Acts 22:30-23:35 (Week 38 - Life in the Spirit)

And I want to just tell you up front before we dive into those things that if you kind of find yourself in a place in life today where you're feeling a little bit nervous about some things that are happening in your world, maybe it's above and beyond nervous. Maybe you're just downright scared. You're completely discouraged. You're you're doubting maybe that you even have what it takes in this season of life. Maybe you just are struggling because you don't understand why something keeps happening in your life or what direction you're moving in. You don't like the way things are going right now, guys. Jesus is going to speak directly to that today, and this through this passage of scripture that we're diving into, and let me let me just kind of set the scene for you because we're continuing to jump into the middle of some things that have been happening to the apostle Paul after he returned from his third missionary journey, where he was telling other people about Jesus and how they could have their lives transformed and changed, and he has found himself in front of an angry mob of religious leaders who are honestly trying to kill him simply for telling other people about Jesus and that they can be saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, and so they were trying to kill him. They were this angry mob. The Romans stepped in. This Roman commander arrested Paul, and he was about to have him flogged so that he could interrogate him and find out why these people are so mad. Like, why are your own people so upset with you and them reacting in this way that's causing this riot when I'm trying to keep the peace around here, and so he was about to have him flogged, and Paul says, "Hey, did you know that I'm a Roman citizen? And they, of course, didn't know that, and it was against the law to have a Roman citizen flogged. And so those who were about to interrogate him and flog him withdrew, and that's where we are picking up now in verse 30 of chapter 22, with what happens next. Luke says the commander, the Roman commander, wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, and so the next day he released him and ordered the chief priest and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand alone or stand before them. You may remember if you've been here before throughout this series that Luke has referenced this Sanhedrin before. If not, or you don't remember, this was kind of like the the Jewish Supreme Court, if you will. It was made up of 70 men plus the the high priest, and they were Jewish religious leaders made up of the Sadducees and the and the Pharisees. and And again, since Paul was Jewish, he was a Roman citizen, but he was Jewish. He wanted to put them before his Jewish leaders so that they could help kind of interrogate him, and this Roman commander could find out again what in the world is going on, and why are they so upset with him? And so now, continuing in chapter 23, verse one, Luke says that Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin. Now that he's in front of them, and said, "My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day. Now they are not going to like that very much. They're not going to like that because what Paul is saying is that he was once like them, but he encountered Jesus and began to believe what was actually true-that Jesus was the Messiah that the Old Testament prophesied would come, he encountered him on the road to Damascus. Had his life completely transformed and changed, so he knew from experience that Jesus was the Messiah and that he had been sent out to tell everyone about Jesus. And so, them getting all mad that this is what he was doing, he's just declaring right up front, "Hey, my conscience is clear, like like I've encountered the risen Jesus.

I know that this is who God sent to show, to demonstrate, to prove that He is the fulfillment of all of these Old Testament prophecies, and and and so they're listening to Him, and and and they get upset because they don't believe what it is that he believes. Verse two, he says at the end, or at at this, excuse me, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck, and so Paul's mad. I mean, this is against the law. This isn't how he should be treated, and so he calls him out, and and he's really upset with this. And the thing that we want to notice about this is he has a right to be. I mean, it was unlawful for him to do this. But I want you to pay attention to what the Spirit leads him to do next. Look at verse four. It says, "Those that were standing near Paul said, 'How dare you insult God's high priest?' Verse five. Paul replied, "Brothers, I I did not realize that he was the high priest, for it is written, 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people. This is important for us to see, because even though Paul was right about the way this guy was treating him, and it was unlawful for him to strike him in this particular moment, he was still the high priest. He was still the authority. He still deserved the respect that was due for someone in that position, and so the Holy Spirit, as soon as He hears this, prompts Him to humble Himself and to go. You know what? I could go on and on about how I'm really right, but the Spirit is leading me to humble myself before Him and give him the respect that he deserves, and I think that says something to us today. Again, because this is what life in the spirit looked like for Paul. We're looking for what it means for us today, and so when we face people in our world that we disagree with, and we're going to disagree with a lot of people, especially people out in the world, who aren't being led by the Holy Spirit to make decisions that impact us in the world that we live in, and make it a not so great place sometimes to live. But when we disagree with them, and when we're fighting against injustices in this world against those people, the Holy Spirit will still lead us to give respect to those who are in positions of authority, and to walk in humility before those people that we disagree with and are even fighting against for things to change. And so, I'm thankful that we see the Holy Spirit leading Paul in this way, and that it guides the way we live today too. When it comes to these kinds of things, verse six says, "Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, 'My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees, and I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead. When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. Now Luke inserts this parenthetical remark here to make sure that we understand why there was a dispute happening in this moment. And so he says, the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things. And so, since there was the disagreement, hence the dispute that broke out. Verse nine: There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. We find nothing wrong with this man, they said. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, and the dispute became so violent. Luke says that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. I mean, this was an angry mob. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him back to the barracks.

This is a this is a good place for us to pause and just kind of think about the situation that the apostle Paul is in in this moment here. You may remember through seeing the way that Paul reacts to a number of things happening in his life that are recorded by Luke and Acts, how much he has a heart for the Jewish people. He was sent to make sure the Gentiles knew the gospel was for all people, but he would always start in the synagogue and share with the Jewish people in wanting them to know the truth about who Jesus really was-that he was the fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies that they believed in, and that they just couldn't see it. Things like what was written in Psalm 22 and things in Isaiah 53 about the suffering servant, and things that were right before their face. And if they would just open their hearts and minds to read them again through the lens of what experiences Jesus encountered and what happened to him, their eyes would be opened, and they too could have their lives transformed and changed, and so he's speaking to these religious leaders and has a heart for them and and wants all of these people to know Jesus can change their lives the same way he's changed their life. But every time he has a chance to share and and share his testimony, they reject they reject Jesus. They reject Him, and and and and they just get more angry. And and now they're even trying to kill Him for what it is that He's teaching them, which is the truth, which is the thing that could change their lives. And so, so think about how Paul, I mean, had to feel in this moment. He had just come back from his. Third missionary journey and all the miles he had put in, he was looking forward to getting back to Jerusalem and continuing to share. And he's being rejected once again. Remember that he had hopes and dreams of going to Rome, to go into the heart of the Roman Empire to share the gospel there. And and now people are trying to to kill him, and and the commander's so afraid that he's going to be-I mean-they're so angry. He's going to be ripped and shredded into pieces. And so, I mean, you can only think about that in the way that people are reacting towards you in a situation like that, and just think about how you would feel, how he must feel in this moment. It seems like things had turned from bad to worse. He was a Roman prisoner now. He was in the Roman barracks under Roman guard. His own people were rejecting him. His hopes and dreams of going to Rome in his mind were probably dashed at this point. It appeared that his mission and his life was probably going to end in a Roman cell now. And to say that he was dejected and defeated and deflated, and discouraged would probably be an understatement, as any of us would be. But that's what makes what happens next so amazing and so great. Look at verse 11. Luke says, "The following night, the Lord stood near Paul. Jesus came to Paul in this moment of discouragement, and when he was dejected and defeated and deflated, and he says, "Take courage. You were wondering if he really felt all of those things in when I was describing them in a moment. Why else would Jesus need to come to him and say to take courage unless he was feeling what discouraged. He was feeling dejected. Evidently, he was feeling alone and and deflated and and discouraged. And so, so he comes near him, says, "Take courage, Paul. And he shows him. Look at what he says next. As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. In other words, you have hopes and dreams of going to Rome. The Holy Spirit had shared with you that you would go to Rome, and you're probably doubting in this moment because of what's happening to you here in this angry mob and all the rejection that you're feeling. But know today, take courage today to know that you will. You will testify in Rome.

I am the sovereign Lord, so regardless of the situations and circumstances that you're facing that are making you feel like it's not, I can work in and through those to move things in that direction. And so, think about how Paul had to to feel in that moment, right? I mean, Jesus is saying that that he is involved in all of these things that are happening to him right now, but on a higher level. The Romans may have one intention; the Jewish leaders may have another intention. Surely, Satan has his intentions to steal, to kill, and destroy, but the sovereign God of the universe, who sits above all of them, are working in and through these things to accomplish His plans for Paul's good and for His glory. I just love that. I love that the Apostle Paul senses Jesus coming to him in this moment, because if he really was feeling dejected and defeated and deflated and all those things, you also got to notice what Paul. I mean, what what Jesus didn't do here. I mean, he meets him and empathizes and encourages him and reminds him of all of these things. But but what he didn't do was show up and say, "You pathetic loser! I died on the cross for you. I forgave all of your sins. You know, I am your joy. I am your life. The least that you could do is actually trust me with all of those things and actually you know be filled with joy since you have new life. I mean, he that's what a lot of us would tend to think, though. I'm a Christian. I can't really let I can't let people see I'm discouraged. I can't let people see my real emotions and what I'm really feeling in this particular. I bet God is so upset and mad with me for thinking and feeling these kinds of things. I should be filled with joy and life, and I'm not. And and we go, oh, well, Paul was feeling those things, and Jesus showed up and didn't get onto him one bit. He just meets him right where he's at and says, "Take courage in this situation. And so I hope that any of you who are feeling that that struggle, that worry, that doubt, that fear, that discouragement in your life today, that you'll experience Jesus showing up in your life too and saying, "Take courage. I am working behind the scenes, working behind the scenes in ways that you can't see to accomplish my plans for your good and for your glory. That's what he's saying to Paul. That is what he says to us today. Luke goes on in verse 12 and says the next. Morning. Some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. More than 40 men were involved in this plot. They went to the chief priest and the elders and said, "We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petitioned the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about this case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here. I mean, this this seems to go from bad to worse. I mean, even right after Jesus appeared to him and is talking about how he's going to go to Rome, and now there's a detailed plan, there's a plot. There's God saying we won't eat or drink anything until He dies. But this is now where we're going to see how the sovereign God of the universe works through even details of things that are not good for us to experience-not things that were intended for good, but how he can take them and begin to work things according to his plans again for our good and for his glory. Because look what happens next. But when the son of Paul's sister heard this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the commander. He has something to tell him, so he took him to the commander. The centurion said, "Paul, the prisoner sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.

The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside, and asked, "What is it you want to tell me? He said, "Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. Don't give in to them because more than 40 of them are waiting in ambush for him. The commander dismissed the young man with this warning: "Don't tell anyone that you have reported this to me, and then he called two of his centurions and ordered them get ready a detachment of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix. Do you do you see what's happening here? The God of the universe, the sovereign God of the universe, is working in and through the situations that are happening to Paul. This was not part of the original plan. That the Roman commander just removed him from that. There's no mention that he has any plans of doing anything? He's still trying to get to the bottom of it himself. But God said that Paul was going to Rome, so he needed a way to get things moving to get Paul moving towards Rome because that was his sovereign plan. And so God uses the plot, the plot to kill Paul in order to motivate a Roman commander to have him transferred to a higher level leader in the Roman Empire, which was another step in the process of getting him to Rome, and guess whose dime it was all on-Rome's, right? And so he's making all of this happen in ways that you would never guess he's working behind the scenes. Oh my gosh, people are out to kill Paul. There's a plot. There's all of these things, and you go, "What are we going to do? I mean, Satan saw at work, and he's still. And you go, "Just calm down. The sovereign God of the universe is sitting on His throne, and there is no situation or circumstance that He wastes. He is working in it even when we can't really see it. Verse 25 says he wrote a letter as follows: Claudius Lysias to His Excellency Governor Felix. Greetings. This man, referring to Paul, was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him. But I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. That really wasn't true, but he's making himself appear really good in front of those above him. I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. So the soldiers carrying out their orders took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. The next day, they left the Calvary. They let the Calvary go on with him while they returned to the barracks. When the Calvary arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. The governor read the letter. And asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, he said, "I will hear your case when your accusers get here. Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod's palace. I mean, look where Paul is now-Herod's palace. Herod's palace. I mean, he's appearing before a Roman governor, a high-level ranking official in the Roman Empire, and Paul has a front-row seat to watching the sovereign God of the universe navigate the situations and the circumstances of people trying to kill him, to move him towards Rome, to fulfill the plans that he declared to him that night. That he came to him and said, "Take courage, because you will appear in Rome. The thing that we learn, guys, is again that God is in control, even when it seems like things around us are falling apart.

I love the way Darrell Bach writes about this in his commentary on what's happening here, and it draws out some application for us today. And so, here's what Darrell Bach writes in his commentary about this passage. He says this passage is rooted in God's providence. God has providentially made it possible for Paul to travel to Rome to witness to the empire's highest levels. God works behind the scenes here. It is ironic, he says, that Roman justice will bring him there as a prisoner, so that Paul will arrive safely and immediately be speaking to the highest levels of Roman society. It is unlikely, highly unlikely, that if Paul had journeyed as part of a normal missionary outreach to Rome on his own, that such a high level audience would be possible. It is one of the mysteries of God and His providence that many times we cannot see why things are happening as they are. Yet surely God is at work in ways we could not have planned for ourselves. This is what we see from this passage: that God is surely at work in ways that we could not have planned for ourselves, because He is always, always, always working behind the scenes. Paul couldn't see why things were happening the way that they were happening. Didn't necessarily understand those things. He just knew they were bad. He knew people were trying to kill him over and over and over again, and that people weren't responding and and and feeling the rejection and the defeat and the and the discouragement. But then Jesus meets him in that dark night of the soul. Says, "Take courage, even though you don't see it now, I am working in this to move you towards Rome to fulfill the plans that I have for you, for your good, and for my glory. And guys, Jesus is saying the exact same thing to you. He's saying the exact same thing to me today. Maybe, maybe some of you are feeling that dejection this morning. You're feeling that discouragement. You're feeling like a failure that that like you really don't have what it takes. You you don't have what it takes in this season of life. You don't have what it takes in your business. You don't have what it takes in school. You don't have what it takes in your sport. You don't have what it takes to even lead your family. And maybe as you're wrestling with those things and feeling the discouragement around that stuff, or your finances, or your marriage, your kids, your grandkids, your your business, whatever it is, if that's a situation that you are in this morning, hear Jesus say to you: Take courage, because I am with you first and foremost. But second, I am working behind the scenes in ways that you can't see. So take that next step that I'm leading you in. Trust me that I am working even when you can't see it. Maybe for some of you that's not it at all. Maybe for you it's it's more of an illness. It's just a really hard season that you're walking through, some chronic pain that you are dealing with. Maybe you're you're scared because you don't really know what's going to happen with those things. You don't know how it's all going to play out. Maybe it's not you. Maybe it's someone that you love that is walking through that illness, and you're watching them in an uncomfortable situation and go through the treatments that they're going through, and they feel terrible, and you feel terrible, and there's nothing that you can actually do about it, and you. Don't know what's going to happen here. Jesus say to you this morning: Take courage. I am with you. You are not alone, and I am working in that illness and in that season that you're facing right now in ways that you can't see. So take the next step. Trust where I'm leading, and that I am doing something for your good, my glory, and a way that I work through you, even to impact other people during this time.

Maybe for some of you, you are feeling and experiencing shame in your life this morning, you've been wrestling with things that you've done in your past, things that have been done to you in the past, things that are that are honestly still going on today, that you've been dealing with for a long time, that go back to things that happened in your past, and maybe you're 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 years old today, and you are still doing the same things that you've been doing for a long time, finding no victory. Things that are that are surfacing over and over again because of of shame in your life, hear Jesus say to you this morning: Take courage. I am with you. You are not alone. I am with you in your shame. I died for your guilt and for your shame, and I am at works with your shame in ways that you can't see necessarily behind the scenes, and so take the next step that I'm leading you in. Trust me with what I'm doing in your life in this season, and where it is that I'm leading you. We had the privilege of several of our Sunday school leaders walking through a nine-month journey here recently. It was a small group journey where we were put into these groups to to learn. We were going to grow. We were going to read a lot of material, but really the experience was there to help show us how discipleship best takes place in the context of safe, authentic, and vulnerable relationships with other brothers and sisters in Christ. And part of this journey was for us to take a deep dive into our past, the things that were going on in our lives that that weren't really easy to talk about. Honestly, they're the things that most of the time we would usually want to try and hide from other people. But the point was is to learn to trust God first and foremost to get those things out into the light so that so that He can deal with those things, and secondly, to trust other brothers and sisters that He wants to work in and through to walk alongside of you in the struggle of those things, and through the struggle of those things, and to work out what He's doing for your good and His glory in those things. And the group that I was a part of was an all men's group. There were only six or seven of us, and guys, I began to watch these men. I began to watch these men take courage, take courage to step out and talk about verbal abuse that they had experienced in their past, physical abuse that they had experienced in their past, and even sexual abuse that they had experienced in their past. I watched them talk about decisions that they had made at one point in their life that actually landed them in jail, and that they had tried to hide and cover up and make sure that no one ever knew about what had happened and what they had done in their past, I listened to some of them talk about their struggles with pornography and the hardships in their marriage or the problems that they had when parenting their kids. I watched these men who were now grown men, whose kids were even grown, talk about the shame that they carried with them to this day for the things that they did as a father when their kids were little, or the things they didn't do that they wished they had done when they were little. I watched grown men cry because of the hunger that they had for the approval of their own earthly father, hoping and wishing that one day he would just say the words, "I love you" and "I am proud of you. These were hard things to say. These were things that they wanted to keep hidden and didn't want other people to know about. But they began to hear Jesus say, "Take courage! I am with you, and I am with these men, and I've put you in this situation to get these things out into the light, so that I can begin to use them to walk alongside of you in the struggle, to work through the shame that you are dealing with.

And guys, these are the kinds of discipleship relationships that we want you to hear Jesus say. Take courage; it's safe to be vulnerable here and to trust what it is that I'm doing in and around these people. As you get real and vulnerable with the shame that you are carrying at what I want to do, and maybe that's what Jesus is even telling you today-that it's time to step out and begin to deal with some of this shame and the things that have been going on in your life for years that you're still carrying around from your past and continue to affect your behavior today. And if that's so, I hope that again you will hear Jesus say, "Take courage. Trust me to put you in those kind of relationships where I can work through people to work through those things in your life, guys. Whatever it is Jesus is telling you to take courage for today, trust Him. Once again, he is with you and for you, and at work in your life in ways that you cannot even see or begin to

imagine.