Acts 21:37-22:30

And one of the things I'm looking forward to in heaven is I want to meet the people who divided the Bible into chapters.

! I want to ask what on earth were they thinking?

!

These events took place. You can go to the place where these events happened. Acts 22 took place in the year 57.

And we're not dealing with fairy stories. This isn't Rapunzel. It's not Shrek. It's not Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It's not Toy Story.

These are historic events that took place on God's earth.

And we're going to look at chapter 22. And over the next few weeks we're going to see that what Luke does in the writing of Acts is he shows us Paul speaking for himself.

And tonight Paul speaks in front of a murderous mob.

And next week Paul will speak in front of a Jewish council, a Supreme Jewish council in the fortress of Antonia.

Next to the temple in Jerusalem. And then Paul will speak to Felix.

And then before Festus. And at last he'll speak before Agrippa.

Our people have just come and grabbed Paul in the temple with a view to killing him.

So of course you don't kill people in temples.

So do you notice what they did? They shut the doors.

They dragged him out and then they shut the doors.

They thought that he had brought into the holy precincts of the temple Gentiles.

It's untrue of course.

But they're out to kill him.

And they're in the act of killing him when the Roman garrison intervenes.

And the force of the mob is so great.

The soldiers, you remember, they carry him above their heads.

So he's out of the reach of the mob.

He's put down. He stands on his feet.

And he says to the commander, 21 verse 37, can I speak to you?

And of course this Roman commander is astonished because Paul speaks in perfect Greek.

The man who's intervened, he thought, I thought he was some Egyptian kind of insurrectionist, a revolutionary.

Who seems to be very well known.

And he did last come to the surface.

We thought you were the man we'd been hunting for.

And that the Jews were in the act of killing him.

But the fact that this man speaks to him in perfect educated Greek leaves him speechless.

Can you speak Greek?

Aren't you the Egyptian that we arrested, we were looking for a few times ago?

And Paul says, doesn't he, I am a Jew.

That must have fascinated him straight away.

If he was a Jew, what on earth was all the fuss about?

Why were the Jewish people trying to kill you if you are a Jew?

I am a Jew from Tarsus and Cilicia.

It's fascinating, isn't it, that Paul describes himself in that way.

I'm from Tarsus and Cilicia.

It's a city, it's no mean city.

And I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.

People who doubt the Bible say, well this is an evidence, isn't it, that surely this is just a made up story.

Surely the commander who's just stepped into this baying moor wouldn't let him speak.

But stranger things have happened.

And this is the Roman Empire, although it's Judea.

And the Romans are in charge.

And he doesn't know anything about this man.

And if there are going to be charges against this guy, well he obviously doesn't know him.

He's got to get some evidence, some facts.

Besides, he's a little bit astonished, isn't he, that he is an educated man.

To you that he is.

It's all in the providence of God, of course.

So he allows the man to speak.

And we have one of those references, isn't it?

If I was going to write a PhD, do you know what I would write?

I would write it on Paul's hands.

They seem to be everywhere.

Paul's hands.

Like I can't get why Luke keeps talking about his hands.

So there he is in front of this great crowd.

They're baying for his blood.

He stands on this makeshift pulpit.

And then we read he motions with his hands.

I'd love to know what the motions were.

I think they're this motion.

I don't know.

There's great silence.

He speaks to them in the Hebrew language.

He speaks Greek.

He speaks Hebrew.

Paul speaks to the murdering mob.

And he tells his story.

Do you have a story?

Every single one of us has got a story to tell tonight, haven't we?

What's your story?

Paul tells his story.

He says, this is what the Lord has done for me.

I want you to see, first of all, the aim of his story.

What is Paul aiming at?

What is Paul trying to do is he stands on the steps and he waves his hands and he speaks in the Hebrew language.

He waits for the crowd to go quiet.

Why is he telling a story?

If Paul is trying to defend himself, he's actually not doing a very good job.

He doesn't make any references to the accusations that are against him.

If he's giving his testimony to set the record straight, actually, he doesn't do a very good job of it.

Because he actually speaks about God sending him to the Gentiles and that incenses the crowd.

Who think that he's brought the Gentiles into the temple.

That's why this all kicked off in the first place.

And if he's trying to evangelize them and win them, his testimony is a bit strange.

Because nowhere in Acts 22 does he appeal to them.

Nowhere does he speak about repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

So why is he telling the story?

Try and get your head into this.

What is Paul's aim?

It seems to me that Paul's aim was to show the Jewish crowd in front of him and the Gentiles behind him

that there is someone to reckon with.

That there is someone who is above them, who is greater than all of them.

And who is Lord of all.

And there is somebody who is the Lord of the Jews.

And there is somebody who is the Lord of the Gentiles.

And there is someone who is the saviour of the Jews and the saviour of the Gentiles both.

Paul's aim is to lift up Jesus Christ.

To make him great in the eyes of the people.

And to speak about the Lord Jesus in such a way that they would have great thoughts about him.

Even if they don't come to submit themselves to him.

He is standing on these steps to glorify Jesus Christ.

It is the aim of any sermon, isn't it?

It is the aim of any opportunity that you might have this week.

It is to speak of Jesus Christ.

Why might God give you that opportunity in your school, in your workplace, amongst your neighbours, at the school gate?

Why might he do that?

Well, so that you might lift up Jesus Christ.

Paul was given this opportunity to show that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

And he is rich.

He is generous.

To all who call upon him.

Whether you are a Jew or whether you are a Gentile.

Let's look at the content, secondly.

Three points in the content.

Three points to the content.

So look at verses 1 to 5.

And his first point is really simple.

It's this.

Where you are now, I have been.

Where you are now, he says to the crowd, I've been.

It's more than that, but it is that.

It's where you are now, I have been.

Even more so.

Amen.

Men and brothers, fathers.

Hear my defence.

That I know make before you.

When they heard that he was addressing them in Hebrew, they become even more quiet.

And he said to them, I am a Jew.

And why were they trying to kill him?

They thought that he was an unfaithful Jew.

He says, I'm a Jew who was born in Tarsus and I've been brought up in this city.

The crowd is suddenly becoming more attentive.

He says, I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the greatest Jewish teacher of the first century.

And Paul had been his personal student.

He had all the qualifications, all the credentials any Jew would have wanted.

He says, I was taught according to a strict manner of the law of our fathers, verse 3.

And I was jealous for God as you are today.

Where you are, I once was.

Where you are, I have been, but even more so.

You are jealous for the law, I was more jealous.

You are doing what you're doing for God.

Well, what I was doing, I was doing for God.

You're doing what you're doing because God's law had been insulted.

Where you are, I have been.

Verse 4, I persecuted the weight of the death.

It's exactly what they were doing, isn't it?

Remember this morning, they were binding, they were delivering to prison.

They were wanting to kill.

He says, I bound and I delivered to prison both men and women.

Well, actually, what they were doing is they were trying to kill him.

I wonder if in verse 5 he spots a high priest in the crowd.

And then as he glances, he spots the elders.

And he says, as the high priest and the whole council of the elders can bear me witness from them,

I receive letters.

They know who I am.

And I journeyed towards Damascus and to take those who were there

and bring them in chains to Jerusalem to be imprisoned.

It really is, isn't it, a wonderful thing to be a Christian.

When the atheist comes to say to you, and you're speaking with the atheist,

and they say, well, I just have times where I don't believe in God.

We can say, can't we?

I've had those thoughts myself.

When people say, I don't believe the word of God.

I don't believe the Bible is the word of God.

We're able to say, well, I've struggled with that.

When people say, it's just a fairy tale,

we can say, there have been times in my life when I've thought that.

All Christians can say to those who are not Christians,

I've been where you've been.

The non-Christian cannot say to the Christian,

I've been where you have been, where you are.

We've been where they are, haven't we?

We've been in unbelief.

We've been in error.

We've been stubborn.

People who sit in sermons,

I'm deliberately trying to think of anything to distract them.

In the church I grew up in,

there was a beautiful pipe organ behind the pulpit.

It had 46 pipes.

In the middle column, in the fourth pipe along,

there was a kink in one of the pipes.

I would study how many pipes there were,

how many it would be until I got to that kink, that one there.

Maybe you're here now, and you're in this sermon,

and you are desperately trying hard to think about something else.

Do you know those feelings in a sermon where your conscience pricks you,

and you'll do anything but to think of what's being said?

Where you are, we've been.

Where you are, I've been.

Second point is, and the Lord Jesus intervened in the content.

Look at verse 6, now it happened.

He was in unbelief.

He was stubborn.

Some of us were worse than the worst we've met.

The Lord Jesus intervened and tells this story.

Verse 6, his conversion is sudden.

It is visible.

It is dramatic.

It is audible.

It is witnessed.

Let me really be clear here.

Not all conversions are like that.

In all likelihood, your conversion isn't like that.

If you are a covenant child who's been brought up in the Christian faith,

it's unlikely that your conversion is like that.

But nonetheless, in every person who's trusting in the Lord Jesus,

we can say that there was a moment when the Lord Jesus intervened.

Paul says, I fell to the ground.

I heard a voice I'd not heard before.

What did the voice say?

Saul, Saul.

Why does he hear the voice say, Saul, Saul?

Well, we know, don't we?

Because the Lord Jesus Christ knows his sheep by name.

I've never heard in a sermon, Paul, Paul.

I've never heard that.

Paul Levy.

Paul Levy.

I've never heard that.

But I've heard a voice speaking right to me, my conscience.

For all of us who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ,

there was a time when the message that came generally

came to me particularly.

There is a time for every Christian

where the message that went out to everybody

comes to you individually.

Personally.

There was a time when the message,

which seemed so blunt,

became sharp.

Why are you persecuting me?

So I answered.

Can you see the strangeness

of how he answers?

What does he answer?

Who are you, Lord?

Lord?

Who are you, Lord?

When that great call comes from God,

our consciences know very well who's speaking.

Your conscience tonight knows who's speaking to you.

It's the most terrible thing, isn't it,

when we know that Jesus Christ is speaking to us

and we remain stubborn and hard-hearted

and we deliberately refuse to listen.

Paul knew who was speaking.

Who are you, Lord?

Such a funny question.

Why did he call him Lord

if he didn't know who he was?

It's because he did know who he was.

He asked, who are you, Lord?

It was because he did know who he was

that he asked, who are you, Lord?

I am Jesus of Nazareth,

whom you are persecuting.

Tells us those who were with me,

they saw the light,

but they did not understand the voice

of the one who was speaking to me.

It's often the case.

People who sit side by side,

they hear the same sermon,

one is converted, the other one isn't.

They go to the same Hope Explored course,

they sit next to each other,

they hear the same great talk,

they engage in the same discussion,

one is converted, one isn't.

They sit in the same Sunday school class

and one believes and one refuses to believe.

Maybe tonight as you hear God's word,

God is speaking to you

and doing his work in you,

but the person next to you,

he's not doing his work in.

They're hearing something,

but they're not having dealings

with the living God.

A Christ who's intervening,

what should I do, Lord?

His heart is being changed, isn't it?

That's the last thing he would have said

a few moments ago,

to say to Jesus of Nazareth,

Lord, and then to say to him,

what shall I do, Lord?

To call him Lord suggests

that he is God,

it is God's name,

and to say,

what shall I do, Lord,

it suggests submission.

There's a desire there,

his heart's being changed.

That I am not going to go the way

of trying to murder Christians,

but I'm going to go your way now,

from now on.

He's been converted by Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 10.

He tells us,

listen to him in verse 10,

what shall I do, Lord?

And the Lord said to me,

rise and go into Damascus,

and there you will be told

all that is appointed for you to do.

And since I could not see

because of the brightness of that light,

I was led by the hand of those

who were with me,

and I came into Damascus.

There I met one Ananias,

a devout man,

according to the law,

well spoken of all by the Jews

who lived there,

came to me and standing by me,

said to me,

brother,

receive your sight.

He was told that God the Father

had chosen him.

Again,

what have we seen in Acts?

I think we have seen this choosing

again and again and again

of God in eternity

that is played out in time.

If God the Father had not chosen him,

he would never have been converted.

And he wasn't just seeing Ananias' face,

he was seeing the just one.

He saw the Lord Jesus by faith,

he's hearing the voice of his mouth,

he's in fellowship with Jesus Christ,

Jesus intervened,

and then he's baptised.

His sins are forgiven,

he calls on the name of the Lord,

Jesus Christ intervenes.

That's the content.

Where you were,

I once was.

Where you are,

I once was.

Jesus intervenes.

The third part of his gospel

is that it is,

and again,

this pattern of acts

to the Jew first

and also to the Gentile.

Paul begins his speech

and says,

I am a Jew.

They needed to know that.

When he talks about Ananias

in verse 12,

he says,

as a devout man,

according to the law,

he was a Jewish person.

All the early Christians

were Jewish.

And now he mentions something

that's not mentioned anywhere

in the Bible

from verse 17 on.

Not long after his conversion,

it's about three years,

sometimes after his conversion,

he's in Jerusalem.

And this converted Jew,

where was he?

In the very temple

from which he'd been kicked out.

And what was happening,

Paul is in the temple,

verse 17,

he was praying

and he was in a trance.

I don't know what

really that means.

I don't know what kind

of spiritual experience

that is.

He certainly

doesn't say

anywhere in the Bible

that we need to have

that experience.

And once more,

God is dealing with him,

isn't he,

as a converted man.

Make haste,

get out of the temple,

because they,

that is the Jewish people,

will not receive

your testimony

concerning me.

And he has the audacity

to argue with God.

Lord,

they themselves know

that in one synagogue

after another,

I imprisoned them,

beat those who believed in you.

And when the blood of Stephen,

your witness,

was being shed,

I myself was standing by

and approving

and watching over the garments

of those who killed him.

Lord,

they know what I used to be.

And he said to them,

go,

for I will send you

far away to the Gentiles.

The point has been made.

Those early believers

were Jewish.

Stephen the martyr

was Jewish.

Christian church

was born in Jerusalem.

The message is

for Jewish people.

But it doesn't stop there.

He was traveling

with the Jews

to Damascus

to arrest Jews

who would dare believe.

But now the Lord

has intervened

and has saved him

and is sending him

to the Gentiles.

The Lord of salvation

to the Jews

is the Lord of salvation

to the Gentiles.

The pattern,

it seems to me,

of the New Testament

is to the Jew first

and then to the Gentile.

That hasn't changed.

We need to think

in London,

how does that apply?

How do we take

the gospel

to Jewish people?

They have the promises.

They have the covenant.

The Messiah is theirs.

There's a veil

over their eyes.

Of all people,

they are the most privileged

and yet they refuse to see

and we have their Messiah.

And he's the saviour

of the Jewish people

and he's the saviour

of the Gentiles.

There is no other saviour

for the Jews.

There is no other saviour

for the Gentiles.

It is Jesus Christ

and all must hear

this message too.

The same Lord

is rich to all

who call upon him

whether they are Jews

or Gentiles.

Three points.

Where you are,

I once was,

the Lord Jesus Christ

has intervened

and this message

of this Lord

is to the Jew first

and then to the Gentiles.

Let's look at the manner,

the aim,

the content

and the manner.

Did Paul hide the truth

that was unacceptable

to his hearers?

Did he?

No.

He knows, doesn't he,

that the moment

that he mentions

the word Gentiles,

the riot will start again

and it did.

Certain things that we say

will be offensive.

They will be offensive

to the people

that we speak to.

Our job as Christians

is not to go through

life offending people

and we are not

to deliberately

offend people.

But there are things

in our message

which are offensive

that are never

to be hidden.

And if you hide them,

you are not preaching

the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul knew that

the same saviour

saves the Gentiles

in the same way

by the same work

that he saves the Jews.

And a Jewish preacher

is commanded

to preach the gospel

to the Gentiles

and he knew

that would make them

furious

but he didn't hide it.

There are things

that we have to tell people

don't we?

That is God's truth

and they will object to it

but we tell them nonetheless.

Did he use complicated words?

No, he was simple.

Did he practice his routine

in front of a mirror

like a performer,

like an actor?

No, he didn't.

He's factual,

he's serious,

there's a sincerity,

there's a simplicity

about the way Paul preaches.

He tells it as it is

and as it was

but there's a further point.

By what sort of person?

When the riot starts up again,

what do they do?

Verse 22,

they listen to him.

They listen to him

up until this word.

Which word?

Up to this word

they listen to him.

Verse 22.

He said to me,

go for I will send you

far away to the Gentiles.

There's the word.

Up to this word

they listen to him.

Then they raised their voices

and said,

away with such a fellow

for he should not be allowed

to live.

They're so angry

they tear their clothes

throwing them up in the air,

throwing dust in the air.

The commander orders Paul

to be brought back

into the safety of the barracks.

And it says there,

doesn't it,

he should be brought back

into the safety of the barracks

in order to be examined

under scourging.

If I was preaching

to the first century congregation

at this point

there would be

a sharp intake of breath.

Everyone would grow silent.

Because everyone would know

what scourging was

in the Roman Empire.

There's a pillar

or there's a table

and on one side

of the pillar

or the table

there are metal rings

and on the other side

of the table

or the pillar

there are metal rings.

Someone's wrists

were put into

those kind of chains

and their ankles

put into the other.

And so they cannot

move their back.

They're stretched

over either a pillar

or over a table

and their back is bare.

Here comes a centurion

or a Roman officer

with a little stick

but attached

to this little stick

are cords.

Little cords of cloth

and the cords have

things attached to them

and those things are

teeth,

nails,

bone,

pieces of metal.

And he would whip

the person stretched

out in front of him

to get information

out of him.

After two or three strokes

the back would be

broken up

like a piece of meat,

bleeding flesh.

It's a way of

making people talk.

Many people died

under scourging.

Our Lord Jesus Christ

was scourged.

And that's what

Paul is facing.

He's put over this pillar,

he's tied down,

he's about to be scourged.

But listen to this,

God does not call us

to be a martyr

if we don't have to be one.

There's more to it than that.

Paul is a Jew

but he's also a Roman citizen.

It is against the law

of Rome

to bind

or to tie

or to chain

or to hang up

any Roman citizen

who is uncondemned.

It was against the law

of Rome

and he was a Roman citizen.

And if a military man

took it upon himself

to bind

or scourge

a Roman citizen

which was forbidden,

he might lose his life.

His own life

could be taken

as a punishment

for degrading

a Roman citizen.

That's how strict

Roman law was.

Look how Paul comes out

at verse 25.

But when they'd

stretched him out

for the whips,

Paul said to the centurion

who was standing by,

is it lawful

for you to flog

a man who was a Roman citizen

and uncondemned?

When the centurion

heard this,

he absolutely panicked.

He went to the tribune

and said to him,

what on earth

are we about to do?

For this man

is a Roman citizen.

Here comes the commander.

He comes into the room.

He says,

are you a Roman?

Yes.

Again,

it's a shock.

Perfect Greek,

perfect Hebrew.

He's also a Roman.

This rabble rouser,

this man

who's caused

absolute carnage

that day.

I'd buy

my Jewish,

my Roman citizenship

with large sums

of money

like people do today.

I had to

obtain that citizenship.

I wonder how much

you paid.

Paul says,

I was born a citizen

of Rome.

Paul's integrity

here shines through,

doesn't it?

If he endured

the scourging

and he might have lived,

just think of the credit

that would have been his.

He would have been

a sort of martyr

figure.

This man could have

potentially been executed

for doing it.

Here's the integrity

of Paul shining through.

this testimony,

this story

about the Lord Jesus Christ.

The man who's saying

to them,

where you are,

I once was.

And then the Lord

Jesus Christ intervened.

This man is saying

he is Lord of all

and this gospel

is for the Jew first

and then for the world next.

And this man

who spoke factually,

seriously,

honestly,

is a man of integrity.

And that's what makes

his testimony

so sincere

and so powerful.

And so here we are,

2000 leaders.

Do you have a story?

Can you look the unbelieving

crowd in the eye

tomorrow morning

and say,

well,

where you are,

I once was.

Can you stand up

and say,

the Lord Jesus Christ

intervened?

Do you honestly believe

that the gospel

is for the Jew first

and for all the world?

And when you speak

of Jesus Christ,

is the aim

to lift him up

instead of

making yourself sound good

or making yourself

the answer?

Let's pray.