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you you you you you you you you All right, good morning everyone welcome to stronghold Baptist Church. You can grab your hymnals and open up the song 364 you Song number 364 standing on the promises Song 364 It's on the first oh oh oh oh Amen Oh Let's open up to our next song song 194 Just quick little announcement before I get to this next song if there's any bags and any seats or anything Please remove those bags and get as close as you can to the center The building is filling up so I want to make sure we have enough seating for everybody Right so what learn 94 since Jesus came into my heart So 194 First My soul Jesus Oh Jesus Oh Jesus Announcements so you grab your bulletins And open up to your first page there There at the top so service times as usual 10 30 a.m. And 5 p.m. Is our Sunday services that time has been changed from 4 o'clock previously now is 5 p.m. And At 7 o'clock on Wednesday is our Bible studies Below that you'll see so many opportunities. We have so many opportunity today at 130 so for anyone that doesn't want to go soul winning You would meet up here at 130 and then get paired up and get sent out. So On soul winning. I want to go over any Souls that have been saved this week 30 salvations this week What day was that? Wednesday All right, great keep up all the good work out there soul winning That's what we're here for. We're here to preach the gospel to every creature below that. You'll see our salvations for the month of July And baptisms on baptisms. We have a baptism after service today. Is there anyone here that is saved is going to get baptized Okay We have two baptisms All right At The bottom of the page are the offering tolls for the month of July and on the next page is our prayer requests It's always good news to have Prayers answered and things go well. So hope Estrada has had her baby little baby Tabitha Sue Estrada, she's 19 inches long and six pounds seven ounces. She was delivered at home Unassisted so dad did the delivery so good one there Jeff Was delivered at 6 40 p.m. So amen for that. Praise God. Praise God I don't have any other updates for anybody else here on the list But please continue to pray for everyone on here, you know, take these home and keep people in prayer throughout the week Below that you'll see we pray for different churches of like-minded faith every week. We'll put them on here We're praying for steadfast Baptist Church. They're going through quite a bit right now But it doesn't mean that those aren't things that we can face one day over here in Georgia. So Definitely keep that church in prayer keep all our churches that are like us in prayer because persecution does come All right. So next page here. We're gonna welcome pastor Anderson for coming down from faithful word, so It's great to have him here. It's gonna be a blessing to hear him preach Very exciting a lot of you all here for come to see him. So that's great. And then After pastor Anderson pastor versions is in Arizona right now as we speak so he'll be preaching here in a couple hours They're they're behind by by three hours. So he'll be preaching here soon, but he won't be here next week So we have some guest preachers Brother Devin Rogers will be preaching on Sunday brother Carter will be preaching on Sunday as well and brother Jesse Michaels will be preaching. So please come out and support them as well as they come and preach God's Word And below that is our Bible memory passage. We are finishing up here Hebrews chapter 3 We're trying to get through the book of Hebrews so every Bible memory passage that we have is kind of just continuing on till we get through the book of Hebrews and then we're going to have a Prize for those that can quote back the whole book Hebrews word. Perfect I don't know what that prize is pastor sometimes takes its time with the prizes, but they do come they do come. All right Upcoming events. We have the red hot preaching conference on July 14th through the 17th. That's going to be exciting Big pastor Burgess is going up there as well. So that'd be nice to uh, can't wait to see that Hopefully make it in the flesh one day. So Really excited about that coming up September 3rd So winning marathon in Alabama, so we're having a soul winning marathon up there and birthdays and anniversaries here at the bottom of the page We miss Chloe by day All right That is it for our announcements. Let's turn to our next song song number 396 Oh It's all 396 so little time Song 396 Oh Or miss our Oh This Oh Oh On the last church Oh Oh Oh Oh In church while the offering plates are being passed around if you can open up your Bibles book of Philippians chapter 3 It's Philippians chapter 3 as we do customary here at stronghold Baptist Church We're going to read the entire chapter as brother Devin. He can please do that for us Once again, that was Philippians chapter 3 Finally my brethren rejoiced in the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous But for you it is safe beware of dogs aware of evil workers aware of the concision We are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Though I might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I'm or Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church Touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless, but what things were gained to me those I counted loss for Christ Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my lord For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them But dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having in mine own righteousness Which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead not as though I had already attained either were already perfect But I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do Forgetting those things which are before which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of Christ of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in anything you be otherwise minded God shall reveal even this unto you nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule Let us mind the same thing brethren Be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for dings in sample For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Brother Jared, can you pray for us, please? And Well, it is great to be here Once again, of course, I was just here about a month ago for the camping trip or was it two months ago I have no idea but It's always such a great time at that camping trip I really want to make it a priority to try to be at that thing every single year and So it's good to see a lot of you again as well as a lot of new faces as many of you know We're on a road trip traveling across the country preaching at a whole bunch of different churches and I've already preached in LA Fresno Portland Oregon area Spokane Boise, Oklahoma City Dallas Houston and now here we are so we're almost to the end of the trip now It's just here and then on Wednesday night. We're gonna be up in Fairmont, West Virginia And so I've been preaching through this series where I'm going through the twelve sons of Jacob Which also are of course the twelve tribes of Israel And so we're actually on the last of the twelve sons this morning and that is Benjamin So I preached through them in the order that they were born. I've done eleven so far and here we are with the twelve Benjamin Now we don't really know a lot in Scripture About the person Benjamin about his personality or the stories from his own life But of course the tribe of Benjamin is significant And what I want to preach about this morning are the two most famous characters from the tribe of Benjamin and what's interesting is that these two most Important biblical characters from the tribe of Benjamin both have the same name If you can believe that because of course in the Old Testament We have King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin and then in the New Testament We have Saul of Tarsus who is of the tribe of Benjamin and Saul is of course much more commonly known as Paul The Apostle Paul his name was originally Saul He's of the tribe of Benjamin just like King Saul is of the tribe of Benjamin now the reason I'm going to preach about these Two men is because they have so much in common Not because they're the same, but because they are like exact opposites of one another They're like a reverse negative of one another and so it's really interesting when you compare these two characters There's really no way that it could be a coincidence That these two men have so much in common and are so diametrically opposed to one another so just to start out Let me just give you some examples from these two men of the tribe of Benjamin the two most important men in the Bible from the tribe of Benjamin and They're both named Saul first of all of course their opposites because one is in the Old Testament one is of the New Testament But secondly if you think about it Saul is the first king of Israel Whereas Saul in the New Testament is the last Apostle because he said I'm the least of all the Apostles. I was like one born out of due time Last of all he said Christ appeared unto me So if somebody claims to have been visited recently by the resurrected Christ They're lying because it was the Apostle Paul who was the last one to be a witness of his bodily resurrection Of course when he comes again every eye shall see him when he comes in the clouds But if you think about it at the end of Saul's life He was persecuting David wasn't he toward the very end of his life. That's what he was doing He was pursuing and persecuting David, and if you think about the Apostle Paul started out Persecuting Christ who is the son of David David represents Christ so one started out persecuting Christ that's the Apostle Paul the other ended up persecuting David Toward the end of Saul's life. He ordered to have the priests of the Lord killed and Many priests of the Lord were executed under King Saul's order and the other Saul in the New Testament started out by Delivering Christians unto their death or ordering Christians to be killed if you would flip over to Acts chapter number 9 Acts chapter number 9 and While you're turning to Acts 9 I'll read for you from Acts 22 the Apostle Paul said and I persecuted this way unto the death Binding and delivering into prison both men and women so the Apostle Paul started out persecuting Christians even unto death having them killed It says in Acts chapter 9 verse 1 and Saul yet breathing out Threatenings and look at this next word threatenings and slaughter Right so this guy wants Christians killed at the beginning of his story It says that he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples the Lord went under the high priest and desired of him Letters to Damascus to the synagogues that if he found any of this way whether they were men or women he might bring them Bound in Jerusalem of course the Apostle Paul was not directly killing anyone he didn't directly murder anyone, but indirectly because he's bringing them and having them arrested and Some were killed for the cause of Christ Just like Saul indirectly killed the priests of the Lord because it was actually doing the Edomite that he sicced on them Now think about Saul physically Saul was a very tall man. He was known for his great height He was head and shoulders above all the rest of the people But yet the Apostle Paul was the exact opposite because it says in 2nd Corinthians 10 10 his letters say they are weighty and powerful but his bodily presence is weak and His speech contemptible so the Apostle Paul is very unimpressive Probably a small guy if they said well his bodily presence is contemptible You know there's not much to see there, and then Saul is just impressive to everyone standing head and shoulders above the people It's amazing how many ways these two are opposite. They're both of the tribe of Benjamin. They're both named Saul So now I want to get into kind of the main points that I want to emphasize this morning of the differences between these men if you would flip over to 1st Corinthians chapter number 15 1st Corinthians chapter number 15 and While you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you 1st Samuel 15 17 now Why did God choose? Saul to be king is it just because he was so tall and God just said hey Let's just go with the tallest guy no because man looks on the outward appearance But God looks on the heart and the reason why God chose King Saul is because Saul was a godly Humble man in the beginning now. We tend to think of the way that Saul ended up and we think of Saul Persecuting David and and losing his temper and throwing a javelin at his son and and Chewing out his son and doing all these things But he actually started out as a godly humble man Which is why the Lord chose him to be king in the first place and it says here in 1st Samuel 15 17 you're in 1st Corinthians, but I'll be there in a moment, but in 1st Samuel 15 it says Samuel said when thou was little in thine own sight Was thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel and the Lord anointed the king over Israel So God made Saul king when Saul was little in his own sight. He was humble What's interesting about Paul is that Paul ends up a very humble man? Saul started out humble But then the power of being king goes to his head and then it's just all about preserving his power at all costs And he wants to kill David so he doesn't lose power He's getting angry at his own son because he just wants the family to have the power and his son Jonathan supports David and so forth But the Apostle Paul on the other hand ends up humble in the end of his life In fact, he even changes his name because he starts out being named Saul But then his name changes to Paul and the word Paul literally means little So he uses this name that means small or little so Saul in the Old Testament starts out little in his own sight Paul ends up little in his own sight and he even goes by that name because when we're reading the book of Acts You know for the first many chapters that we see Saul chapter 7 is where we're introduced to Saul All the way up through chapter 13. He's called Saul, right? So when we're reading about him on the road to Damascus and even as he's Preaching and doing missions. He still is called Saul for a while Then all of a sudden we get to chapter 13 when he's on the island of Cyprus and all of a sudden it just switches in chapter 13 It says Saul who is called Paul and then from then on he's just always called Paul But remember Paul wrote a bunch of letters as well right the epistles of Paul and notice in those letters He never calls himself Saul. He always calls himself Paul. That's what he goes by why because he's little in his own sight He's using this humble name Paul that literally means small or little so it's the opposite So he showed that he preferred that name because that's what he uses in all his epistles to refer to himself Look at 1st Corinthians 15 9 there and look at the humility of the Apostle Paul He said for I am the least of the Apostles Now we look at that and we probably don't really agree with that You know who's the least of the Apostles probably some no-name guy that we don't know much about Bartholomew or something You know what I mean? I don't know who the least the Apostles is but I don't think it's Paul because the Apostle Paul is the guy who wrote you know 13 books 14 books of the New Testament and The book of Acts starts out being the acts of the Apostles and it ends up being the acts of the Apostle Paul because the vast majority of the book ends up being just about the Apostle Paul, but notice that's what he's saying about himself He's saying I'm the least of the Apostles. He's little in his own sight He's saying I'm not meet to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God I'm not even worthy that's littleness in his own sight 1st Timothy 1 15 You have to turn their famous verse This is a faithful saying and worthy of all Acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I'm chief He said I'm the chief of sinners How be it for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting He says look the reason I was chosen is not because I'm great not because I was worthy It's really just because God Wanted to choose someone that could be an example to other people they could say hey if this guy can get saved you can Get saved. I mean this guy is The chief of sinners this guy is persecuting the Church of God So it's a pattern that says hey Just because you've done a lot of really bad sins in the past if you believe on Jesus Christ you can still be saved Anyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved Regardless of what they have done in the past They could do anything in the past and if they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ they will be saved Now obviously we realize that there are some people according to scripture that are beyond hope of salvation First of all everybody who's in hell right now is beyond hope of salvation people who've died without Christ are beyond hope of salvation You've got to get saved while you're still alive before it's eternally too late You've got to get saved before you breathe your last breath And so we realize that there are some people who are beyond hope even before they breathe their last breath there are people who blaspheme the Holy Ghost or Have done other things to just show God that they just completely hate him and don't even want to retain God in their knowledge Whatsoever and we realize that there are people who've been given over to a reprobate mind But the reason that they cannot be saved is because they cannot believe Because the Bible says in John 12 39 therefore they could not believe God hardened their heart and blinded their eyes so forth because anyone who believes will be saved No matter what they've done. There's not some sin that you commit where it's like. Oh, that's it God won't listen to you if you call upon him by faith for salvation No anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved as long as they believe in Christ Right because how can they call on him and who they've not believed but if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead thou Shall be saved and the great thing about that is that anyone who does that will be saved It's not a matter of well. How bad have you been? You know Because I don't know if God's grace is gonna be sufficient Hey, God's grace is greater than all our sin as the song says and so when we're out soul winning Some eyes will run into people and they say well. I just don't know If I can be saved because you know I've had a really wicked past I don't know if God's gonna forgive me for those things But let me tell you something anyone who believes on Jesus Christ will be forgiven so unless that person just hates God and doesn't want to retain God in their knowledge, and it's just rejected God ultimately hey salvation is available It's not about their past and the Apostle Paul is an example of that because here's a guy who? Persecuted the Church of God here's a guy who breathed out threatenings and slaughter Against Christianity, that's pretty wicked But yet God showed him mercy as a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting showing that your sinful past can be paid for and Covered in the blood of Christ and you can be saved and so notice the Apostle Paul's not say well He chose me because he knew I was gonna be so effective You know he chose me Because of the fact that these other apostles weren't exactly getting it done. They were staying in Jerusalem They weren't getting into Greece and Macedonia like I did no no he says look He chose me as a pattern because I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the least of the Apostles now He does acknowledge at one point that he did labor more abundantly than they all but that's not Glorifying anything about himself that he's just such a smart person or a great person or an effective person You know it's really just that God wanted to show an example of a guy who'd had a bad past Getting saved getting right and then of course even outdoing the rest of the Apostles by out laboring them not by being better But just by working hard and achieving great things for God and so this is the opposite of Saul who Saul started out humble and Then ended up being filled with pride It's the exact opposite with Paul because Paul started out all puffed up in the Jews religion and persecuting Christianity And then he ends up being very humble because when he says that he's the chief of sinners in first Timothy Well first Timothy is one of the last Epistles that he wrote the the epistles to Timothy first and second are both very late in his ministry And so that's toward the end of his life. He's being very humble. He's ending humble instead of starting humble like Saul did But not only that number two Saul ended his life in regret Whereas the Apostle Paul ended his life glad that he had served the Lord Glad that he had finished the course This is what Saul said toward the end of his life in 1st Samuel 26. He said I've played the fool I've Played the fool and I've erred exceedingly That's I don't want to end my life saying that I don't want to be saying that on my deathbed man I've been an idiot I've been full and then Listen to what the Apostle Paul said at the end of his life, and if you would actually flip over there I want you to see this go to 2nd Timothy chapter 4 I'm gonna start reading while you get there though because I want to show you something but 1st Timothy 4 6 For I'm now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand So 2nd Timothy is the last epistle that the Apostle Paul wrote his final epistle final chapter He says I'm now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand now What does he mean when he says the time of my departure is he like hey? I'm at the airport my flights leaving so I have to wrap up this epistle No when he says the time of my departure is at hand he's talking about departing this life He's talking about departing to be with Christ as he called it in another pistol talking about dying He's almost to the point of physically dying And he says the time my departure is at hand look at verse 7. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I Have kept the faith sounds a little different than I've played the fool. I've heard exceedingly Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness Which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also That love is appearing isn't it interesting that when Saul died he loses his crown He was the king of Israel, and it should have been his son's kingdom God said that it would have been his son's kingdom I would have established your throne forever, but because of Saul's disobedience his death marks the end of His reign the end of his dynasty he and his sons die on the same day And that's a removal of the crowd was when the Apostle Paul died he received his crown I'm telling you these characters are the exact opposite and enough There's no way it could be coincidence the both of the tribe of Benjamin They're both named Saul ones of the New Testament ones of the Old Testament, and they're opposite in like 20 30 different ways Almost everything about them ends up being a reverse of one another right Saul loses the crown the Apostle Paul gains the crown and Not only that this wasn't in my notes, but this just kind of popped into my mind You know Saul really wanted that crown for himself, and he didn't want it to go to someone else He didn't want David to be king. He didn't want anyone else to be king You know he's trying to hog that thing whereas the Apostle Paul is saying hey this crowns not for me only But unto all them also the love is appearing he wants other people to wear a crown You know he's not trying to hog that for himself It's kind of the exact opposite if you think about it But not only that and this point is is a little bit controversial, but since I'm right You know I'm just gonna go ahead and say it and since I have no doubt that I'm right you know Saul Lost his crown when he died Paul gained the crown when he died, but think about this also Saul came to a violent end Saul died a painful death a violent Brutal death because if you think about it, not only did Saul die in battle. That's already a violent death right He's in battle, and he's killed by the enemy, but he's actually mortally wounded and just like slowly dying and Begging his armor bearer to kill him That's a painful death when you're saying like kill me. You know that's pretty bad, right and Then the armor bearers you know is afraid to do it, so then he ends up having to fall on his own sword I mean look of all the ways of dying you know sometimes you might sit around and think like oh, man You know what would be the worst way to die or a better way to die? Hopefully you're not that morbid, but if you think about that You know one of the worst things would be if you had to like participate in it yourself. I mean that's horrific You know you're Saul mortally wounded slowly dying Just begging to be finished off So that the philistines don't come and abuse him or you know mutilate him or whatever They're gonna do to him, and then he ends up falling on his own sword That's pretty much as bad as it gets folks. That's a pretty tragic end but the Apostle Paul I Do not believe for one second that the Apostle Paul died a violent death Now you say well, you know the Apostle Paul was murdered. He was thrown to the lions He was killed by Nero really because I can't find that in my Bible anywhere and not only that there's no Historical evidence for that anywhere, so there's no biblical evidence for that. There's no historical evidence for that That's just a tradition and you're not gonna believe this But a lot of these Roman Catholic type traditions and stories and legends about the Saints and martyrs Aren't real they're made up and in fact I believe that the teaching that the Apostle Paul was martyred actually directly contradicts this passage Let's look at the evidence for ourselves now remember He just finished saying in verse 6 the time of my departure is at hand He's clearly talking about the fact that he's about to die at hand means It's about to happen you know at hand means you can reach out and touch it with your hand Okay, so when he says the time of my departure is at hand he's saying I am about to die right now But now look at verse 16 at my first answer. No man stood with me, but all men forsook me I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me That by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles might hear Watch this and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Oh by the way. I may be thrown to the lions tomorrow That directly contradicts what the Bible's saying here because he's literally saying I know I'm about to die Time when I departures at hand and then he says I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion Now stop and think about this if he knows well, I'm gonna be killed tomorrow. I'm gonna be executed It's not like well. I'm getting beheaded, but I was delivered from the mouth of the lion What in the world and in case you're thinking along those lines look at the next verse the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work So how could you say oh, I'm gonna be executed I'm gonna come to a violent end tomorrow But hey the Lord's gonna deliver me from every evil work that makes no sense the evil work He was delivered from in this context is the lion the mouth of the lion He was delivered from the mouth line. He was arrested and sent to Rome and You know why is he being sent to Rome because he's being charged with a crime that? They're saying the Jews are saying is worthy of death And Paul said hey if I'm worthy of death I don't refuse to die But I haven't done anything wrong and so because they want to put Paul to death because Paul is put on trial for his life He has a Roman citizen had the right to appeal to Caesar It's like the Supreme Court or something right so he appeals unto Caesar. He goes to Rome to be judged by Caesar Well, what if things don't go his way in that trial? What's gonna happen to him? He could be killed But He says hey praise God I was delivered from the mouth of the lion why because he could have got thrown to that lion But he was delivered from the mouth line and hey great news the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will preserve me Under his heavenly kingdom to whom be glory forever never amen. Just kidding. I'm gonna get ripped apart by lions tomorrow. Just kidding I'm getting my head chopped off tomorrow. That doesn't make any sense And you say well he's just talking in general folks he's talking about his death He's literally saying I'm about to die But I was delivered from the line I was delivered from every evil work see the word evil in the Bible typically refers to harming someone else an evil work would be some bodily harm coming unto him and It appears from this passage that he's just dying of old age. He's just an old man. He's super old. He's writing a letter he's about to die and he has come to a peaceful end and There is nothing in Scripture That teaches that Paul was martyred that he died a violent death There's nothing historically that points that it's just a tradition Along with a bunch of other wild stories about deaths of saints and deaths of martyrs They're just a bunch of wild Catholic fables, and so I don't believe it for one second You know I'm gonna base what I believe on the Bible You know it's funny. I googled this and it said I was almost universally agreed upon by Christians that he was martyred well I'm glad you guys all have figured that out and agreed on that you have any evidence for that You know you think in the Bible. Oh you have a Catholic tradition, okay? Not buying it and so you know again like I said if you don't agree with me That's fine, but you're just so wrong. I came, and I can't even okay because you're just wrong Because you know oh, okay. I got more proof. How about this how about the end of the book of Acts? Okay the end of the book of Acts these are the last two verses of the book of Acts and Paul dwelled two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence. No man forbidding him Then he got killed brutally like right after that You know it doesn't say that it's all just positive like you know he went to Rome Because here's what you see in the story as we read throughout the book of Acts with the apostle Paul They kind of did the Romans don't really want to do anything with them. They don't want to persecute them they're not worried about him and The Jews want him dead, and they're like well. We don't want to make the Jews mad We don't want to release this guy and everybody flips out. They're just trying to kind of keep the peace and keep things going and So they end up just kind of just putting him on the back burner So he's just kind of sitting there for two years in jail Earlier not this two years an earlier period he just sits there for two years Just they're just kind of waiting for somebody to do something with this guy like you know Festus doesn't really want to deal with the guy Felix doesn't really want to deal with the guy Agrippa is like practically getting saved listening to him and so he said almost out persuades me to be a Christian So he's not ready to kill him And so you have all of these stories in the book of Acts with the Romans where the Romans are just kind of shuffling them Around and hey, let's just kind of leave him on ice. Let's just kind of leave him in prison Let's let the other guy deal with hey. I'm gonna be out of office in a few months Let's let the incoming guy deal with him, so they're constantly just kind of shoving him off When he's in Rome they kind of just stick him in a house. He's kind of on house arrest he's wearing an ankle bracelet in Rome and And He's not being condemned He can kind of say and preach whatever he wants But he just needs to be on house arrest all the people can come and hear him the Jews come here and preach his Friends come hear him the Christians are coming and visiting with him and that continues for two years no man forget What happened at the end of the two years? You know because you don't see Luke saying well He's there to this day or that that's the last time I saw him you know There seems to be a finality in that of you know He's there for two years. You know it's it's quite possible that at the end of that two years when he died Just at home. No man forbidding him or even if the even if Luke is just leaving the story there, okay? Well if Luke leaves it there Why don't we leave it there too? And why don't we just take Paul's word for it in second Timothy for? that he's gonna be delivered from every evil work and that he was delivered from the mouth of the lion and So that's where I stand on that, but notice the contrast Saul in the Old Testament came to a violent end whereas Paul Goes to the Lord peacefully now. That's the last piece of evidence that I'm right is that basically It fits the pattern of everything being the opposite if he died violently he wouldn't be the opposite of Saul everything else is practically the opposite so it makes sense that he would end his life in the opposite manner at peace versus in war So go back if you would to 1st Samuel 28, I think where this legend or this this kind of Idea that the Apostle Paul was martyred. I think where it came from is Probably that just somewhere along the way They just didn't want Paul to feel left out of getting martyred, and they just thought it would make a better story and So you if you study? The legends of the Protestants and Catholics, you know like for example the beginning of Fox's book of martyrs It just gives all these legends about how the apostles supposedly died You know you just see them just getting martyred in all these different ways But here's another reason why that doesn't make sense is that according to the teaching of the Bible? the vast majority of time Preachers of God's word do not get martyred the vast majority of the time God's constantly delivering men of God and only rarely Do prophets in the Old Testament or New Testament preachers get martyred? That's why he says the devil shall cast some of you into prison some of you are going to be put to death But the majority of God's people end up getting delivered That's just the way it works start in Genesis read all the way through to revelation You'll find that the vast majority of God's people are God's bailing them out God's delivering them God's keeping them safe. You know you think about guys like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego I mean we I could list tons of examples of the ones who escaped and Very few examples of the martyrs. I mean obviously we know that James the brother of John is killed with the sword We know that Peter is martyred, and we know of course that Stephen is martyred There's another guy in the New Testament named Antipas that was a faithful martyr But folks let's face it you know It doesn't seem like Most of these guys get martyred and in general we see a pattern of God constantly delivering people So if I look at a list saying oh Here's how every single apostle was was martyred that list is automatically suspect to me because why would I assume that? Every apostle gets martyred When that doesn't seem to be the pattern anywhere in the Bible itself and so that same list that just has every apostle Getting martyred, and then it has Paul getting martyred It's they're probably just trying to spice up the story a little bit by making him more glorious by getting martyred I kind of like the story just the way it is in the Bible personally so Did I have you turn to first Samuel go to chapter 28 of first Samuel first Samuel chapter 28? Let's let's let's kind of zoom in on the end of Saul's life The Bible says in first Samuel 28 19 moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee Into the hand of the Philistines and tomorrow Shout thou and thy sons be with me the Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth and was sore afraid Because of the words of Samuel and there was no strength in him for he'd eaten no bread all the day nor all the night Now there are a few things I want to point out here first of all is that Saul at the end of his life is fasting isn't he? The Bible says he hadn't eaten any bread all that day nor all the night So he's fasting at the end of his story at the end of his life here because this is like the day before he dies And he's not eating all day all night Then right after this what happens is that the witch of Endor? Actually compels him to eat, and she's like you need to eat, and she shows compassion on him and Her and Saul's men end up compelling him to eat, and it says in verse number 23 but he refused and said I will not eat But his servants together with the woman compelled him and he hearkened unto their voice So he rose from the earth and sat upon the bed so the end of Saul's life. We see him. He's so upset He's so distraught. He's not eating. He's fasting and then people are begging him you need to eat, and then he eats, right? Here's what's interesting about the end of Saul's life at the end of Saul's story Not necessarily the end of his life But toward the end of his life and at the end of his story in Acts 27 because the story ends in chapter 28 in Acts 27 It's everyone else that's fasting except Saul Saul is the only one who's not fasting and they're on the boat And everybody's scared everybody's freaked out on the ship, and they haven't eaten in like 14 days, and he's telling everybody Hey, you guys need to eat. This isn't healthy. This is for your health man. Have some neat things like here I'm gonna eat in front of all you guys and he and he's eating in front of them And then they take courage and then they eat with them so Saul in the Old Testament is being compelled to eat Quit fasting and eat and then Saul in the New Testament's telling other people hey quit fasting have something to eat Isn't that interesting again like a reverse negative here? Why because these men are at opposite places in their life Saul in the Old Testament's upset and he's depressed because his life's falling apart the Apostle Paul saying hey, I believe God It's gonna be great Let's eat He's encouraging others whereas Saul is the recipient of encouragement in the Old Testament Not only that, but if you think about it when Saul actually became king There was feasting when he was anointed as king right so when Samuel first meets Saul There's a big story about how he makes Saul to sit among the chiefess You're in 1st Samuel right jump back to chapter 9 if you want to see this jump back to chapter 9 So now let's go to the beginning so at the end Saul's fasting and they're begging him to eat at the beginning It's the opposite Saul starts out feasting because when Saul is anointed it says in verse number 23 of chapter 9 Samuel said unto the cook bring the portion which I gave thee of which I said unto thee set it by thee and the cook took up the shoulder and that which was upon it and set it before Saul and Samuel said behold that which is left set it before thee and eat For unto this time hath it been kept for thee since I said I've invited the people so Saul did eat with Samuel that day, and so you know the shoulder piece You know I'm using my shoulder even though obviously they weren't eating humans but basically you know the shoulder is a big muscle on the animal and so this is a Big piece of meat there's a big feast and it's like hey give Saul that big old piece of meat the cookie You know we've set aside this big piece of meat Get that out of here and feed it to Saul and so he's given this giant piece of meat to eat And so his kingdom starts with feasting, but he ends up fasting right, okay? The Apostle Paul is the opposite because what does the Bible say in Acts chapter 9 when the Apostle Paul is on the road to? Damascus and he's called to be an apostle it says in verse 9. He was three days without sight and neither did eat or drink So the Apostle Paul starts out in chapter 9 when he's called to be an apostle no food no drink for three days But then he ends his life saying let's eat up things are great Take courage eat the exact opposite with Saul in the Old Testament starts out with feasting ends up Starving and fasting and having to be forced to eat But go back if you would to Acts chapter 9 actually I want to show you something in Acts chapter well First we need to do something first Samuel 28. Sorry you I don't want to take you back and forth too much So this is the last thing in first Samuel 28, so let's do it first because we're already there First Samuel 28 This is right after Saul has been told that tomorrow. You're gonna die you and your sons are gonna die and Samuel is giving him that Pronouncement it says in verse 20 then Saul fell straight way all along the earth and was sore afraid Because of the words of Samuel there was no strength in him for he'd eaten No bread all that all the day nor all the night so Saul at the end of his life is terrified Right and trembling and falls on the ground and The wording there in verse 20 is that he fell straight way all along on the earth what that means is basically That he's just completely flat out on the ground all along as opposed to like being on his knees or something I mean he's just on his face on the earth. He's just collapsed Trembling scared terrified and collapsed right is at the end of his life On the eve of his death Whereas in acts 9 if you want to flip over there acts chapter 9 And I'm gonna start reading while you get there in acts 9 the the the apostle Paul back when he was called Saul He came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven Verse 4 and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying on him Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me and he said who art thou Lord and the Lord said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and he trembling and astonished Said Lord What wilt thou have me to do and the Lord said unto him arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee What thou must do and the men which journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man and I want you to notice this part Saul arose from the earth and When his eyes were opened he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus And he was there. He was three days without sight and neither did eat nor drink. So look we see here that Saul's end in the New Testament is is again Diametrically opposed or a reverse negative or totally opposite of Saul in the Old Testament I'm sorry but Saul's beginning in the New Testament matches Saul's end in the Old Testament and The end in the beginning match because they're reverses of one another so isn't it interesting in these two stories here that we just saw Saul in the Old Testament ends up on the ground Scared and trembling the Apostle Paul at the beginning of his story is on the ground Scared and trembling because it says he rose from the earth. That means he's on the earth He said he was trembling in verse 6 and what's interesting too is that at that story of the end of Saul's life He's trying to get the Lord to tell him what to do Right what do I do and Samuel's like I don't even know what to tell you because you're gonna die tomorrow. It's too late for you you're getting smoked, but he basically was like what do I do and What is Saul saying at the beginning? What do I do Lord? But he's told hey You're gonna be told what to do by an anise and notice they're both Looking to a man of God to point them to tell them what to do Saul needs Samuel to tell him what to do Saul in the New Testament needs an anise to tell him what to do One's at the beginning one's at the end one gets an answer the other is refused again. The parallels are uncanny and So the way that Saul ends in the Old Testament is the way that Saul begins in the New Testament So let me just wrap it all up and conclude With this thought okay, and I'm gonna give you a couple verses and expound this But it says and you don't have to turn to any of these Ecclesiastes 7 1 says a good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death Than the day of one's birth the Bible says the day of your death is better than the day of your birth Ecclesiastes 7 verse 8 says better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit and so it's better to suffer now and Rejoice later It's better to finish well than to start well King Saul started well, but the Apostle Paul finished well and It's far better to finish well and well, that's why Saul ends up going down in history Typically thought of as more of a bad guy or a bad character or a bad example a cautionary tale The typical sermon about Saul if we were to take a hundred sermons about Saul from all different denominations And just look at that sermon. You know the vast majority if not all of them would probably be negative towards all in general Whereas talking about the Apostle Paul it would be all positive But they both had a very negative part in their life They both had a very dark period and a very glorious period I mean Saul was a great guy in fact Did you know that if you look up? Who in the Bible? Who does it say in the Bible about this person the Spirit of Lord came upon him more than anyone else? It's pretty much like Saul and Samson where the Bible keeps saying that over and over again that the Spirit of Lord came on So here's a spirit filled man. He delivered Israel. He's a godly man. He's humble He did a lot of great things, but that ends up getting overshadowed by his end Apostle Paul started out Persecuting the church we have to constantly as preachers remind people that he started out that way Because that's not what we think of when we think of Paul we think of the Apostle Paul You know we don't call him the persecutor Paul. We call him the Apostle Paul because we think about the way he ended up It's far better to end well than to start well Jesus said this in Luke 6 21 blessed are you that hunger now for you shall be filled? Blessed are ye that weep now for you shall laugh Right you don't want to be laughing now and weeping later. You'd rather weep now laugh later You don't want to be full now and hungry later. You'd rather hunger now and be filled The bottom line is finish well, and that's what I want to preach to you this morning is finish well Don't quit and don't live on past glories and Think about all the things you've done in the past you say well. I'm old hey keep going Don't live on past way finish strong You know if you're elderly here this morning You know what that basically means is that you're just approaching the finish line and when you're approaching the finish line You don't typically slow down Anybody who's run a race knows that when you're approaching the finish line? You know you want to do what you can because you know it's almost over anyway Now obviously when you're approaching the finish line you might be slowing down Just because you're just old and you're just tired and so nobody's expecting you to be out there like hey You bet you know you're 90 you better be sprinting across that finish line, buddy Look sometimes at the end of a long endurance race you couldn't sprint necessarily to even save your life But I will say this though you don't you don't get to the end and say okay. I'm almost there I think I'm just gonna walk off this last part or hey. I think I'm gonna take a break I'm a hundred feet from the finish line. Hey now's a good time to just take a break Maybe I'm gonna take my shoes off and check and see if I have any blisters You know I think I'm just gonna sit down and have a meal No, I mean you get to the end you know you want to push it a little bit at the end and say okay Let's let's finish strong You know so I'd encourage some of you older Saints today to finish strong in your life And I'm glad that you did great things for God in the past If you have but you know what why not do something great for God now Why not leave a great legacy to your children and grandchildren leave them with? words of wisdom preach the Word of God unto them win a soul to Christ go out soul winning do something and Don't just say well, I'm done and especially because sometimes in America people think they're done like really early like some people They're like in their 50s. Oh, I'm so old You know it's like well. I'm 60 today. I'm 62 now, and so I'm 62. I'm on Social Security. It's all over for me I Mean there are men in the Bible who did great works for God when they're 70 80 years old You know why not push that and even in even in the 20th century you could point to figures in the 20th century that did great works even when they're in their 70s and 80s and I can show you preachers that preach great sermons in their 70s 80s even 90s and So you know I just encourage you to finish strong finish well But you know even to the younger crowd today those of you that are younger My admonition to you would be hey be willing to suffer now be humble now be little in your own sight now and be Someone who's investing now in spiritual things so that you can later enjoy Don't be saying well. I'm going to enjoy now and Party now no get the order right okay? You suffer first so you can enjoy later So that you can finish the course well Right you'd rather hunger now and be filled later And so no matter what stage You are in life whether you are a young person Maybe you're in middle age or maybe you're elderly decide that you are going to stay with the Lord all the way to the end and Finish well and that you are going to end well now the Apostle Paul. We started today in Philippians 3 We're gonna end in the same place that we started and the reason I started in Philippians 3 was because I just wanted to show You that the Apostle Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin. You know I'm supposed to be preaching about Benjamin You might have forgotten that I was preaching about Benjamin The Bible doesn't have a lot to say about Benjamin, okay the guy Benjamin But you've got a really famous guy from Benjamin in the Old Testament And you got a really famous guy from Benjamin in the New Testament. Oh, they have the same name There's like 50 things about them that line up perfectly but only in reverse only in an opposite manner and So let's finish in Philippians 3 it says in verse 13 this the this is the Apostle Paul's finished strong attitude Brethren I count on myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I Press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Does this sound like a guy who's trying to live on past glory? Says no man forget about what we did in the past. Let's press forward Forward let's do the greatest works for God in the future And so I don't care if you're young middle-aged or old you today should be looking forward and Saying you know what I want to Finish strong. I want to make it all the way to the finish line I want to run across that finish line if I can I'll sprint across that finish line But I'm you know maybe maybe if you're old and you don't have the energy to sprint across that finish line You know at least though you're gonna. Give it what you've got You'd expect everyone who's been running for 26.2 miles or a hundred miles or something you know you'd expect them after all that work to give it what they've got In those last few moments now, that's gonna be different some people what they've got is just gonna be like You know and just kind of falling hey if that's what you got give it what you got Or maybe what you've got is just a break into a sprint And you just you're just going across that finish line at like a five-minute mile pace amen So much the better But you know you'd expect everyone if they were so close to the end to give it what they got why because we want to finish well There's no glory in starting the race well. Oh, man. You should see me start a marathon man. I'm ahead of everybody I Started a marathon the other day. I was in the front. I was leading the pack for like a half mile Then I had to drop out because I couldn't run anymore. I was out of breath There's no glory there, but there you know when you have these giant marathons There'll be a bozo who does that just for fun like somebody who lines up at the front and just sprints out and then they're just like You know they could barely even breathe Folks, there's no going stupid right the winner is the guy who finishes well and So we need to finish strong don't live on past, but what are you going to do for God in 2022? What are we doing in 2023? That's what I'm interested in not just hey, man You remember back in those old days, and you know the sometimes the old ifb they want to glorify the past oh Man back in the 60s and 70s back in the 80s I you know what talk about all the glory days in the past and they You know a lot of these guys they have to go back that far To find the great works and the great exploits. You know I'm a lot more interested in what's going on right now And I'm a lot more interested in the future because I can't control the past I can only control the future and so I'm pressing On the upward way new heights. I'm gaining every day still praying as I'm onward bound Lord plant my feet on higher ground That ought to be the attitude. Let's have a New Testament Paul attitude New Testament Saul of Benjamin not an Old Testament Saul from Benjamin notice how I ended my sermon on the word Benjamin all right Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Lord we thank you so much for this church and the great group of people Lord who serve here week after week Also all the visitors Lord God bless them for Driving long distances to be here and Lord We just pray that you would bless all of our works going forward Lord help us all to finish strong and Jesus saying we pray Amen Right church, let's close out our service on this last song This Home for zero for when the battle's over some 404 Right church, let's sing this out loud on the first Oh We're Oh Oh Oh Amen church great singing for one quick announcement. We broke our attendance, so we got ice cream all right So thank you so much for coming for stronghold Baptist Church guys Don't forget the baptism You