Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00024B
00:01 Welcome back to our study of Acts on Books of the Book.
00:04 Before the break we were talking about how Paul was brought in 00:09 before Felix the governor and the high priest had brought in 00:14 the elders of Jerusalem and as well an orator, an attorney of 00:18 sorts, named Tertullus who was giving a lot of flattery there 00:22 to Felix and then he began to talk about Paul as being this 00:26 guy who was stirring up all this trouble. He's a plague and he 00:30 called him the ringleader of the cult of the Nazarenes. 00:33 You think about that - the cult of the Nazarenes. He's trying 00:37 to make it look like this is just a small, little offshoot. 00:40 You know I've seen this over and over in my own time even within 00:46 the church where sometimes people are not always fully 00:50 honest in the way that they deal with arguments or disagreements, 00:56 right. Instead of just sharing their case and stating their 01:00 case, they instead feel like they need to marginalize people 01:04 so that they look like nobody should give them any attention. 01:07 That's what we were taking about a little bit before the break, 01:11 but I'd like to just share a couple of examples. I remember 01:15 reading one scholarly article where it was making a point 01:19 and saying here's a point and it was a point that he disagreed 01:23 with that really is shared by mostly lay people. Then he went 01:27 on to share his point. Well that's not totally true. There 01:30 were scholars who held that point but he wanted to make it 01:33 look like this really was not something that was credible. 01:37 They were not as educated and so we can expect that that would 01:41 not be a very strong argument. That's the kind of thing that 01:44 when you see that happening that's really somebody just 01:46 trying to marginalize and the truth is always marginalized by 01:50 the enemies of the truth. We see that happening here. We've seen 01:53 it happen in our own experience and we just need to be mindful 01:57 that we should never try to marginalize people. The truth 02:00 will stand for itself. That's right. Don't belittle the 02:03 opponent. If you believe you have the truth, share the truth. 02:07 And in this case we don't see that happening. We just have 02:11 these allegations and accusations against Paul, 02:14 which we'll find as Paul said, they can't prove, and this comes 02:18 out in the case. Now we're in Acts chapter 24. We looked over 02:22 something and I want to review it again. In verse 14, we read 02:26 this. Paul says, I confess to you that according to the 02:32 Way which they call a sect so I worship the God of my fathers 02:35 believing all things which are written in the law and the 02:39 prophets. Look at verse 15. He says, I have hope in God which 02:43 they themselves also accept that there will be a resurrection of 02:47 the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I 02:50 myself always strive to have a conscience without offense 02:53 toward God and men. Now this is interesting. He says I have hope 02:56 in God of the resurrection and we saw that a little earlier. 02:59 He says I am called before you because of my hope in the 03:03 resurrection. We see him bringing this up. But this hope, 03:07 I think of the book of Titus. Paul wrote this epistle. Titus 2 03:12 and verse 13 he talks about how we are looking forward to the 03:17 blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our Lord and 03:20 Savior, Jesus Christ. I myself have often used that to refer to 03:24 that blessed hope as being the coming of Christ, but more 03:27 accurately, from what he's saying here, the blessed hope 03:30 is the resurrection. He says the blessed hope and the glorious 03:33 appearing. Now they happen together and it's clear why Paul 03:37 links them because the same apostle in I Thessalonians 4 and 03:41 verses I believe 15, 16 and 17. He says the Lord himself will 03:45 descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel 03:48 with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. 03:52 So the resurrection happens at the second coming. So Paul has 03:56 this hope, but he brings up the point that the hope, he has this 04:00 hope in the resurrection of the dead. And of course he brings 04:03 this up to the climax of the Christian hope, the resurrection 04:06 and the coming of Jesus, the return of Jesus, and he says, 04:11 This being so I myself always strive to have a conscience 04:14 without offense toward God and men. And, Jim, I think here 04:18 about the idea that the Bible speaks of different consciences. 04:23 He wants a conscience without offense. I've had people tell me 04:28 well that doesn't bother me. I'm not convicted about that. But 04:32 the Apostle Paul also speaks in other places about guilty 04:37 consciences or rather seared consciences or evil consciences. 04:40 He says I don't want to have an evil conscience in essence. 04:44 I want to have a conscience without offense and this being 04:48 so... I think of another passage where Paul says in II Timothy 04:51 chapter 4 that the Lord will judge the living and the dead 04:55 at his appearing. Jesus is coming again and based on that 04:58 Paul says based on that hope I want to make sure that when he 05:01 comes again I'm found of him in peace. I'm found in harmony with 05:05 his will. My conscience is clear 05:07 Yeah you talk about a conscience Just because someone has a 05:10 conscience doesn't mean that their conscience is telling them 05:13 the right thing. So when somebody says I'm not convicted 05:17 on that, when you said that it made me think of I've had people 05:22 who have addictions to things and they hold onto them and when 05:27 you talk to them about the need to turn that over to the Lord 05:31 and to find freedom from that, sometimes you'll get that, well 05:35 I'm not convicted on that just yet. I'm not convicted that 05:38 that's really a problem. You know this is a problem and this 05:41 is a problem and this is a problem and I'm working on those 05:43 things, the Lord's working on it but I'm not convicted of that. 05:47 And you know if the word very clearly expresses something and 05:51 it's not convicting you then the problem is not with the word 05:54 it's with your conscience and so we need to recognize that 05:58 ultimately our conscience is a guide but in and of itself it's 06:03 not a safe guide. It must be itself guided by the word. 06:06 And not just guided by the word, Jim, but it's important that 06:09 it's educated by the word. That's why it's important for us 06:12 to spend time in the word so it can educate our conscience into 06:15 what God sees as right and wrong. 06:16 Amen, that's right. Well let's pick up back with the defense 06:21 of Paul before Felix in verse 17. It says, Now after many 06:25 years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation. So now 06:29 he's describing how he had come to Jerusalem. In the midst of 06:33 which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple 06:37 neither with a mob nor with tumult. He's speaking very 06:41 honestly here. They've accused him of having a mob, but when he 06:45 went to the temple, remember he was there with just four other 06:48 men who were completing a vow. That was it. Not much of a mob. 06:53 And it says, nor with tumult. As we stated before there were 06:57 times when the Apostle Paul preached boldly in the synagogue 07:01 to Jews and Greeks, etc. We see that in various placed. But in 07:05 this particular case when these Jews from Asia started the 07:09 trouble Paul was just completing his vow. He was just going 07:14 through the normal temple rites and so there was really no 07:18 foundation at all for the idea that he started a tumult. So in 07:21 both these things he's being totally honest. In verse 19 it 07:24 says, They ought to have been here before you to object if 07:28 they had anything against me. Wow! Now he's talking about 07:33 these Jews from Asia and remember that they called out 07:38 help, this man is causing trouble everywhere he goes. 07:42 He brought a Greek into the temple. 07:43 That's right, he'd profaned the temple and made these 07:46 accusations against Paul which caused the big riot and 07:49 caused them to pull him out and start beating him and everything 07:52 else. But then we don't ever see these Jews from Asia again. 07:56 So what Paul is saying here is look, let's really go back to 08:00 where the original accusation came from. If they really had 08:04 these accusations, where are they? Where is their evidence? 08:07 Bring them here and let them show the evidence. But then he 08:12 goes on. He says, or verse 20, he gives another option. Or else 08:16 let those who are here... Now he's talking about the high 08:20 priest and the elders... Let those who are here themselves 08:24 say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the 08:28 council. Now he's bringing back to after this point when he was 08:33 there before the council and there was this idea of the 08:39 resurrection brought into the situation. And it says in verse 08:43 22, Unless it is for this one statement which I cried out 08:47 standing among them concerning the resurrection of the dead I 08:51 am being judged by you this day. Now if you remember what 08:55 happened, there were some Sadducees and Pharisees that 08:59 were there in the Sanhedrin and when the Apostle Paul saw this 09:04 and remembered that of course the Sadducees did not believe in 09:08 a resurrection, the Pharisees did, he pointed to the fact that 09:12 he's being judged based on the resurrection and it caused a 09:16 division amongst the elders there and the leaders of the 09:20 Jews. So Paul's bringing them back and saying let's talk about 09:24 that council that we had and why don't you tell us how that 09:27 went because the reality was there was a large portion of 09:30 them who were standing behind Paul in that moment because Paul 09:33 was in favor of the resurrection and they were trying to defend 09:36 that. So the Apostle Paul is putting the Jews in a very 09:39 strange situation here. They can't really do much about it 09:41 because they don't have any evidence from the Jews from Asia 09:44 and none of them really want to go into what happened when they 09:47 tried to solve it themselves. 09:49 Right. And that's what leads to verse 22. It says, When Felix 09:52 heard these things having more accurate knowledge of the Way 09:56 he adjourned... So he knew a little bit about Christianity, 09:59 enough to know that whatever they're saying is not what is 10:02 practiced. And it says that he adjourned the proceedings and 10:05 said, When Lysius the commander comes down I will make a 10:08 decision on your case. He was thinking this was probably going 10:11 be a week or two, but we find as we go on in here is there's a 10:14 couple of years pass and evidently Lysius never was 10:16 called. It seems to be just a way to get these guys out. 10:20 Now it's interesting that after this curiosity gets hold of 10:23 Felix and it says, He commanded the centurion to keep Paul and 10:26 let him have liberty. He didn't forbid Paul to have his friends 10:30 visit and after some days when Felix came with his wife 10:33 Drusilla who was a Jewess or who was Jewish it says here in the 10:37 New King James. He sent for Paul and heard him concerning the 10:40 faith in Christ. He was curious. He wanted to know and he asked 10:44 actually to have Paul come and tell him about his faith. Verse 10:48 25 says, Now as he (Paul) reasoned about righteousness, 10:51 self-control and judgment to come Felix was afraid and 10:55 answered Go away for now. When I have a convenient time 10:58 I will call for you. Now this is one of the most powerful 11:01 passages in this trial. At least it really grips me. I like the 11:07 was the King James Version brings it up here. He says, 11:10 Felix when he heard these things he trembled. In other words, he 11:13 was afraid. This is a grown man. He's trembling with fear. He'd 11:17 never really thought to himself of the judgments of God and when 11:21 you read the history of some of these rulers here in Rome they 11:24 were very corrupt. There was a lot of licentiousness in their 11:28 lives and to think that he had to answer for that in a judgment 11:32 made Felix tremble and rather that accept the invitation to 11:36 salvation, the offer of mercy from God, he said, Paul go away. 11:41 He pushed away the Holy Spirit. He procrastinated and we don't 11:47 have record that he ever took that opportunity seriously again 11:53 as we find verse 26 says, Meanwhile he also hoped that 11:56 money would be given him by Paul that he might release him. 11:59 Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him 12:02 but after two years Porcius Festus succeeded Felix and Felix 12:06 want to do the Jews a favor left Paul bound. So he had a lot of 12:10 conversations but he thought maybe Paul would give him a 12:12 bribe and that clouded his judgment and he never did come 12:15 back to making a decision. 12:17 That's amazing. It makes me think, we can't delay in making 12:21 decisions for Christ. The Spirit of God never speaks to our heart 12:27 more distinctly and with more clarity than right now. When we 12:31 put off making a decision for Christ when the Lord is speaking 12:36 to our hearts, we can know that we begin to make ourselves a 12:40 little less able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. 12:43 Procrastinating is one of the biggest dangers in the Christian 12:47 life. Well when you look here it turns out that for two more 12:51 years there's no decision made until Felix then is replaced by 12:55 Festus. So next time we'll have to see what happens with Festus 12:59 because right now we're out of time. But we look forward to 13:03 seeing you again next time on Books of the Book. |
Revised 2014-12-17