There are times in our lives that we really lean heavily on a promise that has been made to us.

I promise to love honor and cherish you all the days of my life.

I promise to be there for you when you have had a bad day.

I promise to provide for you.

I promise to pray for you.

We make a lot of promises, some of them we strive to complete, and others we fail at keeping.

When we come into the spiritual realm we sometimes try to negotiate with God. God if you’ll get me out of this situation, I promise I’ll be in church every Sunday. I promise I’ll start tithing. I promise I’ll always be on First Impressions etc etc.

What does it mean when God speaks a promise to his people?

In our text today we first see the Roman Tribune trying to do his job. The task given to him was to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin for questioning. It had just been discovered that Paul was a Roman citizen and it was against the law that a Roman citizen who had not yet been condemned of a crime could be punished. That’s where we finished up last week. I want to ask you to keep one thing in mind today as we look at these verses. God’s protection over your life and over my life and over Paul’s life is real and it is powerful.

Acts 22:30 But on the next day. The Roman official has had time to think about this entire craziness that is taking place surrounding this guy named Paul. The decision is made to bring Paul into court and see what the charges are going to be in order to accuse him.

So, it looks like maybe things will turn around until Paul makes a statement that contradicts Jewish belief. Paul says to the Sanhedrin; Brothers I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. As a Christian this was a completely truthful claim. As a Jew this was an inflammatory claim. No Jew, abiding under the OT sacrificial system could ever claim to have a clean conscience. It was an impossibility to be in that good of a standing with God. The Jews were always indebted to God because of atoning for sin took place once a year.

Paul continues his testimony by identifying as a Pharisee and a son of Pharisees. In other words, my entire family were Pharisees. That may have gotten the attention of a portion of the room but it alienated Paul from the other half of the room who were Sadducees. They hated Paul and they hated the Pharisees.

The Roman official jumps into service again and has Paul removed from the room before the group kills him.

Now we come to the key verse in our story today.

Acts 23:11

The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified the facts about me in Jerusalem, you must testify also in Rome.

BOOM. God’s promise to Paul. A promise to believe.

You’re not going to die here Paul.

You’re not going to die on your journey to Rome.

You’re not going to die as a prisoner.

YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT ALL THE WAY TO ROME AND YOU’RE GOING TO TESTIFY ABOUT ME BEFORE THE CORRECT PEOPLE IN ROME.

Verse 12: When it was day, the jews made a plot. . . . In verse 11 God spoke to Paul. The Jews do not know about the promise that Paul would make it to Rome or else they would realize that they are wasting their time.

Vs. 13 Some interesting facts come into our story here. The bible says that there were 40 Jews who joined the pact to kill Paul.

Vs. 14 & 15 They were deceitful. They made up a false narrative to get the commander to bring Paul back before the counsel.

Vs. 16 Making plans against God’s plan is folly. God always wins.

Same thing in today’s story. The sins of the Jews were discovered by a nephew of Paul and the plan to kill Paul was revealed. Their sins were found out.

Another thing I found a little interesting here in these verses is that Paul had a sister. No where else in scripture do we see anything about Paul’s sister and Paul’s nephew but they are playing a pretty important part in Paul’s life. They are used of God to advance Paul closer to God’s promise of testifying in Rome.

If Paul doesn’t give up and throw in the towel neither should we. It may look bad in our life but if God has made a promise to you then you must believe that promise. Listen to what I am saying here today. God always keeps His promises. God always keeps his promises. God always keeps his promises.

I need to ask you today; How do we believe in the promises of God when life becomes difficult?