Books of the Book: Acts

Before Rulers and Kings

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

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Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00025A


00:21 Welcome to Books of the Book. I'm Pastor Mark Howard and I'm
00:24 here with my co-host and brother Pastor Jim Howard. We've been
00:28 studying in the book of Acts and we finished up, Jim, right
00:31 at the end of Acts chapter 24. I want to invite our viewers to
00:33 turn in their Bibles or grab their Bibles if you don't have
00:36 them because we're going to be starting in Acts chapter 25
00:40 today. Before we do we want to begin by asking the Lord to
00:43 bless our time in his word. Father in heaven, we do thank
00:46 you for your word. We thank you for this testimony that's given
00:49 in the book of Acts and Lord we just pray the Holy Spirit would
00:52 guide our understanding as we study today. In Jesus' name Amen
00:56 Now the last time we were studying we were looking at Paul
01:00 coming on trial before Felix, the Roman governor and he was
01:05 brought there by Claudius Lysius Remember in Jerusalem there was
01:09 a tumult in the temple and they were going to kill Paul. Then
01:14 Lysius basically rescued Paul from that situation and then
01:19 from that situation Paul went on to speak to the people and
01:23 Lysius found it important for the sake of Paul's life to
01:27 whisk him away. The Jews wanted to have a trial over this thing.
01:32 So they brought him before Felix and we read about that last time
01:36 Felix promised that he would rule in the case when he had
01:39 Lysius back in his presence and he was going to question him.
01:42 Apparently that didn't happen, Jim, because in verse 26 of
01:45 chapter 24 it says, Meanwhile he also hoped that money would
01:49 be given him by Paul that he might release him. Therefore he
01:52 sent for him more often and conversed with him and its
01:56 sad because Felix had had the opportunity of salvation and
01:59 when he was convicted, and the Bible said he was afraid, he
02:03 trembled it says in the King James Version. He asked Paul to
02:07 go away until he had a convenient season and he would
02:10 call for him again. Well he met with Paul again. The problem was
02:13 now he began thinking that maybe Paul would offer him a bribe and
02:17 all eternal reckoning was out of his mind. He didn't think
02:20 about it anymore. I think he was hopeful that Paul
02:23 would pay some money so that he could let him go so that he
02:27 didn't have to make a decision on the case because he didn't
02:30 want to lose the favor of the Jews and so there was a lot of
02:33 political maneuvering going on here.
02:34 That's right. Well it ends up that after two years he still
02:37 hadn't let Paul go, probably for those reasons and others and it
02:43 says that after two years, in verse 27, Porcius Festus
02:47 succeeded Felix and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor
02:50 left Paul bound. So it tells us right there. Now we're going
02:54 to chapter 25 in the beginning of the first verse. A new guy
02:56 comes into town, a new governor named Festus. It says when
03:00 Festus had come to the province after three days he went up
03:04 from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief
03:07 men of the Jews informed him against Paul and they petitioned
03:11 him asking a favor of him that he would summon him to Jerusalem
03:15 while they lay in ambush along the road to kill him They didn't
03:18 him that part. But it's interesting that here's Festus,
03:22 he's the new guy in town and you always want to have the
03:25 people under your reign happy with you and well the Jews are
03:29 asking a favor and he's thinking well maybe I can help them out
03:34 with this. But they ask him that they could again try Paul.
03:38 The real reason wasn't that they wanted a fair trial but
03:42 just like before, if he could come to Jerusalem they say we
03:46 will hear him there and we'll give him a fair trial.
03:49 But really they were just planning to lay in wait and kill
03:52 him on the way. Festus exercises some wisdom here. In verse 4, it
03:55 says, Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea and
03:58 that he himself was going there shortly and therefore he said,
04:01 Let those who have authority among you go down with me and
04:04 accuse this man to see if there's any fault in him.
04:06 In other words, hey listen, I'm going there in a little bit
04:09 anyway. Why don't you send your people and we can have the trial
04:12 there. That's right. When we get to
04:14 verse 6 it says, And when he had remained among them more than 10
04:18 days he went down to Caesarea, so he stayed in Jerusalem for 10
04:23 days checking out that area of his territory and then he goes
04:27 back the Caesarea and the next day, it says, sitting on the
04:31 judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought. So this gives you
04:34 an idea of how important he felt it was to maintain the favor of
04:37 the Jews that he deal with this issue of Paul. The very next day
04:40 that he gets back he's sitting on the judgment seat and he asks
04:43 Paul to come in. And in verse 7 it says, When he had come the
04:47 Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid
04:50 many serious complaints against Paul. So they were ready too.
04:54 They sent their representatives and they were there to lay all
04:58 the same complaints that we've heard in previous trials about
05:02 Paul. Paul summarizes them in his own response. Now first it
05:05 says, and it's important that it notes this, that they laid many
05:09 serious complaints against Paul which they could not prove.
05:12 So Luke is adding that in here. There's probably a lot of
05:15 interaction that we're not seeing here but Luke is
05:18 summarizing it for us, saying they couldn't prove what they
05:21 were accusing him of. In verse 8 it says, While he answered for
05:24 himself neither against the law of the Jews nor against the
05:28 temple nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.
05:31 Then these are sort of a summary of the three claims that they
05:35 had or three accusations. They claimed that he was opposed to
05:40 the law of Moses and due to his view on circumcision which the
05:45 churches had determined, they distorted that and said that he
05:50 told the Jews that they absolutely couldn't circumcise
05:53 when that was something that he had never done and various
05:57 different aspects of the law that they said that he was
06:01 trying to subvert. So that was a false claim. And then it says,
06:05 Nor against the temple. They believed that when he was there
06:10 in Jerusalem carrying out his ritual, we found that he had a
06:14 Gentile with him in town and they believed that he took the
06:18 Gentile with him into the temple and so there were Jews from Asia
06:22 that accused him of doing that which would have defiled the
06:24 temple but there was no evidence of it because the fact is he
06:28 didn't do it. And then the next part, Nor against Caesar.
06:31 Of course they were accusing him of uprisings and some type of
06:35 effort at insurrection. So these three are the main areas
06:40 and Paul says basically I've not offended in any of this at all
06:43 and it's very clear that there was no proof of any of those
06:47 things. So in verse 9 it says, But Festus, wanting to do the
06:50 Jews a favor... So here we go again. Back in verse 27 it said,
06:55 Felix, want to do the Jews a favor. Now it's Festus wanting
06:59 to do the Jews a favor answered Paul and said,
07:01 are you willing to go up to
07:03 Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these
07:06 things? Now before I look at that particular issue, I mean
07:10 let's think about this for a minute. There's so much
07:11 political maneuvering going on here and while hatred and malice
07:17 are awful sins that we see the Jews, the unbelieving Jews,
07:21 carrying out toward Paul throughout this time, plotting
07:26 his murder and everything else, an equally heinous sin in the
07:33 eyes of God is cowardice and these men had it in their power
07:39 to free Paul. The could see his innocence just like Pilate could
07:43 see the innocence of Jesus and just because Pilate said I wash
07:46 my hands of this did not make him innocent. They may have been
07:50 trying to justify themselves and their innocence but the reality
07:53 was they were just as guilty.
07:55 That's right. When God allows a person to be brought into a
07:57 position of authority they're responsible for that authority
08:00 they've received ultimately from the Lord.
08:02 That's right. So this lack of faithfulness should not be
08:06 excused. It's just as bad in some ways as what the Jews were
08:10 doing. But anyway his point was, what he was trying to do was
08:14 say okay since it's obvious you haven't committed any crimes
08:20 against Roman law, this is an issue with your religion. Why
08:24 don't we go back to Jerusalem. I'll go with you. You'll still
08:27 be under Roman protection. But let's deal with it there amongst
08:31 your own people. Of course, Paul knows that's not a good idea.
08:34 I have a better chance for justice in the Roman government
08:38 than I have before my own people in the Sanhedrin. So this is how
08:42 Paul responds in verse 10. Paul said, I stand at Caesar's
08:46 judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have
08:50 done no wrong as you very well know. He's appealing to Festus'
08:54 sense of justice here. For if I am an offender or have committed
08:58 anything deserving of death I do not object to dying but if
09:01 there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me
09:05 no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar. And when he
09:09 appeals to Caesar here this is a legal appeal. He's appealing to
09:13 a higher court and as a Roman citizen he has that right and
09:18 Festus responds in kind. It says When he had conferred with the
09:23 council he said, You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar
09:25 you will go. So he plans to send him to Caesar but before that
09:29 happens he receives a visit from the King, King Agrippa, and
09:32 that's where we pick up the account next.
09:34 That's right. I want to make a point there that you just made
09:39 that he was a Roman citizen and so that allowed him this right
09:46 to appeal. The Jews wanted to put him to death but as a Roman
09:50 citizen regardless of whether they had their religious laws or
09:55 what he was protected from their malice. Now in verse 13 it says,
10:00 And after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to
10:05 greet Festus, evidently because he was a new guy in town and
10:09 he'd just taken the office from Felix and so Herod Agrippa the
10:13 second comes to visit him. It says, When he had been there
10:17 many days Festus laid Paul's case before the King saying
10:20 there is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix about whom the
10:25 chief priests and elders of the Jews informed me when I was in
10:30 Jerusalem asking for a judgment against him. Now look at verse
10:35 16. It says, To them I answered, it is not the custom of the
10:38 Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused
10:42 meets the accusers face to face and has opportunity to answer
10:46 for himself concerning the charge against him. Now that's
10:48 interesting in light of the trial of Christ. I can't help
10:52 but think back. It's not the custom of the Romans, it wasn't
10:54 the custom of the Romans then either, but again you have this
10:58 political wrangling that's going on and so he lays this out and
11:03 fortunately in this case for Paul and for others, Festus said
11:07 you know it wasn't right. Verse 17, Then when they had come
11:11 together without any delay the next day I sat on the judgment
11:14 seat and commanded the man to be brought in. When the accusers
11:17 stood up they brought no accusation against him of such
11:20 things I supposed but had some questions against him about
11:24 their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died whom
11:28 Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I was questioned I was
11:32 uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing
11:35 to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters
11:38 but when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of
11:42 Augustus I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to
11:46 Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I also would like to
11:50 hear the man myself. Tomorrow, he said, you shall hear him.
11:54 So here he appeals to Caesar. The case is brought before King
11:57 Agrippa and Festus explains a little bit about what led him to
12:00 that decision. Okay. Why don't we take a look
12:04 now at verse 23 where Agrippa now comes with great pomp.
12:09 I guess before we read this it's interesting to note that Agrippa
12:14 didn't really have to see Paul and hear this case. He actually
12:19 requested it of Festus and later down here in chapter
12:23 26 verse 2 we find out that he was an expert in all customs and
12:27 questions which have to do with the Jews. So I'm sure that he
12:31 had a curiosity of some sort that he wanted to hear this case
12:34 even though in reality Paul could have just gone to Caesar.
12:37 But while Agrippa was there he wanted to hear so we get,
12:40 because of that, one of the most stirring defenses and appeals
12:44 that we have in scripture, Paul before Agrippa. Anyway, verse 23
12:48 says, The next day when Agrippa and Bernice, Bernice is
12:51 Agrippa's sister, had come with great pomp and had entered the
12:54 auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the
12:58 city, at Festus' command Paul was brought in. And Festus said,
13:02 King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you
13:06 see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews
13:08 petitioned me both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was
13:12 not fit to live any longer. But when I found that he had
13:15 committed nothing deserving of death... Isn't that interesting.
13:18 Right in the middle of the account he says I already know
13:21 he hadn't done anything deserving of death. It says that
13:25 he himself had appealed to August, to Caesar, I decided to
13:28 send him. So he tells of his decision. But here's his
13:32 conundrum, his problem. In verse 26 he says, I have nothing
13:36 certain to write to my Lord concerning him. Here he is, he's
13:41 got to send Paul to Caesar along with a letter. He doesn't know
13:44 what he supposed to put, what are the charges I'm supposed to
13:48 put down that I'm going to be sending here. He says, Therefore
13:52 I have brought him out before you and especially before you,
13:55 King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place I
13:58 may have something to write. He's hoping Agrippa can help him
14:02 formulate some charges to put down on paper to send to Caesar.
14:04 Being more familiar with the Jewish ways and customs maybe
14:07 he'll grab a hold of something that will tell him.
14:10 In verse 27 it says, For it seems to me unreasonable to send
14:14 a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him. So he's
14:17 looking for a little bit of help to specify the charges and
14:20 that's why he's going to let Agrippa hear. So we have all
14:23 this pomp and display, we have the Apostle Paul finally doing
14:27 what Jesus told him that he was going to be doing, he was chosen
14:30 to do which was to stand before kings. Well we're going to hear
14:34 what Paul says but before we do we need to go to our break, so
14:37 stay tuned and we'll be back with you in a moment.


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Revised 2014-12-17