In his sermon titled 'Loving Our Enemies for Christ's Sake,' Peter Allison delves into Acts 21, focusing on the Apostle Paul's experiences in Jerusalem. Paul, much like Jesus 25-30 years earlier, faced persecution from unbelieving Jews and was ultimately protected by Roman soldiers. Allison highlights the comparison between Paul's journey and that of Jesus, noting the prophetic warnings and emotional farewells that both faced. Despite the mistreatment, Paul demonstrated love towards his enemies by seeking opportunities to share the Gospel. The sermon contrasts the Jews' unjust treatment of Paul with the Roman's efforts to maintain order, showcasing Paul's wisdom and humility in addressing the Roman commander. This act of love and readiness to share the Gospel is seen as pivotal in advancing God's kingdom, with Paul eventually speaking to Roman rulers and spreading the Gospel across new territories. Allison emphasizes that God uses adversities, like Paul's arrest, for greater purposes, including the spread of Christianity to regions otherwise inaccessible. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to love their enemies and trust God’s sovereign plans, drawing inspiration from Paul's example.

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Acts chapter 21. In many ways, this is a continuation, A very close continuation of what we looked at last week. I'd like to begin reading in the middle of Luke's account of Paul's visit to Jerusalem. Of Paul's visit to Jerusalem. Paul has arrived in Jerusalem, been greeted by the brethren, and then presented by this plan of the session, the Jewish session, Jewish elders there.

And we pick up with his beginning to carry this plan out in verse 27. Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 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 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. And he immediately took the soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

Then the commander came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains. And he asked who he was and what he had done. And some of The multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. And when he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob.

For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, away with him. Then, as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, May I speak to you? He replied, Can you speak Greek? Are you not the Egyptian who came some time ago, stirred up a rebellion, and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness? But Paul said, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people." So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people.

And when there was a great silence, He spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying, Brethren and Fathers, hear my defense before you now." The Word of God is forever settled in the heavens. Father, may You bring Your Word to us. May it be mixed with faith. May Your light illumine our hearts. Challenge our thinking.

Instruct us, Lord, and move us to greater zeal, greater obedience. And I ask that You would sanctify my sinful lips, that they may proclaim the riches of Your grace in Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen. Well, we've looked at this whole trip that Paul's taken. It's been many weeks, even months, since he started out from Ephesus, visiting places, preaching, and then traveling back to Jerusalem for Pentecost. And so in this trip, we've seen first how Paul fostered fellowship.

He fostered fellowship everywhere he went. He built relationships. And we saw that in many ways, not the least of which were the very poignant farewells that he had when he left these cities and places. One sign of deep fellowship. We saw also how he always was honoring the Sabbath and making modifications in his travels to be able to keep the Sabbath.

So we saw him fostering fellowship as he went on this trip. And then when we got to Jerusalem, we saw that again he preserved that fellowship in his interaction with the Jerusalem Session, with James, or as Zach calls it, James and the elders that he met with. They had an issue that they were dealing with in their church there. A church that numbered tens of thousands of people across the city, across that region. And they put a plan forward for Paul to follow, which we see that he followed it, even though there were many, I'm sure, disappointments to him in what happened and what transpired.

So we looked at all those last week. But this week then we want to see how Paul with the Jews, the unbelieving Jews now, and then Paul with the Romans. Paul with the unbelieving Jews, and Paul with the Romans. And it's really again, like last week, a single point message. And that is to see how Paul loved his enemies.

Paul preserved fellowship with the saints, and he loves his enemies. Paul is treated by the Jews much like Christ was treated by those same Jews, probably 25-30 years earlier. There are similarities even in their trip to Jerusalem. Both Paul and Jesus, when Jesus traveled to Jerusalem before His crucifixion, were aware that suffering and danger awaited them in Jerusalem. Jesus repeatedly told His disciples that he would be arrested and suffer and be killed.

And of course, the disciples couldn't understand that. Similarly, Paul was repeatedly warned by believers who were speaking in some cases by revelation from the Holy Spirit. That imprisonment and hardship awaited him in Jerusalem. But remember, he remained resolute in his decision to go. And there was also similarity in that The disciples didn't understand why he would be doing that.

Why their disciples in both cases would try to dissuade them from going, fearing for their safety. Jesus' disciples were concerned, were afraid as Jesus was going to Jerusalem. They recognized what awaited Jesus at Jerusalem. Both because they knew the hatred of the Jews for Him and because Jesus was telling them what was going to await Him. We see in both cases that there was a commitment to obey the calling of God, to obey God's will, to be faithful to their commission.

Jesus went to Jerusalem to fulfill His Messianic purpose and the will of the Father, culminating in His crucifixion and then resurrection and ascension. And Paul likewise, we are told, was compelled by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem believing it was God's will, God's purpose for him to testify and to deliver the Gospel there regardless of what personal cost might come to him there. He went not knowing the details, just knowing there was going to be trouble there. There was also prophetic confirmation in both cases. Jesus' crucifixion in Jerusalem was prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures and confirmed by His own predictions, prophecies.

And of course, We saw Agabus and others dramatically foretell Paul's arrest and binding in Jerusalem through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Both journeys involved emotional farewells. Think of Paul's farewell at Ephesus, his farewell when he left Tyre and the families, the children, the wives accompanied these men down to the boat. And then think of the Last Supper when John is reclining on Jesus' breast and they're having that last meal. And all the words that Jesus spoke to them, there you can read beginning in John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, the high priestly prayer, very deep words.

There was great affection that Jesus had for His disciples as a human, as a man. Both are arrested and turned over to the authorities upon arrival in Jerusalem. Jesus was arrested by the Jewish leaders and handed over to the Romans. Paul was seized by the Jews and handed over to the Romans for imprisonment. Now the point of these comparisons is not that Paul was somehow a type of Christ, but rather, or any great theological point, but The point is simply that Satan's opposition to Christ's kingdom follows the same techniques that he has been using from the beginning.

Lies have truths stirring up people through them to oppose the gospel. You see, Paul was simply being treated as Jesus said they would be and as all the other disciples were treated. All the other disciples, many of them were martyred in all over the world, from India up to Syria, Lebanon, and everywhere. Rome. And Jesus had said in John 15-20, Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also." So this is the point, this is what we see happening here. Paul is being treated just like Jesus said his disciples would be treated. And just like we can expect to be treated. And in these Jews, in rejecting Paul as these Jews did, they are actually rejecting God's only begotten Son.

They are continuing to reject their own Messiah. See, Paul was a minister of the Gospel. He was a messenger sent by God to proclaim the Gospel of His Kingdom. And we'll see here in this passage how He is kicked out of the temple and the doors are shut behind Him. They shut the doors when they drag him out.

And so, in dragging Paul out of the temple like that, the Jews weren't just dragging Paul out. Remember, they're rejecting Christ. They're dragging Christ out. The one in whose name Paul came. In 1 Corinthians 3, 9, Paul said, we are God's fellow workers.

We are God's fellow workers. You are God's field. You are God's building. There's other language and other places in Scripture where Paul talks about that they are ambassadors of God bringing reconciliation. So when they reject Paul, they're not just rejecting Paul.

They are rejecting the one in whose name Paul came as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when those temple doors are shut, that's significant. They are shutting God out. They're trying to shut God out of their temple. Shut Christ out of that temple.

Now, His Christ's glory doesn't depart that temple. God's glory doesn't depart that temple for a few more years. But it's only a few more years after this happens that God's glory forever departs the temple and it is forever destroyed. And two thousand years later, it is still destroyed, not one stone standing upon another one. So this is a very significant final rejection of the Gospel and of Christ.

And Paul describes it in his letter to the Romans as a blindness has come to them. A blindness has come to them in Romans 11. But it came in part because there were many Jews that were saved. But it was a blindness that came. And through that blindness, the Gentiles were brought in.

Jesus had wept over Jerusalem in Matthew 23, saying, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you are not willing. See, Your house is left to you desolate." And this is here, what's described here in them, seizing Paul, dragging him out of the temple and slamming the doors behind him is their final rejection. The final offer that God sends to them. And their rejection of it, it's the final time we read of the Gospel being proclaimed to them in Jerusalem, with the exception of some miraculous events that happen a few years later that are described in the book of Revelation.

And so what happens here? How does this begin? Well, it begins a lot like Jesus' arrest. They recognize that Paul, some of the Jews from Asia, and since they recognize Trophimus, and he's specifically listed as being from Asia, these are probably Jews from Ephesus. Remember, Paul spent three years in Ephesus.

These are the Jews that resisted Paul so much so that he had to leave the synagogue and go over to the school of Tyranus where he continued teaching. So they recognized this Greek, and they recognized Paul. Most of the Jews, unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem, may not recognize Paul. It had been a number of years since Paul was in Jerusalem. But these Jews from Asia recognized Paul and they recognized Trophimus and they make the completely unfounded assumption that Paul had brought him into the temple, Trophimus being a Greek.

And so they laid hands on him while they cry out for help like they are the ones being attacked. They stirred up the whole crowd with some lies, and they laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! In other words, help, help! They're the ones that are actually laying the hands on. And that's so very typical of wicked people.

They claim to be the victim of the person they are mistreating. And very often they are the ones committing the very crime that they are accusing the other people of doing. And you see this everywhere you look with the wicked. And you can point to many examples in our own society, just in the recent past of this kind of activity. But this is what's going on.

They laid hands on him and then they cry out for help like they're being attacked. They claim that he is defiling the temple. Well, what they claimed is they claimed He taught the people against the law, that He was against the temple, and that He defiled the temple by bringing a Greek into that temple that's part of the temple that's reserved only for Jews. So they claim he's defiling the temple while he's actually honoring the temple by coming to be purified. They claim he's breaking the law, he's against the law, while they're the ones that are actually breaking the law.

And we see that because under their law, under the Old Testament law, under biblical law, a person must be treated as innocent until they're proven guilty. So there's nothing that's been done that Paul has done, there's nothing that's witnessed by the crowd that could justify this. He's just finished fulfilling a Jewish vow. And he's in the temple. He's not like a Jew.

He's not acting like a Gentile. There has to be a public trial before a court, before there can be punishment. And they have ignored that. A person couldn't be beaten prior to the trial. But Even if he did deserve to be beaten, it had to be done in front of a judge.

And that's being ignored. Fourth, the law required an investigation. You had to bring something to the civil magistrates and there had to be an investigation. There has to be witnesses. There has to be an opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses.

There has to be a chance to present a defense. And all these are requirements in the law that they have completely ignored. Witnesses had to take oaths before they could testify. And if you didn't believe in God, you weren't a qualified witness. And that continued even into our nation.

All these requirements of the law, their own law that they profess to know and to follow, they're ignoring completely while they're accusing Paul of being against the law. They also accuse him of bringing a Greek into the temple. Again, without any evidence, without any basis. It was an assumption they made. And that tells you just how dangerous assumptions can be.

And again, this is another thing that's very common all too often among Christians. You see two things and you put them together to arrive at a third conclusion that is completely unfounded. It may be possible given those two things. That's maybe one possible outcome, but it's not the actual outcome. And that's very dangerous because when we do that, we make an assumption, maybe a reasonable assumption, It may be a possible assumption, it may even be a probable assumption, but it's still an assumption and it's liable to be wrong as much as it can be right.

And that's what they do here. They saw this Greek with Paul somewhere outside the temple, and then they see Paul in the temple, and they say, well, Paul brought a Greek into the temple. It's particularly a problem when we have a dislike for something. When you're dealing with somebody who's opposed us, or an enemy, you can call them an enemy. They're attacking us.

We're more likely to make these unfavorable assumptions. Of course, Paul was their avowed enemy, and they made this assumption that's completely untrue and it's a significant accusation because that was one law that brought the death penalty that they were authorized to carry out. And we have, archaeologists have recovered signs, at least a couple, I think at least two. And so we know the exact wording of what was on these signs. No Gentile may enter within the railing around the sanctuary and within the enclosure.

Whoever shall be caught will render himself liable to the death penalty which will inevitably follow." And they were posted in multiple languages. So if they could have convicted him of this, then that was a death penalty matter. Basically, there was nothing even approaching a just trial, just like in Christ's case. A complete miscarriage of justice. And yet, how does Paul respond to this treatment?

It's completely unjust treatment. He responds in love, as by loving them. He addresses them as fathers and brothers a little bit later. But I think there's a whole other aspect to this as well, to how he responds in loving these enemies. And we see that in Paul's time with the Romans.

So Paul has been seized. They've laid hands on him. Their intent is to kill him. And they're beginning to beat him. And there's a riot.

They've stirred up a riot, just like they did in Ephesus. And the Romans come and save him. It says that as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison. So this is the Antonia fortress that's right physically attached to the temple. It's built there, named after one of the Caesars, Mark Antony I think.

And they have a cohort stationed at that garrison. And they can look right down onto the temple. And they see this mob. And they get news and they see this mob, and so he immediately rushes down with soldiers and centurions. And he rescues Paul.

And I think it's interesting to just see the difference between the Jews who claim to keep the law, who are the church, claim to be the people of God, and the Romans who make no such claims, they're pagans. The Jews create a riot based on libel and slander. The Romans restore order. The Jews beat Paul first without any trial. The Romans protect Paul.

They stopped the beating and they carried Paul to protect him from this crowd. The Jews never seek to know any facts. The Romans try to investigate and understand the facts. Lysias, we know his name because a little later he writes Claudius Lysias. Lysias saves Paul, rescues him, and then he seeks to investigate.

He tries to ask reasonable questions. Who are you? And who is this man you're trying to beat? And what did he do that's worthy of death? And the Jews are incoherent.

They give conflicting stories about what just happened in response to these very logical and reasonable, rational questions that Lysias asked. They're very simple questions, actually. That anyone trying to put someone to death should know the answer to. The Jews are unwilling to even listen to Paul or to think rationally about all these misconceptions. The Roman Chiliarch, Lyceus, heard Paul's request and dialogued with him and even changed his views based on his discussions and what he learned.

So it's a very interesting contrast. So this army, I just mentioned, it's going to come up a little later when Lycia sends Paul away to protect him. But the literal word here for commander is killiarch, which literally means a commander of 1, 000, just like a centurion was a commander of 100. But By this time in the Roman history, in the first century, the numbers are a little different. A century of soldiers was now 80 soldiers.

And a standard cohort was only about 480 Legionnaires. There was a, the first cohort was a little different than the standard cohort. It had maybe twice that, about 800 Legionnaires. But a standard cohort was 480, eight, sorry, six centuries of 80 men each. That was a standard cohort.

The first cohort was a little bit bigger, about twice that big. And there were ten cohorts that would make up a legion, and That would be kind of like an army. Or a significant part of an army. But a cohort was the smallest unit that could operate independently. And so this is the commander of this cohort who is stationed here in Jerusalem in this temple.

His job is to keep order in Jerusalem. The Roman headquarters was up in Caesarea, where Paul would go in a little bit. And so this guy comes down with these soldiers. It says centurions and soldiers. These are the hardened Roman soldiers that would command a lot of respect.

And so as soon as they appear on the scene, they stop beating Paul. And this is what happens now that Paul is rescued by the Romans. He comes down, he binds Paul with chains, he seeks to investigate what happens. Or what had happened. He doesn't get any answer.

And so he's just going to take Paul away. He actually has to carry Paul, or the soldiers do, in order to protect him from this mob. And it's right at this point, Paul's just been rescued, he's been bound in chains, he's probably hurting from being in the hands of people who are trying to kill him. At least he's had a few knocks. What would your thought be at that moment?

You're bound? A mob is trying to kill you. You've been beaten. And now you're getting carried away as a prisoner of the Roman army. What's Paul thinking about?

How do I bring the Gospel to the people that are trying to kill me? And as he's being led away, He asks the commander if he can speak. You see, Paul was always ready. He's able in the midst of this confusion, and probably hurting a bit, right? To have the presence of mind to recognize an opportunity to give the Gospel to the Jews, his fellow countrymen.

This is what Peter talks about when he says in 1 Peter 3, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready. Here's Paul always ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, having a good conscience that when they revile you as evildoers, they may be ashamed." This is exactly what's happened to Paul. And he is ready at this moment, in the most inopportune time, when your normal thoughts would not be how do I love these people? How do I bring them to Christ? And actually, that passage in Peter falls in the midst of Peter's discussion about suffering for doing good.

And Peter says we are blessed if we suffer for what's doing right. But if you suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. And don't be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled." And then he goes on, "...but sanctify the Lord in your heart and always be ready." And that's exactly what Paul is doing here. He says, "...for it's better for the will of God to suffer for doing good than evil. See, he's thinking here.

How do I reach these Jews? And that is loving your enemies. Now, how Paul approaches this opportunity is also instructive. He's wise and he's humble. He's not demanding.

He's not demanding his rights which were definitely being violated. He's a Roman citizen. All his rights have been trampled on. He's not mentioning those right at this point. He realizes the situation he's in.

He's not demanding his rights and he's not demanding the attention of the Kiliarch. Rather, look at what he asks the Kiliarch. He asks if he is permitted to speak to the Kiliarch. Now that's wisdom. That shows respect and deference.

If he had just asked his question to the Kiliarch, can I address the crowd? The Kiliarch might have ignored him or told him to shut up. But he asks, can I talk to you? Can I ask you a question? And by asking if he can ask a question and not in a rhetorical way, Paul immediately won the respect of Elyseus.

And he was granted the right to address the Jews. But Paul is gentle as a dove, but crafty as a serpent. See, in showing deference, Paul was very gentle, But he was also crafty. He addresses the Kiliarch in polished Greek. And that caused Lysias off guard.

And he obviously wasn't expecting polished Greek from somebody he thought was a terrorist. And so he goes in surprise, can you speak Greek? Aren't you that Egyptian terrorist who led the 4, 000 assassins into the wilderness? Now the word translated assassin there is a sikarios. And the sikaris were terrorists who killed people in the daytime in the midst of the city.

And they did this mainly during festivals such as Pentecost. They concealed daggers in their robes. And they would go out and mingle in the crowd and bump up. In the press of the throng, they would bump up against people. And when they got to their target, they would stab them with their knife through their robe.

And then when they lay dying on the floor and bleeding, they would pretend to be horrified and incensed against the murderers that would dare to do such a thing. And so they're very hard to catch these guys. And I think that Lyceus, in seeing this mob and seeing Paul beaten, maybe thought that he was one of those guys that had gotten caught, maybe. The very first man that they killed was Jonathan the high priest this way. So this was not a little thing.

This was the main big problem. These terrorists, these secari, and that's what Lyceus thought he was. But Paul disarmed him completely by speaking Greek to him. And so then Paul has an opportunity to say, no, I'm not a Roman citizen. Would you permit me, I implore you, again, very respectful, I implore you to permit me to speak to the people." We see Paul, by being this gentle as a dove and crafty as a serpent, now is given permission to address the Jews.

Against the Jews. See, God uses this attack of the Jews to bring the Gospel to new settings that would otherwise have been completely closed. The Jews, and in particular the Jews from Asia, wanted to kill Paul. They've been wanting to do this for a long time. And I thought they had their chance here in Jerusalem where they could get away with a lot, and they thought they had a death penalty crime on their hands if they could pin it on him.

But God used the Romans to stop them. And so what the Jews meant for evil, God meant for good. Just like God used the wicked acts of the Jews in crucifying Jesus to accomplish the salvation of his people. And so God used the wicked attack of the Jews to transfer Paul into the custody of the Romans and keep him under Roman custody. And God brought great good out of Paul's time in Roman custody.

Good that Paul knew God would bring, but even though he didn't know exactly how God would do it. You see, the first thing God gave is an opportunity to address the Jews in a hearing where a couple hundred Roman soldiers kept order and protected him. The Roman army now had no interest in promoting the gospel. They were simply keeping the peace. That was their only goal.

But God used up their actions to open up this opportunity to preach one more time to the unbelieving Jews while the Romans restrained the mob and protected Paul. And then Paul goes on just in the rest of Acts here. Just a little quick highlight. In the rest of Acts, Paul brings the Gospel to Roman rulers, to kings, to procouncils. In Acts 21-25, there are five apologetic defenses that Paul gives.

In the first two, he defends himself in Jerusalem before this crowd right here. Then he defends them before the Sanhedrin in the next chapter. And then the next three defenses are given in Caesarea before Felix in chapter 24, Festus in chapter 25, and finally King Herod Agrippa in chapter 26. Then he gives a powerful testimony to 276 souls on the ship that was shipwrecked on Malta. And he had a short ministry in Malta.

And then God gives him the opportunity to testify in Caesar's court. And Acts 28 tells us that Paul spent two years a prisoner in Rome living in his own rented house, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, no one forbidding Him. God did all of that through this evil act of the Jews to transfer Paul into the custody of the Romans. God uses Paul in mighty ways. Ways that Paul did not know.

And ways that we probably will never know. This side of heaven. But I'd like to give you one example of what might have come from this event. Tertullian writing in the 2nd century, so he's born about 155 A.D., he writes in his Apologetic to the Jews this comment, For upon whom else have the universal nations believed but upon the Christ who has already come? For whom have the nations believed?

And then he goes on to list all the nations that Peter Luke lists in Acts 2 at Pentecost. And then he adds some more. He says, inhabitants of the region of Africa, which is by Jansai, well, that was listed there in Acts 2. Romans, Sojourners, Jerusalem Jews, and all other nations, as for instance, by this time, the varied races of the Gertulians, that's an African Berber tribe, that's between the north of the Sahara Desert and south of the Atlas Mountains. These Gertulians, and then he says, the Moors, the limits of Spain's, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ." And then he goes on to list many more people.

And he says, "...in all which place is the name of Christ, who has already come, reigns, as of Him before whom the gates of all cities have been opened and to whom none are closed, before whom iron bars have crumbled and brazen gates opened." So he's saying the Gospel went to the Britons in places that were inaccessible to The Romans. The Gospel's gotten there. That's what Tertullian says. And William Cooper in his book After the Flood summarizes from ancient writings of church history how Christianity came to Britain. Places inaccessible to the Romans.

And it came about the time that Paul was a prisoner of Caesar in Rome. He says that Bran was the man who first brought the Christian faith to Britain. Bran was the father of Carodicus, or Caradoc, who with his family was taken to Rome in chains and paraded before the Senate by the emperor Claudius with a view to immediate and summary execution. Carodicus, however, seized the opportunity to give a bold speech in defense of his resistance that earned him, instead of execution, it earned him a Senate applause, a royal pardon, a state pension, and apartment in the Imperial Palace. How's that for a turnabout?

And then consistent with Roman practice, these Welsh triads record that Charoticus was allowed to go home as a result of this. He was allowed to go home to rule as a puppet king, but his family was kept behind to ensure his good behavior as hostages. So his family would have included Bran, his father. And While detained in Caesar's household, his father Bran was converted to Christ. And while Bran was allowed to return to Britain around the same time that Paul was a prisoner in Rome, living in his own rented house, preaching the kingdom of God, no one forbidding him, remember?

Then he would have brought the Christian faith with him. And within three generations, Christianity is widespread in Britain. So Lerwig, the great grandson of Caradag, or Carodicus, It's said that He first gave lands and privilege of the country, meaning free citizenship, to those who dedicated themselves to the faith of Christ, and He founded the first archbishop, Rick, that of Landov. See, that's why Paul could write to the Colossians about this same time, saying Colossians 1, that he gave thanks to God because the hope which is laid up for them in heaven of which you heard before in the truth of the Gospel which has come to you as it has in all the world." And later in the same chapter, verse 23, he says, "'If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not moved away from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven." Paul wrote that to the Colossians. They heard the Gospel.

He said, you heard the Gospel just as it was the same Gospel that has been preached to every creature under heaven of which I, Paul, became a minister. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the affliction of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church." See, Paul didn't know why God was sending him to Jerusalem, where chains had imprisoned and awaited him, but he knew that God had called him to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that God would use his chains and his bondage for that end. See, God used Paul because he was willing to obey. He was willing to suffer to obey. And speaking of his imprisonment in Rome, he told the Philippians 1.12, but I want you to know, brethren, that the things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel.

Because Paul could love his enemies. So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. And most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the Gospel. God brought great victory from this evil act of the Jews. And he brought it because Paul loved his enemies and took an opportunity to preach the Gospel to them and continued to do so, to continue to give an apologetic to kings and rulers.

And as a result, probably had a hand in converting Britain. Let's pray. Almighty Father in heaven, we thank you that you are the sovereign and wise God who knows the end from the beginning. And that you know all things, you know the purpose, you have a purpose for everything and it is a purpose for good to those who love you and are called according to that purpose. We ask Father that you would give us patience and that you would enable us to look at the sufferings that you send, the trials, the afflictions for doing good.

You would encourage us in them with this example of Paul, who suffered for doing good, and yet you used His suffering to strengthen your people, to make them more bold for the Gospel, and to bring the Gospel to places that were otherwise closed. Lord, we simply bow before You and proclaim Your wisdom and Your power and Your goodness. We love You and we love that You, because you have loved us and given yourself for us And you've taught us that this is the love of God that we are willing to lay down our lives for the brethren For the sake of your kingdom We ask the Lord Your grace that we might do that in Jesus' name, Amen.