Acts 25 "Hope When Justice is Subverted"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful

that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either

by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for

us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really,

I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,

they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will

do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a

non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the

types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Let's pray. Father, we confess before you that we do not really know how often we read the book,

your book, the Bible, and we either make the mistake of it applies to somebody else,

or we make the mistake of thinking that it just doesn't apply to us at all. It just seems odd.

Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would bring your Word deep into our heart that it might form us

so that we will live lives both intellectually and emotionally secure in what Jesus has done for us

on the cross and for the eternal weight of glory that you are preparing for your children adopted

by you through grace. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

I've only had a couple of times where I've prayed, and I think something like a miracle happened.

Some of you have heard this story. It's from quite a few years ago. I was looking after

four little churches in the country. It was my first time as a rector, and it was July or August.

I can't remember which month, but I was at work, and the minister in the town of Renfrew

was on holiday, and I was covering for him. And I lived about half an hour away from Renfrew,

and the other churches that I served were in the opposite direction from Renfrew.

And it was about a half-hour drive to... That morning, I had to drive to Tremor, so it's a bit more than half an hour.

And just a little bit, like five minutes before I was to leave, go out the door, ten minutes maybe,

the phone rings, which is very unusual to have the phone ring at like 20 after 8, quarter after 8 on a Sunday morning,

so I answered the phone. And it was a nurse from the hospital in Renfrew.

And the nurse said, are you George Sinclair? I said, I am. She said, are you the minister who's on call for X?

And I said, I am. And she said, well, I have a man who's been in a coma now for 48 hours or whatever it was.

He is... We think he is maybe just minutes from death. In fact, I feel bad that I didn't call you earlier,

because the family would really like you to be with them before he dies, and he has very little time to live.

So could you come? And I said to the nurse, I said, I'm really sorry.

I cannot come down to the hospital in Renfrew. I can't cancel my service in Tremor.

We're my service in Eganville to drive down and do this.

And she was very insistent that this man was close to death.

It was very important to the family, and she really tried to lay some guilt trips on me.

And I was feeling a bit guilty, to tell you the truth.

But I just said, I'm really, really sorry. I cannot... I have to go to... I can't do my services.

If he's still alive, when I'm done my services, I'll come.

And she said, well, he almost definitely won't be alive, just to give me that final kick of guilt.

I did my services.

As soon as I'd finished my 11 o'clock service in Eganville,

I called the hospital, and the nurse answered, and she said, well, I don't know what.

He's still alive. He's still... I mean, he should have died three or four hours, a couple of hours ago.

He's still alive.

I said, well, I'll come.

And my wife made a sandwich for me and put some coffee in a cup,

and I hopped in the car and I drove to the hospital, found him,

and the man was still alive, still in a coma, and his wife and daughter were with him.

And so I told him who I was.

I put my hand on his shoulder and just said, hi, I'm here.

I'm the minister in charge.

I always speak to the person in the coma in the hope that maybe they can hear.

And I spent a couple of minutes talking to the wife and to his daughter,

and then I prayed for the man.

I put my hand on his shoulder and I prayed for him.

And when I pray in a situation like that, I pray for the wife and the daughter.

I pray for the people who are, you know, mourning and, you know, concerned for him.

I pray for all who are praying for him.

And I pray several things for the man.

And one of the things I always pray for is I always pray that he will be healed or she will be healed.

I always pray for that.

That's in God's hands.

It's the right thing to do.

I pray, Father, if it's your will, that this man would be healed and that he would have more years of life.

And then I go on and pray fundamentally that Jesus, I say something to the effect of Jesus, he's in a coma.

We can't reach him.

We know that Jesus can talk to him even in his coma and make Jesus minister to him and prepare him, Father, to see you face to face.

And then I said, amen.

And the man opened his eyes and said, thank you.

And he lived at least another two years.

He left the hospital the next day.

That's the most dramatic of any of the times where I prayed for somebody and there's been something like a miraculous healing.

Now, I mention this because most people, when they think of how God relates to the world, they either think of miracles like this or they think of things.

And we could all probably have many stories about this, like what we would consider to be dramatic answers to prayer.

But skeptics could say that, you know, maybe it wasn't the prayer that some other type of thing would happen.

But they're pretty dramatic.

We all probably have tales of praying for people.

I have a purse for other people that the healing wasn't dramatic, but they were supposed to die and they lived quite a few years.

The cancer was completely gone, not in remission, but completely gone, died of something else.

We all have stories like that.

And the other way that Christians tend to talk about how God relates to the world is in the doctrine of providence.

And that's where God seems to work through the changes and chances of this fleeting world through events in a way that works out for his people.

And some of us have stories about that.

They wouldn't be a miracle, per se.

Nobody would say it's a miracle.

It would be something along the lines of you're late to have dinner with your friend and you come into your dismay.

It looks like there must be a convention going on or something.

All the parking spots in the street are filled.

And then you're just behind, you know, you're late and then the guy ahead of you, the light hasn't even gone yellow light yet, but he stops.

You miss going through the light and you think, oh, I'm going to be even more late.

You know, what am I going to do?

And then as you pull through, just ahead of you, in front of the restaurant, a car pulls out and you're able to park there.

And so most of the time when we think of providence, we think of something like that.

You know, you wouldn't say that's a miracle.

It's just one of those things.

God just took care of you in providence.

Now, I mention all of this because, you see, if you think that God only relates to you in terms of dramatic answers to prayer,

and if you think that the other way is acts of providence where it's something like the car leaving so you have a parking spot,

you're going to miss out on actually how God works for his children, especially how he works for his children when life is very difficult, when life is exceptionally difficult.

And the story that we're going to look at today is a story that will help us to understand how God deals and is with us even in very, very difficult times.

And it's going to point us in a different direction from the type of advice that we often hear in Christian and in non-Christian circles,

which is to say there must be some reason that this is happening.

There has to be a reason why this is happening.

And that, of course, is very, very frustrating if it's very hard to see the reason or if the only reasons you can guess aren't very good ones.

And when you look around at other people who don't seem to be having those hard times that you're having,

and there must be a reason doesn't really seem like it's true.

And it seems like very thin gruel, something very thin to eat.

So let's look at this story, which talks about something better than there must be a reason for what's going on,

and which helps it open our eyes to providence, especially providence when we are having very difficult times in our lives.

So if you turn with me, it's Acts chapter 25.

Acts 25 · chapter mention

And if you're a guest here in the church, one of the things that we do at Church of the Messiah is we generally either preach through books of the Bible

or take big chunks of the Bible and preach through it.

And we're going through the book of Acts, and so this is the next story.

And what's just sort of happened over the last couple of chapters, it's all downstream from this fellow by the name of Paul.

He's come to Jerusalem to bring money for the poor.

He's in the temple.

He gets accused of something he hasn't done.

He's falsely accused.

A mob is formed.

They try to kill him.

He comes into custody.

It's not protective custody, but in a sense a type of criminal custody under Rome.

And now things have happened.

There's been other attempts on his life.

There's been other fights.

And then what's just happened the week before is that Paul is, in a sense, on trial for his life before the Roman governor in Caesarea.

And you hear the legal arguments.

And at the end of it, Paul's left in jail because Felix is hoping for a bribe.

And he doesn't get the bribe.

So Paul spends two years in criminal limbo.

And now our story continues.

Verse 1.

Now, after three days, Festus had arrived in the province.

That's the Roman province.

Sorry.

Now, three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

So Caesarea is the capital of the province.

And Jerusalem, though, is a very important city to the Jewish people.

So he's been a good governor, and he goes up to Jerusalem.

And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jewish elite laid out their case against Paul.

And they urged Festus, asking him as a favor against Paul, that Festus summon Paul to Jerusalem.

Why?

Because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.

And just sort of pause.

You can see right off the bat that this is a bit of a dark story.

They want Paul dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

That's what they want.

They are corrupt.

They are not taking their proper function.

Paul has never been actually, he's innocent until proven guilty by Jewish law.

He hasn't been found guilty.

And they are willing to conspire with murderers to have Paul killed.

And another thing about this story, which is very striking, is it's been two years,

over two years since Paul has been in jail.

That means, and there's even been a change in the high priest, and that means despite the change of whoever's in control,

there has been this festering, murderous hatred against Paul.

Two years of festering hatred.

You can see that the Bible here talks about the real world.

Not a hallmark romantic world, but the real world, where this is sometimes what people have to face.

Murderous hatred.

And now there's another thing here.

I've talked about it not for a couple of weeks, but it's really important for you to hear.

If you read this story as there's good guys and bad guys, and Paul is the good guy,

and so you think, okay, all these others are bad, like Festus, and then later on,

oh, and all these people are bad, like the Jewish elite, and oh, these people are bad, like Agrippa and Bernice.

Oh, and here we come to Paul, the good guy.

Here's us Christians.

That's not the way to read the text.

In fact, if you read the text this way, you haven't actually heard the text.

The way to read the text biblically is after every character is introduced to say to God,

is it me, Lord?

Is that me?

Because the fact is there are Christians who labor under over two years of hatred,

and rather than having it lessen over two years, they let it fester.

In fact, not only do they let it fester, they feed it.

We know Christians who feed hatred.

And so when you read the story, in every case, you need to ask yourself,

Lord, is that me?

Is there an area in my life where I am nurturing hatred?

And in the next few characters, you're going to see it.

Ask yourself, is that me?

Don't just jump to, oh, yeah, I'm Paul.

I'm the victim.

Everybody, all the others hate me.

No, no, no, no, no.

You haven't heard the scripture.

Is it I, Lord?

That's the response we should see in a narrative.

See, it's one of the reasons why biblical narrative helps to form nuanced moral reasoning.

And if it's read properly, self-awareness.

That you ask yourself, is it I?

So what happens?

Okay.

Paul, you know, Festus, the Jewish elite have asked that Paul, Festus would bring Paul down,

and the Jewish elite wants to kill.

What's Festus going to say?

Verse 4.

What does it say?

Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and that he, that is Festus, himself

intended to go there shortly.

So Festus said, let the men of authority, in other words, people who can actually make decisions,

let the men of authority among you go down with me.

Don't send lackeys.

I want the guys who can actually make decisions.

Send these men.

Come down with me.

And if there's anything wrong about the man Paul, let them bring charges against him.

And the first thing that we see about Festus, he seems like a competent person in authority.

Like a, you know, basically a good guy.

But the next few verses reveals that that's actually not true.

There is a competence about him, but there is something else that goes along with power.

That's not good.

Well, what is it?

Look at verse 6.

And after Paul, after Festus stayed among them not more than 8 or 10 days.

By the way, I love that.

That shows how Luke, the writer of this, is really concerned with accuracy.

He doesn't know if it was 8 days or 9 days or 10 days.

So he doesn't try to pretend he knows when he doesn't.

He says what he does know.

It's somewhere between 8 to 10 days.

You know, it shows how Luke has a concern for accuracy.

I'll read that verse again.

After Festus stayed among them not more than 8 or 10 days, he went down to Caesarea.

And the next day, he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.

But when Paul had arrived, those in authority in Judaism who had come down from Jerusalem stood around Paul,

bringing many serious charges against him that they could not prove.

Paul argued.

And by the way, Luke can say this because of what happens later on in the story.

It's not just Luke's opinion.

It's what turns out later on in the story, that they couldn't prove it.

Paul argued, verse 8, in his defense,

neither against the law of the Jewish people nor against the temple nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.

So if some of you are familiar with the sermon from last week, you'll know in the trial last week,

it's very different than this, and there's no summary.

And the reason there's no summary, it's sort of obvious there if you look,

but in the original language, it's very obvious.

What happened the week before is they'd hired a professional.

And so he attacked Paul like a surgeon will do surgery with a scalpel.

Very precise, very fine cuts, a very clear strategy.

This time what the elite has decided is they're not going to go and pay for a high-priced fancy lawyer

that didn't get them anywhere anyway.

They did the full court press, the blitz read,

the I am going to make a list of every possible imaginable thing that Paul has ever done wrong,

and we're all going to make a list of it,

and we're just going to stand there flinging every potential thing he's ever done wrong at him.

Just a full court press, nothing finesse about it, just throwing everything at him.

And that's why they don't summarize it, because it's obviously in the original language.

And Paul just argues in his defense, it just summarizes,

listen, whether it's against the temple, against Jewish people, or against the Roman state,

I've done nothing wrong.

And that's sort of the answer.

I've committed nothing.

Now, it's in this next bit that you start to see the problem with Festus,

and it's a very, very common human problem.

Now, by the way, it's a very common thing that there are bureaucrats who are honest and fair.

That's fortunately common.

Maybe, yeah, it's common.

We don't have to say, oh, there's a bureaucrat, they're probably not doing a good job.

No, that would be a wrong way to look at the world.

But the next thing shows that there's, in fact, beneath that surface competence

is something else going on, and it's seen here in verse 9.

But Festus, wishing to do the Jewish elite a favor,

ah, favors, said to Paul,

do you wish to go up to Jerusalem there and be tried on these charges before me?

Sounds very innocent, sounds very innocuous,

sounds very, like, almost like a wise thing to do,

but it's, in fact, highly problematic.

See, now Festus isn't actually following the rules or doing his job.

He's thinking about the politics,

and he's thinking about what will make him look good,

what will make his life easier.

And I didn't mention it earlier,

but you're going to see throughout the text,

there's constant ways, both in the English and the original language,

that emphasizes that Paul's a nobody.

As I said last week, it's hard for us to think of it in these terms,

because unless you're a real Bible person,

or you happen to study Tacitus or Josephus minutely,

you don't know who Festus is.

But Paul has cities and schools and churches named after him.

So Paul, but in those times, in this story,

Paul is a nobody, absolute nobody.

And all the powerful people are figuring out what to do

with this frankly inconvenient Jew.

Just in the way.

He's just in the way.

And so Festus wants to do a favor,

and he wants to do a favor to the Jewish people,

so he makes his suggestion.

Paul knows he's not a dummy,

so how's Paul going to respond to it?

See, and once again, our response is to say,

is it I?

Do I treat weak people in my organization in this way?

Do I not actually think about what I'm supposed to do,

but do I think of who I can make favor with?

Do I, in fact, in my office,

just act in a way that will make my job comfortable,

and I don't actually care about the people

that I have a responsibility for?

Is it I?

So what does Paul do?

Verse 10.

But Paul said,

I am standing before Caesar's tribunal,

where I ought to be tried.

To the Jewish people, I have done no wrong,

as you yourself know very well.

If then I am a wrongdoer

and have committed anything for which I deserve to die,

I do not seek to escape death.

But if there is nothing to their charges against me,

no one can give me up to them,

I appeal to Caesar.

Now what you have to understand here is in the world at that time,

there were three levels of courts.

You could sort of imagine that the Jewish court was sort of like,

if there was a municipal court,

it's a municipal level.

Where Festus is would be like the Ontario Supreme Court,

and then there's still the Supreme Court of Canada.

And in our day,

if you want to appeal a decision by the Ontario Supreme Court,

you ask the Supreme Court of Canada to consider taking it on,

and they can say no.

But in those days,

if you're a Roman citizen,

tried at this middle level,

the second you appeal to Caesar,

you can go to Caesar.

That's what you can do.

And in fact,

one of the things you see here

is that Paul understood the laws and the rules,

in fact,

probably better than Festus and his opponents did.

You know,

one of the things to do

if you're in trouble in a bureaucracy or in the legal system,

know the rules.

I mean,

one of the reasons that we were able to be

as successful as we were

against our former diocese,

when the diocese sued us,

is we knew the canons in the law

better than the other lawyer did.

Like,

just hands down.

We knew it better.

Like,

we just did.

And that's not boasting.

It was just very obvious.

They kept being surprised,

thinking they could do things,

and it turned out they couldn't.

They didn't have the power to do it.

But,

this really is going to catch Festus by a surprise,

well,

here,

let's read it,

and then I'll tell you why it's going to catch Festus by surprise.

So,

he appeals to Caesar.

Then,

Festus,

verse 12,

when he had conferred with his counsel,

answered,

to Caesar you have appealed,

and to Caesar you shall go.

Now,

why is it

that this probably caught him by surprise?

It's because

when Paul appeals to Caesar,

he has to pay

all of the costs

out of his own pocket.

He has to pay

all of the travel costs

for himself,

whatever his traveling companions are,

and for whatever soldiers

need to accompany him.

He has to pay

all the costs

all the way

until he finally appears

to the emperor.

Paul is unemployed,

and he's not wealthy.

It's a very,

once again,

this is the normal life,

folks.

It's not unusual

for a big corporation

or a government

or something like a diocese

to put into place

legal proceedings

just believing

that the other side,

the small person,

the nobody,

doesn't have the financial resources

to fight back

and will have to cave.

It's in the news

all the time.

It's normal life,

and Festus probably figured

he had a very brilliant solution

to this,

and Paul goes ahead

and says he's going to do this,

and part of the conferring

might have been where it is.

And by the way,

there's an indirect lesson here

about Christian generosity.

We are never told

who paid all of these expenses.

You know,

the Bible says

don't let your left hand

know what your right hand

is giving.

Like,

don't give money

for the furtherance

of the gospel

and the help of the church

to get praise.

We're never told

who paid these bills,

but they would have been

considerable.

Anyway,

Festus goes ahead

and makes a snap decision,

but probably

the very next day

he realizes

he made a really,

really big mistake,

and he's caught

in terms of how he thinks

because he's not thinking

in terms of processes,

but he's thinking

in terms of favor.

Well,

how does that,

well,

let's see.

Verse 13.

Now,

when some days had passed,

Agrippa the king

and Bernice,

sorry,

when some days had passed,

comma,

Agrippa the king

and Bernice

arrived at Caesarea

and greeted Festus.

Now,

just pause here.

Agrippa's another character,

and you need to know

that,

so here's one of the things

that's really neat

about the Bible.

When Luke is writing

the book of Acts,

he doesn't know

that after he's written

the book of Acts,

Josephus will become

a famous historian

who's going to write

about a lot of the same things,

and he doesn't know

that a famous Roman historian

by the name of Tacitus

is going to write

about the same things,

and so historians know

all sorts of things

about Agrippa

and about Bernice

and about Festus

and about the high priest.

They know who the high priest

was then,

but here's the thing

about Agrippa and Bernice.

It's going to be important

to know.

They were brother and sister

and they were married,

and it was a scandalous,

incestuous relationship

that the powerful

would tolerate

even while they,

in secret,

would deride them,

make fun of them,

but he was married

to his half-sister.

There are people

who like the good life

and, you know,

frankly,

frankly,

what I want,

I want,

and what I want,

I get.

We all know people like that,

and once again,

is it I, Lord?

Am I the type of person

who wants what they want?

I want what I want,

and I get what I want

because I want it.

Am I that person?

Well, what's the problem

that Festus has created

for himself?

Look at verse 14.

As they stayed there

many days,

that's Agrippa and Bernice,

they, you know,

Agrippa is the king

of the neighboring area,

and Agrippa has control

over the temple

in Jerusalem.

Verse 14,

and as they stayed there

many days,

Festus laid Paul's case

before the king,

saying,

um,

there is a man

left prisoner by Felix,

in other words,

not my fault.

By the way,

this whole bit

is a perfect example

of a combination

between bureaucratic

butt covering

and bureaucratic

gas lighting.

Once again,

that doesn't happen

anywhere in the modern world.

Like,

no politician

or bureaucrat,

or for that matter,

pastor,

ever does

things like

cover their butt

and try to make

people think

that their remembrance

of the past

isn't exactly

how it happens.

But that,

I'm not going to go

into all the detail,

but that's what he's

going to do

in this little recounting.

He's going to make

himself look like a hero,

leave out all the bad bits,

blame everybody else

other than himself,

and here's how it goes.

He said,

there is a man,

verse 14,

left prisoner by Felix,

and when I was at Jerusalem,

the chief priests

and the elders

and the Jewish elite

laid out their case

against him,

asking for a sentence

of condemnation.

In other words,

they wanted a capital

they wanted him

to be found guilty

of a capital offense

so that he could be killed.

And verse 16,

I answered them

that it was not

the custom of the Romans

to give up anyone

before the accused

met the accuser

face to face

and had opportunity

to make his defense

concerning the charge

against him.

So when they came

together here,

I made no delay,

but on the next day

took my seat

on the tribunal

and ordered the man

to be brought.

But when the accusers

stood up,

they brought no charge

in the case

of such evils

as I supposed.

Rather,

they had certain points

of dispute

with Paul

about their own religion

and about a certain Jesus

who was dead,

but whom Paul

asserted to be alive.

I'll mention that again

in a moment.

Being at a loss

how to investigate

these questions,

I asked whether he wanted

to go to Jerusalem

and be tried there

regarding them.

But when Paul

had appealed

to be kept in custody

for the decision

of the emperor,

I ordered him

to be held

until I could send him

to Caesar.

And there's the summary

of what he says

to Agrippa.

Now,

you start to get

a bit of a hint

of the problem.

Festus knows

that Paul is not guilty

of any of these

capital offenses.

He's just basically

admitted it

to Agrippa.

And it's a master class

in butt covering

and gaslighting.

And then he has

this little summary

to show you

a little bit

about how Paul

comports himself.

And something very,

it's actually really

powerful evidence

to the truth

of the resurrection.

Festus confesses

to Agrippa,

I don't understand,

I don't really understand

how,

I don't have a place

in my mind for it

because the Jewish elite

says that Jesus is dead

and Paul says

that Jesus died.

Yet somehow

Paul says

that Jesus died

and he's alive.

I'm like,

what?

Doesn't make any sense.

We're going to hear

a little bit about

how Paul describes

it next week.

But you have

this very powerful

evidence

of the truth

of the resurrection.

That there's

a common ground

that he died

by crucifixion,

that he was buried

in a tomb,

and maybe

they don't want

to talk about

the grave being empty,

the tomb being empty

if you're the Jewish elite,

but Paul says

the tomb is empty

and in fact

Jesus has appeared alive.

You know,

by the way,

we're going to talk

about this in a moment.

If the resurrection

is true,

it changes everything.

I was just talking

to somebody

within the last

couple of weeks

and I said,

they were talking

to me about

a whole pile

of Islamic objections

to Christianity

and one of the things

I said is,

if the resurrection

is true,

it changes everything.

It means Islam

is wrong,

is false.

The resurrection

changes everything

and it's not just

the resurrection

but it's the meaning

of the resurrection

and one of the things,

once again,

I've said it many times,

I'll say it again,

we all know people

who die for causes.

Most people

don't die for a fact

and Paul will die

for a fact,

the fact that Jesus

rose from the dead

and what it means

and he will die

for that.

So,

what type of advice

does Agrippa give?

Well,

it's very interesting.

It's a type of advice

that a self-centered,

indulgent person

would give.

Look what he says

in verse 22.

He says,

Agrippa said to Festus,

I would like to hear

the man myself.

Tomorrow,

said Festus,

you will hear him.

Now,

here's the thing

which is very,

very interesting.

Agrippa could have said,

hey,

Festus,

buddy,

puts his arm around him.

He's innocent.

Let him go.

What's the big deal?

Just let him go.

He's innocent.

Let him go.

You see,

and I'm not going

to read the rest of it

because I want to get

to some of the other

applications which are important.

If you go back

and read,

then actually,

we'll read it very closely.

Here's the issue.

Here's where Festus

has painted himself

into a corner.

Next,

verse 23.

So here's the thing.

Agrippa doesn't say,

listen,

acknowledging you made

a mistake

is always an option

in life.

In fact,

in many places,

many times in life,

the best option

is just to acknowledge

you've done something wrong.

Be prepared

to lose face.

The guy's innocent.

Let him go.

Agrippa says,

whoa.

I mean,

what you might not know

is Agrippa's dad

was the one

who killed

the first Christians.

Killed James.

And Agrippa's

great-grandfather

was the one

who wanted to kill

the baby Jesus.

And Agrippa

has probably heard

about these things

that Paul has done

in his travels

and his argument

for the resurrection.

And Agrippa's

just really curious.

He'd just like

to hear Paul.

So he doesn't think

about what's right

or wrong.

He just thinks

about how he would

like to hear Paul.

Well,

here's the problem.

Verse 23.

So on the next day,

Agrippa and Bernice

came with great pomp

and they entered

the audience hall

with the military tribunes

and the prominent

men of the city.

That's both Jewish

and pagan.

Then at the command

of Festus,

Paul was brought in

from jail.

And Festus said,

King Agrippa

and all who are

present with us,

you see,

now here,

this is in the

original language.

It's a dismissive gesture

with a dismissive way

of describing Paul.

Festus,

they're all

in their finals,

their finery.

They're all wearing

the most expensive clothes.

They're all in their robes.

They are the elite.

And Festus brings Paul in,

obviously as a prisoner.

And Festus says,

King Agrippa

and all who are present here,

verse 24,

you see this man,

this nobody,

this little person,

this inconvenient Jew.

You see this man,

this nobody,

about whom the whole

Jewish people petitioned me

both in Jerusalem

and here,

shouting they ought

not to live any longer.

But I found that he had

done nothing

deserving death.

And as he himself

appealed to the emperor,

I decided to go ahead

and send him.

But I have nothing

definite to write

to my lord about him.

He's going to get

in trouble with Nero

if he sends

an innocent guy there.

He has to dream up

some reason

that he's being sent there.

How is he going to

gaslight the emperor

and cover his butt

without doing

the obvious thing

which is just saying

let him go?

None of the important people

think of it

in terms of that

because for important people

you can't lose face

and you can't acknowledge

that you're wrong.

It doesn't go with pride.

Pride and idolatry

will always lead you

to not apologize

and not acknowledge wrong.

It's one of the signs

of your pride

and or of worshipping idols.

Therefore I have brought him

before you all

and especially before you

King Agrippa

so that after we have

examined him

I may have something

to write.

He's not looking for justice.

He just wants something

to help them cover his butt

and gaslight.

For it seems to me

unreasonable in sending

a prisoner to not indicate

the charges against him.

Duh.

Yes it is.

So what's going on here

with this whole text

and how on earth

does this fit

with the idea

of providence?

Well

it begins like this.

The problem that we have

with providence

is that when we think

of providence

we think of examples

of when

we are late for supper

at a restaurant

and a parking space

opens just in front of us

and that parking

another way to talk about it

would be that it was

fortuitous

to use a big word.

It just

it makes our life easier.

It puts a smile

on our face.

It rescues us

from a hard time.

But how is it

that there is

something like providence

when frankly

you are in

a very hard time

right now

and in fact

many people

on the outside

of your life

would agree

if you say

my life

sucks.

How is providence

at work

when you have been

deeply hurt?

How is providence

at work

when you are accused

of things

you didn't do?

How is providence

at work

when powerful people

treat you

like a nobody

and they don't admit

that they are wrong?

How on earth

can you

Christians

say that there is

something like providence?

Well

the resurrection

changes everything.

And the resurrection

is not just a story

of the resurrection

part of what it is all about

is the meaning

of the resurrection.

And in fact

one of the ways

that you can get

a better sense

of the gospel

and how it is

that for many people

the gospel

seems implausible

because what is plausible

for us as human beings

is the way

that powerful people

treat little people

and how powerful people

in the world

often not always

but often treat

the little people

is

well it doesn't

really matter

if they are treated

as guilty

when they are innocent

and it doesn't

really matter

if you drag it out

and maybe they die

or maybe they go away

and their case

is never heard

because powerful people

are about powerful people.

but the gospel

is the complete inverse

of this.

The gospel

is the most powerful

being in the universe

the triune God

seeing nobodies

like you and me

and seeing

not that we are innocent

but that we are guilty

and acting

to make the guilty

innocent

and to be free.

That is the gospel.

gospel.

God shows

that for him

there are no little people

there are no nobodies

in a sense

some Christians

have said

that even if there was

only one sinner

in the entire universe

Jesus would still

have died on the cross

for that one sinner

but we are all sinners

unlike the story

we actually are guilty

but God acts

to save the guilty

and he acts

in a way

which is powerful

and effective

and we know

that this is true

because we can believe Jesus

why can we believe Jesus

because he died

on a cross

as the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world

and he experienced

all there is

to taste of death

and all of that

the guilt

and the shame

connected with death

and on the third day

the grave

became empty

as Jesus is resurrected

and he appeared

before a people

to prove that he was alive

and if the resurrection

happened

you can absolutely

take as rock solid

what Christ says to you

and what Christ says to you

you can look in

the many promises

precious promises

of his presence

with you

that he will never leave you

or forsake you

the fact that it is

a good thing

that I go away

the fact that you are

beloved of the Father

the fact that he gives

the Holy Spirit

the fact that he will not

abandon you

or leave you

ever

that he will not

cast anybody out

who comes to him

that he will comfort you

all of these things

all of these things

he has promised

he doesn't tell us

he doesn't tell you and me

that for everything

that we are going through

we will know

in the moment

what the meaning is

the importance

of the doctrine

of God's providence

is that

I mean Festus

is doing what Festus

is going to do

and the elite

are doing what

the elite wants to do

and Agrippa

is doing what

the Agrippa

wants to do

but despite all of it

remember Paul

just a couple

Jesus just a couple

of chapters earlier

said don't worry

Paul I am with you

and you're going

to go to Rome

but that general

specific promise

is a general promise

to us

that Christ

is with you

and so

people are doing

what people do

and you're caught

in it

and it doesn't look

like any parking spots

are opening for you

but it doesn't mean

that Christ

has abandoned you

you see

knowing that Christ

is with you

even in these

really difficult

and lonely times

it means

that we have

to die

to the idea

of providence

as being always

finding the parking

spot

and die

to the idea

as to there must

be some meaning

here

by the way

in heaven

we will discover

these meanings

but those are things

that come when we

see Christ

face to face

and we might know

some meanings

of hard times

while we were here

before we see

Christ face to face

but there's no promise

about it

but what we do know

is this

because of Christ

and because of his providence

it means that we have

a secure

intellectual

and emotional space

to pour out

our hearts

to him

with all of our sorrows

you know there's a song

that earth has no sorrow

that heaven can't heal

and that's part of the doctrines

of providence

Paul says that

these afflictions

that we have

in this life

is preparing us

for an eternal

weight of glory

doesn't say

it's going to give us

the meanings

right here

on this side

of the grave

but we're being prepared

for an eternal

weight of glory

and so in light of that

we can pour out

our heart

to Jesus

and say

you know

Jesus

this is just so hard

and I don't understand

and we can pour out

our hearts

to him

and the other thing

that the doctrine

of providence

here even in hard times

brings to us

is that

it makes us think

about Jesus

is with us

he is with us

he is with us

he does love us

we just have to think

about the cross

to know that he loves us

even in these hard times

but the question

that we should be asking

you know

as in between

pouring out our heart

and sorrow

to the Lord

the question we ask

is this

how can I bring you

glory

in this hard time

I mean maybe

part of the way

you bring him glory

is by being

a stunning model

of forgiveness

to others

or

that even

when things

are going very hard

you stun people

by being concerned

for them

rather than

being self-centered

I mean I don't know

there's all sorts of ways

but that's the question

those are the two things

that providence

brings home to us

we can pour out

our heart and sorrow

and we ask

how can we bring you

glory

how can we bear witness

to Jesus

even at this season

of my life

which is very

very hard

always remembering

that when Jesus died

from the cross

for us

it shows that

I am not a nobody

to him

I am not inconvenient

to him

I matter to him

and he will bring me

to stand before

the presence of God

the Father

with great joy

he will do

that

for me

he

will

do

that

for you

if

you are

in Christ

invite you to stand

just bow our heads

in prayer

Father

some of us

are having

really good times

we're healthy

we have money

in the bank

we have a good job

or career

we have

our relationships

are good

and Father

we confess

before you

that

often when we

have things

really going

good for us

we aren't as grateful

as we should be

and so Father

we ask that

you remind us

of the deep need

that we have

as human beings

made in your image

to express gratitude

for the simple

but profound

blessings

that we can enjoy

and Father

you know

that there are

some of us

who are maybe

going through

a short season

of really hard times

some of us

maybe have been

going through

quite a long season

and in fact

Father

there might be

some amongst us

who realistically

think that

there's going

to be some

hard times

for the rest

of their life

and we ask

Father

that you would

make us

by your Holy Spirit

a congregation

that would

be prayerful

and supportive

of each other

both in good times

and in bad

and Father

for those of us

who are struggling

with a hard time

that your Holy Spirit

might bring these

truths home to them

that your hand

is upon them

you have not

abandoned them

they matter to you

and help them

to pour out

their heart

and help them

to pray

that they can

bear witness

to you

and bring glory

even in very

very hard times

and we ask

Father

that you deliver

us from

our own

moral blindness

of seeing

specks in other

people's eyes

and not the logs

on our own

and if we have

been nurturing

hatred

if we have

been turning

away from

opportunities

that you give

us to forgive

if we have

been holding

on to hatred

or bitterness

if we have

in fact

been self-indulgent

if we have

in fact

acted in ways

that despise

others

and treat

others poorly

we ask

Father

that your

Holy Spirit

would convict

us of that

so that

thinking of

Jesus

we might

confess our

sins

that we

might try

to make

amendment

of life

that we

might live

lives

that bring

you glory

and we

ask all

these things

in the name

of Jesus

your Son

and our

Savior

Amen

Amen