Saint Paul Rescued from the Multitude
First B Jackson
2014-02-02

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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And then, as far as weird announcements go, this is Super Bowl Sunday. So, I see several of you having your colors on. The kids tonight rather than coming middle schoolers rather than coming here, just enjoy your Super Bowl with your family because that's what Renzi's going to be doing. So, we're not having Super Bowl Sunday night here for middle schoolers but breakfast is on for the high schoolers at seven: 3zero am on Friday morning. As usual, they had 24 people here the other morning for bacon.

Yes. And and prayer before the weekend. It's a great start to the weekend. So, that's the weird announcements today and let's get back to worshiping. Would you stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a song.

Amen. God, we thank you for your faithfulness this morning that even when we aren't, you are and so we pause this morning to just just look on you, to look to you, and rest in your faithfulness to know that you always were and you always will be. And thank you God for your great love for us too. For loving sinful people and, and extending grace. Oh, Lord, how good are you?

How good are you, Lord, to pay a ransom, to pay the penalty for our sin? And may it cause us to be grateful and thankful. We, we confess, Lord, we are people of distraction. And, I thank you for times like these that allow us to just to spend time with you, to be with you, to praise you, to call on you, to thank you. Amen.

God, how true you are definitely worthy of all that we are because you have created us, and you've created us for the purpose of of worshiping and glorifying you. And, God, I wanna give you thanks for all good gifts. You have blessed us. You have blessed us richly, spiritually, physically, financially. And so this morning, we want to I wanna take time just worship in in our giving.

Knowing that you don't need our money. You are self sufficient, self sustaining, but what you're really after is our heart. And so, Lord, will we come to you this morning with an open hand and a grateful heart? Thank you. Since your son's name we pray.

Amen. You can have a seat.

Amen. I have a confession to make. That's scary when the preacher says that first. I have a confession to make. Children are dismissed.

They had the children's church, Peak Children's Church downstairs. I watched a lot of TV when I was a kid. A lot of TV. I grew up in church my whole life and I watched Gilligan's Island reruns after school. That's just what I did.

All a lot of my childhood, if I was not outdoors playing, I watched a lot of TV and I give you that confession because it's going to come up at repeated intervals today. We're going through Acts 21 through 26. It's not Acts 2,121 through 26. It's actually Acts chapters 21 through 26 today. The shortest sermon that or the shortest sermon passage I preached since I've been here is Jesus wept and we spent time on that.

This is seriously five chapters. We actually made it through 14 or 15 verses last week. So, it's 21, 15 through 26 today but I've been talking about how the dramatic tension is building. We'll have a little bit of that tension today released, hopefully. It looks like that's where we're going.

21 through 26, really. Saint Paul rescued from the multitude is on the outside of your bulletins. If you don't have one and there's still some out there, you might want one of these because we're going to spend a lot of time just straight washing ourselves with the word. Hearing it come at us. This is a woodcut by Gustave Dore.

If you didn't know any better, you would think that that guy right there was Jesus. But you know we're in Acts. So, it's not Jesus, it's Paul, this guy right here. A woodcut, it's also called Jerusalem and tumult. When we left last week, we left Paul and his traveling companions saddling up the the Greek seems to tell us that they were actually saddling beasts to get there.

They were packing their stuff and they were heading the 64 miles from Caesarea to Jerusalem. That was their task. We see that that's what they're doing in 2115. So, if you want to turn in your booklets here to twenty one fifteen is the first part of this. This is from the New Living Translation.

Paul arriving at Jerusalem. I'll start in verse 15. After this, we packed up our things and left for Jerusalem. Some believers from Caesarea accompanied us and they took us to the home of Manasen, a man originally from Cyprus, and one of the early believers. When we arrived, the brothers and sisters, sisters in Jerusalem welcomed us warmly.

The brothers and sisters being the Christians in Jerusalem welcomed us warmly. This is the opening scene today. Opening scene of the shot from the TV is this, hey, everybody's glad handing one another, shaking hands, and having a good time and patting each other on the back and saying, oh, it's so good to see you, man. It's great. Now, last week, you remember what everybody was telling?

Don't do that. Anything but Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem. Don't you dare do that. They're going to kill you. The next day, Paul went to meet with James.

Do you all remember? James. James is a leader in the church. Brother Jesus, he is one of the guys that is has stayed in Jerusalem. One of the apostles that stayed in Jerusalem and when he was staying there, the Jewish believers, the Jewish church was growing and James was there.

So, Paul went to meet with them. James and the leaders. The next day, Paul went to meet with went with us. So, Luke was with him to meet with James and all the elders of the Jerusalem church were present and after greeting them, Paul gave a detailed account of the things that God had accomplished among the Gentiles through his ministry. Luke records this.

Luke is recording this event and he's telling us that he heard the detailed accounts from Paul multiple times. After hearing this, what did they do? They were Christians. They praised God and then they said, you know dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously. But the Jewish believers here in Jerusalem have been told that you're teaching all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn their backs on the laws of Moses.

They've been told this. You know how things filter back? You played the telephone game. When you're a teenager, did y'all ever do that? Go around the room and you start out with one phrase and by the time it gets back around, it's a completely different thing especially when people feel threatened and so, they've been told that you're teaching the Gentiles that those you're teaching the Jews among the Gentiles to turn their backs on the law of Moses.

They've heard that you teach not to circumcise their children or follow other Jewish customs. What should we do? Says the leader of the Jerusalem Church right in the middle of Judea. Judea, the nation of the Jews, the place of the Jews, the Jerusalem Church. What should we do?

They will certainly hear that you have come. And then James has a suggestion. Here's what we want for you to do. We have four men here who have completed their vow. Remember, couple of Sundays ago when Paul completed his bow and he shaved his head?

That was the normal tradition. They have four men here who have completed their veil. You, Paul, go with them to the temple and join them in the purification ceremony. Paying for them to have their heads ritually shaved. Then, everyone will know that the rumors are all false and that you yourself observe the Jewish laws.

Sounds like a good plan, doesn't it? You go be Jewish. Go out there and do what you can do to show that you're really, really Jewish. As for the Gentile believers, including Luke who is with him and some of those other traveling companions. As for those Gentile believers, they should just do what we already told them in the letter.

Remember Acts 15? They wrote that letter to the Gentile Christians that they should abstain from eating foods offered to idols from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. So, Paul went to the temple the next day with the other men. They had already started the purification ritual. So, he publicly announced the date when their vows would end and sacrifices would be offered for each of them.

The seven days were almost ended when some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple and roused a mob against him. Has he ever had a mob roused against him? Yes, but it's not the kind of mob you can get going in Jerusalem. It's the Super Bowl for crying out loud. This is Jerusalem.

It's a big deal. He's had problems in Ephesus where the riot started and he wanted to get a chance to speak to him. He's always itching to say what he has to say, to testify, to be a witness like Jesus said he would. Seven days were almost ended when some of the Jews of province of Asia saw Paul in the temple, roused him up against him. They grabbed him yelling, men of Israel, help us.

This is the man who preaches against our people everywhere and tells everybody to disobey the Jewish laws. He speaks against the temple and even defiles this holy place by bringing in Gentiles and Luke gives a parenthetic expression there for earlier that day, they had seen him with Trophemus, a Gentile from Ephesus. We've met him before too and they assumed, they assumed that Paul had taken him into the temple. The whole city was rocked by these accusations and a great riot followed. In front of your bulletin again, this is the same thing, a detail.

Paul was grabbed and dragged out of the temple and immediately the gates were closed behind him and as they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment. That all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Now, the time period that this is happening in is known in his historians know it as the Pax Romana, the Roman time of peace. Rome by military force, enforced peace. Their governors, their centurions, all their commanders had the right to do what they needed to do to keep the peace and so, as they were trying to kill him, word reached the commander of the Roman regiment that all Jerusalem was in an uproar and this is his territory.

He does not want for it to be in an uproar. He immediately called out his soldiers and officers and ran down among the crowd. When the mob saw the commander and the troops coming, they stopped. Oh, no. No.

I'm not I'm not doing anything. They stopped beating Paul. Then, the commander arrested him, Paul, because he was obviously the troublemaker. They were beating him up and ordered him bound with two chains. Now, what had Agabas said last week?

You will be bound just like this and handed over to the Gentiles. Then, the commander arrested him, ordered him bound with two chains. He asked the crowd who he was and what he had done. Some shouted one thing and some another because they had all heard their different version of the telephone game. Since he couldn't find out the truth and all the uproar and confusion, he ordered that Paul be taken to the fortress.

If you see here, these are all the Roman soldiers that are taking him up. They're actually putting him into protective custody to keep the mob from beating him to death. So, these guys, he's taking him to the Fortress and as Paul reached the stairs, look at his face. He's looking back going, but wait a minute, I've got more to say. As he reached the stairs, the mob grew so violent that the soldiers had to lift him on their shoulders to protect him and the crowd followed behind him saying, kill him.

Kill him. What had the crowd said about Jesus? Not too terribly many years before, fifty years before twenty years before. Crucify him. Crucify him.

Kill him. Kill him. Paul was about to be taken out inside, he said to the commander, may I have a word with you? Do you know Greek? The commander asked, surprised.

Aren't you the Egyptian who led a rebellion some time ago? And took 4,000 members of the assassins out into the desert? Was Paul misunderstood? That was the word that reached the commander. He's an Egyptian.

Leading an insurrection. He just knew he wanted to keep the peace. So, he's pulling him out protective custody and he was surprised that he knew Greek. Paul is a smart guy. No.

No. No, Paul. I'm not. I'm a Jew and a citizen of Tarsus and Cilicia which is an important city. Please, let me talk to these people.

These people that want to beat me up. The commander agreed. So, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned to the crowd to be quiet. Soon, a deep silence enveloped the crowd and he addressed them in their own language, Aramaic. It's a modernized form of Hebrew, the Semitic language and Paul starts out, brothers and esteemed fathers, Listen to me as I offer my defense and when they heard him speaking in their own language, the silence was even greater.

They were confused about he who he was too but they wanted to hear it. Then, Paul said, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel, Doctor Gamaliel. As a student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did just like all of you here today and I persecuted the followers of the way, that's Christians. Hounding some to death, arresting both men and women, and throwing them in prison.

The high priest and the whole council of elders, that's the Sanhedrin, can testify that this is so. For I receive letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring Christians from there to Jerusalem in chains to be punished. Paul says this in chains. As I was on the road approaching Damascus about noon, a very bright light from heaven suddenly shone down around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?

Who are you, lord? Did you notice a small L if you're reading this? Who are you, lord? Who are you, sir? And the voice replied, I am Jesus, the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.

The people with me saw the light but didn't understand the voice speaking to me and I asked, what should I do, capital L, lord? He recognized immediately it was a divine. God was calling Paul. He was converting Paul. What shall I do capital L?

Lord. And the Lord told me, get up and go into Damascus and there, you will be told everything you are to do. I was blinded by the intense light and I had to be led by the hand to Damascus by my companions. He was going there to kill Christians, to arrest them and bring them back. A man named Ananias lived there.

He was a godly man, deeply devoted to the law, and well regarded by all the Jews of Damascus. He came, stood beside me, and said, brother Saul, regain your sight and at that very moment, I could see him. Then, he told me, the God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the righteous one and hear him speak, you are to be his witness. Telling everyone what you have seen and heard, what are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized.

Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord and after I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the temple and fell into a trance and I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, hurry, leave Jerusalem for the people here won't accept your testimony about me. Are they accepting his testimony about them now? No. But lord, I argued, they certainly know that in every synagogue, I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you and I was in complete agreement when your witness, Steven, was killed. I stood by and kept the coats.

They took off when they stoned him but the Lord said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. The crowd listened until Paul said that word, then they all began to shout, away with such a fellow. He isn't fit to live. They yelled, they threw off their coats, and they tossed handfuls of dust in their air. They're very showy people.

They're making a big deal out of this. They want him out of there. So, the commander brought Paul inside, ordered him lashed with whips to make him confess of his crime. He thought he was an Egyptian. He wanted to find out why the crowd had become so furious.

When they tied Paul down to lash him, Paul said to the officer standing there, is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried? Woah. Paul's Roman citizenship. We know most of us know that as Americans, some of you are Canadians, I realize that but if, you know, We know that there, your passport means something. It makes a difference.

Your citizenship means something. The US protects its people abroad. It's one of the things that comes with American citizenship. We know that because we kind of live in the Pax Americana, you know? The the Roman peace, they did not harm a Roman citizen unless they had due process of the law.

One of the things that makes for a good, peaceful time is when it's not Lex, Rex, wait a minute, Rex, Lex, king is law but Lex, Rex, the law is king and in Rome, although it was a dictatorship, they had a great respect for the law and as stated, you could not beat a Roman citizen without trying him first. So, the crowd, oh, let me see. Where was I? 26, thank you. When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked, what are you doing?

This man's a Roman citizen. So, the commander went over and asked Paul, tell me, are you a Roman citizen? Yes, I certainly am, Paul replied. The commander muttered, I am too and it cost me plenty. He was a naturalized citizen.

It cost him a lot to get here. Paul answered, but I am a citizen by birth. The soldiers who are about to interrogate, you can read that torture. Paul, quickly withdrew when they heard he was a Roman citizen and the commander was frightened because he had ordered him bound and whipped. The next day, the commander ordered the leading priest into the session with the Jewish High Council.

He wanted to find out what the trouble was all about. So, he released Paul to have him stand before them. The high council here, it's Red High Council, it's the Sanhedrin. It's the governing religious body of the Jews. It's comprised of the whole spectrum of people.

It's more or less like a little house of representatives but they are the ones who under under God were supposed to govern the Jewish people. Gazing intently at the Sanhedrin, the high council, Paul began, brothers, I have always lived before God with a clear conscience. When he says brothers, he is, it's not disassociating with them himself with them. He's associating himself with them. I've always lived before God with a clear conscience.

Instantly, Ananias, the high priest, commanded those close to Paul to slap him on the mouth but Paul said to him, God will slap you, you corrupt hypocrite. What kind of judge are you to break the law yourself by ordering me struck like that? And those standing near Paul said to him, do you dare to insult God's high priest? Whoo. Now, Paul's backpedaling a little bit.

I'm sorry, brothers. I did not realize that he was the high priest. For your scriptures say, you must not speak evil of any of your rulers. Paul realized that some members of the high council were sadducees and that some were Pharisees. So, shouted, brothers, I am a Pharisee.

As were my ancestors and I'm on trial because my hope is in dum dum dum. The resurrection of the dead. Now, the sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. They did not believe in spiritual things so much either. Religion was more or less a heritage issue to them.

They did not believe in angels. They did not believe in the afterlife. They believed in religiosity, really. The Pharisees put their hope in the one to come. They put their hope in the the possibility of a resurrection or the surety of a resurrection and Paul knew this and so he lobs this at them and verse seven says, this divided the council.

Pharisees against Sadducees for the Sadducees say there's no resurrection or angels or spirits but the Pharisees believe in all of these. So, there was a great uproar. Do you remember this game? Punk, volleys to them and he knew that it would start ping, ping, ping, ping, pong. It would go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and that he was going to have a chance to catch his breath and relax.

It was a great uproar. Some of teachers of religious law who are Pharisees jumped up and they began to argue forcefully. We see nothing wrong with him. They shouted, perhaps a spirit or an angel spoke to him as the conflict grew more violent between the Sanhedrin members. The commander was afraid that they would tear Paul apart.

So, he ordered the soldiers to go and rescue him by force and take him back to the fortress. That night, the Lord appeared to Paul and said, be encouraged, Paul. Just as you've been a witness to me here in Jerusalem, you must preach the good news in Rome as well. The plot thickens here in twelve. The next morning, a group of Jews got together and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.

There were more than 40 of them in the conspiracy. They went to the leading priests and elders and told them we have bound ourselves with an oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. So, you and the high council, the Sanhedrin should ask the commander to bring Paul back to the council again. Pretend you want to examine his case more fully. We'll kill him on the way.

But Paul's nephew, his sister's son, heard of their plan and went to the fortress and told Paul, Paul called for one of the Roman officers and said, take this young man to the commander. He has something important to tell him. He didn't tell him what it was. So, the officer did explaining, Paul, the prisoner called me over and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you. The commander took his hand, let him aside, and asked, what is it you want to tell me?

Paul's nephew told him, some Jews are going to ask you to bring Paul before the high council tomorrow, pretending they want to get some more information but don't do it. There are more than 40 men hiding along the way ready to ambush him. They have vowed not to eat or drink anything until they've killed him. They're ready now waiting for your consent. And then the commander says, don't let anyone know you told me this.

The commander warned the young man and you know what would happen on TV right here? A commercial. Absolutely. Gotta be a commercial right there. That's got, you gotta get em interested and then leave it hanging.

Mikey likes it. The commander then called two of his officers and ordered, get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at 09:00 in the morning. Also, take 200 spearmen and 70 mounted troops. Provide horses for Paul to ride and get him safely to Governor Felix. Then, he wrote this letter to the governor.

From Claudius Lisius to his excellency, Governor Felix, greeting. Can you hear the chain of command? It's going up the chain of command. Sorry, Felix, that's the only image I had for Felix. When I the man, this man was seized by some Jews.

So, this is commander to Felix. This man was seized by the some Jews and they're about to kill him when I arrived with the troops. When I learned that he was a Roman citizen, I removed him to safety. Then, I took him to their high council and tried to learn the basis of the accusation against him. I soon discovered the charge was something regarding their religious law, blah, blah, blah.

Certainly, nothing worthy of imprisonment or death but when I was informed of a plot to kill him, I immediately sent on to you and I've told his accusers to bring their charges before you. So, Felix now has jurisdiction. So, that night, as ordered, the soldiers took Paul as far as Antipatris. It's about halfway between Jerusalem and Caesarea. They just came from Caesarea but that's where the courtroom scene was going to take place.

So, when they arrived in Caesarea, they presented Paul and the letter to Governor Felix. He read it, then asked Paul what province he was from. Cilicia, Paul answered. I will hear your case myself when your accusers arrive, the governor told him. Then, when the governor, then the governor ordered him kept in the prison at Herod's headquarters.

Herod being the third Herod out of the four that are mentioned in the New Testament is the third Herod, his headquarters. Five days later, Ananias, the high priest arrived with some of the Jewish elders and a lawyer, Tertullis, they presented their case against Paul to the governor and when Paul was called in, Tertullis presented the charges against Paul in the following address to the governor and this is now Perry Mason. This is now that courtroom scene, law and order. Whatever it takes for you to get there. This is a courtroom scene and you can tell it from the opening sentence that the lawyer states.

You have provided a long period of peace for us Jews and with foresight have enacted reforms for us. For all of this, your excellency, we're grateful to you, very grateful to you, but I don't wanna bore you. So please, give me your attention for only a moment. We have found this man to be a troublemaker who is constantly stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. What is Rome concerned with?

Peace. He's always in riots all over the world. He's a ringleader of the cult known as the Nazarenes. Furthermore, he was trying to desecrate the temple when we arrested him. You can find out the truth of our accusations by examining him yourself.

Then, the other Jews chimed in declaring that everything Tertellis said was true. The governor then motioned for Paul to speak. Paul said, I know sir that you have been a judge of Jewish affairs for many years. So, I gladly present my defense before you. You can quickly discover that I arrived in Jerusalem no more than twelve days ago to worship at the temple.

My accusers never found me arguing with anyone in the temple nor stirring up a riot in any synagogue or on the streets of the city. These men cannot prove the things they accuse me of doing but I admit that I follow the way which they call a cult. I worship the God of our ancestors. I firmly believe the Jewish law. Everything written in the prophets have the same hope in God that these men have that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.

Because of this, I always try to maintain a clear conscience before God and all people. After several years away, I returned to Jerusalem with money to aid my people. You know, all the way we've been seeing Paul collecting for a Jerusalem collection. To offer sacrifices to God. My accuser saw me in the temple as I was completing a purification ceremony.

There was no crowd around me and no rioting but some Jews from the province of Asia were there and they ought to be here to bring the charges if they have anything against me. Ask these men here what crime the Jewish high council Sanhedrin found me guilty of except for the one time I shouted, I'm on trial before you today because I believe in the resurrection of the dead. He's admitting to it. At that point, Felix, who was quite familiar with the way, adjourned the hearing and said, wait until Lissius, the Garrison commander arrives, then I will decide the case. He was hoping Lissius would bring back more of the witnesses.

He ordered an officer to keep Paul in custody but to give him some freedom and allow his friends to visit him and take care of his needs. Luke was probably one of those friends. A few days later, Felix came back with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish, sending for Paul. They listened as he told them about the faith in Jesus Christ, about faith in Jesus Christ. As he reasoned with them about righteousness and self control in the coming day of judgement, Felix became frightened.

Go away for now, he replied. When it's more convenient, I'll call for you again. He also hoped that Paul would bribe him. So, sent for him quite often and talked with him. Yeah.

After two years went by in this way, two years of this, Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus and because Felix wanted to gain favor with the Jewish people, he left Paul in prison. He had the right to let him go but he left him in prison and handed him over to the next guy. He was the ultimate procrastinator. He didn't know what to do with him. He would offend the Christians.

If he let the Jews have any offend the Jews. If he let the Christians have him, he just kept him in prison because he couldn't cause too much trouble there. Three days later, after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his new responsibilities, Governor Festus. I watched a lot of TV. Three days after Festus arrived in Caesarea to take over his new responsibilities, he left for Jerusalem where the leading priest and other Jewish leaders met with him, made their accusations against Paul.

Now, I don't want you to confuse Festus with another guy, Fester. That's that would be a grave mistake. That's just a horrible thing. So, anyway, They said those of you in authority can return with me. If Paul has done anything wrong, you can make your accusations.

About eight or ten laters, days later, Festus returned to Caesarea and on the following day, he took his seat in court and off ordered that Paul be brought in. When Paul arrived, the Jewish leaders from Jerusalem gathered around, made many serious accusations they couldn't accusations that they couldn't prove. Paul denied the charges. I am not guilty of any crime against the Jewish laws or the temple or the Roman government, he said, then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, ask him, are you willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial before me there? He was asking about a change of jurisdiction and this was a huge deal.

Caesarea is a different jurisdiction than Jerusalem. Are you willing to change this jurisdiction? And Paul replied, no. This is the official Roman court. This is where it ought to happen.

So, I ought to be tried right here. You know very well, I'm not guilty of harming the Jews. If I have done something worthy of death, I don't refuse to die but if I'm innocent, no one has the right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar. Dum, dum, dum.

Probably another commercial right there. He appears, he appeals to Caesar. Festus conferred with his advisers and they replied very well. You've appealed to Caesar and to Caesar, you will go. Few days later, King Agrippa arrived with his sister Bernice to pay their respects to Festus.

During their stay of several days, Festus discussed Paul's case with the king. There is a prisoner here, he told him, whose case was left for me by Felix. Dog on that Felix. When he, when I was in Jerusalem, the leading priest and Jewish elders pressed charges against him and asked me to condemn him. I pointed out to them that Roman law does not convict people without trial.

They must be given an opportunity to confront their accusers and defend themselves. When his accusers came here for the trial, I didn't delay. I called the very next day. I ordered Paul brought in but the accusations made against him weren't of any of the crimes that I expected. Instead, it was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus and it was some Paul insists he's alive.

I was at a loss to know how to investigate these things. So, I asked him whether he would be willing to stand trial on these charges in Jerusalem, change jurisdiction but Paul appealed to have his case decided by the emperor. So, I ordered that he be held in custody until I could arrange to send him to Caesar. I'd like to hear the man myself, Agrippa said, and Festus replied, you will tomorrow. Now, Agrippa is the fourth of the Herods that the New Testament mentions.

Herod the Great, the one who completed or rebuilt the temple. Herod and wanted to have Jesus killed when he was a baby. Herod Antipas, Herod Agrippa, and then Agrippa. So, this is a great grand child of Herod the Great. Somebody that has a history with this way.

Also, Jewish. Also, government. Puppet more or less. So, the next day, Agrippa and Bernice arrived at the auditorium with great pomp but Agrippa is a king. This is the statue of him.

Accompanied by military offers and prominent men of the city, Festus ordered that Paul be brought in and Festus said, King Agrippa and all who are here, this is the man whose death is demanded by all the Jews, both here and in Jerusalem, but in my opinion, he's done nothing deserving of death. However, since he appealed his case to the emperor, I've decided to send him to Rome. But what shall I write the emperor for there is no clear charge against him. So, I've brought him before all of you and especially you, King Agrippa, so that after we examine him, I might have something to write. For it makes no sense to send a prisoner to the emperor without specifying the charges against him.

Then Agrippa said to Paul, you may speak in your defense. I looked this up. I was looking up just an image. This was on somebody's genealogical website. This is Lucas's third cousin 63 times removed or something.

It it just hit me for some reason that this is real life, really connected to the past and the future and it makes a difference. This guy right up under this, it had a caption and it said, Agrippa, who was his sixty third cousin or whatever, Agrippa released Paul and Christianity continued because of my cousin. God's super intending will. It had nothing to do with it for this guy on his website but I I thought it was interesting anyway. Where was I?

Somebody's keeping up. Twenty six two. I am fortunate King Agrippa that you are the only one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders for I know you're an expert of the Jewish customs and controversies. Now, please listen to me patiently. As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training for my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem and if they would admit it, they know that I've been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.

Now, I'm on trial because of my hope and the fulfillment of God's promise made to our ancestors. In fact, that is why 12 tribes of Israel zealously were worship God night and day and they share the same hope I have. Yet, your majesty, they accuse me for having this hope. Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead? I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus, the Nazarene.

Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priest, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison and I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times, I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities. One day, I was on such a mission in Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading high priest about noon, your majesty, I was on the road, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shown down on me and my companions.

We all fell down. How many times he going tell the story? He's going to tell it every time he gets the chance. How often should we tell our story? Every time we get the chance.

Praise God. Where was I? We fell down and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's useless for you to fight against my will. Who are you, lord?

I asked and the Lord replied, I'm Jesus, the one you're persecuting. Now, get on your feet for I've appeared to you and appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future and I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I'm sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light from the power of Satan to God then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me and so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven. I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God.

Prove that they have changed by the good things they do. So, Jews arrested, some Jews arrested me in the temple for preaching this and they tried to kill me but God has protected me right up to the present time so that I can testify to everyone from the least to the greatest. I teach nothing except what the prophets and Moses said would happen. That the Messiah would suffer and be the first to rise from the dead and in this way announce God's light to the Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul replied, then suddenly, Festus shouted, Paul, you're insane.

Too much studies made you crazy. That's probably not the way he said it. Paul, you're insane. Too much study has made you crazy but Paul replied, I'm not insane, most excellent Festus. What I am saying is the sober truth and King Agrippa knows about these things.

I speak boldly for I'm sure these events are all familiar to him for they were not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. Agrippa sitting there stone faced. Sorry.

Sorry. There has to be some levity. This is a courtroom drama. That's not in the notes. The courtroom gasp when Paul asked this guy to discuss religion in a public forum.

Do you believe the prophets? I know you do. He's pleading with him personally and Agrippa interrupted him and said, Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly? That's been variously interpreted interpreted in lots of different versions. You'll get a lot of different things.

It's always something like this but it's ambiguous. The reason it's translated so many different ways is because people have different opinions about what it means. If you read in your notes, when your footnotes, it says, a little more and your arguments would make me a Christian. That's one way to take it. I love what Scott had to say about this.

Do you think that in such a short time, you can persuade me to be a Christian? That's a very even handed translation of what that says and Scott says about it, John Stott. A murmur went out around the audience as the people discussed exactly what he meant. It was variously represented then and now as a trivial jest, a bitter sarcasm, a grave irony, a burst of anger, and an expression of sincere conviction. Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?

How would Paul respond? Everybody's got a deep breath. And Paul replied, whether quickly or not, short time or long, he says, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am except for these chains. There's no argument there. He took what could be variously interpreted.

Four, five different ways and he took the opportunity. Paul's a pretty good lawyer too. With those words, Paul lifted his hands and rattled the chains which bound him. He was sincere, the prisoner, Paul. He really believed what he was talking about.

He wanted everybody to be like him, including the king. Everybody a Christian but nobody a prisoner. You could not help admiring his integrity. There was also a finality about his statement for his judges had nothing more to stay. If you go on from there, you'll see and we see the life of Paul imitating the life of his master often times down to being punished, crucify him, crucify him, kill him, kill him in Jerusalem but before his accusers, we see him coming up innocent over and over again.

He makes a sincere petition for him to believe on Lord Jesus Christ. And then, the governor, the king, Bernice, and all the others stood and they left and as they went out, they talked it over and agreed, this man has done, hasn't done anything to deserve death or imprisonment and Agrippa said to Festus, and he could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar. Amen. I have nothing more to add. Which y'all want to jump up?

The band's going to play. I have decided to follow Jesus. Paul did that. Would you stand with us and sing with us? I have decided to follow Jesus.

I want to send you out with a blessing, benediction. Second Corinthians. And I do want to appeal to you. I can't help it. Just like Paul, whether short time or long, I want for all of you to be just like Paul is.

A Christian on fire for God but not bound. Second Corinthians, the last of second Corinthians. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.