Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00024A
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00:22 Welcome to Books of the Book. I'm Pastor Mark Howard. I'm here
00:25 with my co-host, my brother, Pastor Jim Howard and we have 00:29 been studying in the book of Acts. We're glad you've joined 00:31 us today. Before we dive into the book today we're going to 00:34 ask God to bless our time in study. I invite you to pray with 00:38 us today. Father in heaven, we thank you 00:40 for the guidance of your Spirit. We thank you for the blessings 00:44 of your truth and your word and I just pray now, Lord, that you 00:48 would guide our study and may we learn lessons that will help us 00:52 to be more faithful to you. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:56 Now the last time we were studying in the book of Acts we 01:00 were in chapter 23 and you may remember that we were going 01:06 over a plot that was put together by about 40 Jews to not 01:10 eat or drink, a vow that was taken, rather, not to eat or 01:15 drink anything until they killed Paul. And we learned that Paul's 01:20 nephew heard about this, came and informed Paul. Paul sent him 01:25 with a centurion to the commander, Claudius Lysius, 01:29 where the young man reported the same thing to Claudius and 01:33 Claudius set about to spare Paul and save him. In fact, in the 01:38 plot what they planned to do was to have the Jews call for a 01:42 council with Paul. In verse 20, it says that the Jews have 01:46 agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council 01:49 tomorrow as though they were going to inquire more fully 01:52 about him. You know, we want to talk with him a little bit more, 01:53 we want to learn a little bit more. But on the way and this 01:58 band of 40 told the Jewish leaders, look you call for Paul 02:02 and when he comes we'll way lay him and we'll ambush him and we 02:07 will kill him. So when Claudius hears about this he, it says in 02:11 verse 23, Called for two centurions saying prepare 200 02:17 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spear men and go to Caesarea at 02:20 the third hour of the night. It was about 9 o'clock in the 02:23 evening, And provide mounts to set Paul on and bring him safely 02:28 to Felix the governor. Mark, as you're telling the 02:31 story it dawns on me that Claudius Lysius here... I don't 02:35 know that he would have been quite so quick to protect the 02:39 Apostle Paul if it hadn't been for the fact of what we learned 02:43 last time which is that Paul is a Roman citizen. So as we go 02:47 through these different trials of the Apostle Paul before 02:50 Lysius and then Felix, we're going to get into today and then 02:55 Festus and Agrippa. Each of them have this concern that they not 02:58 mistreat Paul or allow him to be mistreated because he's a Roman 03:02 citizen and it could be the end of their own reign if they were 03:07 to in any way allow him to be harmed. 03:08 That's right. So we're going to see that there's unfortunately 03:14 not just virtue here but there's a little bit of politics going 03:19 on as well. So Claudius Lysius, in verse 26, writes a letter to 03:23 the governor, Felix. Tells him about the situation with Paul 03:26 that he's sending him his way. It says in verse 31, the 03:30 soldiers as they were commanded took Paul and brought him by 03:33 night to Antipatris. The next day they left the horsemen to go 03:38 on with Paul and they returned to the barracks. Verse 33 says, 03:42 When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the 03:46 governor, they also presented Paul to him. And when the 03:50 governor had read it, he asked what province he was from and 03:53 when he understood that he was from Cilicia he said I will hear 03:57 you when your accusers have come 03:58 and they put him in custody there. 04:02 That's right. So here we pick up in chapter 24 and I'll start 04:05 there in verse 1. It says, Now after five days, Ananias the 04:09 high priest, came down with the elders and a certain orator 04:14 named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against 04:19 Paul. Now the first thing we want to note here is when it 04:23 says, They gave evidence to the governor against Paul, that's 04:27 probably a loose rendering because there wasn't really any 04:32 evidence against Paul. But they come with this orator named 04:36 Tertullus and it seems kind of odd that they have that in there 04:40 but he actually, if we want to refer to him in this way, is 04:44 almost like an attorney. He's there to represent their case 04:48 and as you hear him speak, as we're about to read it here in 04:52 chapter 24, you sense the polish that he has. 04:56 It's almost a little comical in light of you know what's going 05:00 on in the situation. That's right, that's right. 05:02 Well let's dive into what he has to say in verse 2. He speaks as 05:06 a representative of Ananias and the elders. Verse 2 says, And 05:11 when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation 05:16 saying, Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace and 05:20 prosperity and prosperity is being brought to this nation 05:25 by your foresight we accept it always and in all places, most 05:29 noble Felix with all thankfulness. And you can see 05:33 the polish that he has here. He's showing these great 05:38 complements and showering these superlatives on Felix to try and 05:47 ultimately flatter him and get him prepared for these 05:49 accusations. You know how much respect the 05:51 Jews had for Romans. That's right. So this is 05:53 certainly not fully honest but it wasn't uncommon for them to 05:57 speak in a very polite way. You see the Apostle Paul speak of 06:02 most noble and address in that way. But certainly there was a 06:05 little bit of an overboard picture here. But then he kind 06:09 of turns his language in verse 4 and says nevertheless not to be 06:14 tedious to you any further, so you almost get the sense that 06:18 he's saying we know you have lots of responsibilities. 06:22 We don't want to take up too much time. Let's get to a quick 06:26 judgment here because this is an easy case. I beg you to hear by 06:30 your courtesy a few words from us for we have found this man 06:33 a plague. Now he starts right there. We have found this man... 06:37 Almost gives the impression that there has been some sort of fair 06:41 and honest and thorough investigation done. We have 06:44 found this man of plague, a creator of dissension among all 06:48 the Jews throughout the world. Now this is a fascinating 06:53 statement that they accuse him of being a creator of dissension 06:56 because this of course is coming on the heels of what we saw in 07:02 Jerusalem when Paul was there in the temple and he was spotted 07:08 by some Jews from Asia and remember they said, Men of 07:12 Israel, help. Right. This man... You know, Paul's just minding 07:15 his own business. In fact, it's kind of an odd situation because 07:20 normally when Paul went into a town or a city, he would begin 07:23 preaching right away, but Paul is on his best behavior here. 07:27 He's not trying to stir anything up. He's just going through this 07:30 ritual purification in the temple in chapter 21 and these 07:34 Jews from Asia begin to stir things up. And that's no 07:37 different than we saw in Berea, in Thessalonica, in Antioch. We 07:42 saw a riot in Ephesus. It was never Paul who started it but 07:46 the unbelieving Jews or Gentiles who were offended or people who 07:51 were sustaining loss because of his gospel. So over and over we 07:55 saw that it was not Paul. It was a very clear false 07:58 accusation, but one that's been attached to him. It says that 08:01 he was a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout 08:04 the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 08:08 Now this particular passage... You know the word sect certainly 08:13 can mean just a group. The Pharisees were referred to as a 08:15 sect. But in the context here and as we keep reading in the 08:19 passage you get the clear that Paul is being marginalized and 08:22 the Christians are being marginalized here as a group 08:27 that doesn't really have many followers; it doesn't really 08:30 have many people who would actually believe it. 08:33 Well the New Living Translation in verse 5 says the cult of the 08:36 Nazarenes. May be more of a resounding word to us today. 08:40 That's right. And doesn't it make you think about the fact 08:43 that when Jesus was ministering the Pharisees said of him, Oh he 08:48 casts out demons by the prince of the demons. They were always 08:53 trying to make his ministry look like it was of the devil so that 08:57 people when they heard what he said would not give it any heed 09:01 or they would stay clear of him altogether. So if they could put 09:05 this veneer that he's bad it'll cause prejudice in people's 09:08 minds. And that's what they were doing here. It makes me think, 09:13 Mark, about as a Seventh-day Adventist I know that I minister 09:17 in a body of believers that's not a majority in the world for 09:21 sure and sometimes people will miscommunicate things and sort 09:25 of paint a picture of Seventh- day Adventists that's not 09:29 exactly fully upright or explaining who we are in a 09:32 proper way. And we need to remember that we're not alone. 09:37 Jesus was said to be of the devil. Paul was said to be a 09:42 ringleader of a cult or a sect. And we can expect that whenever 09:46 we are faithful to God we'll have that type of PR. 09:50 Well anyway it continues and says in verse 6, He even tried 09:54 to profane the temple, which we know isn't true because they 09:57 accused him of bringing a Gentile in which he didn't do. 10:00 And we seized him and wanted to judge him according to our 10:04 law. Now that's interesting. Wanted to judge him according 10:07 to our law. The reality was they were beating him when the 10:12 commander sent soldiers to free him. So they had no honest 10:17 desire to have the law fulfilled here but they were just painting 10:22 it up in this way, or Tertullus is, as he's speaking to Felix. 10:27 Verse 7 says, But the commander Lysius came by and with great 10:30 violence took him out of our hands commanding his accusers 10:34 to come to you. By examining him yourself you may ascertain all 10:37 these things of which we accuse him. 10:40 Yeah, again, Lysius violently took him out of our hands. We 10:43 were just trying to find a fair and reasonable judgment. No they 10:46 were beating him to death and Lysius rescued him from their 10:51 hands. But now it's we were just trying to do the right thing and 10:54 Lysius came and... And we were going to judge him 10:56 according to the law until they came around. Yeah, no, that's 10:58 not at all what was happening and the fascinating thing is 11:01 then in verse 9 it says the Jews there, they all assented, Yeah 11:04 that's what happened. They're all nodding and assenting and 11:07 maintaining that these things were so. A totally dishonest 11:10 portrayal here and how is the Apostle Paul going to respond? 11:14 Well we pick up his response in verse 10. It says, then Paul, 11:17 after the governor had nodded to him to speak, in other words, 11:20 it's your turn to answer for yourself, he says, Inasmuch as 11:24 I know that you have been for many years a judge of this 11:27 nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself because you 11:32 my ascertain that it is no more than 12 days since I went up to 11:35 Jerusalem to worship. In other words, it's only been 12 days. 11:38 You can figure this out. How much time do I have to start a 11:42 great insurrection among all the Jews and stir everything up in 11:47 12 days. It just doesn't make any sense. And he says, And they 11:52 neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor 11:55 inciting the crowd either in the synagogues or in the city nor 11:58 can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. But 12:01 this I confess to you that according to the way in which 12:05 they call a sect, or a cult, he says, according to that way so 12:09 I worship the God of my Fathers believing all things which are 12:13 written in the law and in the prophets. Now this is an 12:16 interesting passage because he's basically saying that 12:18 whatever they're calling a cult, this manner of worship, he says 12:23 everything I do I'm testifying is in harmony with the heart of 12:28 the religion that they profess and more specifically of the 12:32 scriptures, in the Old Testament scriptures. I just really want 12:35 to emphasize that here. There are Christians today who have 12:39 this understanding that the New Testament faith is something 12:42 totally different from the Old Testament faith, but it was just 12:45 what was it a couple of chapters before when Paul was giving his 12:48 testimony and he said I am a Jew. He considered himself a 12:51 Jew. But he was a Jew who followed the Way. He was a Jew 12:54 who believed in Jesus Christ. He believed the things written. 12:57 He was a Jew in the truest sense of the word in reality. 13:00 Absolutely. He believed all things written in the law and 13:04 the prophets and he understood that some of the things written 13:07 in the law and the prophets had met their fulfillment in the 13:10 types meeting the antitype in the death, burial, resurrection 13:14 of Jesus Christ and what have you. But he still held to the 13:18 importance of the law of God and living in harmony with it as we 13:21 will continue to see. He says they can't prove, and I may 13:25 interject here as well, that sometimes we've mentioned this 13:28 before, we hear the claim that the apostles changed the law 13:31 they changed the day of worship on the Sabbath and what have 13:34 you. Listen if Paul had changed the day of worship and was not 13:37 keeping the Sabbath, it wouldn't have been hard for them to prove 13:40 that. They would have proved very easily that he was living 13:43 contrary to the law. But they couldn't prove that. There was 13:46 nothing in his practice that he did. Somebody may say 13:48 well why he kept those things so that it was kind of a show he 13:53 put on. But we're going to find out as it goes on here he says 13:58 in verse 16, This being so, I myself always strive to have a 14:02 conscience without offense toward God and man. So he wasn't 14:06 doing these things just as a show. He was living according 14:09 to his conscience that was telling him he ought to be 14:12 living in obedience to the law of God. Now there's more that 14:14 we can say on this and we will, but we're going to do it after 14:17 our break. So stay with us. We'll see you in a minute. |
Revised 2014-12-17