ACTS 22-23 WHEN YOU ARE BOUND UNDER AUTHORITY2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 22-23 When You Are Bound Under Authority

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. All right, you can turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 22.

Acts chapter 22, and we'll be finishing up chapter 22 and then heading into chapter 23 this evening. And so we want to begin by reading Acts chapter 22, verses 22 through 30, and then we'll jump into the message for tonight. Verse 22 of Acts 22, it says, "...and they listened to him until this word. Then they raised their voices and said, "'Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live.'"

Then as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks and said that he should be examined under scourging so that he might know why they shouted so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?

When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander saying, take care what you do, for this man is a Roman. Then the commander came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman? He said, yes. The commander said, with a large sum, I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, but I was born a citizen. Then immediately, those who were about to examine him withdrew from him.

And the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman and because he had bound him. The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them. Let's pray.

Lord, as we are gathered this evening and getting into your word now, I pray that you would minister to our hearts by your spirit. Lord, that you would allow these things that were recorded for our benefit to speak to the situations that we're in and the situations that we're dealing with, God. I pray that you would work in our hearts through the example of the Apostle Paul here, and Lord, that you would teach us to really be a witness for you in the way that you've called us to.

And so we look to you, God. We ask that you administer by your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, this evening I've titled the message, When You Are Bound Under Authority. Because we are jumping into this place where Paul, at the end of his third missionary journey, returns to Jerusalem. He's in the temple. The

the Jews see him and they think that he's brought Gentiles into the temple with him, as well as they're already upset with Paul for converting to the way, you know, Christianity and promoting that and teaching that. And so there's this great uproar and they began to beat Paul, attempting to put him to death until the Roman commander brings in the troops and puts a stop to the whole thing. And then as Paul,

Paul is being led away by this Roman commander. Paul gets permission to speak to the crowd, to the multitude. And as he speaks to all the Jews there on the Temple Mount,

He delivers to them his testimony, which kind of began the whole idea of the testimonies on Wednesday evenings and just the reminder of the importance of that. And so he shares with them his testimony and how he encountered the Lord. And they listened very quietly. They listened very attentively until he said, and that's where we pick it up in verse 22. He said that God told him that he was sending him to the Gentiles.

And then there was this uproar again. And so then Paul had to be rescued again by these Roman troops. And so now we find Paul bound in chains, bound under Roman authority. And he's going to be on trial for the next couple chapters as he goes through the process of having been rescued, but not rescued in a way that he's like the hero or, you know, someone to be a

like an innocent victim, but he's rescued and they're expecting that he's a criminal and to be charged with some type of crime. And so he's bound under Roman authority and he's bound under Jewish authority as well, who are, the Jews are going to be there in authority over him, accusing him and bringing charges against him. And so, uh,

As we look at this, we see some good examples here in the Apostle Paul for our own lives and for the authorities that are over us and how to deal with those situations, especially when we're in difficult situations with authorities over us. And so we can think about this in terms of government authorities. You know, when we're in situations where the government is over us in authority and we know that

Paul tells us in Romans chapter 13 that we are to be subject to authorities and that every authority that exists, exists by the hand of God. And so there is a responsibility as believers that we have to those authorities, but sometimes we're not in such good standing with those authorities. And sometimes there's difficult situations and oppression. And so how do we handle that?

And so again, whether that's government authority or authority in the workplace or authority in the church or authority in the home, whether it be unjust or just authority, Paul sets an example for us of how to respond, how to behave as we are bound under authority. And so we'll look at five lessons from Paul's example as we work our way here in chapter 22 and then on into chapter 23.

The first point we'll look at is found here in these verses we just read, and that is exercise your rights.

Here in the example we see of the Apostle Paul, we see him exercise his rights as a Roman citizen here in this situation. So again, in verse 22, it says, they listened to him, talking about the Jews, they listened to Paul until they heard this word that he was sent to the Gentiles, and then raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to

to live. So this message that Paul gives, they're pretty attentive, but as soon as he says anything about going to the Gentiles, now they freak out. Now they're upset because they despise the Gentiles and they, you know, their doctrine as Jews, not from the Bible, but from their traditions was, you know, God created Gentiles to fuel the fires of hell and, you know, the Jews automatically went to heaven. That was

their basic understanding. And so any concept, any idea of God wanting to reach Gentiles, that was upsetting to them. And so in verse 23, it says they cry out, they tore off their clothes, they're throwing dust in the air. And so it tells us in verse 24 that the commander wants to know what's all this about.

Now, I talked about this a couple weeks ago, that the commander rushed in into the midst of this riot so quickly because Rome really liked order and really, you know, would bring some consequences if things were in disorder. And so if there is these kinds of riots and upsets and things...

Rome held the commanders, Rome held the governors of the regions responsible and accountable. And so he's acting quickly. And now as they're so upset and throwing these fits and throwing dust in the air, he says, you know, Paul needs to be examined under scourging. We need to get to the bottom of this because we can't allow this kind of thing to continue. We have to find out what's really going on here and why this man has upset them so much. And so they bind Rome.

Paul with thongs, and they're getting ready to scourge him. Now, the idea of binding Paul in this case is not like, you know, handcuffing him, but it's stretching him out, preparing him for the scourging. And so you would be stretched out, your arms would be stretched out so that your back would be wide open. And then they would bring the scourging and you would be completely stretched out, exposed, and, you know, in the prime position for lots of pain. And

And so this is the position that Paul is in. So when it talks about him being bound, it's talking about him being stretched out. They're preparing to scourge him. But as they do, Paul asked the centurion,

The commander, well, there's the commander and then there's the centurion. He was the guy in charge of the hundred troops or so that was there with Paul. And so he asked the centurion, is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?

Now, Paul presents it as a question, but he also could have presented it as a statement and just say flat out, it's unlawful for you to do this to me. He is declaring here his Roman citizenship. And as a citizen of Rome, Paul had certain rights. And one of those rights was that he should not be scourged or beaten by

without a fair trial, without a fair hearing. It was similar to some of the rights that we have as Americans. Sometimes those rights are violated, but it's a serious thing when those rights are violated. And the same was true for the Romans. And so when the centurion hears that in verse 26, he quickly goes to the commander and says, hey, this guy's a Roman, and we got to be careful here because if we have scourged him, then now we're in trouble too.

And he's going to be able to have an accusation against us. And so the commander investigates. He comes and talks to Paul and he says, are you really a Roman? And Paul says, yeah. The commander wants to know now, well, how did you become a Roman? Because I had to pay a large sum of money to become a Roman citizen.

And Paul says, but I was born a citizen. And there was a distinction. They were really big on kind of the class type of situation and setup. And so for Paul to be born a Roman citizen, this was a serious thing for them to bring this kind of behavior, this kind of discipline against him as a Roman citizen and without any type of fair trial or hearing.

And so it tells us in verse 29 that immediately those who are about to examine him withdrew from him.

And so you can kind of quickly hear the gasp and like, you know, like, I can't believe we almost did this. And so they take a step back. We want to make sure we don't lay hands on him. And it tells us the commander there is afraid because he had bound him. Again, not that he had bound him like this, but he had bound him in the position of scourging. He was already in a place where he could be in trouble because he treated a Roman citizen this way.

It tells us then in verse 30 that the next day he still needs to find out. He still needs to get to the bottom of it, but he can't do it by scourging. And so he holds a hearing and he brings in the Jewish leaders and they're going to bring the accusations and have a hearing and testimony about what the situation is. But here I just make the simple point. Paul exercised his rights as a Roman citizen.

He was bound, he was about to be scourged, and he invoked his rights as a citizen to not be scourged.

in that way and as an uncondemned Roman citizen. Now, Paul didn't always do this. He didn't insist on his rights in every occasion. It usually doesn't go well for anybody when we insist on our rights in every occasion. But in Philippi, you might remember, Paul was beaten there by Roman authorities, by the magistrates, and then they threw him in prison. And then they tried to send him away quietly.

And just, okay, just go away quietly, you know, the next day. And Paul says, no, you know, we're Roman citizens. You beat us. You imprisoned us without a hearing. And so now, you know, you need to come and let us go and basically give us a public apology, you know, for the behavior that was done towards us. And so sometimes he, you know, brought up his Roman citizenship and

In that case, when he was being beaten, he didn't, you know, look at those who were beating him and say, do you know that I'm a Roman citizen? You know, for some reason he was quiet there. But then a couple, well, the next day when they want to release him, then he brings up his citizenship. Here, he brings up his citizenship right away. He is exercising his rights as a citizen. And when we are under authority, right?

There are rights that we have, of course, depending on the authority, and I'm kind of speaking generally, so it's hard to, you know, cover every situation. But

In our culture, in our society, as an employee, you're under authority in the workplace and you have rights. As a citizen of the United States, you're under authority and you have rights. And so it's okay and it's appropriate. In other words, it's not necessarily more spiritual to receive the beating, to receive the injustice. It's not necessarily...

right thing to do or the more spiritual thing. But Paul exercises his rights to see that justice is had for himself and to protect himself from injustice. And that's okay. And that's appropriate. Now, again, not to say that you should take it so far to always insist, you know, if you

approach every stop sign and insist that you have your right of way, yet you're going to have an accident. Because yeah, there's sometimes you just, it needs, you need to yield, even though it's your right. But there's also that place for you to exercise your rights and protect yourself. And that's just as spiritual and godly as receiving injustice whenever the Lord wants it. And so we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Lord in that.

Well, now we'll move on into chapter 23 as we're bound under authority. And now this trial is going to take place. It's not going to be a pretty picture. And so here in verses one through five, we'll have point number two. And point number two is respect the office. A lot of times when we're bound under authority and

And maybe the people in authority over us are not treating us well. They're not handling things right. You know, maybe they are doing things wrong. And yet, in handling a situation like that where it's difficult to

relationship with the authority over us, the Lord would instruct us to respect the office, the position of authority, even if the person themselves are not respectable. Check out verses one through five. It says, then Paul looked earnestly or looking earnestly at the council said, men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

Then Paul said to him,

So this trial begins, and Paul begins his defense with a very bold statement in verse 1. He says, I mean, that's a really, I don't know, can you make that statement? You know, would you be able to in a hearing and just say, I have always lived in good conscience before God. Now, it's especially interesting because it's Paul who was once the persecutor of Christians, right? But

There's an interesting thing that you can kind of play with in your mind in that he was, as far as he was concerned, zealous for God. He was doing God's will and doing what God wanted him to do. And so in some respects, you could understand him saying, I did that in good conscience. Although we know his conscience was bothering him, but he did it in good conscience. He thought he was serving the Lord by persecuting the church.

But it's a bold statement that he makes, and so bold that the high priest, Ananias, he commands that Paul be struck on the mouth. He's basically saying, look, you're speaking blasphemy, you know, smack him on the mouth. And so someone does. They smack him on the mouth, and Paul kind of rebukes him, and he says, hey, God will strike you, you whitewashed swan.

God is going to strike you, and he says, look, you sit to judge me according to the law, but you break the law in commanding that I be struck. And so Paul rebukes this action. He rebukes this misbehavior and this breaking of the law as they are trying to or pretending to uphold the law. They are breaking the law in this trial, and Paul calls them out on it. But the people around Paul, you know, they're kind of shocked by what Paul says, and they're

Probably kind of shocked by the whole thing, right? First shocked by his statement. Hey, I've lived in good conscience before God until this day. Then he gets struck. Then he says, you whitewashed the wall to their high priest. And they would have been like, you know, shocked. This would have been, you know, something that surprised them greatly. Nobody treats the high priest that way. And so they said, do you revile God's high priest? How could you treat the high priest that way?

And so Paul explains, you know, I'm sorry. I didn't know that he was the high priest. Here he gives a little bit of an apology and he says, I wouldn't have behaved that way if I had known. Now that brings up an interesting question. How did Paul not know that this guy was the high priest?

it's not that he was a new high priest and Paul was unfamiliar. Remember, Paul was in Jerusalem as a Pharisee, very religious, very zealous. He received approval from the high priest to go persecute Christians. And so he had relationship with the high priest. He knew who the high priest was, but here he says, I did not know that he was the high priest. And so there's been lots of speculation about why that might be. And

Many of the commentators throughout the years have looked at the book of Galatians as Paul refers to trouble with his eyes and how the Galatians would have gouged out their own eyes and given them to Paul if that had been possible. In some of his letters, he says, you see, with the large letters that I've written to you, most of Paul's letters were written by other people and he dictated them.

But he would sign them himself sometimes. And he would say, look, these are, you could tell it's me because here, you know, you had this like nice calligraphy. And then all of a sudden you have, you know, third grader crayon writing, you know, that's my writing, Paul says, you know, that it's obvious that I'm signing this. And so it could be that he had some issues with his eyes and he was not able to clearly see. Plus he'd also, you know, just been beaten by, you

there on the Temple Mount. And so his face, you know, might have been swollen and he might have had difficulty seeing in this case. Others take it a different way and it's kind of a stretch, but it's kind of a little bit of a laugh too. But they would say that Paul is saying, you know,

This guy is such a bad person, I couldn't imagine that he would ever be a high priest, you know. Ananias was famous for his gluttony, for his wickedness. Even Josephus, the historian, records these kinds of things. And so, you know, it's basically, you know, Paul's statement of, you know, I wouldn't think that that kind of person could ever become the president. I mean, the high priest. Just kidding. So, you know, some would take it that way. But I kind of lent...

tend to lean towards, you know, he physically, like he just, he had a hard time seeing, and he didn't know who it was that he was speaking to, or who had given that command. But he explains it. So he kind of apologizes, and he says, look, I didn't know. I wouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have behaved that way. That was wrong. Because, and he quotes Exodus chapter 22, verse 28, which says, you shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

And so he goes back to the command there in the book of Exodus and recognizes it's not appropriate to curse or to mistreat or to disrespect the ruler of the people. That is a person in authority.

And so again, Ananias was a wicked person and he commanded Paul to be struck illegally and it was wrong. And so there was room for there to be some disrespect, but Paul is like realizing, he's recognizing, I have to respect the office, even if the person filling the office is not the ideal person filling that office. And Jesus taught something very similar in Matthew chapter 23, verse,

He speaks to his disciples and those who are around, and he says, look, the scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say and do not do. Now, we all know, you know, the idea of like, do what I say, not what I do kind of thing. But

For those who are called to be examples, that doesn't work. You know, you can't tell people, do what I say and not what I do. That doesn't work. But here, Jesus, flipping it around, tells the people under authority, saying, look, you're under authority. And the scribes and the Pharisees, they sit in Moses' seat. There is authority there that they have.

And so listen to what they say and make a distinction between what they say as they're sharing the word of God with you and the way that they live. So don't necessarily follow their example, but respect the place that they have because they sit in Moses's seat.

And they bring forth the word of God to you. And so there is this need for respect and for honor, for obedience, where there is that authority, even if the people who fill that role, who fill that office,

are not the best people for that role, for that office, but that God would call us to respect that authority, to honor that authority and that role that has been given. And so when you're bound under authority, again, this can be very difficult because sometimes the people there are not that great. And sometimes they command that you be struck in the mouth. And, you know, and God's instruction to us is to respect the office.

He has established authorities for our good, and he calls us to honor that, to respect that. Now, of course, we all know where this breaks down, where this ends, is when those authorities and those offices of authority collapse.

Call us or command us to do something that violates God's word or God's instruction to us. And so, you know, that's when it breaks. But until that point, up until that point, there is to be honor, there is to be respect, and there is to be obedience for the authorities that have been placed over us. Well, as we continue to talk about dealing with being bound under authority, we'll move on to point number three in verses six through 10, and that is be strategic about

Being bound under authority doesn't mean that we just, you know, be willy-nilly and just kind of go along with everything. Paul is very strategic here in this passage. Check it out in verse 6. It says, But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged."

And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. Then there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God."

Here as we look at this passage, we see the strategy employed by the Apostle Paul. It's okay if the slides don't work. We're good. Paul employs some strategy in verse 6. Notice it says, Paul perceived.

So there's some perception going on. Paul is analyzing. He's thinking. He's analyzing the environment that he's in, and he understands there's a division in the group. Now, this wouldn't have been brand new information for Paul. He would have been very familiar with this. That

Pharisees and Sadducees were divided has been the case for many, many years, long before Paul ever lived. And so as a Pharisee, he was very familiar with the division. In fact, Pharisees and Sadducees didn't get along that much at all. We

We might think that they do from the gospels because they united to fight against Jesus. But aside from that, aside from that common enemy, they hated each other and there was always fighting amongst each other. And you can see that demonstrated here in this passage. And so Paul, using some perception, using some strategy, basically decides, you know, preaching the gospel in this situation is

is not really going to get very far. I'm not going to have a real opportunity to share a defense. I'm not going to have a real opportunity to share the gospel. And so perceiving that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cries out in the council, men and brethren, kind of gives that formal greeting again. And he says, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am being judged.

Now, here Paul is accurate in what he's sharing. He's talking about, you know, he's proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And so he kind of isolates that point of the gospel and that point of the dispute between the Jews and him. And he shares that because he knows, well, there's a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It tells us in verse 6, the Sadducees say there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both.

So the Sadducees didn't believe in the supernatural. Many times they're described as like the liberals of their day. You know, they believed the Bible, but not anything the supernatural part of it. So they believed kind of the practical things and the word of God, but they didn't believe in the resurrection and they didn't believe in spiritual beings like angels and demons. And the Pharisees...

took the word of God. They all used the same scriptures, but they believed in the supernatural elements and the miraculous elements of the word of God as well. And so here Luke gives us insight into their culture and why this was such a division. And so they would always fight back and forth over these concepts. And because Paul presented it that way, the Pharisees were like, hey, he's one of us.

And if he had a vision from God, well, we believe that visions from God can happen. And so maybe he did have a vision from God. And so they began to defend Paul to the Sadducees. And so now there's this division. And so, you know, Paul is kind of just like throwing a grenade into the crowd and like, let them fight out each other. And now, you know, my life isn't threatened anymore.

David Guzik puts it this way. Paul gives up on preaching the gospel and does what he can to preserve his liberty before this council that wanted to lynch him.

So he's very much in danger here because in verse 10 it says, now when there arose a great dissension, the commander fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from them and bring him to the barracks. So once again, Paul is having to forcibly be removed from the Jews as they, you know, are

very really violent towards him and willing to kill him outright. And so this seems to be the outcome that Paul expected. Now Bible scholars go back and forth. You might remember a few weeks back I shared the different perspectives from different commentators on whether or not God had called Paul to Jerusalem in the first place. And so usually, you know, it kind of follows along. Those who say, yeah, Paul was right. He went according to God's will. He went and

Jerusalem in the way that God told him to. And so then they follow along with that and say, you know, Paul was here, he did the right thing, and he was wise in handling the situation. Now there is the other side who says Paul was disobedient in going to Jerusalem. He never should have went. He was ignorant of God and, you know, just doing whatever he wanted to do and stubborn and insisting on his own way. And so here it's just more fleshly, you know, activity from Paul, just relying on his own cunningness and it wasn't a good move.

Again, I think you could probably tell where I kind of, my perspective on it, that Paul was there by God's will, by God's design, and here he employed some strategy. He, you know, brought out this distraction to preserve his life and to protect himself in the midst of this very tense and difficult situation. Now again, Jesus gives some similar instruction in Matthew chapter 10 verse 16.

as Jesus is sending out the disciples to preach the gospel, not at the end after he's ascended, but while he's alive, and he's going to go after them and preach in those same cities. But he tells the disciples, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. And so Jesus tells his disciples, and we can easily extend that to us this evening. Jesus tells us,

We are sent out. We're called to make disciples. We're called to preach the gospel, to share the love of Christ, to shine the light of Christ, as Pastor Dylan was sharing. But we also need to recognize we are sheep in the midst of wolves. And that doesn't mean, you know, I think I've shown that picture before of Lambo, right? That sheep that's all like loaded up with weapons and like Rambo, but Lambo. We're not that kind of sheep, right? We're sheep and there's wolves, right?

And so he says, because of that, because there is this adversity, because there is this hostile situation and environment, he says, be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves. And so we're not to be destroying people, but we are to have the wisdom of serpents. So not destroying people like serpents would, but have the wisdom of serpents, that we would be cunning, that we would be wise in the way that we handle these situations. And again, he says,

Paul, as we look at this, he does that. He perceives what's going on. He understands the threat that is on his life. And so he handles it very strategically, kind of distracts from the whole situation and preserves his life as a result. And so when you're bound under authority, again, it can be very difficult and very tense and there's all these different things, but there's room for you to be strategic.

For you, now that doesn't mean that it's all up to you and you have to come up with a plan. You understand what I'm saying, but there's room for you to be strategic and to think about and to use perception and to use the gifts that God has given you mentally to evaluate and to consider and to take steps to alleviate the situation and bring a resolution that is appropriate. And so be strategic when you're bound under authority.

Well, point number four, we'll move on now to verses 11 through 22, taking a bigger chunk. But point number four is trust God and use wisdom. Verse 11 is one of those standout verses, and you could probably just take it and meditate on it for a week, and it'd be really awesome for you. Verse 11, "'But the following night the Lord stood by him and said, "'Be of good cheer, Paul, "'for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, "'so you must also bear witness in Rome.'"

I like the way that Pastor Chuck kind of sets up this whole scenario for verse 11. He says,

He desired greatly to preach the gospel to the Jews. He desired greatly for the Jews to be saved. He had this opportunity standing before the mass of Jews on the Temple Mount, and it didn't go very well. The next day, he has this opportunity before the Sanhedrin, and it didn't go very well. And so he describes Paul as being just so discouraged, just bummed out. He wanted desperately for there to be a better response to the gospel in these situations.

but it didn't happen that way. And so here he is discouraged, but it says the following night, the Lord stood by him. So the Lord shows up with Paul in his cell and he stands by him and says to Paul, be of good cheer. Now, why do you think the Lord told Paul be of good cheer? Because Paul wasn't of good cheer. And so be encouraged. Why does God tell him to be encouraged? Because Paul was not encouraged. That God's cheering him up. He's lifting him up. He's edifying him.

And notice what he says. It's really a commendation. He says, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome. I think this is like really amazing. I mean, to hear this from the Lord, the Lord tells Paul, you have testified for me in Jerusalem. You did your job, Paul. You may not feel like you did because you got cut off and they, you know, tried to kill you. And so you didn't get to finish your message. But

But the Lord says, you did finish your message. You have testified for me. And not only that, but Paul, you did such a good job. I'm going to have you share that same testimony in Rome. So well done. You did good. You did what you were called to do. And so God gives him this confirmation, this validation, this commendation. Well done, Paul.

And so well done. Now let's move on to the next thing. And I have more work for you to do. What a great encouragement from the Lord for the Apostle Paul. And so here he is discouraged, but he's been met by the Lord, encouraged and built up. And now he knows God is sending him to Rome.

But there's a little bit of a hiccup that develops in the next few verses. Let's look at verse 12 and the following verses. It says, Now there were more than 40 who had formed this conspiracy. They came to the chief priests and elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul.

Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him. But we are ready to kill him before he comes near. So when Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, take this young man to the commander for he has something to tell him.

The situation now develops where the Jews are still upset with Paul. They come up with this scheme, this plot to kill Paul. Not just a little bit of a scheme, but they're serious about it. We're fasting and we're not going to eat until he's dead. They were that serious about it. And so they tell the Jewish council, hey, set up the situation. Ask the commander to bring Paul in and we need to have some more, you know, discussion about this. And while he's on the way,

You know, it's kind of like a popular thing in movies and TV shows. Like that's when you always break out the prisoners in transit, right? That's when you always, it's not a new thought. In transit, we'll be able to get to Paul. We'll be able to take him out. And hey, we might, some of us might die. You know, it might be difficult, but we're serious about this and we're going to kill him. And so the nephew finds out about this and comes and tells Paul about this plot.

Now here was Paul. He just had this awesome meeting and encouragement from the Lord. And I would say it would be easy for Paul to kind of just disregard this warning. Yeah, so what? Let them make their plans. God already told me he's sending me to Rome. So let them do their best. God's sending me to Rome. They can't touch me. God has me. He already has his plans. He's taking me to Rome. Nothing they do can stop that. But we don't see Paul respond that way.

And not that it's never appropriate to respond that way, but again, it's not always appropriate to respond that way. That God's will and God's provision and God's promises and God's calling are not necessarily excuses to disregard danger or warnings, but

or certainly not an excuse to be foolish. That it is appropriate for there to be precautions. And so that's why I make the point, trust God and use wisdom. Paul doesn't just outright dismiss it and say, it doesn't matter, you know, I'm just trusting God. He takes action. Paul calls one of the centurions and says, hey, this guy has a message for the commander. You need to make sure he gets it. Verse 18 says,

So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, Paul, the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you. Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside and asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me? And he said, the Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire more fully about him.

But do not yield to them for more than 40 of them lie in wait for him. Men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready waiting for the promise from you. Verse 22. So the commander let the young man depart and commanded him, tell no one that you have revealed these things to me. And so Paul takes precautions. He handles this warning seriously. He brings it to the attention of the commander and,

still has faith. He's still trusting God. He's still holding on to God's word that he's going to Rome, but he's also using wisdom. And that's an important balance that we need to have as we're bound under authority or, you know, in many other contexts of life as well, that we trust what God has said and we hold on to those things, but not in such a way that we just kind of throw off caution and that we throw off and disregard danger, but that

Now, sometimes God's going to call you to do dangerous things. And so, of course, in those cases, you know, you directly disregard the danger to obey God. But again, the point is just that trusting God and using wisdom are not contrary to one another, that it is appropriate to do both. And here we see that demonstrated by the Apostle Paul. Well, finally, finishing up in verses 23 through 35, point number five is be found innocent.

In verse 23, we see the commander's response to this news. He says he called for two centurions saying, prepare 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night and provide mounts to set Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor. Verse 25, he wrote a letter in the following manner. Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings.

This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council. I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but notice this, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man...

Verse 31. Verse 31.

And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, he said, I will hear you when your accusers also have come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's praetorium.

And so now as we go forward in the chapters, we'll see another trial and Jews come again to bring accusation against Paul. And ultimately, Paul's going to appeal to Caesar and be sent to Rome. But through this whole process, the challenge that the Romans have with this whole thing is that there's nothing warranting this type of imprisonment or behavior, this type of punishment that was done by the Apostle Paul.

And we'll see that develop in the next couple of chapters. They'll hear the case and go, what do we do? He appealed to Caesar, and so we have to send him to Caesar, but we have no accusations to send with him. And so, again, they're concerned for their own skin. They're concerned for, you know, we're going to have to give an account for this. Why are we allowing things to be so crazy and ridiculous? And that, again, Rome did not put up with that kind of thing. But again, notice in verse 29, here the commander advises the governor that

Okay, governor, this is a difficult situation. They were going to try to kill him, so I sent him to you, and so ball's in your court now. You got to deal with this. I don't know what to do about this. But nothing he had done was deserving of death or chains. The whole uprising, the whole uproar was related to their own law, was, you know, related to their own doctrines, and so it's not a legal issue as far as Rome is concerned, but

but it's in the legal system now. And so now they have this dilemma of what do they do with it? But in the midst of that, here we have the Apostle Paul, and he is innocent in regards to the Roman law. And again, it's a good example for us. Now, when you're in times of, in positions of being bound under authority and there's injustice, there's

There's oppression, there's hurt, there's difficulty. It's very easy for us to retaliate and behave in ways that, well, we would not be classified as innocent, that we would not be classified as, I couldn't figure out any charge to bring, you know what I mean? That it's easy for us to behave in such a way because we're experiencing such injustice. But here we have this commander saying there's nothing deserving, meriting this type of treatment anymore.

But there is this great accusation, and now, you know, he's in the legal system, and so I'm handing him off to you. And Daniel is another good example of this. I've brought this up many times, but I'll bring it up again. In Daniel chapter 6, as Daniel is risen in authority in the Babylonian kingdom, it tells us that his peers, the governors, the satraps, they try to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no fault because he was faithful.

nor was there error or faults found in him, it says. So he, well, he was examined by his peers and

and they couldn't figure out anything wrong that he had done, then they go on to determine the only way we'll find a charge against Daniel is if it isn't related to the law of his God. And that's when they come up with the decree that they get the king to sign about not praying to God. He's faithful to God. That's clear. And so if we make that illegal, well, then he'll break the law. But other than that, aside from being faithful to God, he doesn't break the law. He doesn't do what's wrong. He

There's no charge that we could bring against him. And here we have, you know, Paul essentially in that same position. He's innocent. There's a lot of situations, again, under authority and especially when it's not good authority or not being exercised properly or there's injustice or there's difficulty. It's easy for us to behave in a way that is not innocent. But, you know, even though we're under authority and God's called us to respect the office and

Even though we're kind of stuck in that place of being under authority and it's a difficult thing, you know, you kind of think about like Saul and David and there was injustice, right? But David behaved himself well. He couldn't change a lot. He couldn't change the king. He couldn't, you know, retaliate and be innocent, right?

But what David could control, what David could manage is his own behavior and his own approach to the situation. And that's what God calls us to do. And so when you're bound under authority, first of all, it's appropriate to exercise your rights. Not necessarily insist on your rights, be led by the Lord and how you exercise those rights, but it is appropriate and it's not unspiritual to exercise those rights.

But also respect the office. Even if the person holding that office is not that respectable, respect that place of authority that God has established. But that doesn't mean you have to just go along. You can be strategic and you can throw hand grenades in the midst of it. Metaphorically, not literally. You know what I mean? And you can be strategic and handle situations with some strategy, with some intention, with some perception, understanding what is going on.

You can trust God and be encouraged by the Lord and use wisdom, and that is needed for sure in a lot of situations, that we need to be wise, wise as serpents but harmless as doves, while we trust God and do what God has called us to do, all the while being found innocent, not violating the law, not breaking the law, not doing things that are wrong, even though wrong is being done to us, and that's so tempting to do, but

But I would encourage you to be found innocent so that when there is the examination, that there would be this perplexity, this confusion. We don't understand why there is this persecution, why there is this situation. It's not merited. And that's what we see happen in the life of the Apostle Paul. And so here we have a good example of how to behave and lessons to learn from Paul with the authorities that have been placed over us.

We want to finish up this evening with a time of worship. And so Ronnie's going to come on up and close us in worship. And as we always do, we want to give you the opportunity during this time to pray with one another, to encourage one another. And so as you feel led, you can be ministering to one another and moving around and just sharing with one another the things that God has put upon your heart and stirred up within you. Let's worship the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.