Let's stand together for the reading of God's word. The title of today's sermon is Be of Good Cheer. We'll be focusing on Acts chapter 23, verse 11. I'll be reading from verse 30 of the prior chapter through to verse 15 of chapter 23. Please listen carefully, brothers and sisters, because this is God's holy and infallible word. The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them. Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall, for you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law? And those who stood by said, do you revile God's high priest? Then Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. Then there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks. 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. 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. And thus ends the reading of God's word. Amen. Amen. Please be seated. So our Heavenly Father is making us like His Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, our Lord and our Friend. That's what God is doing. And in His great and eternal love for us as people, God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of Jesus. That's what He's doing. All of life serves this grand purpose of God without exception, according to His perfect providence in our lives. This is very comforting, isn't it? But this metamorphosis is often painful. We see that in scripture. Are we not compared to clay in the hand of the potter? Mashed and spinning. I don't know if they had spinning wheels back then, but I guess they probably did. Mashed and spinning. That's you and me. Often disfigured, misshapen and ugly in the process. Sometimes flying off the wheel and starting over. That's you and me. But the potter never gives up. And when he gets us just right, then comes the heat to fix those changes. Only the potter can see the final product ahead of time. When we look in the mirror, it doesn't look pretty sometimes, and it's not. In addition, we are compared to precious metals, aren't we? Melted to boiling by life's great heat, sifted deeply over and over again of our dross. over and over again until our maker can see his face clearly in our reflection. He keeps bringing the heat to separate us from the practice of sin to grant us the daily experience of the crucifixion of our flesh. Purity of heart is what we want. We want to be satisfied fully with the goodness of the Lord. Now he will have us to have pure hearts. This is what he's doing. He will have us to have pure hearts, fully satisfied in his goodness as we open today in our worship and our call to worship. He promises that his people will be satisfied with the goodness of the Lord. And this will free us from that killing shaping, the worldly conforming that occurs from our idols. The idols that we go after because of our fear. Because we don't trust God. We don't really believe Him. We can't see Him. We can't feel Him. Like Paul in today's text, we feel like we're alone in a cell with nobody to talk to us and everything falling apart. Regretting the past. Worried about the future and alone in the moment with our own emotions swirling and the thoughts getting out of control. Paul needed cheer. That's why Jesus came to him. Paul's faith was not big enough for the situation he was in. So we need this too. And there's deep comfort available in his presence every moment. There is no cell dark enough or deep enough. that he can't pierce if we will but look to him. A lot of times I think that's probably what Paul did. He probably knew he didn't have enough faith. He probably sensed that he was like that bruised reed or that smoking wick He probably knew he was like what would be written about later in Hebrews with hands down and feeble knees and weak and that he needed to be strengthened. Like he would write to Timothy later to have faith and not give way to fear. And this, brothers and sisters, this is where we have to be if we want to know real fruit and peace for his kingdom. When we're bound up in fear and given over to idols, we really are hamstrung in terms of fruitfulness, especially in our prayer lives. We don't have that boldness, that confidence that we need. Today we see Jesus bringing Paul further into the power and the love and the sobriety, the sober mindedness, the clear thinking of the Christian life, the pure rationality of heaven. Now, will we also go further in today, further up and further in? Will you see your need today as well? Do you have a dark cell in your life that you deal with? A place where you're alone and you feel like no one's there to help you? Well, Jesus is there. Jesus will help you. Well, we believe the word that Jesus spoke spoke to his disciples the night that he was betrayed. Last night he was with them. He said, These things I've spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but and here he says it to them, there be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Will we believe this? Will we receive this commandment or will we continue to coddle our souls? Will we indulge ourselves or will we be like the psalmist in Psalm 42 when he says, why are you downcast? Oh, my soul, put your hope in God. He didn't say, oh, I'm hungry. Oh, I'm angry. Oh, I'm tired. Oh, I'm whatever. I'm alone, Lord. The Jews haven't come to visit me. The Christians haven't come to visit me. Where's James? Where are the apostles? Where are the elders? Why am I alone in this prison? The Jews hate me. I love them. The Romans, they don't care about me. They're probably gonna kill me. Where are you, Lord? Maybe I said something wrong. Maybe I didn't say the right thing, Lord. Maybe I didn't represent you well. Maybe my life's just gonna end in obscurity here and everything I've done across the Aegean and the Adriatic is just for nothing. So Paul needed Jesus. He needed Jesus, and we do too. He needed to look to Jesus and trust in him, and we do too. So we'll look at Paul's current situation, and we'll see how Jesus stands by Paul and speaks to him. The next night after all this happened, Jesus comes to him in the dark of the night, stands by him, and speaks to him. And he has a message to him. He says, be of good cheer, Paul. Be of good cheer. It's a commandment, and it's a wonderful promise. And he gives the reasons for good cheer. One is implied, and that is that he's with him. All right, and the next are clear. Two of them are implied because he's with them and he's speaking, but then he gives comforting words, words of comfort about the past and words of comfort about the future. And as usual, some questions for each of us to consider our own lives in light of these wondrous truths before us today. So let's recall Paul's current situation in verse 10 of chapter 23. Now, when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing unless Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks. So things had not gone well when Paul had laid out his love for his people there before the Pharisees and the Sadducees and his great hope that he would be used of God to perhaps bring them into salvation. His own countrymen are filled up with hatred and murderous desires toward him. They're like ravenous wolves chasing a prey. And I want us to recall his love for his countrymen and think what he's going through. I tell you the truth in Christ, this is Romans 9. I tell you the truth in Christ, I'm not lying. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. We've looked at this over and over again. It's a great miracle. I mean, think about what these people have done to him. You think that he could just love his enemies like this on his own power? But he does. And he doesn't just love them a little bit. His genuine, deep fondness and affection and longing for them to be saved. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. Listen to what he's willing to give up. This is love. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love. This is the spirit of love that God gives to His faithful people. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came, who is overall the eternally blessed God. Amen. So how does Paul feel at this moment in the dark cell that night towards those who are filled up with hate against him? As he's recalling their murderous heart towards him, he's filled with great sorrow. A mountain of sadness and not just sometimes he says, but it's he's continually waiting about in this vast grief. He has this inside and it's over those that he tenderly references as his brethren, he calls them his countrymen, not only in general, but surely in specifics. Think about it. He was raised up at the feet of Gamaliel there in Jerusalem. It only makes sense that some of these people were his true friends, that he had loved life with and enjoyed worshiping God with. And he lost them when he began following Jesus Christ, and he mourned over the state of their souls. These brethren, these fellow countrymen are the very ones outside the fortress Antonia Barak seeking his death, and he knows it, and as we read today also, Not only what we saw before, but they're planning a conspiracy, at least 40 of them, to kill him. They're conspiring with the Romans, with the Jews, or I guess with the Jews to kill him. So think of it, like Jesus, Paul's love for the Jewish people, his unceasing efforts to bring them to Christ for salvation, are all received by these whom he loves as offense. His efforts in love are received as offense. And all he gets in return is hatred. In Acts chapter 1, Peter points us to Psalm 109 to understand this terrible experience. Remember, Peter is talking about Judas, who's gone, because they've got to replace him. And he references Psalm 109. It's the same thing that Paul's going through. The mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful have opened against me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. In return for my love, they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love. Set a wicked man over him and let an accuser stand at his right hand. When he is judged, let him be found guilty and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be few and let another take his office. That last bit there is what Peter quotes, but it shows us what Jesus went through and what Paul went through and really what every Christian throughout history who has been betrayed has been through. So alone in the dark of the night, apparently with no visitors at all, Paul is experiencing this ocean of grief over the Jews there within the Gentile barracks. Safe in body, apparently, but sad in soul. Surely this man of faith, he hasn't lost his faith, He's crying out to God and based upon Jesus' words to Paul, as I've said, we know that he's not of good cheer before Jesus stands by him and speaks to him. This courage, this confidence in Paul was waning. He was threatened at that moment. He was wobbling. Do you wobble? Do you cry out to God when you wobble or do you turn Give way to your fears and reach out to idols instead. Paul didn't. Now, in addition to the Jews and what he's experienced there in terms of this dark night, he's in Roman custody and he knows that his life is in danger and his future ministry for Christ is uncertain. He's not sure what's coming. The apostle to the Gentiles has encircled the northern Mediterranean. He's done it in this part of the world multiple times. And you know, his soul longs to continue to minister to those and to the Jews. He's probably beginning to mourn a bit about not getting a chance anymore or not really knowing what the future holds for him. So in sum, and he's probably tired And of course, his body is hurting. He's been beaten. Remember? Like they were trying to kill him. So his soul is swallowed with the deep darkness of grief and uncertainty. And he is alone at night in a Roman prison. And he needs encouragement and comfort. He's in distress. He's lacking strength and courage at this point in time. And as we'll see, he's also experiencing regrets. Jesus needs to help him see that what he said to the Jews was good. So all these things are swirling in his mind. And I don't know, maybe he couldn't sleep. You ever have nights like this when your brain just goes and you can't sleep? Sometimes when we can't sleep, it's because we need more faith. We need Jesus. We need to look at Him and look away from ourselves and our problems and remember who He is and what He has done for us. But our faith is weak and we don't see like we should sometimes. And the Lord in His goodness conforming us to the likeness of Jesus takes us through circumstances that are greater than the faith we have. This is His sifting. This is His conforming work. This is kindness. We see this, don't we, in good coaching. You think about physical activities. You always want to stretch that person beyond what they can do. And let them experience growing and gaining extra skill. You throw that curveball to that kid until he finally hits it. This is what God does for us in our lives. He takes us through things that require greater faith than we have at that moment. And so Jesus, of course, I think he knows this about Paul, and what does he do? In this moment, Jesus chooses to come to him in person. 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. So the first thing that I want us to see here is that Jesus stood by Paul. He was present and he was visible to Paul. Did Jesus touch Paul? Did Jesus embrace Paul? Did he put his hands on his shoulders and look him in the eyes as he spoke these words of comfort? We don't know. We're not told. But Jesus himself physically came alongside Paul for this message. He did not send an angel. He did not speak in a mysterious way to him by his spirit alone, but instead he came in person and he not only stood by him, but he spoke aloud to him. He was not silent. You know, he spoke words that Paul heard with his ears, the very voice of Jesus in the dark night of that prison, like when the apostles could eat fish with Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after he was raised from the dead. He was there with Him. And while we don't have this same kind of experience in our lives, we have the bread and the wine. And we have one another. And Jesus gives us very real and tangible experiences of His presence with us, if we will have the eyes of faith to see that. So what is the content of Christ's message? He gives Him a personal commandment that is good news. He says to him, he commands him, be of good cheer, Paul. He calls him by name. So it's very personal. It's a commandment. It's a comfort. So nobody calls him by name. Jesus knows Paul. Jesus knows Paul. And he commands him to be of good cheer. He doesn't come and give him a ubiquitous message on letterhead that he could just give to everyone. He gives him a specific message that he needs to hear at that moment because he knows Paul's need. He gives him a commandment to be of good cheer. So Jesus' presence accompanies his commandment to Paul. And that's always true for us as well. His commandments When we hear them in faith, Jesus accompanies his commandments to us. We're not on our own and left to obey him without his strength. We'll fail. And again, I want to emphasize what Jesus didn't say. Jesus didn't coddle his temptation towards discouragement. He didn't coddle his temptation towards the sinful path that we can go down when we face these types of struggles. He gave them a very direct commandment in that moment. Be of good cheer. You know, sometimes we make excuses for our despair. We make excuses for dwelling in the past. We make excuses for pointing to all of the uncertainty and the lack of hope. We make excuses because look how powerful the world around us is and how sick all the institutions of the world are. We make excuses. Jesus did not go there with Paul. Jesus did not indulge Paul's excuse-making apparatus. And that's what our flesh is. Not only, as Calvin says, are we all little idle factories, but along with that is we're little excuse-making factories. You've probably heard about it as your inner lawyer. Justifying. Well, anybody would feel this way. I'm alone in a dark prison. Be of good cheer. I probably blew it when I spoke to the Jews. That's why they're so mad at me. Be of good cheer. What does the future hold? What's coming? Be of good cheer. The Romans are so strong. The Jews are so strong. Be of good cheer. So I hope that we will understand that Jesus did not coddle Paul. He did not indulge his temptation towards sin that he surely would have been experiencing at that moment. Did he sin? I'm not saying he did. But in that time when he needed Jesus to come, it's like the psalmist saying, why are you downcast, O my soul? Put your hope in God. That's the first step where we go wrong. Got to identify it, see it and hear God's commandment. This idea of good cheer, it comes from this Greek word that means to be of good courage or good cheer, and it's this verb tense is the imperative. It is a direct commandment to Paul at that moment. It's not Jesus coming saying, oh, it's going to be OK and patting him on the back. No, he comes beside him as his tender savior and commands his soul to be of good cheer. That's what we need. And when he's with us, we'll love the commandment. When he's with us, we'll be able to see with the eyes we need to actually obey him, to take courage, to be strong and courageous. to be bold, to be open and clear in our speech about who Jesus Christ is and what he has done. There's a lot of places we see this in the scripture. We see it in Job. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling and you have strengthened the feeble knees. And at the Red Sea, Moses said to the people, fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. which he will show to you today for the Egyptians you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. Think of your problems. Think of your struggles. Think of your dark nights and look where God has delivered before and ask yourself, can he, will he deliver me? And as Rachel was dying while giving birth to Benjamin and this woman's dying and it came to pass when she was in hard labor, That the midwife said unto her, fear not, thou shalt have this son also. That's that idea of fear not. That's be of good cheer. That's take courage. Be confident in your God. the paralytic on his bed. Then behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. It turns out this is a frequent phrase of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said it before the woman bleeding for 12 years and suddenly a woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years came from behind. and touched the hem of his garment. Remember, she'd suffered many things at the hands of many positions. She was out of money. And yet Jesus, for she said to herself, if only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well. And what did Jesus do? He turned around and when he saw her, he said, be of good cheer, daughter, for your faith has made you well. And the woman was made well from that hour. We've got the terrified disciples on display as well. Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It's a ghost. And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid. Take heart. Reject your fear. Take up courage. Be confident in the Lord. a persistent blind man. Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have mercy on me. So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then he called the blind man, saying to him, Be of good cheer. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, Be of good cheer, rise. He is calling you. What are you facing in your life? Be of good cheer. The Last Supper, these things is what Jesus said. These things I have spoken to you. We've heard this today already. That in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Your savior. He also knows your name. He knows where you are in your life. He knows where every individual is in their lives. He knows where his church is today. And if the church as one could rise up, and hear this phrase and obey it, be of good cheer, church, we would see new things. We would see new things. You'll see new things in your life when you obey this commandment to be of good cheer. So do you believe that Jesus will draw near to you and command you into good cheer today and every day? no matter what circumstance that you will find yourself in. And do you see that this is an ongoing need? This isn't just for these really bad moments. Why was Paul able to draw near to Christ in this really bad moment? Because his habit, the habit of his soul was to always be drawn near to Christ. So this is essentially the same need that we've contemplated multiple times throughout the book of Acts. since we first encountered it in Acts chapter four, and I'm gonna read it to us again. For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now what we don't see here is, oh, woe is me, there is no hope, it's too hard, the world's going to hell in a handbasket. And I'm going with it. No. They looked to God. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness. This be of good cheer is very similar to this boldness. The idea of boldness here is not just courage like we've talked about before in the face of any threat, but it's a specific demonstration of that courage in open speech, clear and open speech before all men, right? So you're going to be, the devil wants to silence you, right? Your sin, your flesh doesn't want to lose things, reputation, job, Right? Life, freedom. And so, what is the goal of the devil? To silence you. And this boldness, specifically, not only is it just courage in the face of any evil, but it's courage to continue to speak clearly the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who he is. What he has done. The call for all men everywhere to repent. And for us to be his ambassadors in every single place where we go. So Paul, he didn't even ask for others to pray that he would be bold. Jesus knows that he needs to be encouraged. Now, this cheerfulness that we need, it goes along with this confidence. Confidence and cheerfulness go together. You find me somebody who's grumpy all the time and easily irritated, and they're probably also not able to be courageous in difficult situations. There is that they're twin sisters, they travel together. We cannot be bold and confident if we are not cheerful in his presence and word. And we receive this only by his spirit and his word. We're going to praise him today. We're going to clap our hands today during worship when we sing Psalm 47 after this. And we're going to express our confidence in God with joyful hearts by his grace today. But I want to ask you, what gets in the way of this? Well, I'll give you three things. Fear, fear, and fear. That's what gets in the way. Fear. Doubled, fear tripled, fear quadrupled. And Timothy struggled with this. And Paul wrote to him to help shake him out of it. We've looked at this scripture already, but this gives you a little background. Timothy, his good son in the faith, was also struggling with this. I thank God whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forefathers did. As without ceasing, I remember you in my prayers night and day. This is Paul writing to Timothy later on in his life. This is probably the last book that Paul wrote. Some think that actually he was so old that Luke was kind of writing it down for him. Verse four, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears. Timothy's been crying. That I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you. Does he coddle Timothy? He's like, yeah, the people are treating you terrible, you're right, the culture's awful, you got a hard job, you need a raise. No, no. He says, he points to that most precious thing, the faith that God has given to him. Which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Now, why does Paul say it that way? Because Timothy may not be so persuaded at that moment. You know, sometimes others see more faith in you than you see in yourself. helping to read the book of your life. Therefore, Paul says to him, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. OK, you know, I'm going to stare at your sins and your problems and the hindrances and the hurdles that whatever's made him cry. You're not going to look at that. You're going to look at who God is. You're going to look at the faith that he's given to you. You're going to look with that faith to him. And using all the means of grace, you're going to stir up that faith in your life. Timothy is commanded to stir up his faith at this moment. Oh, Timothy, it'll be OK. No, no, it's not going to be OK if he doesn't stir up his faith and look to Jesus. And then he says this, for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and a sound mind. So Timothy had begun to demonstrate somehow this spirit of fear. Do you see that demonstration in your life? Do you look back on your life and see that you've shed tears because of fear? It appears to be what was going on with Timothy. And also it appears as though perhaps Timothy had gotten through into a phase where he was weak and maybe selfish and kind of confused. Because that's what goes along with it. Whenever we give way to fear, we've talked about this before, we lose power. We get self-focused. Service feels like a horrible chore instead of a joy. And we get confused. We don't have discernment. We don't think rationally. And we're living in a place where fear has got a hold of us. So Paul was in need that night in many, many different ways. it appears his deepest need was to take his eyes off of his emotions and his situation and place them upon Jesus Christ. And now this is a gaze transition. Now, you've all, if you're a Christian, you've been through this. You've experienced this where you're kind of catastrophizing, you're down, you're just all focused on all the problems in your life and your own sin or the sin of others. And you get a gaze transition from God. Where he takes your eyes off of all of that and puts your eyes of faith upon him. Crucified, resurrected, ascended and reigning. Convinces you again of the forgiveness of your sins, washed them all away. And shows you again and gives you a deeper taste of his love for you at this very moment. And his control of everything that's going on in your life. So his heart released those fears and his faith probably grew. And he, it appears, obeyed God and stepped into that good cheer, the joy of courage. You know, those two things, that's the strength. Often joy rejoicing is almost synonymous with the word for strength. They go together. And from that. From that place of faith instead of fear, we have the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We genuinely experience transformation in our own lives, and we find ourselves in a spot participating, watching, seeing the Holy Spirit at work in those around us. Power. And we're happy about laying down our lives for others. We want opportunities to serve out of hearts of pure goodwill, not with manipulative strings attached. And we see more clearly. We read the books of our own lives better and others, and we perceive the lies and the deceptions that are kind of bouncing around in the world around us. But you see, where we're not walking in faith, just how quickly things can go awry. All the allurements of this world and the things that in and of themselves are not bad become unto us idols so quickly. They put a salve, a little band-aid on that pain inside, that fear inside. We get a little hit to fix it. So I want to ask you, do you realize that fear paralyzes you? binds you up in selfishness and self-focus and confuses your mind, fragmenting your discernment. And this will lead to tangible, discernible, poor decisions and bad behaviors. And it will bring harm to the lives of others. And a lot of times you'll even think that you're honoring God as you do it. Bring regret into your life. Beware of fear, brothers and sisters. Let us always pray for one another in that regard. And of course, fear that the twin nasty that goes along with fear is idolatry. Because fear is connected to not having enough faith to look to God. So you've got to find somewhere to look. So you'll make those idols for yourself. Right. Money, relationships, reputation, jobs, security, comfort. sex, drugs, whatever kind of addictions and craziness that could be out there, and even the good things that God gives us in our lives, we can turn into bad things. So Jesus is present now. This is really important. This is the first reason for good cheer. Before moving into the words of comfort from Jesus, first, we want to observe that Jesus is there with him. Jesus stands next to Paul. Paul can see his precious face and hear his glorious voice. We've talked about this. He didn't skyride it with an airplane, which they didn't have. He didn't send an angel, right? He didn't have a mouse come up and squeak it to Paul. He came in person. Now, while we may not ever have such an experience in this life, Jesus has given us his word, and I would say we probably won't have such an experience in our lives. Jesus has given us his word and his spirit to stand beside us every step of the way. And I want to emphasize also, Jesus gave us the Lord's Supper. physical experience of his presence available to us every Lord's Day until we see him face to face and not available to you anywhere else. And this is really important in today's world where The gospel ministry of the elder has been rejected and said, you know, we're all priests, which is true in one sense, but not true in the sense they make it. Or the dignity of the church has been thrown aside with ecclesiastical anarchical thinking. Bible study at home on Wednesday night with friends is good enough. And does the Lord meet them there? Yes. Might He bless them there? Yes, yes, yes. In the same way as you and I will experience today with the bread and the wine? No. In the same way that you're experiencing here today in corporate worship, biblically regulated corporate worship submitted to God, approaching Him the way His Word tells us to? No. It's very unique, what we're experiencing. So when Jesus came to Paul there in the dark of that night, We want to step back and say, OK, how do we get near Jesus? How do we draw near to Jesus? Brothers and sisters, always be a member in good standing of a Protestant evangelical church and participate in corporate worship and enjoy the preaching of the word. Participate in the Lord's Supper every single day, every single Lord's Day until you die. And go there looking for Jesus. To worship him, to praise him. Commentary says, the Lord stood by him, came to his bedside, though perhaps it was but a bed of straw. To show him that he was all the day long with him really assures he was in the night with him visibly. So note this, whoever is against us, we need not fear if the Lord stand by us. If he undertake our protection, we may set those that seek our ruin at defiance. The Lord is with those that uphold my soul, and then nothing can come amiss. So is this how you approach the worship of God? whether you're alone with Him or whether it's in your family or today on Lord's Day, do you come in seeking His very presence? Now again, the fruit of not trusting in His presence is fear and idolatry. So whenever there's faith gaps in the situation we're going through, unless we cry out to Him and see our faith increase, we're going to go through really hard times and temptations we cannot overcome in those moments without more faith. That's where fear and idolatry comes in. And guess what? We can do it for so long that we don't even realize that's what we're doing. So what are the reasons for good cheer? Well, Jesus, not only with him, he's speaking. He's not silent in his presence. His most comforting presence is magnified by his most comforting word. So are you living and walking not only in the presence of God, but also in the word of God? There's a lot of people say, well, I pray all the time. I'm always with God, but they never open their Bibles. They never memorize scripture, they never meditate on scripture. You won't know the increase of faith that you need if that's the life that you live. Right. You need to have his presence accompanied by his word, his word accompanied by his presence. So, again, the fruit of not trusting in his presence and his word is fear and idolatry. So we don't believe it. We're going to turn in fear to other helps and we'll become more fearful and more like what I'm calling frozen death. Psalm 115 teaches us about this. And this kind of assembly is not appealing. This kind of a group of people is not appealing. There's a coldness and a death over it that is just an aroma of unpleasantness, okay? Whereas when the fear is blown away, there's courage, there's joy, there's true joy. See, fear just undercuts our joy. I'm gonna read all of Psalm 115. So helpful. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory because of your mercy, because of your truth, Why should the Gentiles say, so where is their God? But our God is in heaven. He does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. So here he's going to give the contrast between God and idols. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes they have, but they do not see. They have ears, but they do not hear. Noses they have, but they do not smell. They have hands. But they do not handle feet they have, but they do not walk, nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them. So is everyone who trusts in them. And from this comes the reality that we are becoming like that which we worship. That is the reality. We are becoming like that which we worship. O Israel, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord. He is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great. These are the promises that we need to believe that grow our faith. May the Lord give you increase more and more. You and your children may be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens are the Lord's, but the but the earth he has given to the children of men. So what did these idols make? Nothing. What did God make? Everything. The dead do not praise the Lord nor any who go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and evermore. Praise the Lord. Brothers and sisters, if we do not fear the Lord, we will fear this world. There are only two options of what you will fear. And the process of sanctification could be seen through this grid. How much of your fear has been taken out and replaced with faith? How many of your idols have been thrown away because you don't need them anymore? If we do not fear the Lord, we will fear this world. And in that place, we will create for us Impotent helps to trust things that do not really help us. And that in that will fabricate a false world of security. We'll think that we're safe, surrounded by these idols that we think are so special, but they are not. It will become like them stiff, wooden, impotent. unattractive, cold, and all our efforts to love will be forced, will be forced. They'll be, they'll sense, they'll seem fabricated to those around us, filled up with the flesh. That's what, that's what happens when we try to love, when we're riddled with idols. It's a mixture. It's an unpleasant mixture. Do you see this in your life? Is this a part of your life? Often we'll know this when our idols are addressed, whether it's in God's Word or something someone says, and we feel offended. We get touchy. That's a spot for you to look at, a spot for you to consider. Where do you get touchy? Next. the specific reasons for good cheer that he gives to him, words of comfort about the past. He says, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so clearly Paul, he's commending him, but you have to think Paul was wondering, should I have actually thrown that bomb in there to separate the Pharisees and Sadducees? Was that out of fear? Did I do that because I didn't really want to share the whole gospel with him? I don't know. But clearly he needed encouragement about his actions in Jerusalem. So Jesus helps Paul rest regarding the words he had spoken in Jerusalem since his arrival. Jesus shuts down Paul's temptation to perseverate, you know, the going over and over and over and over again in your mind. I should have said this. I should have said that. Oh, I should have done this. Jesus stops that. So do regrets paralyze your mind in the night? How do you deal with the awareness of past failures? Do you flee to him immediately? Be of good cheer. Even though you did fail, even though you did fail, Jesus still calms regrets. And by commending Paul's words in Jerusalem, Jesus further commenced Paul's decision to go to Jerusalem in the first place. Remember, we talked about that. There was controversy between him and his friends. Commentary says it is the will of Christ that his servants who are faithful should be always cheerful. Perhaps Paul, in the reflection, began to be jealous of himself, whether he had done well in what he said to the council the day before. But Christ, by his word, satisfies him that God approved of his conduct. Or perhaps it troubled him that his friends did not come to be with him. But Christ's visit did itself speak, even though he had not yet said, be of good cheer, Paul. further reasons for good cheer, or words of comfort, not just about the past, but also about the future. He says, so you must also bear witness at Rome. And we know Paul had written he wanted to go to Rome. He desired to go to Rome. Regrets about the past and that dark self, swirling fears and sadnesses within him, and the looming uncertainty about the future all combined together within Paul's soul alone at night in that cell. And we can imagine he's crying out to God. And Jesus has calmed his regrets with his word and his grief and his fears with his presence and his commandment to be of good cheer. And now Jesus moves on to quiet the uncertainty, the distemper of soul that threatens his hope. He comes to increase his faith. He comes to increase his hope and solidify his hope, the anchor behind the veil. Commentary says Jesus assures Paul that he had not yet finished his testimony, nor was by his imprisonment laid aside us as useless, but was only reserved for further service. Nothing disheartened Paul so much as the thought of being taken off from doing service to Christ and good to souls. Fear not, says Christ, I have not done with thee. And Paul seems to have had a particular fancy and an innocent one to go to Rome to preach the gospel there, though it was already preached and a church already planted there. Yet being a citizen of Rome, he longed for a journey thither and had designed it. After I've been at Jerusalem, I must also see Rome. And he'd written to the Romans some time ago that he longed to see them as well in Romans 1. Now he's ready to conclude that this had broken his measures and he should never see Rome. But even in that, Christ tells him he should be gratified since he desired it for the honor of Christ and to do good. So how do you deal? How do you deal with the future? It appears as though Paul had a strong desire to go to Rome. I have some strong desires about the future. Do you have some strong desires about the future? Things that you believe God has called you to seek to accomplish in your lifetime before you die? Do you have things that you hope to see finished? Are you ever in a spot where you think, it's not going to happen. I'm not going to get to see it with my own eyes. Will this church ever be established? Will we ever get out of limbo? I have dark nights over this, brothers and sisters, because I long to see it so deeply. I'm sure you have similar things in your heart and your life as well that you want to be a part of achieving for God's glory, for his name. What if he doesn't do that? How will you deal with the future? Do you allow the current state of your soul, your past regrets and the grinding forces of worldly powers to obtain your soul's focus as men can be women and women can be men and they can punch each other in the face for medals on international TV? The world has gone mad. Does this shape the state of your soul? causing you to multiply fearful thoughts in your mind of the night, giving you to focus on all that is wrong and misshapen? Or do you know that Jesus is with you now? And that if you will listen with the ears of faith, you will hear him speaking to you by his word and spirit. And that he will command peace in your soul by his word and by his spirit. Do you appropriate this? Do you receive His comfort regarding the past and His great courage regarding His plans for the future of your life and this world and finally into eternal bliss? Where there is no vision, the people perish, we are told. Paul received a vision from Jesus at that time to know the future. We may not have such clarity in our lives, but we know Enough of what Jesus has said about the future of this world in our own lives. To be filled with the same good cheer that Paul received from Jesus that night. In the mid 50s. Some 20, 25 years or so after Jesus ascended into heaven. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I have not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. That's our future. So how would you characterize your own soul in light of what you've heard today? Do you see power, love, and a sound mind in your life? Or do you see evidences of fear and lack of faith with weakness, with impotence? Struggling in your life against sin, for example. That's a sign of fear. If you're doing the same sin over and over and over again and you're trying to quit and you don't quit, a lot of times that's because of a lack of faith. That weakness, that absence of power over sin. Selfishness, you want to serve, you want to help others, but you just sit there instead. Sometimes. You want to have clear thoughts about your life and about the future, but you're always confused and you don't know what to do. Or sometimes like that. Brothers and sisters, we we have our sin to deal with, and I hope that this helps us understand how our souls work a little better today. The key fact being that where we don't have enough faith to deal with the situation in our life, we're being stretched by God. It is a gift. We have a choice to make in that moment. Will we trust God or not? And if we have the habit of not trusting God and fearfully turning to our idols as a way of life, we may not see that we need to repent and be changed. Right? So we've already talked about it today. We pray to God. Search me and know me. Show me if there be any wicked way within. Hear the comforting and strengthening and commanding words of Jesus, brothers and sisters. Be of good cheer, Christian. Look to Him. And be free. Truly free. fear, idols, and a feeble, self-focused, delirious existence. Rise up in the fresh air of faith and walk in power and love and a sound mind more and more each day. Let us pray. Almighty and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, we confess our sinful lack of faith to you and how we so often multiply excuses and idols to calm the convictions within and the fears within. Bless us today. We pray, oh God, to grow beyond this, to lay aside fears, to lay aside idols, to grow up in faith and to experience your presence in a new and more powerful way. Even in this day, unto greater power, love and sober minded living all for the sake of your glory, oh God, and for our joy in Jesus name. Amen.