Book of Acts - Ch. 25, Vs. 1-Ch. 26, Vs. 14 (07/13/2003)

The batteries on the substitutes run down, so I may not hear you at all.

If you have something to say, come and stand down here. It's chapter 25 of Acts.

The year is 62 A .D.

Felix is now dead, and Paul has been in prison for two years.

Now when Festus was come into the province, that is, Judea, after three days he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem.

I want you to note how restless the rage and malice and enmity these people had against Paul.

And they have the same against us. The high priest, chief of the

Sanhedrin, or ecclesiastical court, continued their murderous design against the innocent apostle.

They're even sorry that they can't get a heathen judge to condemn him as they did.

You know, sometimes the Christians in the world commit such awful crimes.

Now, they're called Christian. Let's get that straight. They committed these crimes without shame or remorse.

A thought comes to me at this point. Why did these Jews, after two years, still persist in having

Paul killed? Dennis? Because they didn't have the proportions to control that as any other thing, and they didn't want the

Gentiles to be brought in at all. That's right. And Paul was afraid of the

Gentiles. That's the immediate cause.

David, what's the overall cause? You forgot the question, but now

I have it. That's right.

It was because their work according to the divine plan was not finished.

Now, they didn't know that, but that's the reason. Then the high priest and the chief of the

Jews informed him against Paul and besought him and desired favor against him.

Favor that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying in wait to kill him.

It's altogether probable that if this request had been granted,

Paul would have been killed. But we can write that off because that was not the design or the plan.

He had been told that he would bear witness unto him in Rome.

God's providence was remarkable in thus influencing the mind of the

Roman governor. It's amazing to me how we go about our daily work.

Dennis, you get up every morning, and you make ready, you go to work.

Certain things happen that day, and you come home and eat and go to bed.

Now, it seems as though we have scheduled that. Myron, we make decisions every day, but God has in his infinite wisdom ordained everything.

Now, the average man can't put that together. I can put it together in that I can say it, but I forget it.

But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea and that he himself would depart shortly thither.

Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able to go down with me and accuse this man if there be any wickedness in him.

Again, we see the providence of God for the apostles' preservation.

How easy it is for the most wise God to baffle and blast the most cunning devices of the devil, to fool the enemies of his church and people by making the counsels of the wicked to be of no effect.

Sometimes, Greg, he waits until the last minute when you can do nothing else.

Well, God looks and laughs—I wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't seen it in Scripture— and he laughs at the plots of wicked men against the righteous.

Frustration and disappointment attend all of their designs. Let me stop here a moment.

Now, the devil is a fallen angel, is that right?

Does he know the things that are going to happen tomorrow?

He can guess much better than I can.

But he does not know. We're told in Ephesians that the angels are learning from us.

They see what's going on in the church. But the angels do not have prior knowledge, just as you and I do not have prior knowledge.

That belongs to God the Father. Well, some verses in Psalms 2 -5.

He that sitteth in heaven laughs them to scorn. The Lord has them in derision.

In Psalms 37 -13, the Lord shall laugh at him, for he seeth that his day is coming.

Psalms 59 -8. But thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them.

Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision. And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto

Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, commanded

Paul to be brought. Now we're going to see how

Paul reacts to this. And when he was come, the

Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about and laid many in grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove.

Dennis, I thought you were supposed to prove what was said in court. When many accusations are heaped together frequently, not one of them is true.

While he answered for himself, neither against the law of the

Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have

I offended anything at all, but Festus, willing to do the

Jews a pleasure, answered Paul and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?

Now, Greg, he's asking Paul, will you return to Jerusalem? Paul was headed the other way, wasn't he?

Festus could have ordered this without asking Paul, but God overruled that he might have an occasion to appeal to Rome.

Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged.

To the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.

For if I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death,

I refuse not to die, but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them.

I appeal to Caesar. These words were very cryptic, very sharp, very staccato.

You could almost see the anger in Paul when he tells him to, you hear my case, or send me to Rome.

No man's going to make me a present of them, or to make me a present to them.

Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered,

Hast thou appealed unto Caesar, unto Caesar thou shalt go. Now, Greg, what's this council?

You're absolutely right, the council to which he was working, his own council, with whom he was accustomed to consult in the administration of justice.

The original Greek has a different word here for council. And after certain days,

King Agrippa and Bernice came into Caesarea to salute

Festus. Agrippa and Bernice.

Myron, who were these two people? Well, first of all, were they

Jew or Gentile? I'm sorry,

I ask. They were both

Jew. They belonged to the

Herod family, a most depiccable family.

The most wicked in the Bible. Ahab and Jezebel were like Sunday school teachers compared to the

Herods. Bernice was his beautiful sister.

Was one of the fairest and most immoral, vile, evil, black -hearted, evil -minded, depraved women of her time.

She was married several times, once to her own uncle by her father's side.

After his death, she informed Pullman, king of Pontius and part of Sicily, that if he would be circumcised, she would marry him.

Well, he did, she did, then she left him. She soon deserted him and returned to her brother

Agrippa, with whom she lived in a manner such as to excite scandal.

She was charged with incest with her brother Agrippa. Well, enough of that.

And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying,

There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix, about whom, when

I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him.

To whom I answered, It is not the matter of Romans to deliver any man to die before that he which is accused have faced the accusers face to face and have license to answer for himself concerning the crimes laid against him.

Therefore, when they were come hither without any delay on the morrow,

I sat in the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought forth, against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusations of such things as I supposed, but had certain questions against him of their own superstition and of one

Jesus, which was dead, among whom Paul affirmed to be alive.

Now, why does he say they had something among their own superstitions?

Paul, David, why did he refer to superstitions?

Does that mean that his own beliefs were superstitious? And he knew it?

Worldly politicians, high in office, clothed with great pomp and power, often think and speak very lightly of events which they know nothing about.

And because I doubted of such matter of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem and there be judged of these matters.

But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesarea.

Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear this man myself.

Tomorrow, said he, thou shalt hear him. Agrippa doubtless had heard much of the fame of Jesus and of the new sect of Christians, and probably he was induced by mere curiosity to hear what

Paul could say in explanation and defense of the doctrine of Christians.

This wish of Agrippa gave occasion to the noblest defense that has ever been presented in the world,

I suppose. And on the morrow, when

Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place, the place of hearing, with the chief captain and principal men of the city, at Festus' command,

Paul was brought forward. Can't you see all of the pomp, all of the fine robes, everything, the entire world is assembled here in all of their splendor.

And he sends for Paul. And Festus said,

King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, you see this man, about whom all the multitude of the

Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer.

But, when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him, of whom

I have no certain thing to write unto my Lord, whereof I have brought him forth before you, and especially before thee.

O King Agrippa, that after examination had

I might have somewhat to write. Now, who is this man that's speaking?

Festus, I guess it was customary in that day when you send a prisoner to Rome, you have to send a letter of explanation.

And the poor man didn't have anything. For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him.

That sets the stage for 26. So, let's go into 26.

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself.

Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself.

Now, I want you to look at these two men. Side by side. One is on a throne, the other is in shackles.

What else do you see as you look at them? Myron, what else do you see?

All right. David, what else do you see?

All right. One's in purple, the other's in prison garb.

One wears a crown, the other wears chains. Agrippa is a king, but is a slave to sin.

Paul is a chained prisoner, but free in Christ. Agrippa is an earthly king who could not be free, who could not free

Paul or himself. Paul is an ambassador of the king who could free them both.

Two, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all of the things whereof

I am accused of the Jews. What was

Paul wanting, Dennis? Yes.

All right. All he wants is Agrippa to understand that he is innocent of all of these charges.

Now, he didn't want this to prevent his going to Rome. That was far from his mind.

Three, especially because I know thee to be an expert in all customs and questions which are among the

Jews, whereof I beseech thee to hear me patiently. His father was zealous for the law, and he himself had the office of president of the temple and its treasures and the appointment of the high priest.

My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know

I the laws. Paul was sent to Jerusalem at the age of 12, and that's when he began his formal education in the law.

The Pharisees, for their unusual way of exactness, concluded that they should certainly go to heaven, if any did, when many things which they practiced with extraordinary zeal and strictness were never permitted by God at their hands.

Now, we have the Pharisees. They have gotten so far off track, not knowing it, but they think, surely, without doubt, we're going to heaven and everybody else going to hell.

Paul continues, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify that after the most straightest sect of our religion,

I lived a Pharisee, the most rigid, the most strict, not only in regard to the written law of God, but the traditions of the elders.

Paul himself elsewhere testifies to this. And now

I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers.

The promise, well, let me ask you, what was that promise made to the fathers?

What is it that Paul is standing in hope of? Greg? Well, there was a promise of that.

No. The Pharisees, not the

Sadducees. Yes. The promise of the resurrection.

That's your promise, too. That there will be a resurrection. If it were not for that promise, we'd all go home.

Unto which promise are twelve tribes instantly serving

God day and night hoped to come? For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the

Jews? Paul here says that the hope had been that of the

Jewish nation, except the comparatively small portion of the

Sadducees. The great masses of the nation had held to the doctrine of a future state.

Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?

That God should raise the dead. I've heard that all my life.

And it's not so incredible to me, but to these people, it seemed like it was an incredible thing.

As Agrippa believed in the true God and knew that one of his attributes was omnipotence, he could not believe that the resurrection of the dead was an impossible thing.

And to this believer, here's the Apostle Peale, the more especially because the

Sadducees denied the doctrine of the resurrection, though they professed to believe in the same

God. Now, let's bring this down to today.

David, do we have people in the world that worship the same

God as I do, yet they deny the resurrection?

That's so true. Two attributes of God stood pledged to produce the resurrection.

His truth, on which his promises was formed, and his power by which he could easily cause it to be effected.

He has power unlimited. Is that right? I verily thought with myself that I ought to do the many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, he slips back. He is building his case. As some persecute others and at the same time think they do well in so doing,

I verily thought, says the Apostle, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus.

He spake as if his conscience would have troubled others, for that which was indeed their conscience.

Ten. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did

I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death,

I gave my voice against them. Now, Myron, what did

Paul do before he was saved? Absolutely.

And he was convinced. Did his conscience ever bother him, Myron? Yes.

Yes. From what is said in this verse, it seems that Paul, before his conversion, was invested with much power.

He imprisoned the Christians, punished many in various synagogues, compelled them to blaspheme, to renounce, and perhaps to curse

Christ, in order to save their lives, and gave his voice, exerting all of his influence and authority against them, in order that they might be put to death.

And from this, it would seem that there were other persons put to death besides Stephen, though their names are not mentioned, but Stephen, he never, never forgot.

Eleven. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and be exceedingly mad against them,

I persecuted them even unto strange cities, places out of the jurisdiction of the

Jews, such as Damascus, which he immediately mentions.

Thereupon, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday,

O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun, it was above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me.

And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the

Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. Now returning to 26,

I mean 12, that he was made a Christian by divine power, and what he'd been doing, what he had been doing, and I'm thinking of all of the persecution of the

Christians, how is it, David, that he was made a

Christian with that background? When Paul was going to Damascus, was he looking for salvation,

David? Were you looking for salvation when you were saved?

Was any of you? Well, he was brought into it on a sudden, by the hand of heaven, not compelled to confess

Christ by outward force, as he had compelled others to do, but by divine and spiritual energy, by revelation of Christ from above, both to him and in him.

Seems as though, Myron, that you could withstand this power, this light.

Could you? You had a better chance of stopping it.

I couldn't have withstood it any more than I could have prevented this day from dawning.

And he says at midday this happened. Greg, why at midday?

There was no doubt about it. Then as to what happened to Paul, what did he do?

He fell to the ground. Now, do you think he fell to the ground intentionally?

Do you think that he was put on the ground?

I do too. Well, each one of us must ask ourselves these questions.

Am I set on my way by and for God? Does my life give the lie to the things which

I profess? Do I show my ignorance of him in the very way

I determine to serve him? Do I attempt to serve him by a spirit that is not his?

We all must have a personal relationship with him.

Let me ask those questions over. Am I set on my way by and for God?

Does my life give the lie to the things that I profess?

Do I not live like I profess? Do I show my ignorance of him in the very way

I determine to serve him? Do I attempt to serve him by a spirit that is not his?

We're going to stop there and start with 15 next week. Are there any questions? You were crying.

Oh, it was his cry.

It rocked you. And now they're going to ask you why.