Song I'd like to sing this morning is hymn number 303. It's one that we know we're familiar with: "Glory to His Name." Some people call it "Down at the Cross." Our hymnal references Colossians 1:20, which says, "Christ made peace through the blood of the cross." 

And the line that repeats itself in the chorus is, "There to my heart was the blood applied, down at the cross where my Savior died. Down where the cleansing from sin I cried, there to my heart was the blood applied." 

Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood applied, glory to His name!

I am so wondrously saved from sin; Jesus so sweetly abides within. There at the cross where He took me in. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood applied, glory to His name!

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin! I'm so glad I have entered in. There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood applied, glory to His name!

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet; cast your poor soul at Jesus' feet. Plunge in today and be made complete. Glory to His name! Glory to His name! Glory to His name! There to my heart was the blood applied, glory to His name!

Thank you, Doug, for that good song. We sing a lot of good songs this morning—good words about the truth of the Cross and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It's good to sing those good hymns and contemplate those messages.

Good morning to everyone! We're getting to be at a time of year where there's this bright light behind me, so it illumines my notes for my old eyes; that's good! Now we're going to be looking at Acts chapter 9 this morning and continue to study the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. 

I was thinking as I was studying through this passage that it's always interesting and encouraging to me when I see God working in my life from several different angles or pulling together all the various scriptures that I might be studying at a given time. I'm sure you've had this experience as well, where there may be some new insight into the scriptures, an important doctrine that has a new shade of meaning or point of application for you, and God brings this truth to you from every direction. Perhaps a brother or sister comes to you and talks about how they've been learning or studying this truth, and then you turn on the radio and hear someone preaching about the same thing, and then maybe come to church Sunday morning and the pastor brings it up as well. 

I always find these times to be very edifying and faith-building, not only because they set the truth in my heart and mind and help me to take it for myself, but also because I know that God wants to teach me this truth in this time, and He is gracious and loving to let me know in so many ways that He's doing that very thing.

So studying Acts 9:23-31 has been like this for me this past week or so. Our recent studies in Acts 9, our study in Galatians 6 on Thursday nights, and our study in James 1 on Tuesday evenings have all been drawn together in my mind in these verses before us this morning. 

All of these things point to—they lay a foundation for and explain the great statement of verse 31 in our text. The reality in the early church in Acts 9 in the region of Judea, Galilee, and Samaria says, "Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were multiplied." I'd really like to start here in this verse this morning, and we're also going to end there. But how do we get there? How do we get to this point as a church, as a body? How is it that we can be edified, built up, be walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and be multiplied as God wills? 

We see the example in the growth of the early church here in the book of Acts and some important truths for us to understand. Let's look at our text in verses 23 to 31. 

And I’d like to set the context by beginning in verse 20. This is right after Saul's conversion, and it says, "Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." Then all who heard were amazed and said, "Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ.

Now after many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot became known to Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket. 

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 

So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out, and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill him. 

When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

I've given you four points on your outline this morning. First, we're going to see a faithful witness, the second, ensuing persecution, the third, a son of encouragement, and fourth, a fruitful rest. 

Well, this verse has captured my attention in verse 31. Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace; they were edified, they were walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and they were multiplied. This was quite a change from what we have been studying in the book of Acts since the day of Pentecost. 

This, in fact, is a gracious gift of God, a peace, a rest—as we will see—a fruitful rest. We have seen since Pentecost, in the beginning of the church and its rapid growth, a steady and increasing persecution of trial and tribulation continually, especially in Jerusalem from the arrests of Peter and John, their imprisonment and beatings before the council, to the stoning of Stephen for his faithful witness to the great persecution and scattering of the believers from Jerusalem out into the surrounding regions at the hand of Saul of Tarsus. 

We've seen nothing for the young church but hardship and trial and conflict for the faithful witness in this region to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, after the conversion of Saul, we see a change on the horizon. As we've been studying, there was a drastic change, a new creation, a new man born in the person of Saul. 

He was on his way to persecute, to chain and prison more Christians. The verse before us this morning says he was destroying them, which means to kill them, and probably many more were killed besides Stephen. He was railing against Christ and the truth of the gospel, tearing at the church as a wild beast does at the flesh of its prey. 

But now, in a moment on that road, Saul is turned around, completely transformed, and made into a chosen vessel of God to be a faithful witness for Christ. 

He was a powerful witness, immediately preaching Christ after his conversion in the synagogues, confounding the Jews and proving that Jesus is the Christ. How do we have a church that is edified, that is walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit and being multiplied? It starts with faithful witnesses. 

Without faithful witnesses, there is no salvation. There is no growth. There is no church. The early church had many faithful witnesses. Peter was a faithful witness from the beginning, preaching Jesus Christ crucified, confronting the sin of Israel in killing their Messiah and calling on them to repent and to turn to faith in Jesus. 

We saw the faithful witness of Stephen, the first martyr, and of Philip and the account of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. And now we see the conversion of Saul into the ever zealous, ever faithful witness of the cross—Paul the Apostle. 

If we're going to have a church at all, we have to have faithful witnesses to go out into the world and preach Christ and share the good news message with every creature. We need lots of faithful witnesses. In fact, we should each and every one be preaching the gospel day by day as God gives us opportunity and arranges the circumstances in our lives. 

Do you find that to be true in your daily life as you go about? Do you see opportunities? Do you see God orchestrating circumstances, arranging meetings where you have the chance to tell men about Jesus? This is foundational—a faithful witness of believers laying the groundwork for a growing church. 

But we see also that because of a faithful witness, there will be an ensuing persecution. It comes against those who boldly stand for Christ. Look at verse 23 of our text, please. 

Remember, it was their Messiah, Jesus, whom they crucified on the tree, calling for His blood before Pilate. They did not like the truth—the confrontation of a faithful witness willing to manifest the error, the hypocrisy, and the futility of legalistic religion. Jesus came preaching the truth, speaking the truth in love, offering salvation, offering the kingdom to Israel, and they killed Him. 

He said that a servant is not greater than his master, and he promised that the same persecution awaits faithful witnesses of Christ. There is persecution for all who desire to live godly in this ungodly age. 

Turn over to Galatians 6 with me, please. We've been studying Galatians 6, and we're going to look at that text a couple of times this morning. 

Galatians 6, verse 12, Paul was dealing with the legalistic Jews in Galatia—the Judaizers—who were teaching the necessity of circumcision in the law of Moses for salvation, and were causing all kinds of problems for the believers there in those churches. In verse 12, he says, "As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." 

For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. 

Paul makes an interesting statement about the Judaizers—these legalistic Jews, the same type of men that are after him in Damascus, seeking his life. In verse 12, he says that they desire to make a good showing in the flesh, and they compel them to be circumcised only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 

Inherent in speaking the truth—in proclaiming Christ crucified and the truth of His one-time, all-sufficient death for my sins and yours on the cross, and salvation by faith alone in Him—is ensuing persecution. Paul says they preach circumcision; they preach accepted religion so that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 

This is true in our world as well today. There are many, many kinds of religion in our world, and you can talk about the goodness of men. You can talk about God within, doing good deeds, religious rituals, and the idea that we are all children of God. You can spout religion all day long in the public square, and you will find very little resistance. 

As long as you don't speak about the truth of the cross—the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and the exclusivity of salvation through faith in Him alone—you will be welcome; you will not suffer; you will be able to co-exist, as we see those bumper stickers, co-exist with all the religions of the world. 

But if you speak the truth, if you preach Christ crucified, if you, as Peter in Acts 4:12, say that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved, then you better watch out, my friends, because persecution is coming in one form or another. 

And this is what the early church found to be true, and the church, the body of Christ, has found to be true throughout her history, all around the world—that if you stand for Christ, the world will hate you; the world will persecute you in any way it can, including, in many places and many times, through death. 

Turn to James 1 with me, please. We're also studying James 1 right now. And in verse 2, James makes an interesting statement to us. He says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." 

Now, remember, James was writing to those Jews who were scattered by the persecution. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, mature, lacking nothing. 

And then down in verse 12, he closes this section by saying, "Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him." 

Count it all joy, James says. How can we have peace in the midst of persecution? How can we count it joy when we have various trials? Pastor Krenz’s dad used to say, “Everything falls down.” I must say that to myself every day because there’s trouble and there’s trial all the time, every day. 

How do we count it joy? We can, my friends, by believing Jesus, by trusting what God has told us in His Word. And James says in verse 3, knowing—first we have to know. What must we know? 

We need to know the promise of Romans 8:28-29, that God is working all things together for our good to conform us to the likeness of Christ. We need to know that He uses tribulation to grow, to edify, to produce perseverance, character, and hope. And hope does not disappoint us because, as James says in verse 12, we know and we believe and we trust that the man who endures, who passes through, who bears up under persecutions will be proven, tested, and brought forth in maturity and will ultimately receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 

What a promise, my brothers and sisters, in this insecure, unsure world—a sure promise of eternal life. A church that walks in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Spirit, a church that is edified and multiplies, is a church that has faithful witnesses preaching the truth about Jesus. 

And it's a church that endures hardships, persecutions, all kinds of trials, and is formed—or conformed and transformed into the likeness of Christ. As believers, trust and believe God. Trust and—do you believe Him? He said He’s conforming you to the likeness of Christ. He said He’s begun a good work in you, and He will complete it; He will carry it on until the day of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? 

I saw some pictures of my brothers and sisters the other day, some of them I haven't seen in a while, and I thought, man, they got old! Now if I was with them every day, day in and day out, I wouldn't notice so much that they got old. I haven’t noticed so much that I got old. He’s changing us! He’s conforming us; He’s working just as He promised, and we have to trust Him. We have to believe that. 

We have to believe that He’s working through all of these things as we endure hardships, as we suffer persecution for the cause of Christ. 

Well, next we see that a church, such a church is one that is filled with sons of encouragement. Look at verse 25, please. It says, "Then the disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall in a large basket." 

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples. The tense there means that he kept on trying; he kept on trying. And they were all afraid of him and did not believe that he was a disciple, and they kept on avoiding him. 

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that He had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. 

So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out, and he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists. But they attempted to kill him. 

When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus. 

Well, I’d like to just back up a moment here and explain a little bit of the timeline here in Acts 9. If you look at verse 23 of our text, there’s a phrase there that says, "After many days were passed." And the wording here indicates a significant length of time, perhaps years. 

That’s a curious statement, isn’t it, tucked into this text between verses 22 and 23? But it’s interesting when we compare it with Galatians 1. Turn over to Galatians 1 with me, please. 

In Galatians 1:15, Paul is defending his apostleship. He’s giving his testimony of what happened and how he came to receive the gospel that he had, that it wasn’t given to him by the apostles, as he was accused, but it came directly from Jesus. 

And in verse 15 it says, "But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. 

Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother." 

Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. Afterward, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 

So Galatians 1 really helps us understand what’s going on in Acts 9. What we see here is that Paul, after he was saved, was in Damascus, and then he went to Arabia and back to Damascus, and this encompassed a period of three years. He was being taught by Jesus, and he was preaching Christ. 

And that’s what always got him into trouble, wasn’t it? Preaching Christ everywhere he went. I think it even got him into trouble in Arabia. Now this Arabia was not Saudi Arabia we know today; it was north and included Damascus at that time. And Paul had been up in Arabia for three years, and the king of this region was named Aretas. 

Now what's interesting is that this king sent his soldiers to Damascus to help the Jews capture and kill Paul, and that's why I assume Paul was preaching Christ up in Arabia. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 11; I want you to see this. 

I was studying this, and when I came across 2 Corinthians 11, then it all kind of made sense because that whole Arabia thing in Galatians 1 was always a little bit ambiguous to me. But with Acts 9 and 2 Corinthians 11, it all kind of comes together. 

2 Corinthians 11:32: "In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison desiring to arrest me. But I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands." 

Paul escaped Damascus by night in a basket lowered down outside the wall because they were laying in wait for him at the gates to kill him. But God delivered him out of that city and brought him to Jerusalem. 

And now we see an interesting account of what happened when he got to Jerusalem. The disciples didn't trust him; they didn't want the likes of him in their fellowship or near them at all. 

I think we need to be a bit gracious to the disciples. It’s easy to understand their trepidation, their fear, having known Saul, and undoubtedly seen his former handiwork against their brethren in Jerusalem. But it’s been three years, and no one’s heard from Saul or seen Saul. And it says here that he kept trying to meet with them, and they kept avoiding him. 

But there’s an important lesson here for us from one called Barnabas, the son of encouragement. Look at verse 27 in our text. 

"But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that He had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus." 

Barnabas is a great example to us. Because we can—certainly the body of Christ in certain circles can—be a little bit exclusive and unwilling to receive some men. 

I was thinking about this; it makes me so thankful for our church body here at Living Hope. We have a lot of Barnabases in our fellowship, sons of encouragement. 

And my friends, I believe that this body of believers shows its sincere love for any and all men who might come into this fellowship or somehow cross our paths. Our sincerest desire is that men would be saved and that we might grow together in fellowship and in word—to go out and be faithful witnesses in this world. 

And this is not just my biased opinion. I’ve heard people say things like this many times about Living Hope Church. One such compliment came from a man who was visiting us from another church, and he said, “My church may be orthodox and biblically sound, but it sometimes can feel a bit like a production.” 

And he said, “There’s something to be said about the precious intimacy your church glows with.” That’s nice to hear, isn’t it? That’s what we most want, isn’t it? 

We’re not concerned with appearance or that we all dress the same way or look the same way or even move in the same circles. We’re not putting on some sort of production or show here. We genuinely want to love one another. 

We want to grow and be edified by the Word, the truth, with Jesus being the focus, and we want His love, His welcome to extend to all men that they might be saved and grow with us and fellowship with us. This is what matters, and this is why our church glows with a precious intimacy. 

We need Barnabases. We need encouragers about us because we all need encouragement all the time to look to Jesus, to believe Him, to trust Him. And that brings us back to Galatians 6:1. Turn to Galatians 6:1 with me, please. 

This passage has really been impactful for me these last couple of weeks. I think it's so encouraging and captures what we’re talking about in the person of Barnabas here. Galatians 6:1: "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." 

For if anyone thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another, for each one shall bear his own load.

"Let him who has taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."

We’ve been studying this passage the past couple of Thursdays, and I believe it captures the essence of God’s purpose within the body of Christ. Paul tells us to come alongside our brothers and sisters, to bear their burdens with them, to help them and encourage them. 

He also tells us that when a brother is overtaken in a trespass, to restore him with a spirit of gentleness. The word "restore" means to mend something that is broken. 

I thought of it this way: We are having multitudes of little lambs on our farm right now. They’re so small, they’re so fragile, and they’re so cute. Can you imagine if one of those lambs' mothers was to step on them or lay on them and break that little leg? 

And that lamb would lay in the corner of that jug and that straw with his broken leg. How would you approach that lamb? Cautiously—in gentleness—with a heart to mend, to restore, to heal, to fix what is broken. This is what Paul is saying about how we relate to one another in the body. 

We love each other. We help each other. We point each other back to Christ so that we all might grow up into maturity in Christ and be effective ministers for Him. Barnabas was this kind of brother, the son of encouragement, and he was used by God to show the Apostle that Paul was the real deal. 

And then they welcomed him, and he was there in Jerusalem. He was going in and out, disputing with the Hellenists, and look what it says in verse 29: "But they attempted to kill him." 

He was only there fifteen days according to Galatians 1, and yet they were already seeking to kill him. Persecution followed him everywhere because he was boldly speaking the name of Jesus. 

And so they had to get Paul out of town again, and they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him to Tarsus back home to let things cool down. But you know what Paul was doing up there in the region of Cilicia? We see later that he was faithfully preaching Christ. He never quit. Wherever he went, no matter what happened, they took him outside the city in Lystra. They stoned him, left him for dead. He got up, went right back in the city, and started preaching. 

But now he was out of the scene, no longer persecuting as Saul of Tarsus and no longer being sought as the Apostle Paul. And we see that God gives a time of peace to the church. 

And in this time of peace, they did not rest on their laurels, become complacent, or just coast along. But the church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria was built up; they were edified. They were walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and they were growing. They were being multiplied. 

God's way for a growing, believing church is by faithful witnesses, ensuing persecution, bearing up under the hardships together, and through sons of encouragement. 

And we see that after this time of great persecution—the many trials and dispersion and attacks the church had experienced—God gave them a fruitful rest. Verse 31 says: "The church had peace." 

Now we've seen how the church grows through persecution, how God built the faith and made witnesses of men through persecution, and perseverance, building character, looking unto Jesus. 

But here we see the church was being edified and growing in a time of peace and relative ease as well. Now the believers find themselves scattered about in Galilee and Samaria, as well as Jerusalem, and there’s a time of peace. 

What a blessing from God, and still a time of fruitfulness! It makes me wonder about the church today in America. Perhaps we've had too much peace, too much ease. 

Paul said in Philippians 4:11, "I have learned in whatever state I am to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere, and in all things, I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

Sometimes I wonder if it's more difficult for us to abound, to be full. But we see that it’s possible for the church to be in a time of peace, to be in a time of a lack of persecution, a lack of trouble, and still to be growing, to be focused, to be depending on the Lord, to be resting in the Holy Spirit. 

This was true of the early church in Acts 9. They had peace; they were edified, built up; they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and they were multiplied. 

And my brothers and sisters, this can only come as we, as individuals, and we, as a corporate body, are wholly fixed on Jesus, sensing our desperate need for Him, our dependence on Him, and our thankfulness to Him for who He is and what He has done. 

This is what we must be renewing our minds to every day—being thankful for Jesus. We need to be encouraging one another. We need to be participating in the body, in worship, in the Word, in fellowship, in prayer for one another. 

And we need to be witnesses—faithful witnesses—in our lives, in our communities, preaching Christ boldly. And my friends, we need to learn to be content in Christ, in times of persecution or in times of peace. 

And these things we can walk in the fear of the Lord. We can be continually being built up, edified, growing, bearing fruit, being multiplied by the grace and power of God. 

I studied through this whole passage, and Ephesians 4 kept coming to my mind. Ephesians 4:11 and following, and I just want to close with Paul's words because I think he teaches us the essence of what was going on in the church in Acts 9. In Ephesians 4:11, just follow along with me, and we’ll close with his words. 

This is Jesus' plan for the church: "And He Himself, Jesus, gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. 

But speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." 

This is God’s prescription for the church, and I think we see a good example of that in our text today. Let’s close in prayer.

Father, we’re so thankful that you’ve given us your Word and preserved it for us, that we have it, that we can read it and study it and be encouraged and taught, that we can grow up and be edified and know the Holy Spirit is working in us to conform us to Christ, that He’s working in our church, that He’s creating opportunities for witness. 

We just pray, Lord, that you help us to be faithful witnesses for you in all that we do. In Jesus’ name, amen.