Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
February 4, 2018
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 23
INTRODUCTION
Illus.- An old magazine, Mission USSR, used to tell the stories of Christian prisoners who suffered for Jesus in the midst of constant persecution in Russia's Soviet era. One story in my files was titled "Surviving the 'Valley of Death,'" the testimony of a lady named Valentina who was arrested at the age of 28 for transporting Christian literature and sentenced to five years in prison, beginning January l982.
After her trial, she was transported to a Siberian camp called the "Valley of Death" by the prisoners because of the high mortality rate and spread of tuberculosis. She was completely cut off from her physical and spiritual families and all the things familiar to her. Without the comfort of her Bible and surrounded by prisoners spying on and cursing each other, she said, "There were periods when it seemed I couldn't pray, that the heavens were sealed up and silent."
That's what I would call living "between a rock and a hard place." Have you ever been between a rock and a hard place like that before?
You know what I mean by that phrase, don't you?- You're in a trial of affliction or opposition-and you look for escape or relief in ONE DIRECTION and it's like you run into a ROCK-and you look in the OPPOSITE DIRECTION and it's like you're against A HARD PLACE. In other words-no matter which way you turn, there seems to be no hope-no escape-no help in sight-no answer.
How do you get through the times when you're between a rock and a hard place? All of us either have been there in the past, or are there, or will be there in the future. So, when you're there, what can you do?
Well, when you're between a rock and a hard place-take heart-you're in good company! In Acts 23 we see that Paul was in just such a situation. Paul had come to Jerusalem to heal the breach between the Jewish and Gentile Christians, was spurned in his attempts, got caught up in a riot based on a misunderstanding, was saved by a local Roman military unit, whose captain, instead of arresting those fomenting the riot, promptly arrested PAUL, due to mistaking him for a wanted notorious criminal. Paul was saved from an interrogation and flogging only by informing his guard that he was a Roman citizen.
The next day Paul was brought to the Jewish council-essentially the Supreme Court in Israel-to see what the charges were against him. The council was divided, so Paul was hauled back to prison, his fate still undecided And that's where we find him in Acts 23.
Here we find Paul between a rock and a hard place-alone and without his Christian friends. He MUST have been hurt and disappointed that the Jewish Christians had rebuffed his efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the Jewish and the Gentile believers. And he found himself falsely jailed and at the mercy of unjust and corrupt leaders.
He was between A ROCK-the harsh custody of the Romans, and A HARD PLACE-the Supreme Court of Israel out to destroy him if at all possible, just as they had done to Jesus and Stephen and other Christians.
And yet, as we will discover-God is greater than our rocks OR our hard places! Look with me at verse 11 - "And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, 'Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.'"
The Lord stood at Paul's side and said, "Be of good cheer." Now THAT'S a jolly good thing to say in a situation like that! Here he is-rejected, falsely accused, beaten, the victim of a mistaken identity, and in prison. Now, if you came to me in that situation and said, "Hey dude, cheer up!"-I'd say "Get out of here. You don't know what I'm going through!"
But when it's the LORD who says it, well, that's a little different, isn't it? Jesus came to assure Paul that even though he was between a rock and a hard place, God was still in control. So there was no reason to be worried or upset-"be of good cheer."
Why SHOULD Paul be of good cheer? Let me give you three reasons Paul could "be of good cheer." They're the same reasons you and I should "be of good cheer" when we're between a rock and a hard place in our own lives:
I. FIRST, BE OF GOOD CHEER BECAUSE OF GOD'S PRESENCE - verse 11a - "And the night following the Lord stood by him…"
When Jesus appeared to Paul, it was a reminder that Jesus Christ was STILL ALIVE and that He was with him everywhere he was and in every situation.
How blessed to know that Jesus is always with us-even between rocks and hard places!
Jesus' last words were, "…lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." (Matthew 28:20)
How many of us have been hurt, misunderstood, insulted, in pain, discouraged, in the very valley of despair-and yet, even in our darkest hour, we felt the abiding presence of the Lord Jesus in our lives?
Illus. - I remember when I went into surgery in 1979, how when Susan told me the worst news that I could possibly hear-that I had a malignant tumor-how I felt the presence of the Lord in a way I had never experienced before. - I remember when I had been told that I was going to die, that I went to the Psalms, and as I read, the Lord seemed near to me in a way I had never before known.
In the time of trouble or affliction or opposition, remember-Jesus is there! Call out to Him!-Seek His face!-Ask Him to make His presence real to you. Go to the Psalms and just camp out there! Spend time in prayer-and you WILL experience the presence of the Lord.
II. SECOND, BE OF GOOD CHEER BECAUSE OF GOD'S PROVIDENCE - Acts 23:12-22 - "And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. 13 And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14 And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15 Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him. 16 And when Paul's sister's son [i.e., his nephew] heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him, and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. 18 So he took him, and brought him to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. 19 Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately, and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me? [In verses 20-21 Paul's nephew told the chief captain of the plot to kill Saul by these 40 religious zealots. Then verse 22 says…] 22 So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me."
It's fascinating to see that no matter how much men seek to thwart the will of God, they're powerless against it. If God wanted Paul to die, there wasn't a magistrate or king or potentate on earth who could save his life, and if God wanted Paul to LIVE, these forty religious terrorists were POWERLESS to take his life.
Here we see the amazing providence of God at work. What a coincidence that this young man just HAPPENED to hear of the plot to kill Paul. What a coincidence that he just HAPPENED to be Paul's nephew!
No, there's no such thing as coincidence with God's people. What the world calls coincidence, Christians refer to as God's providence.
Illus. - When my dad was stationed in Vietnam in the war, he came to know a zealous Korean preacher named Kim Lee who preached with God's power and was effective in reaching a host of American and South Korean servicemen for Christ. Kim had a most remarkable conversion story. When the Communists took over North Korea, his father was executed. Kim's mother gathered him and his sister and fled to the South on foot. On the trip, his mother froze to death, and later he became separated from his only sister whom he never saw again the rest of his life.
Only ten years old, he almost died of starvation and exposure until he came into contact with a unit of U.S. Marines who fed him and took care of him and made him their mascot-but also taught him a lot of bad things. After the war he drifted into organized crime and committed serious crimes. After a bank robbery in which he killed a bank teller, he was captured and sentenced to life in prison.
In prison, he met a chaplain who shared Christ with him faithfully, but it just seemed to go through one ear and out the other. However, Kim accepted a Bible from him because the pages could be torn out to make perfect paper to roll cigarettes in.
One evening, after the permitted hours for smoking, in his cell he tore a page out of his Bible to roll a cigarette and was caught by a guard doing it. He knew he was in big trouble, so he lied to the guard and said, "I'm not rolling a cigarette. I'm reading a page I tore from this Bible."
"Reading the BIBLE? You can't even READ. I say you're smoking!"
"I most certainly CAN read, and I WAS too reading the Bible."
"If you can read, then read that page in your hand to me."
Kim picked up the torn page from the Bible and began reading the first verse his eyes fell on-John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Suddenly, the wonderful truth in that verse flooded his soul in an instant and he understood all that the chaplain had said about Christ and salvation, and Kim was converted right on the spot. His life changed suddenly and irreversibly. He devoured the Word, attended every service and Bible study he could and became a flaming evangelist, witnessing to every guard, every visitor, every inmate, making a pest of himself. A prison psychologist examined him and concluded he had gone insane, but was no longer a threat to society and recommended he be pardoned. Once he was released, he preached far and near with many conversions.
Now let me ask you a question-Wasn't that an amazing "coincidence" that he just HAPPENED to tear out the page that had John 3:16 on it?…that he just HAPPENED to turn the page to the right side?…and that his eyes just HAPPENED to fall on John 3:16, and no other verse?
No, those weren't coincidences-those were all evidences of the providence of God. Now look again at verse 16 -"And when Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul."
Check your New Testament from beginning to end and you'll not find another reference to Paul's sister or his nephew. By God's providential hand, they were set to the side of history all of Paul's life so that they would be in the right place at the right time when Paul was between a rock and a hard place. And then God said, "Nephew, it's time to go on stage. Get out there!"
Folks, that's just incredible!-But that's the way God works. It's been said that history is "His story." And when suddenly God writes HIS STORY, no matter how difficult the plot appears, He just says, "It's time!" and moves in. He might use an angel, an obscure nephew, an earthquake, or a fish-but right on cue, the rock and the hard place dissolve into non-existence.
And even if He chooses to keep you between a rock and a hard place PHYSICALLY, you can still be spiritually and emotionally freed. Remember our Soviet sister, Valentina, who was in "the valley of death"? Talk about a rock and a hard place! She went on to say:
The conditions in camp were disheartening…I had prayed before being sent there that wherever God sent me, He would give me the strength to fulfill the work quota. At first, things were very hard physically, of course, but God preserved me in His mercy, through the prayers of my friends and the church. Sometimes I didn't even have the strength to pray, but could only raise my eyes to heaven in a silent cry. In His mercy the Lord sent me a Christian sister… Natasha…a wonderful Christian, of sterling character, full of peace, and it was evident that the Lord was present with her. We always tried to support one another in the arms of prayer.
You see, the Soviet government thought it was in total control. But really it was just a bit player. In reality, GOD was in control. Even in her greatest trial, God brought her someone who made the rock not seem so hard, and the hard place seem softer. How did that happen?-The providence of God.
And brethren, if you'll look over your life, you can see a trail of what appear to human eyes to be "coincidences" and "fortuitous events" that really are the hand of God's providence in your life. And if you're between a rock and a hard place today, NOW id when you can look for God to intervene. You may not even recognize it as such at first, but you'll be able to look back and see God providentially guiding you.
III. LASTLY, BE OF GOOD CHEER BECAUSE OF GOD'S PROTECTION - Acts 23:23-35 - "And he called unto him two centurions, saying, 'Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night; 24 And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.' 25 And he wrote a letter after this manner: [In verses 26-30, the chief captain explains in his letter to governor Felix Paul's case and the plot against him and asks Felix to take jurisdiction over the case. Let's skip down to verse 31:] 31 Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris. 32 On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle: 33 Who, when they came to Caesarea, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. 34 And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia; 35 I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall."
Do you know what happened?-Once the plot to murder Paul was exposed, the Lord cranked up the Roman Empire to provide transportation and protection for the new chairman of His "Evangelism Committee" dedicated to spreading the Gospel among the Gentiles within the Roman Empire.
First, the Romans provided AN ABUNDANCE OF FREE BODY GUARDS. Verse 23 says there were 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen-a total of 470 men assigned to protect one man-Paul! These 40 religious terrorists would be wiped out by this group in short order!
Second, the Romans also provided FREE TRANSPORTATION. Verse 24 says Paul was provided with "beasts"-plural. In other words, Paul travelled in style, being given two horses, maybe more, for the sixty-mile journey to the judgment hall in Herod's palace in Caesarea.
Third, the Lord even provided SAFE LODGING-Herod's personal quarters. - G. Campbell Morgan said, "The Palace of Herod was used by the Lord as a safe place for His Servant. It was a prison, but a prison is a palace when the Lord provides it for his servant Paul."
Now folks-THAT'S what I call protection! One of the great blessings of the Christian life is to know that I have God's protective hand on my life.…to know that Satan cannot do one thing to me without God's express permission.…to know that GOD is in control-that not one thing can happen to me without a reasonable and good purpose for it in my life.
If you're between a rock and a hard place, you can know that you're under God's special watch care and protection.
CONCLUSION
Valentina, our Soviet prisoner, stayed in the "Valley of Death" for her full five years. She was finally released in l987 at the age of 32. When asked, "Don't you regret the years that you wasted here?," she answered:
If the Son of God willingly went to Calvary for me, what in comparison is giving five years of my earthly life?…The ministry He gave me in the prison camp was the work He wanted me to do. He put me there and required only that I be faithful to Him….He gave me the health and strength to remain faithful to Him. And through His mercy and power through the prayers of His people, He enabled me to be victorious.
Are you between a rock and a hard place right now? Be of good cheer…
1) because of God's PRESENCE, because God will be with you no matter what your circumstances are and comfort you through them.
2) because of His PROVIDENCE to work it all out in the end for His glory and your good.
3) and because of His PROTECTION.
