciples with His divine sovereignty as they discipled, Mtt. 28:19-20.
    4. Accordingly, the Lord Jesus sovereignly used divine institutions to rescue Paul from this unlawful clique:
      1. Christ arranged for Paul's nephew to hear of the plot and to be upset about it, Acts 23:16a.
      2. The Lord arranged for this relative to go to Paul and warn him about the plot to kill him, Acts 23:16b.
      3. Well, the Lord had arranged for Roman law to protect a Roman citizen until he was officially convicted of a crime, and He had arranged for Paul's parents to obtain his Roman citizenship at birth, 22:25-29.
      4. Thus, Paul told a centurion to take his nephew to the captain with news of the plot, Acts 23:17.
      5. When the nephew then reported to the chief captain about the plot, the captain realized that he would be in trouble with Rome if he didn't protect Paul as a Roman from the Jews, and arranged for Paul's legal, quick and secretive departure to his superior in Caesarea, Acts 23:18-24. (B.K.C., N.T., p. 420)
      6. Since the captain was required to write a document declaring why he was sending the prisoner to his superior (Ibid.), the captain wrote in the document that Paul was innocent of the charges, something that importantly influenced his superiors at Caesarea in the future, Acts 23:25-28, 29-30. (Ibid.)
      7. Then, Paul received a government military escort especially catered to protect him from ambush:
        1. Paul was put on horseback with an escort of 200 Roman spearmen and 70 horsemen, Acts 23:23-24.
        2. The horsemen escorted Paul out of Jerusalem through very rugged terrain for 7-8 miles until Joppa as this area was conducive to ambush, Ibid. When they reached open country where such an ambush was unlikely, the horsemen returned and Paul was led onward by the spearmen for the last 27 miles.
        3. This all occurred between 9:00 p.m. until Paul reached Caesarea the next day, making it practically impossible for an effective ambush to occur against Paul, Ibid., Acts 23:23, 31-33.
      8. In Caesarea, a less sensitive city than Jerusalem, Paul was safe from the murderous Jerusalem clique.
Lesson: As the institutions of FAMILY and GOVERNMENT are ordained of GOD (cf. Gen. 2:24 and Rom. 13:1-4 respectively), and as Christ is SOVEREIGN over the believer's ministry to disciple (Mtt. 28:19-20), Christ used these divine institutions to pro tect Paul from the unlawful, murderous clique: (a) Paul's extended family exposed the clique's plot, (b) the Roman government's rules and officials were used to RESPECT what Paul's immediate family, his (c) PARENTS had done in giving him citizenship so Paul could head out of Jerusalem and closer to Christ's assignment in Rome!

Application: If any group seeks to obstruct our being at God's geographical assignment for our service, God will sovereignly override that group's efforts, and often by His ordained institutions of family and government, so that we can fulfill His service at the LOCATION He assigns us!

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