Acts 21:37-23:11, "If Only"

Acts chapter 21 verses 37 to chapter 23 verse 11 hear the word of the

Lord as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks. He said to the Tribune may

I say something to you and he said Do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian then who recently stirred up a revolt and led the 4 ,000 men of the assassins into the wilderness?

Paul replied I am a Jew from Tarsus and Cilicia a citizen of no obscure city I beg you permit me to speak to the people and when he had given him permission

Paul standing on the steps motion with his hand to the people and when there was a great hush

He addressed them in the Hebrew language saying brothers and fathers here the defense that I now make before you and When they heard that he was addressing them in the

Hebrew language, they became even more quiet And he said I am a Jew born in Tarsus and Cilicia But brought up in this city

Educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers being zealous for God as all of you are this day

I persecuted this way to the death and Binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness

From them I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those

Also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished as I was on my way and drew near to Damascus about noon a great light from heaven

Suddenly shown around me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me Saul Saul Why are you persecuting me?

And I answered who are you Lord? And he said to me I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting

Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me and I said what shall

I do Lord and the Lord said to me rise and go into Damascus and There you will be told all that is appointed for you to do

And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus and One Ananias a devout man according to the law

Well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there came to me and standing by me Said to me brother

Saul receive your sight and at that very hour I would see by sight and saw him and He said the

God of our fathers appointed you to know his will to see the righteous one and to hear a voice from his mouth for you will be a witness for him to everyone to everyone of what you have seen and Heard and now why do you wait rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name?

When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me

Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me And I said

Lord they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you and when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed

I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him and he said to me

Go for I will send you far away to the Gentiles Up to this word they listened to him then they raised their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live and As they were shouting and throwing all their off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air

The Chibion ordered him to be brought into the barracks Saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this

But when they had stretched him out for the whips Paul said to the centurion who was standing by Is it lawful for you to flog a man who was a

Roman citizen and uncondemned When the centurion heard this he went to the Chibion and said to him

What are you about to do for this man is a Roman citizen? So the Chibion came and said to him tell me are you a

Roman citizen? And he said yes, the Chibion answered I bought this citizenship for a large sum

Paul said but I am a citizen by birth So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately and the

Chibion also was afraid For he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him

But on the next day desiring to know the reason why he was being accused by the Jews He unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet and he brought

Paul down and said set him before them And looking intently at the council Paul said brothers

I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day and the high priest

Ananias Commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth Then Paul said to him

God is going to strike you you whitewashed wall Are you sitting to judge me according to the law and yet contrary to the law you ordered me to be struck?

Those who stood by said would you revile God's high priest and Paul said I did not know that he was the high priest

For it is written. You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people Now when

Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees he cried out and in the council brothers

I am a Pharisee a son of Pharisees it is respect to the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial and when he had said this a dissension arose between the

Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Assembly was divided for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection nor angel nor spirit

But the Pharisees acknowledge them all Then a great clamor arose and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and contended sharply

We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him and When the dissension became violent the

Tribune afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them Commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks the following night the

Lord stood by him and said Take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem So you must testify also in Rome May the

Lord had his blessings to the reading of his Holy Word Well, what's the one thing

That you have to have everything else is secondary is Negotiable is just surplus, but there's one thing

You know, if only I have that if only I had I'd be perfectly content.

If only I had money or a spouse or a better spouse or a career a more successful business health if only

Well, whatever is the one critical thing that matters most of all maybe Often that it is missing

In 1985 my father who as a hospital administrator was around doctors all the time was diagnosed with non

Hodgkin's lymphoma It's a type of cancer and he was sent to the Mayo Clinic And then for what was then an experimental bone marrow transfusion or transplant whether they call it at the

Boston General Hospital Which turned out to be the immediate cause of his death He had absolutely the best medical care of the available at that time

I thought though since then if only the medical technology had been further along By that point like it is now

He could have lived if only People say if only about one missing thing

That one something that is the most important that that is crucial. I would give everything I have if only

I Could get him or her back Some people at a funeral might think if only

I had the right words. I can make everything better Depends on what you mean by better Ever wanted to reply to someone maybe about it to confuse ideas or their doctrines

Jehovah's Witness at the door or a relative in a false religion or maybe in some sins and only later thought of the right words and thought you know, if only

I've said that Then he or she would have repented changed. I would have won them over they would have believed

We sometimes think so anyone's heart can be unlocked if only We have the right combination of words

Some people think if only we had more money. Oh That's what we need then we could relax and enjoy life

Some professed Christians might change that a bit You know, they'd say if only I had more money there so I could serve the

Lord more it could be more involved with church only I was You know taking care of better Money is the missing thing.

We think it's what we need and until we get it. We can't do anything else we think

But if you really get the money, but you've got enough in the bank Will you really rest then?

Or maybe will you really serve the Lord then? Are you just maybe just buy another property have more expenses open another shop?

Will you stretch yourself even thinner? Hopefully to get just a little bit more If only that one crucial thing

Was different we think if only then everything would be okay If only I won the lottery if only

I let listen to my parents That would save me so much trouble. If only I could be a great athlete or scholar or leader

Business tycoon, whatever life would be great What is your if only?

Here we see what Paul's if only was Actually, we've already seen it.

We'll see it again in action We see it here and three encounters one speech and two conversations

You know acts is marked by several key speeches like an act chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost from Peter Right or Stevens long speech surveying

Israel's history before he was martyred or Paul's speech to the philosophers in Athens Remember that Mars Hill are the

Arpagus the the key speech For interpreting these last eight chapters of acts is his speech to the

Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 Where he says in verse 24 there. I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself if only

I may finish mark my course and The ministry that I received from the

Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God We see that lived out here in three parts in this passage his opportunity his immunity and his immortality

Now you might be thinking That he's thinking at the end of chapter 21 If only

I've listened to all those people warning me about not coming to Jerusalem It's you know, it has turned out as bad as he was warned

It would be but there's no indication that he had second thoughts here Paul introduces himself to the

Tribune the Roman officers in charge probably like equivalent to a colonel I would think in today's army. He'd speak to him in Greek which surprises the officer you speak

Greek He thought Paul was a Jewish Egyptian man He would let a few thousand men into the desert about the same time a little earlier

Earlier than this to attempt an attack on Jerusalem That was that it was scattered by the

Roman armies and now they were looking for the leader You know to him He was a terrorist and the

Tribune thought that Paul was that man that Terrorist mastermind sort of the Osama bin Laden of the first century and the

Tribune is probably thinking, you know If only I can be the one that catches him

The Tribune thinks, you know, then I'd be a hero I'd be set for promotion Maybe a parade in Rome then

I'd be set. You know and Paul thinks probably, you know, sorry to disappoint you But no, I'm not him.

I'm not the terrorist. I'm a Jew from Tarsus and Cilicia a citizen of no obscure city

He's one of the Jews of the Diaspora that there's the Jews scattered outside of Israel call it the

Diaspora The fluid and as such Paul is fluid in both Greek Which is the language of the mainstream

Greek culture around him and he knew that culture very well And and he's fluent also in Hebrew and Aramaic which the

Jews would speak among themselves. I Think the Jews the Jews like Paul from that Diaspora originally from outside of Israel Yeah, I think they're kind of like Singaporeans, you know today there's a

Chinese Diaspora That is Chinese people are scattered around the world and and Singapore is a major outpost of those.

There's a lot of Indonesia, too Chinese scattered there and really all over all over the world now But Singapore is a big outpost of that once a

Chinese lady in California commented to me the Singaporeans are she said Western I said no, they're not they're not

Western. They're not Western at all. They're they're modern Maybe they speak fluent English, but they're not

Western Even if they speak fluently Naturally in English their values and their culture are

Chinese here Paul could speak fluently in Greek to this

Roman officer He knew the Roman in Greek culture, but he was at heart thoroughly

Jewish Remember the scene though That we've come into polish has been snatched out from the mob that has been trying to beat him to death

So he's likely wounded Probably a bloody nose and some other scrapes and his hair is a mess and his clothes are torn

He's at the top of a staircase This leads up to a fortified military installation like a small castle a fort really where the

Romans kept their troops He's been chained and then he was carried up those steps that staircase to get away from the violence of the mob below This is at the bottom of the staircase in this large open square

Paul is about to be ushered into the barracks when he turns around and asked the Tribune to let him speak to the people who

Are still shouting about Paul probably waving their fists in the air wanting to get at him. Now.

Why does Paul do that? Why does he want to speak to these people

Remember in chapter 19 Paul had also been war also wanted to speak to the mob there in Ephesus And the mob was chanting greatest

Artemis of the Ephesians over and over like two hours straight and But his friends, you know, and and the local rulers weren't warned him against that devise him.

Don't do that. It's not safe They're not reasonable here. He again Wants to talk to a mob

The Tribune sees them as a mob. Anyway, Paul sees an opportunity an

Evangelistic opportunity He has a potential audience. And so he thinks if only

I Can witness to them? Remember the if only if only I may testify to the gospel the grace of God So before they can get him in the door away from the crowd

He asked the Tribune to be allowed to speak to the tumultuous rabble the shouting after him below because his if only

Was testifying to the to the grace of God he sees these men who had just been trying to kill him and instead of seeing a band of murderous rioters

He sees people that he can testify to He sees an opportunity for evangelism reform believers like us don't see the worship of the church the meeting of the church like what we're doing right now the gathering of God's people as mainly an opportunity for evangelism.

In other words, this service is not mainly for evangelism One reason is hopefully all the members are already believers right and their children are hopefully are hearing the gospel at home and of course we want to help them here and Second what we do in worship is is

Regulated by what God has said in the Bible whether what the Bible calls for us to do, you know Sing psalms hymns spiritual songs preach the word pray together

So this is Not an ongoing evangelistic rally in which we're asking, you know kind of as we're playing every service

We're asking ourselves every week. What can we do to draw in the unbelievers and then keep their attention?

so they're not reading what a Harry Potter books or whatever and Entertain them so that if they're not saved this week

They they they'll come back for the next show. They'll be so entertained. They'll so love our performance

They'll come back next week and maybe they'll get saved then right you understand that that's a mentality in many churches

That's not so with us. That's not the way the reformed people look at the church, and I think that's right I completely agree with that.

That's what I support but sometimes being right about one thing Can make you wrong about something else

Make you not see something else. You only see what you're right about Perform people are right about what the church is to do when we meet in worship, but often they don't see opportunities

For evangelism, we're meeting in a gym, right? You know what realize why we're meeting in a gym right now We could probably for the same money.

We bought this gym for we could have bought a Second -hand church building somewhere. We're meeting in a gym right now because a gym gives us opportunities for evangelism over the nearly dozen years

We've been in existence Probably I don't think I'm exaggerating I think probably thousands of kids and young adults by now have heard the gospel through us

Who would not have heard it if we had a traditional church building? Traditionally the

Puritans the Reformed they rejected celebrating Christmas or Easter because of its roots in Catholic theology

And I think they're basically right about that too, which is why We don't have a special Christmas cantatas or pageants.

I don't agree with I don't approve of this kind of idea We got to build up To Christmas, you know through this quote

Advent season to a crescendo that reaches Reaches the Christmas Day as though Jesus is being born again all over again

Every year or maybe somehow they don't if they don't suggest that maybe somehow that we can be closer to Jesus By retracing the events leading up to his birth for Christmas or his death and resurrection for Easter So that's some key to spiritual growth and we go through that cycle every year

You don't find any indication in the New Testament that the church did that and really we can't that's not the secret

The spiritual growth is somehow going through this cycle We should be people who have already benefited from the incarnation from God coming in human flesh from bearing our sins on the cross

We should be reminding ourselves of that regularly of the gospel through our own devotional times and every

Lord's Day This day is called with the church once a week not a so -called quote liturgical calendar once a year

But If this time of year can be an evangelistic opportunity

With people maybe the more open to hearing the gospel You know, what's the reason for the season? I kind of think maybe being invited to church

Then that's what we can see in it Not for us to kind of recreate the birth of Jesus, but it's people or maybe some people are interested now

What's Christmas about we can take advantage of that? We still won't sacrifice biblical worship to make a show around Christmas Although we might sing a few

Christmas carols as the hymns we can sing him remember it psalms hymns spiritual songs We can Christmas carols can be hymns and we can look for an opportunity to testify to the gospel here

What the Tribune sees as a violent dangerous mob Paul sees in it as an evangelistic opportunity.

So the Tribune gave Paul permission to speak and Paul was thinking If only

I May testify to the gospel of the grace of God So he turns to the crowd

Motions with his hands says with chains dangling from his wrist then a hush

Went over the crowd as he starts to speak It says he's literally it says he started to speak in Hebrew But probably it means the language of the

Hebrew people which would have been Aramaic their common language. He spoke to them in their language Brothers and fathers hear the defense

I now make before you When they heard him speaking in their native tongue, they became even more quiet paying rapt attention to him

Now just here You'd expect him to say, you know first the charges against me are all faults

I haven't been teaching people against Israel or the law or this temple and no one can show that I brought a

Gentile into the temple A couple of troublemakers from Ephesus Yeah they saw me walking with trophimus when

I was at the Jerusalem Galleria earlier today getting a pretzel and Just assumed that I had brought him into the temple, but he's not here.

Anybody can see trophimus here. No, he's not here I'm innocent of all the charges. I'm being framed.

This is all hysteria that one that might be what we expect him to say But he doesn't does it look what he says instead?

He's not as interested in defending himself As he is in testifying to the gospel and in here is a great opportunity to do that So instead of giving his defense and personal defense, he gives this testimony.

I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia I'm one of those Jewish people from outside of Israel the

Diaspora I've been wrongly accused. I'm one of those I've been wrongly accused of slandering.

I think I've been slandering my own guide He says that he was brought up in this city in Jerusalem He's educated the feet of Gamaliel a prominent respected rabbi.

Everyone would have known who Gamaliel was He was trained according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers being zealous for God So he's trying to relate to his audience to show his credentials

Showed those formerly writing men that he was he was just like them even one of the most religious most serious of them

He's establishing common ground with them as all of you are this day.

I'm Like you I was like you he says I persecuted the way this way to the death

Meaning the death of those whom he caught Binding and delivering to prison both men and women

The high priest and the elders are witnesses From them I received letters

Certificates basically he was a certified Christian hunter To the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to make to take those

Also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished now, that's who he was

Just like those writing men They should be able to relate to him to see that he was

One of them that he'd be just like them, too If only something hadn't happened to him

He is offering them a kind of a before and after picture You know like some of those diet commercials We're about to see a lot more of as we come to New Year's resolution time that is what

I was like before Full of rage at the way he called it persecuting it to the death.

Now. This is What I'm like now now what happened? What's the if only that happened to make him different than the men in this murderous mob?

As he was on the outskirts of Damascus at about noon You ever wonder about these little details about noon what yeah,

I don't think it's symbolic for anything. It's just that This kind of specific details are the signs of a of a true

Historical story see if Paul is thinking. Yeah, it was about noon. I remember a great light from heaven suddenly

Shown around me and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me Saul Saul Why are you persecuting me?

Paul like these many speaking to couldn't understand that I'm persecuting he thinks I'm persecuting heretics blasphemers cultist

Who is this who says I'm persecuting him? So we asked who are you

Lord? I'll be Lord being like sir This is you know, like he's just speaking to any man respectfully

Who are you? He answered he probably just thinks he has the Sun in his eyes just glaring.

It doesn't know what's going on In the voice answers. I am Jesus of Nazareth Whom you are persecuting

He's the same one that this mob Had been persecuting when they were beating and dragging

Paul He and he understands them as Paul understands this mob because he's been persecuting the same people if not for this

What we see here is his testimony for Jesus appearing to them to him for the grace of God He too would be among them

If only His companions could hear something but they couldn't understand the voice because the message was

Was just for Paul not for them. So Paul asked What shall I do

Lord? the Lord Jesus says rise and go to Damascus and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do and He had to be led by the hand temporarily blinded into Damascus where he met

Ananias and Paul tells the crowd there He's speaking to these religious Jewish men is

Ananias now. He was a devout man according to the law In other words, he strictly followed the law.

He used to be a blasphemer in the law He he was well spoken of by all the Jews there in Damascus like you

He came to me and standing by me and said to me brother Saul receive your sight and He could see

Then the God of our fathers appointed you to know his will to see

The righteous one that is Jesus and to hear a voice from his mouth for you will be witness a witness to me to everyone of what you have seen and heard and Here he is 20 years later in Jerusalem Being a witness to Jesus of what he's seen and heard

Then Ananias tells him to rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on the name of Jesus Baptism testifies to what what faith made happen that our sins have been washed away because of the blood of Jesus personal testimonies are powerful

Here's Paul's John Newton's has a powerful personal testimony John Newton was a English slave trader an officer on a ship

Sometimes a captain of a slave ship that hauled slaves across the Atlantic and he was by his own account as a drunk before the one critical thing happened and If only it hadn't happened

He would have remained a drunken profiteer off of the oppression and misery of other people

He said about himself that he was quote once a infidel and libertine In other words, he was an unbeliever and immoral in 1748 he was on a board a ship that got caught in a severe storm off the coast of Ireland and almost sank

Which made him seek God he began to read the Bible and by the time he reached England He had believed in Jesus on March 10th 1748

To an anniversary he would mark every year for the rest of his life. He would later write his testimony in a song

You've heard it not long ago amazing grace How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me

I once was lost But now I'm found was blind, but now

I see How many how many people probably millions have been revolutionized

Comforted maybe some converted others odd by that testimony

Testimonies are powerful because they show that if only for the grace of God How different life would be?

Well Paul goes on they've accused him of slandering the Jewish people the law and the temple he tells them that after he met

Jesus on the road to Damascus that he was back in Jerusalem praying in the temple and We're just been dragged out of that temple and the gates were shut behind them in the temple

In about 20 years before he had a vision of Jesus saying to him Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly

They the people of Jerusalem will not accept your testimony about me. Jesus says they're close to you and Paul recounts again to this angry mob out

He had it he had imprisoned and beat those who believed in Jesus how he had helped the murder of Stephen your witness

He says in verse 20 literally your martyr that Should prove his bona fides, right?

To the crowd that he was like them to that should help win them over But when he recounts that Jesus said back to him go

Leave Jerusalem get out of Israel for I will send you far away

To the Gentiles that word Gentiles It's like a trigger

Their religion was all about how they were God's people by birth They they inherited that status by being descended from Abraham and it made them

God's people and there's no question about it Just they were born that way it set them apart It gave them privileges and an elite status with God God cared about them

He was in covenant with them and no one else to question that to suggest that God cares about The Gentiles that he would send people to testify to them

Well, that was explosive And so they exploded they began to roar away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live

So the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks You wonder if Paul thought at that moment.

Hmm. Maybe I shouldn't said that part about the Gentiles kept that to myself But some people are so certain of their beliefs

Here that they are the people of God that there's no there's no reasoning with them

No matter how careful you are how much you try to win them over first how you try to get underneath their assumptions and reason with them you just You just can't win them.

You know, we have people today in the church who are absolutely determined to defend Basically the same idea that Israel is

God's people simply by birth It doesn't matter how carefully you try to show them that scripture teaches that the true Israel is the company of peoples of those who believe

There's people like Jacob because of God's grace to him not Esau Even though Esau is also the son of Abraham and Isaac to like our people like the mixed multitudes coming out of Egypt who believed in the

Lord and not the gods they were raised with our people like Rahab or Ruth or The Gentiles like here the other sheep that Jesus said in John chapter 10 that he has scattered abroad the diaspora of God's people in the world

They won't listen They see that if you touch that doctrine that the entire system of their way of interpreting the

Bible Maybe what they think makes them distinct of what they think it the Bible teaches about the future what they're counting on If you touch that it falls apart

If only it's taken away if only God's people are by grace now by ancestry They see that their theology their confidence is shattered

Maybe they won't riot today maybe they'll just Ignore you and go away

First there's the opportunity Now there's the immunity the tribute still doesn't understand what what all the rage is about and so with a

Paul examined Sort of a nice euphemism for it by scourging

It's the same kind of scourging that famously Jesus went through prior to his crucifixion the kind that can just by itself

So brutally tear into the flesh that it it kills the victim

He orders Paul scourged and the troops are stretching him out with the ropes to begin the torture and Paul Politely appeals to his rights as a

Roman citizen. He has Immunity from such torture at least before he's found guilty of anything

He says to a nearby centurion probably kind of like a lieutenant It is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a

Roman citizen and uncondemned now? Paul really wasn't asking for information. Okay, he's not asking legal advice

He's politely informing him that he is a Roman citizen and as such he has immunity from such treatment

The centurion is alarmed because they could get in trouble for this For doing this to a Roman citizen, and so he tells the tribute

He's a Roman citizen and he asked Paul. Are you a Roman citizen? Paul says yes,

I am a citizen by birth You know better than having bought it like you Paul appeals to his immunity some people think that being a

Christian means just letting yourself be walked all over and letting your rights be trampled on and sometimes you have to be willing to give up your rights

Paul would give up his rights for the week in the church and Until they grew but here there's nothing to be gained

By just letting himself be flogged like that and there's a lot of pain to be endured Perhaps his life to be lost if he doesn't use his immunity if only

He wasn't a Roman citizen He would have no immunity. He would have no way to avoid the scourging.

He would have no right to appeal to Caesar he would have no way to get to Rome and so We would have no way to enacts with the gospel

Getting to the ends of the earth if only we had

What? We could get the gospel to the ends of the earth What's what's the one thing that's needed?

Yes, we need people we need to think we need to strategize to be smart to know when to use our rights

We all have we have all have a part to play in that not the same part though. Some are gifted to be

Some are gifted in being called specifically to do the testifying like Paul and some are not but we all if if God has done that miracle and opened our hearts to believe we are all part of the body of the team a part of The body that God works through to accomplish his mission.

We need people Willing to become all things to all people because they are driven by the thought if only

I Can testify to the gospel of the grace of God well, finally in the first 11 verses of chapter 23 we see his

Conditional temporary Immortality He was already nearly beaten to death now

He is an imminent danger of the Romans handing him over to the Jewish authorities and they will surely kill him

He needs somehow to avoid that he needs to avoid being You know given over to the

Jewish authorities the Tribune still doesn't understand why they hate Paul so much What was he being accused of exactly and so he has the

Sanhedrin here It's called the council meet and he takes Paul's shackles off brings him to the council and in chapter 23 verse 1.

It says Paul looks intently at them What does he see you think?

When he's looking intently at this council Does he see an evangelistic opportunity?

Like the day before in front of the mob You know, these are religious men. They're they're the religious leaders.

They're the Pharisees or Sadducees. They're priests. They're the rulers They're powerful men. Sometimes Christians think you know, if only we could win the powerful.

That's what we need We need to win over the movers and the shakers If only we could be on the president's council of faith leaders, and then he'll listen to us

So the whole nation will be won over if only and so what they do is they end up compromising They end up holding back from calling sin sin

So that the people in power Will accept them so they can be accepted by the influential.

I've heard Christians say, you know, if only we can have some great celebrity won over evangelize a rock star a

Multi -platinum singer then hordes of people will be saved by their testimony. That's what we need

Now now that Kanye West is apparently Saved Apparently a true believer.

Let's see if that happens We can hope so but the real if only

We crucially need is not for a celebrity or a powerful person to give his a great testimony

But for the Holy Spirit to soften hearts What does

Paul see in verse 1 when he looks intently at them at this council?

This time it doesn't seem That he sees an evangelistic opportunity You know the leaders and probably leaders all

Nations and all over all time are often hard and closed Manipulated people who really have no interest in anything other than what advances their interest

Paul defends himself, you know brothers. I have lived my life Before God in all good conscience to this day

Well, that seems like an innocent enough statement But to it but to Ananias the high priest he orders to somehow we find something offensive about that He orders him punched in the mouth for that and Paul blurts back at him in verse 3

God is gonna strike you you whitewash wall. I was you hypocrite Are you sitting a judgment according to the law and yet contrary to the law you ordered me to be struck?

You're breaking the law The law says on Lucas chapter 19 verse 5 15, you shall do no injustice in court, you know striking a man

Just for no reason that's an injustice. He's appealing to his rights again They say he shouldn't speak that way to the high priest and he agrees

You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people just because it's true doesn't mean you should say it We should guard the honor of our leaders

Now these are not winnable people by any human strategy There's no words that he can sew together to get through to them

Nothing that he can say, you know, if only I said this or that Then they'll see that I'm right then they'll believe that Jesus is

Lord and they'll be converted. They're not interested in Justice or in truth.

They're interested in what's in it for themselves what advances their cause

So policies that some are Sadducees and some are Pharisees Pharisees believed in the resurrection and so he calls out brothers

I'm a Pharisee a son of Pharisees and with respect to the hope of the resurrection of the dead. I am on trial

So that got them debating the resurrection and he's not he's not trying to win them here.

He's trying to divide them maybe to win some but really to divide them so that they

He can't be handed over to them and it says because of that a great clamor rose in verse 9 some contending sharply

Others they're yelling at each other. They're angry and in the heat of their theological debate Some Pharisees are willing to let

Paul go now. They get so focused. I'm gonna win this debate They're willing to let him go and when it becomes violent one side against another maybe punches, maybe they're throwing stuff

The Tribune commands his soldiers to get Paul out of there before he's torn in pieces by the fight

Paul was shrewd as wise as a serpent While as gentle as a dove

He has successfully wisely Managed to keep himself from being handed over to the council

But by dividing them because his mission of getting the gospel to the ends of the earth was not yet complete

Now that night the Lord Jesus stood by him Jesus Jesus has said already to his church on mission.

I will never leave you or forsake you Jesus is present with his church if only

They're testifying to the gospel Jesus has to Paul, you know, take courage Be strong and courageous like the

Lord Jesus speaking to Joshua before the promised land For as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem Interesting here.

He commends him for testifying in Jerusalem, even though no one was one that we know of But like you look before that mob just as you've done that So you must notice that you must it is necessary It has to happen

It's the only Only thing that until you do it if only you do it you will continue to live you must

Testify also in Rome until then Until he is in Rome testifying to the gospel.

No one can kill him. He is Immortal Henry Martin and the pioneering missionary to Persia It's also a friend of John Newton said

I am immortal Until God's work for me to do is done

The Lord reigns George Whitfield the great evangelist whom

John Newton loved to listen to said it another way We are immortal until our work on earth is done

Here Paul is told that no matter that the raging of the mobs the threats that the dangers

He will see that Paul makes it to his goal If only he may testify to the gospel of the grace of God until then

Until he's testified at the crossroads of the end of the earth until he's fulfilled the mission

The church has given him to do The Lord will keep him safe through many dangers

Toils and snares I have already come Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home

What's your all what's your if only? If only I had money

Please let it be more than that What will you do when? When you if you have enough money you need more than that maybe it's somebody some person

What will you do when that somebody is led away when you said your last? farewell

Maybe it's health What are you doing with your health with your life now? If you share the

Lord's mission if you think if only I may do my part in helping the church testify to the gospel

Then you are immortal Until you accomplish that mission That the mission is to testify to the gospel because it is the one thing the if only

That makes the crucial difference in the gospel is the power of God for salvation

If only you have that Everything else will be different do you?