 Sermon title is Get Moving God's Direction, part two. We started this sermon last week in Acts 11, and we're going through verses one through 18, Get Moving God's Direction, and we took a look last week at the first point. We are studying through in this retelling of the account to folks in Jerusalem about what happened with Peter and Cornelius, what happened with Cornelius's household. We're studying through this account looking at the example of Peter and how Peter lived and moved in ministry under God's sovereign direction, in God's providence, according to God's will. And the question comes up, and it comes up frequently, what is God's will for my life? There's a number, you go on the internet and look, there are books written about it, just information, question after question after question related to, how do I discern God's will for my life? How do I know that I'm living in God's will? How do I know that what I'm doing right now is what God wants me to do? Or am I stumbling around in darkness? Has God left me without clear understanding of what his will is? Has God left us to our own devices to weave and wave our life together ourselves without any direction from God? Without any understanding of which way to go? Does God respond to us as we move? Or is God sovereign over our steps? Does he guide our steps? This question comes up frequently, what is the will of God for my life? Now, most people answer that question simply on the basis of feelings and emotion. What's God's will for my life? Well, I feel like this is where God is leading me. Or I feel like this is what I should do here. Should I do this? Well, I really want to, that's God's leading me to do this, right? Is that a right way to think about it? No, we found out from last week in looking through those points on your notes, you can fill in these again if you'd like, that you need to take responsibility in determining or discerning what God's will is for you moment by moment, day by day, hour by hour, just as Peter is doing here in Acts 11, you gotta take responsibility. And your responsibility in discerning that comes when you first trust God in every circumstance. God is trustworthy in every circumstance of our lives. If you're a disciple of Christ, then all things work together for the good of those that are called, that love God, that are called according to his purpose, right? We can take that to the bank. That's the truth of God's word. All things work together for good. So if you're a disciple of Christ, you trust God in every circumstance. But you also need to remain humble and pray. We saw Peter doing that in Acts 11. Peter's praying and praying and praying. Usually when something happens, it's preceded by prayer. And we saw Peter's great humility in that. And then you must instantly study God's word. God's word, we'll see again today, is the basis for understanding God's will, the basis for discerning his will. We can't, as disciples of Christ, do anything apart from God's word. God's word is of paramount importance in your life. God doesn't lead by visions today. God doesn't lead by audible words out of heaven. God doesn't lead by words in your mind. God doesn't, that's not the way God leads today. Okay, God leads through his word. We have the prophetic word of God made more sure. And Peter is telling us from his own mouth, Peter who saw visions, Peter who saw the glorified Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration says, it's God's word that we have to follow as a light that leads in a dark place, right? So God's word is of paramount importance. We'll talk more about that. But then also, you've gotta be ready to be stretched. Because God's gonna lead you in circumstances where you don't always understand what's going on. You don't always understand the final result. You don't always understand what the purpose of those things are. Sometimes you go through a trial and it is hard and it is difficult. And it takes every ounce of your mental energy, every ounce of your physical energy to work through that trial and you are in anguish over it. And it's difficult, but God intends that for your good and for his glory. He is sovereign. You have to be ready to be stretched and then your response to that is simply to obey. When you look at a situation and you discern what is right to do in this situation, you obey God and you do that. Even if it costs you in the immediate term, it's for your good in the long term. We'll look at that more today. So those four points from point one take responsibility. That's the way you do that. You have a major role by God's wisdom in your sanctification, a major role to play in God's directing of your life. And he does that for your sanctification. You're grown through trial. You're matured through difficulty. You are preserved and you learn to persevere through trial, through difficulty, through the fires that you face. And so it's important to have a biblical perspective of those things going in. And we see that happening here with Peter in Acts 11. So today we're gonna look again now at the next step. First, you take responsibility. The things that you're responsible for, for praying, for humility, for trusting God, for studying his word. And now today in circumstances, we'll see how those get applied to the practical living out of God's will in your life. And first on your notes, it is act on circumstances. Act on circumstances. How do you discern circumstances and walk in the light? The first thing you do is point one, take responsibility, pray, study God's word. But now in verse 11, act on circumstances. I want you to understand from this passage and as we're going through, all circumstances, all circumstances belong to God. God is not a God that winds everything up, sets it in motion and then steps back and just watches the show, okay? God is not a God that looks down the corridor of time and sees what will take place and reacts to it. God is the author of everything that happens in time. God is the author of every circumstance. He's not reactionary. He wrote the script. He's the one directing it. He's the one moving the pieces around on the game board. God is the one who sovereignly directs all things. He owns all circumstances. And that's a great feeling. Isn't it a great, I mean, a source of comfort for a genuine disciple of Christ to know that our sovereign God who holds all things in place, who manages all things by the word of his power, Hebrews says, that he is in control of every circumstance that you face, every circumstance in your life. We can trust God in those and just do what's right. They all work out for our good. And so those circumstances belong to God. But in verse 11, I want you to see on your notes, you must discern your circumstances and there's a couple of ways to do that. In Acts 11 verse 11, at that very moment, now we've seen Peter here and the circumstances that have led to this point. Peter's been thinking and meditating on the revelation of God. He's been in humility and he's been praying. And then now we see in verse 11, at that very moment, three men stood before the house where I was having been sent to me from Caesarea. Now you think that timing is coincidental? No, and Peter brings that out. He's emphasizing here the work of God by saying at that very moment, at the perfect time, at the right time, at exactly the time that it needed to happen, three men stood before the house where I was having been sent to me from Caesarea. So now Peter is looking at this situation. Peter is prayed up. Peter's been meditating on the revelation of God. Peter's been thinking through. Peter has moved out in ministry, following Christ, obedient to Christ. And so when these three men show up at his door, does Peter think to himself, is this demonic? I mean, is this what God intends to happen? Or is this somehow a plot of Satan to trap me? Or to, no, Peter instantly sees three men and he says in recounting the events at that very moment, at the exact moment, right at the time that it needed to, these men showed up. This is God's doing. This is a circumstance that God has provided. This is God orchestrating something here for me. He doesn't, in his mind, think to himself, well, this is Satan trying to trap me. Or maybe I should ask these guys some questions. Show me some identification, right? They're showed up the door. I need to know who you are, where you come from and what you're here for, right? That's not, he knows this is in the work of God and the will of God and why does he know that? Because Peter is following Christ. Peter's in prayer. Peter's trusting in the Lord. Peter is studied up on God's word. He's done point one. He knows where he's at and so he doesn't question it that way, okay? But for you, in discerning your circumstances, you need to take stock of that yourself. The first way to discern your circumstances is are you following the Lord? Are you obedient to Christ? Are you in his word? The Bible says that the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked above all things. You can't trust it. Don't follow your heart. It'll lead you into a pit, okay? What can we follow? What is sure? Well, God's word is sure. Christ is sure. And so if you're in God's word, if you're praying, if you're humble, you're intently studying God's word to understand what God's word is to you and you're following Christ and you're in obedience to him, then God protects you, protects you from snares of the devil. God protects you from falling into a pit. That's what following Christ in obedience does. God is trustworthy. And so the first step in discerning your circumstances when something happens, you've got a decision to make on the job. You've got a decision to make about the house, about finances, a decision to make for your family, a decision about where you'll worship and go to church, a decision about who you're gonna hang around with, a decision about what you're gonna do in this situation, that situation, the other situation. The first thing to ask yourself is, where am I at? Am I following Christ? Am I obedient? Is there sin in my life that is hindering my prayer, that is hindering the direction of God in my life? What do I need to repent of? Am I in the Lord? Am I obeying his word? Do I understand the word of God? Am I reading the word of God? You discern your circumstances in the context of that first. Point one, am I humble? Am I, do I sincerely want the will of God? Or am I pushing this preference of mine that's gonna get in the way of that? We've talked to people, we were witnessing to a guy one time that said he was praying to God about getting a tattoo. You know what I'm just saying? You could tell in talking to the guy, he wanted a tattoo. Okay, so he's already got his preferential gun loaded with that bullet. He's ready to pull the trigger, but then he just, you know, a little afterthought comes into play. Well, maybe I'll pray to God and see if that's what God wants me to do. God, if you don't want me to get one, then show me. You know, he's looking for some sign from God that that's not the right way. Listen, that's not the way that we discern circumstances. Not the way that we follow God, all right? That's not the way God directs and not the way that God leads. You need to discern your circumstances first by where you are. We face serious trials as a church, right? Corporately we face serious trials. And one of the things you'll recognize when we talk about that, when we talk about trials, is we'll remind ourselves, remind you, we have to remind, stir us up by way of reminder, of what we're doing. Are we an evangelistic church? Amen. Are we obedient to God? Amen. Is there sin that we need to repent of? Are the groups, are we, we're discipling the people that God brings here? I mean, are we honoring God in the preaching of His Word? I mean, you look at our church and the blessings that God has given us, okay? And then we discern our circumstance. Are we doing the right thing here? Are we being faithful to God? Are we praying fervently? Are we trying to follow Christ? With that, and in that context, we can trust God for everything. We can trust God and we can step out in faith and step out in confidence that God leads and directs us. So first, are you following Christ? So first, are you following Christ at that very moment? Then in verse 12, he says the Spirit told him. Now these two emphasis here, the timing and then the Spirit's work both point to emphasize that like we said in the beginning, every circumstance belongs to God. Every circumstance belongs to God, all right? I want you to see this in an example. Turn to John 8. John 8, God is awesome in directing His people. John 8, I want you to, we'll walk through here a couple of chapters in John to show you an example of this. John 8, look at verse 12. John 8 verse 12. Then Jesus spoke to them again saying, I want you to see the application of this verse. I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of light. Now speaking there of salvation, but also following Christ is the day-to-day walking in the light. The Bible uses all the time, the metaphor of a walk for the Christian light, for the Christian life. If you walk in light, you don't walk in darkness. If you're following Christ, you don't walk in darkness. Look down in verse 29. John 8, verse 29. And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone for I always do those things that please Him. This is Christ. Christ is our example. We walk according to the example of Christ and Christ saying, I always do the will of my Father and because He is obedient to the Father, the Father has not left Him alone. If you're following Christ in obedience, God does not leave you alone to your own detriment. All things work together for good. But you obey Christ and you follow Christ, you're not left to walk in the dark. Flip over to chapter 10, yeah, chapter 10. And look down in verse one, chapter 10, verse one. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Points of the importance of understanding what genuine conversion is, what the genuine gospel is and making sure that you're coming in the right door. Verse two, but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. You're led by Christ if you're a disciple of Christ. Verse four, and when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. You simply follow the leading of your Lord. Follow the leading of Christ and Christ leads you. It's not that you in this situation in Acts 11 that Peter knew every detail, knew exactly how it was gonna work, knew every step before it happened, no. Peter in just humble obedience steps out and follows Christ and Christ directed his paths. Verse five, yet they will by no means follow a stranger but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. Look down in chapter 11. I'm sorry, look at the same chapter, chapter 10 down in verse 11. Chapter 10 verse 11, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep but a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. Now Christ is not a hireling. Christ is the shepherd, all right? Christ is, Christ looks out for you against those wolves that will destroy your faith. Looks out for you against those that would shipwreck your faith. All things, again, I can't say this enough, it's a promise of God, all things work together for your good. And if Christ is with you, then he sees the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep or that hireling leaves the sheep and flees but Christ batters the wolf on the head, right? And protects you. The hireling flees because he's a hireling. He doesn't care about the sheep. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and am known by my own. Look at verse 16. Other sheep, I have what you're not of this fold, them also I must bring and they will hear my voice. And what's the result? There'll be one flock and one shepherd. We have shepherd Christ who guides us and who directs us. Look at chapter 11 down in verse nine. Chapter 11 verse nine. Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world but if one walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him. We see this constant metaphor of light and darkness. If you're in Christ, you have the light of Christ and you can discern your circumstances day by day so that you don't stumble but you walk in the light. So the first step in all of this is understanding the word of God, trusting God in your circumstances but here discerning, are you following Christ? If you're following Christ, then you walk in the day and in the day and in the light, there's no stumbling, right? There's no stumbling with God. God protects you and so you must be in Christ, right? But that's the first step. Second Corinthians chapter five verse 15 says, and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again. Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh, that's a way of saying the life that I live day by day in this flesh until I'm glorified and taken home, that life that I'm living, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Both of these passages and what this text is saying, what this means is you cannot live for yourself and expect to be directed and protected by God. You can't live for yourself. You live for him who died and gave himself for you. He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves. And in that, if you're living for Christ, the Bible says, doesn't it? Luke nine, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him, right? If you're denying yourself and you're following Christ, then your circumstances will be laid out before you for your good, for God's glory, for your protection so that you don't stumble. And you don't have to worry. You trust in God. You don't have to have anxiety. You trust on Christ. You don't have to worry about falling into a pit or falling into the snare of the devil or all wrapped up about your motivations and your heart and your flesh. You just repent of sin, follow Christ wholeheartedly and God directs you and he works out everything for your good, every step of the way. But if you're living for yourself, if you're in sin, if you're not following Christ, if you're enslaved to your sin and you're living for your sin, making provision for the flesh, you're not studying God's word, you're not praying to him, then you are left to your own devices by God's judgment. That doesn't mean that God is not sovereign over your circumstances if you're in sin. But then, if you're not in Christ, if you're not a disciple of Christ, you've not repented of your sin, put your faith and trust alone in Christ to save you, you're not genuinely converted, then things work out for your judgment. That's God's judgment. You face the consequences for your sin. You face the eventual judgment and condemnation of God and the wrath of God for your sin. Don't live for yourselves. Live for Christ. Give your whole heartedly to Christ and he'll guide your steps, all right, and they work out for your good. If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take him as cross daily and follow me. Turn to Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs chapter three. Let's look at another example of this. Listen, this is not mystical. It's not ethereal. It's not far off, hard to grasp, not hard to understand, not hard to figure out. This is God's clear, discernible, understandable, clear path for you. God's clear plan for how you're to live your life. This is how you discern the will of God and you're not gonna, see, I think in a lot of cases, people have this misunderstanding that they've got to know every detail of God's plan for their life. In the mind of God and in the decree of God, they're gonna be things that you don't know and you need to be comfortable with that. You just live and obey Christ and when you live for Christ and obey him, things work out for God's glory and you're good. That's what the Bible promises. We don't have to know every detail. But look in Proverbs three, look at verse five. Proverbs three, verse five. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Point one, right? Trust God in every single circumstance. Lean not on your own understanding. That's humility. If you're not leaning on your own understanding, you're praying to God, asking for him, asking for his direction, asking for his help, asking for his guidance. You're not leaning on your own understanding. You're seeking God's word, right? I don't have an understanding of my own that I can put any trust in whatsoever. I need God's word. I need to know what God says. I don't care what I think. My thoughts matter nothing. I want what God says. I want wisdom from above, right? I don't lean on my own understanding. You don't lean on your own understanding. Verse six, in all your ways, acknowledge him. And we're gonna see acknowledgement here in Scripture in chapter 11, but you acknowledge God in everything you do. Everything you do, every decision that needs to be made. What does God's word say? What does God intend? And if you're doing that constantly and you're seeking God in those circumstances, God directs your path. It's exactly what we see Peter doing in chapter 11. He understands what's going on. He's just following God in obedience. In all your ways, acknowledge him and what's the final conclusion of that. And he shall. It's not he might. He may be. He possibly will. He shall direct your paths. God is in control. And you can live in great confidence. Can you see the reason that we have to live in faith? We have great reason to live in complete confidence and faith in God because of who God is and because of what God does. If you don't believe his word, if you don't believe what he's telling you, then you got to question your understanding of faith. Question what you believe about faith. Question whether you believe at all. Because God is sovereign. God's in control. Walking in faith is a trust of God. Trusting God. Take him at his word. Don't lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your paths back in Acts 11. This is our God. But now, this is learned often in the school of hard knocks, right? Experience is an expensive school. It's an expensive education. It's gonna cost you, right? We are, we're dumb sometimes. It takes a long time for us sometimes to learn how to trust God in circumstances. But that's the way God matures us. That's the way God sanctifies us. Look, he puts you in a circumstance where you are agonizing, puts you in a circumstance that you don't understand, puts you in a circumstance where you think there is no way out and then God brings you through it and he sanctifies you and grows you and you think to yourself, looking back at hindsight with 2020 vision, look back at the circumstances that took place and you say praise God. Look at what God did. And I can trust him. And then something less significant comes along and you're like, I'm following Christ. God's gonna help me through this. God directs my steps and you trust him and you trust him. And all of those experiences you learn to trust God then when the storm comes, when the hurricane blows against your house, right? When the trials come, when the difficulties come, when the fire is burning hot, you learn by trial, learn by persevering, learn by the sanctifying work of the spirit in your life. I can stand and I stand out of my own but because God works in me and through me to do and to will according to his good purpose. It's God who is sovereign. It's God who controls these circumstances and I trust God. And so it just teaches you how to stand but this is a lesson that's hard learned by experience, all right? Verse 12 on your notes. Second point is you seek confirmation through wise counsel. So first we've learned you gotta be following Christ. Then in discerning your circumstances they must be in accordance with God's will in accordance with Christ's example. Not how you feel or what you think or what you feel you believe or feel you think you believe. It's according to God's word, all right? But in verse 12, back in Acts 11, seek confirmation through wise counsel. Then the Spirit told me to go with them doubting nothing. And we looked at that last week. Peter was told not to doubt anything. Make no distinctions, no discrimination, not to doubt anything. Why can he walk in confidence because the Lord is directing his path? Don't doubt. James says when you ask for wisdom you pray without doubting. Let the man who doubts don't think that he'll receive anything from the Lord. He's a double minded man. You go without doubting. Here Peter goes without doubting. But now these folks in Jerusalem, they're doubting. They need help. They need to get from where they are to where Peter is in their thinking and in their understanding. So Peter's gonna explain it. But in verse 12, moreover these six brethren accompanied me and we entered the man's house. Now he doesn't even mention Cornelius by name. We're not drawing emphasis on Cornelius here right now. We're looking at the sovereignty of God. And I want you to see that in how Peter responds. These six brethren accompany me. Six brethren plus Peter, seven, right? The Bible talks a lot about establishing facts, establishing situations on the presence of two or three witnesses. Maybe Peter's thinking in his mind, okay, I'm gonna take two or three with me. Okay, this is a really big deal. So I'm gonna double that. I'm gonna take six with me. We don't know. He's got six guys with him that are attesting to what's going on. In Roman wills of that day, Roman wills were sealed with seven seals. And that was a testimony to the accuracy of that will and attestation of the validity of that will. In Revelation chapters five through eight, we see the seven seals, right? We don't know, but there's seven brothers here. Peter and these six brothers that are attesting to these facts. It's not just Peter's word. He's got witnesses with him establishing this. And we entered the man's house, okay? So first, you're gonna seek confirmation through wise counsel. What's the most important counsel, the source of counsel that you're gonna have? The word of God. In every case, the word of God. Can you see how important the word of God is? The very first place that you're gonna seek godly wise counsel is through the word of God. It's through the word of God, what God's word says, okay? And then we have witnesses of that. First, I want you to see, God directs his people, right? God directs his people by giving them an answer to prayer, an answer to obedience, an answer to faith. He gives them the light of the Holy Spirit, working through the word of God so that they can understand and love the scripture. That's the way God directs his people. God directs his people by giving them an answer to prayer, an answer to your obedience, an answer to faith. Gives you the light of the Holy Spirit, working through the word of God in your heart so that you love and understand God's word. And then understanding, loving God's word results in right principles from the word of God that influence your conduct. That makes sense, that's a lot to say, there's a lot packed in there. But that's how God directs his people through the word of God. God gives you his spirit, the indwelling spirit, an answer to prayer, an answer to your faith in God, trust in his word, an answer to your obedience to God's word. God gives you greater and greater understanding of his word by his spirit. You love the word of God, in loving the word of God, in studying the word of God and applying the word of God to your life, you get greater and greater understanding of principles from the word of God that apply and then those principles influence your conduct. That's not by accident, that's not a string of unrelated things, oh it just all worked out. No, that's how God directs according to his word. Now you have to build into your life the spiritual discipline of devouring the word of God. This is not an ethereal thing, it's a word of God thing. When you seek counsel, confirmation from God's word, it's based on your understanding of God's word. It's based on the Holy Spirit's work in you through the words of God and then God directs and influences your conduct by that. And so we must trust and digest and devour and ingest the word of God. The word of God needs to be a constant part of your life. There's absolutely, it's a critical aspect of your Christian life, if you're a disciple, you've got to be in the word. We were witnessing to another guy one time, I'm talking to him, believe that he was a Christian and you're walking him through the law, walking him through the gospel. And he said to himself, you know what, I know I'm a Christian, but I just haven't been reading God's word. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna commit myself, it was what he said, I'm gonna commit myself to reading God's word for 15 minutes a day. Now in his 10, 15 years as a Christian, he hadn't done that. But now, feeling convicted by God's, you know what I need to do? I need to shape up my life up. I need to study the word 15 minutes a day. Listen, your life is based in the word of God. Everything, the way God directs you, the way you understand God, how you move, everything you do for Christ as a disciple of Christ is based in God's word. It's how God directs you, how God shepherds you. How you live for Christ is through the word of God. And 15 minutes a day is not going to get you there. If you don't have a heart for Christ, listen, 15 minutes a day with the Holy Spirit is better than no minutes a day. The Holy Spirit can apply that word to your heart, but that doesn't, listen, you've got to base your life in the word of God. Everything you are needs to be in the word of God. It needs to just wash over you instead of Ezra that if you were cut, he would bleed the Bible. That's the way we need to be. We need to be people of the book. And if you're a disciple of Christ, you know what I'm talking about. If you've got absolutely no interest in the book, you don't have a heart for Christ, a heart for his word. That's how God directs confirmation through his word and he directs our conduct based on that. Matthew 6, Matthew 6 talks about, we won't go there, but Matthew 6 talks about that the eye is the lamp of the body. And if the eye is good, the body is full of light, full of light, right? And if you walk by the light, you will not stumble. You fill the lamp of the eye with God's word. You ingest God's word, wash over God's word, study his word, learn his word, apply his word. The lamp of the eye will be good and the body will be full of light and God directs you in the light. There's no stumbling when you're not in darkness, but if the eye is bad, then the body is full of darkness and you stumble in the dark. And I'm telling you, your eye cannot be good if your eyes aren't in God's word. The eye needs to be good in order to be directed by God. First, learn his precepts, then develop habits. You learn his precepts and develop habits of a spiritual frame of reference that you apply to every situation. If you're developing that spiritual discipline in your life, you're in God's word, then it simply is then a matter of acting. You act in accordance with God's word, you act in dependence on God, you act as a result of humble prayer to God and you can act in complete confidence in God that what you're doing is according to God's will, according to his word, according to the example of Christ, his word is in harmony with his will. It will never be contradictory to the word of God, never. And so God doesn't contradict himself, he's not a God of confusion, right? So first, learn those precepts, learn the word of God, apply them. But next, you also get confirmation through wise counsel in the form of counselors, Proverbs 11, 14, where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in a multitude of counselors, there is safety. And I wanna exhort you, that's one of the ways that God directs. Here, Peter has six brothers with him that are helping him. They came with him, they attested to what happened. They were witnesses of what happened. He's got a multitude of wise counselors with him. For us, that's one of the ways that God directs, is God directs through wise counsel. When you have an important decision, you study God's word and then you get the perspective of godly mature brothers on their understanding of the word in your circumstance. Sometimes when you're new to the faith, you're a young Christian, or maybe this is a new situation so you haven't encountered this before. And so you want to out of a heart that wants to please God, out of a heart that wants to obey him, out of that heart, you say to yourself, man, I wanna know that I'm doing the right thing here, but this is difficult. I don't have complete understanding of this. I need help. And so you go to a brother, a couple of brothers, a few brothers that you trust, that know the word of God, that are mature in the faith. They've been around the block a few times. They've been through trials of their own and you present the case. You present what the situation is and you get their counsel. In a multitude of counselors, there is safety and those are biblical strong brothers that understand the word of God and can help you see how the word of God applies to the circumstances you're in. But then you trust them and you trust that understanding and you trust God's word, you step out in obedience, right? So it's gonna have strong brothers around you, amen? In, you remember the example, just to give you an example, in Numbers 11 where Josh and Caleb, the testimony comes back from the spies, bad, right? You got 10 of the 12, they gave a bad testimony, Josh and Caleb, they trusted the Bible, they trusted God. The Bible says that they wholly follow the Lord, right? Moses gives the result of that to the people. He says every one of these wicked generation, they're gonna die in the wilderness. Those 10 that gave the bad, the report died in the plague that followed. Now the Israelites, they got scared by that. And they said, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Okay, we're gonna go up. We'll go up, we'll go up the mountain. We're gonna go in and take the land. You know, they didn't want to wander around in the wilderness for 40 years, all of them died. And said, okay, we're gonna go, we're gonna go, we're gonna go. And in sin, they now are presumptuously going up the mountain, the Bible says. And the Canaanites and the Amalekites drove them back. But Moses warned them ahead of time. He said, don't go up that mountain because you're going up and the Lord is not with you. And if you go up, you're in trouble. And they went up anyway. They acted, the Bible said, they went up in presumption. They presumed upon God and went up apart from counsel, apart from what Moses was saying, apart from the will of God with no help from God. Listen, if you, in acting on circumstances, presumptuously in your own will, according to the desires of your own heart, according to the selfishness that is within you, according to covetousness, according to greed, according to your sin, according to whatever that's outside of Christ, listen, you go up presumptuously if you think that you're following the will of God. Don't follow your own flesh. Don't follow the dictates of your own heart. Don't do things your own way. Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him. Because if you go up presumptuously, you go up without God and you'll face the consequences of your sin. Now, if you're a disciple of Christ, even those consequences work out for your good. Isn't the mercy and grace of God awesome? It's like I can stumble and bloody my nose and it ends up working out for my good. Praise God. If you're a disciple, that's God's mercy and that's our ignorance, right? To do something like that. Follow Christ, obey the Lord. Listen to why is Godly counsel. Take counsel from His word and in everything you do, do it according to what God's word says. In obedience to God. Don't go presumptuously according to the dictates of your own heart. Otherwise, you go up the mountain and you get killed by the Canaanites, okay? So, seek confirmation through wise counsel. Verse 13 and 14, back in Acts 11. In verse 13, and He told us how He had seen an angel standing in His house. So now Peter's gonna recount the story. He told us how He had seen an angel standing in His house, Cornelius did, who said to Him, send men to Joppa and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. Verse 13 and 14, trust God's direction in your circumstances. I'm gonna put a tag on that and act. Trust God's direction in your circumstances and act. All right? We're gonna see here that God's leading, God's direction, if you're following Him, it leads to great results. In this particular instance, it leads to Cornelius and all of Cornelius' household being saved. Amen. The salvation of souls, that's what we want. If you're in this church, man, we want to obey God. We wanna trust God. We wanna humble ourselves and pray. We wanna devour God's Word and apply it to our life. We wanna obey God for what end? We wanna see souls saved. We wanna see disciples of Christ. We wanna see more labors in His field. So more souls can be saved. We wanna see this area taken for Christ. We wanna see people worshiping and praising God. I love sometimes, you know, before I was here, sitting in the back of the church and watching the praise of God's people. You know, I'm praising God and you're listening to the music. Man, tears are running down my face and I just, I look around and you got people, you know, hands up worshiping God. And what an awesome sight that is. I just love, I mean, it's our God. This is Christ and He gave His life for us. It's just what an awesome vision that is to see God's people worshiping Him and think one day, standing in heaven, people of every tribe, tongue and nation, farther than the eye can see worshiping and praising God with a fervency and a love for Christ. Just what an awesome thought that is. And we wanna see souls saved. And listen, God will give fruit if we're obedient to Him. If we're following Him, we love His church. God loves His church even more. We love His gospel. God loves Christ, loves His gospel even more. He loves worshipers that worship Him in spirit and truth. That's our desire here is to see souls saved. And when that, when you step out of obedience to God and you're acting on those circumstances, then the Bible says delight in Him. It gives you what? The desires of your heart. You delight in Him. It gives you the desires of your heart. Delight in Him. Delight in His Word. And He gives you great results. We see that here in verse 14 that all your household will be saved. All your household will be saved. This is by God's providence. Once you look, well Psalm 37 says, commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. The it there refers to your way. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also. You see how this all wraps together? Everything wraps together with point one. Everything wraps together with understanding the Word of God, praying. It all fits harmonized together. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Now He'll bring it to pass by causing friends to fail you. He'll bring it to pass by you losing a loved one. He'll bring it to pass by you losing your job. Sometimes He'll bring it to pass by making you broke. Sometimes He'll bring it to pass by a circumstance in your life that brings you grief, that causes mourning, that by result causes you to be on your knees depending on God in prayer. He'll bring it to pass by making you lose your job. He'll bring it to pass by building intensity in your life that you don't see a way out of. By opening doors that are right, but also by closing doors for you that are wrong and harmful to you, even when you think that door ought to be wide open, but God will close it. God is not an author, not the author of confusion, He's not the author of evil. All of those circumstances, no matter how difficult they are, no matter what you face, you don't feel like you can get out of, there's no way of escape. God intends that again for your good. He's not the author of confusion, He's not the author of evil, we can trust Him. Isaiah 45.7 says, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. That's our God. Our God creates light and darkness. Creates good and calamity. And if you're a disciple of Christ, everything around you can be shaken, can come crumbling down. Everything around you can look hopeless, but your God directs you and you can trust in Him and it all works for your good. We need to trust God, we need to trust in Christ. That's walking by faith, all right? Verse three on your notes, then we've got Peter trusting God's direction in his circumstances, we see that. We need to trust God in our circumstances, but three on your notes, then you seek confirmation, seek confirmation. One of the ways that you seek confirmation verse 15 is you seek confirmation through fruit. Verse 15, and as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as upon us at the beginning. Now, this was confirmed, these circumstances were confirmed, God's work was confirmed, God's direction, God's plan, this whole thing was confirmed now based on the fruit of what Peter witnessed. The Spirit of God fell on them just like it did on us, they said, at the beginning, all right? So there's confirmation there through fruit. We need to pray for souls ourselves. The Spirit fell, God confirmed to Peter that now he wanted Peter. This is God's confirmation of this theological issue that Peter's been wrestling through. It's God's confirmation of that. By the Holy Spirit falling on these Gentiles, God is confirming to Peter that God wants Peter now to offer salvation to the Gentiles on the basis of faith alone in Christ alone. That was tough for Peter to come to grips with. But now with the apostolic word here to these believing Jews in Jerusalem, Peter's telling them this is what God wants. This is what God did. Here's God's plan. Here's God's will, let us walk in it from now on that God wants to offer salvation to the Gentiles based on faith alone in Christ alone. And he did that by saving, accordingly, this is household, okay? Then he said, as upon us. They said, as upon us. This is a confirmation through fruit of experience. Look at the circumstance. The Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles as it did on us at the beginning, okay? That's a fruit of experience. You look at your experience through the word of God according to what the word of God says. And then when you're faced with a similar circumstance, you've got some experience through the word of God to base it on. Now, I say that and I'm gonna exhort you, encourage you. That's very dangerous if you're not in the word of God. If you're not humble and praying, not trusting in God, if you're not well-informed in Scripture, because if you're basing anything on your own experience without running it through the filter of God's word, you will wind up in darkness in a ditch. You can't, it's gotta be all filtered through it. Can you see how important God's word is? Everything, everything has to be run through the filter of God's word, okay? But that's here, confirmation through experience. But then it said at the beginning, it fell upon them as upon us at the beginning, at the beginning of what? At the beginning of the church. At Pentecost when the church was established. It's an awesome thought. Then look down in verse 16. The Bible says, then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God? Wait, we are a broken record this morning. Next, verse 16 and 17 on your notes. Seek confirmation through Scripture. Seek confirmation through Scripture. What is the evidence? If you're going to, the Holy Spirit falls, okay? We've got confirmation of this from Scripture, from the words of Jesus Christ. John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. That was John, that was Jesus Christ, that was Joel, and Joel too prophesied that this would happen. We have this situation, these circumstances, now confirmed through Scripture. We do that too, don't you? We come across a circumstance, we come across a situation, and we start thinking to ourselves, what similar have we seen in God's word? Where's the circumstance in God's word? An account in God's word? Where a similar circumstance happened? How did they respond? What happened? What were the results? Did they obey God? And there was blessing? Did they disobey God? And there was cursing? You know, what was the result of that? We do that all the time. We're confirming in Scripture. Here, I want you to see, turn over just a, well, actually back to verse 14. Here it's all based on his word. Verse 14, they called for Simon, whose surname was Peter, who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved. Look over at chapter 15, chapter 15, and down in verse seven, this is alluding to the same circumstance, chapter 15, verse seven. And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago, God chose among us that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. The operation of the spirit, the salvation of souls, all comes in accordance with, in conjunction with the words of God. So when this is confirmed through Scripture, experience confirmed through Scripture, circumstances confirmed through Scripture, it's all according to the word of God. It all comes through the words of God. There's gonna be confirmation according to the words of God. The operation of the spirit is tied in every case to his word. Therefore, in discerning your circumstances and in acting on circumstances, in acting in confidence and in faith in God, you can rest assured that if what is happening, what you're doing, that the spirit's work in a real and practical way in your life is going to be in accordance with his word, tied to his word, in harmony with his word, in harmony with the example of Christ, and never, never in contradiction to it. And so there, again, it gives us great reason to seek confirmation through the word of God and trust in the word of God. And if we're in the word of God, we can trust God because what happens will always be in accordance with the word of God and in harmony with God's word. So trust God, we seek confirmation through Scripture. In Scripture here, the Gentile specifically, us, praise the Lord, get confirmation from God's word that we get in on the blessing, that in the same way that the spirit in the promised salvation of Israel was going to purge and transform Israel, God in his word, has included us in that, and that same spirit purges and cleanses and transforms us. And we're in, that's an amazing thing. But also, this gift of the Holy Spirit is tied to repentance. Look at verse 18, back in Acts 11. Verse 18 says, when they heard these things, they became silent, and they glorified God saying, then God has also granted to the Gentiles, repentance to life. The work of the spirit in your life is tied to and leads to repentance, and it's repentance. Here, it says they were silenced. That means there's no further objection, right? They were done. There were some, this no further objection or this end to the debate for some was a temporary thing because we're gonna see in future chapters, this debate still goes on. There were some, even at that time, when Gentiles were being saved that had the attitude of Jonah about Gentiles being included in the church, right? Were they standing on the hillside looking down at Nineveh, hating the Ninevites. You still had some that didn't like this idea of including Gentiles in the church. But here, the response to God's word, the response to God's work, the response to the work of the spirit was praise and acknowledgement. They responded with acknowledgement and praise, right? Here, when they saw what was done, it says they glorified God. That's the proper response to God's work. They glorify God. When good things happen, you glorify God. When bad things happen, you glorify God. Job, right? He blessed be the name of the Lord in every circumstance. You glorify God, you praise him, you acknowledge the work of God. In here, we see, in this second clause here, then God has also granted to Gentiles repentance as life. In the Greek, the word Gentiles, ethnos is pushed forward to the front of that clause showing emphasis. And it's almost in the sense that they're saying, but Gentiles? Even the Gentiles got repentance that leads to life. It's pushed forward for emphasis. This is serious fruit. This is a serious confirmation. Even the Gentiles get repentance that leads to life. And in its acknowledgement, it's an acknowledgement of God's work and God's word. Look at chapter five. Just back a few chapters, we're gonna stay in Luke here, stay in Acts, in Luke's writings. Chapter five, and look down at verse 30, Acts five down in verse 30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him, God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Christ gives repentance and gives forgiveness. And we are as witnesses to these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Go to Acts 13, Acts chapter 13. God grants repentance and yet you repent. God grants faith and you exercise faith. It's a divine gift of life because he gives you repentance and faith and on the basis of repentance and faith. But in Acts 13, look down in verse 48. They hear the gospel and in verse 48. Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. That's a good response. That's a response we need to have. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. That's pretty clear, right? As many as had been appointed to eternal life. God appoints, God gives repentance. God gives the gift of life. God gives forgiveness. And as many as appointed or appointed by God to eternal life, they believe. The gift of God however here, back in Acts 11 has a human responsibility element to it. It's repentance that is given and what must you do? You must repent. You must repent. So how does that work together? But that's what you do. Listen, you cry out to God for the gift. You want God to give you repentance unto life. Here, we see these Gentiles getting, Cornelius gets saved. Cornelius is a disciple of Christ. He's a child of God. He's an inheritor of the kingdom because he repented and believed the gospel. And God gives that repentance. So you cry out to God for repentance and you repent. You cry out, God, give me a heart that wants to serve you. God, give me a heart that wants to live for you. God, help me to forsake my sin. I hate my sin. I hate my life apart from Christ. I don't want it anymore. I want you, Christ. I don't live for myself. Look at the promises of God about our circumstances. The promises of God about him directing our path. I don't want to live for myself. Run myself into a ditch. Forget that. I want Christ. And so you cry out to him for repentance and then you repent. You cry out to him for repentance and you start obeying his word. You cry out to him for repentance and you start living for him. You cry out to him for repentance and you start evangelizing. You cry out for repentance and you start studying and reading and applying and living by that wisdom. And by that way, God gifts you repentance and faith. It's like the spirit of God in drawing you. The spirit of God in convicting you. Fans the flame of repentance and faith in your art and you repent and you exercise faith and the indwelling spirit is given to you to live the Christian life. But that's all by the mercy and grace and goodness of God. And so we've got to cry out for repentance. God, listen. God doesn't just give the possibility of repentance. God gives the repentance. He doesn't just give the possibility of faith. Make it available. He gives the forgiveness, gives the faith, gives the repentance. He is the source of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. So he's the source of all that. Listen, all these promises of God are yours if you're a disciple of Christ. But if you refuse, if you wanna keep living life for yourself, then have at it. I mean, it's like, you don't get anything. You get judgment. There's condemnation. There is a certain fiery expectation of judgment. Is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But if you will cry out in repentant faith, if you'll turn to him for sake living for yourself and follow Christ, then he will save you in his mercy and in his grace and he'll put you on his path for you that leads to heaven. And you can have him for eternity. And everything works for your good. Every circumstance, when you face that job interview, when you face that person that you're in conflict with, when you face losing income, when you face the loss of a child, when you face the loss of a loved one, when you face difficulty in your marriage, when you face difficulty with your kids, when you face difficulty, difficulty, difficulty, you're not on your own. If the lamp of the eye, the lamp of the body is good and you walk in light, they don't stumble. But that's all for the disciple of Christ. For those that are not disciples of Christ, there's only darkness. There's only a determined path to hell made up of indeterminable judgments and consequences along the way with absolutely no certainty other than torment. It's like, why? That's a fool's errand. Why would you go that direction? Turn to Christ and live in all of these, your life, this is the same God directing Peter that directs you. And if you'll just turn to him, he'll direct your paths. Also, trust in him. Lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, God, please God protect us from going our own way. How foolish, God, how ignorant it is to live according to our own devices, to try to direct our own steps, to live according to the dictates of our own wicked heart. God, there is nothing good in our flesh and we, Lord, can only trust in you. You can only live, Lord, according to your word, according to your path, according to your direction and it is good and we trust you, Lord, and believe that your plans are perfect and gloriously good. We are just so foolish, God, so ignorant, forever departing from that, forever stepping off the path and the right and to the left. God, please protect us from that. God, help us to follow you. Help us to be vigilant in our dependence on you and our dependence on your word. God, for your glory and our good, we love you, Lord, and we look forward with great anticipation, God, to one day standing on the shores of heaven, just worshiping and praising Christ forever. We love you, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. You are dismissed.