A Tree of Truth in a Forest of Falsehood

The title of the sermon this morning is A Tree of Truth in a Forest of Falsehood.

And so we're going to look at Paul this morning in our passage.

And if you would turn in your Bibles, we're going to start in Acts chapter 24.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

We're going to read all of Acts 24 and the beginning part of 25.

Let's pray before we start because I need it, you guys need it, and we're digging into the Word of God.

Lord, we ask your help this morning as we read, as we listen, as we apply your Word to our lives.

We pray that you would teach us.

We pray that it would be your words and your truth that come out and not my personal thoughts.

May the Spirit work, encourage, and direct.

Lord, we pray in your holy name. Amen.

Acts 24, starting in verse 1.

And after five days, the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus.

They laid before the governor their case against Paul.

And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying,

Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation in every way and in everywhere,

we accept this with all gratitude.

But to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly.

For we have found this man a plague, speaking of Paul, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world,

and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.

I'm going to pause here because some of your Bibles may have part of verse 6 and verse 7 left out.

The reason for that is some manuscripts added it in.

So if you don't have it here, you'll probably see it in your footnotes at the bottom.

So verse 6,

And we tried to profane, he tried even to profane the temple, but we seized him.

And we would have judged him according to our law, but the chief captain, Lysias, came and with great violence took him out of our hands,

commanding his accusers to come before you.

And starting in verse 8,

But examining him yourself, you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.

The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.

And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied,

Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.

You can verify that it is not more than 12 days since I went to worship in Jerusalem,

and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd,

either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city.

Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me.

But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect,

I worship the God of our fathers,

believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets,

having a hope in God,

which these men themselves accept,

that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

And now, after several years,

I come to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

While I was doing this,

they found me purified in the temple without any crowd or turmoil.

But some Jews from Asia,

they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation,

should they have anything against me.

Or,

these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council.

Other than this one thing,

I cried out while standing among them.

It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead

that I'm on trial before you this day.

But Felix,

having a rather accurate knowledge of the way,

put them off,

saying,

When Lysias the Tribune comes down,

I will decide your case.

Then he gave orders to the centurion

that he should be kept in custody,

but have some liberty,

and that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs.

After some days,

Felix came with his wife,

Drusilla,

who was Jewish,

and he sent for Paul,

and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

And as he reasoned about righteousness

and self-control

and the coming judgment,

Felix was alarmed and said,

Go away for the present.

When I get an opportunity,

I will summon you.

At the same time,

he hoped that money would be given him by Paul.

So he sent for him often

and conversed with him.

When two years had elapsed,

Felix was seceded

by Portius Festus.

And desiring to do the Jews a favor,

Felix left Paul in prison.

Chapter 25.

Now three days after Festus had arrived in the Providence,

he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea,

and the chief priest and the principal men of the Jews

laid out their case against Paul,

and they urged him,

asking as a favor against Paul,

that he summon him to Jerusalem

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

Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea

and that he himself intended to go there shortly.

So, said he,

Let the men of authority among you go down with me,

and if there is anything wrong about the man,

let them bring charges against him.

After he stayed there,

stayed among them not more than eight or ten days,

he went down to Caesarea,

and the next day he took a seat on the tribunal

and ordered Paul to be brought.

When he had arrived,

the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem

stood around him,

bringing many and serious charges against him,

but that they could not prove.

Paul argued in his defense,

Neither against the law of the Jews,

nor against the temple,

nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.

But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor,

said to Paul,

Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem

and there be tried on these charges before me?

But Paul said,

I am standing before Caesar's tribunal,

where I ought to be tried.

To the Jews 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 anything

to their charges against me,

no one can give me up to them.

I appeal to Caesar.

Then Festus,

when he had confirmed with his counsel,

answered,

To Caesar you have appealed,

to a Caesar you shall go.

So in this passage,

we're going to break it up into three sections.

We're going to see Paul on trial.

We're going to see Paul on hold.

And see Paul on his way to Rome.

As things shift there.

In general,

I think most of us

would not enjoy

playing a game

if the rules weren't set out.

Right?

If the rules changed

as the game went on.

Or maybe for those

who like shopping,

shopping wouldn't be very fun

if the price for items

changed unpredictably.

How about driving laws

or laws for pedestrians

that didn't always apply?

That leaves us uneasy.

It's not something that we enjoy.

When I was reading this passage,

it reminded me of

a Disney movie.

Probably my least favorite.

Alice in Wonderland.

If it's your favorite.

I don't mean to bash you in any way.

I won't judge you.

But if you know the story

of Alice in Wonderland,

she starts out

and she's bored with her lessons

and she wishes all her books

had more pictures

and were nonsense.

She falls asleep.

She has a dream

where she's in a world of nonsense.

At the end,

there's this court scene

where she's on trial

with the Queen of Hearts

who rules the land

and she exclaims,

I don't even know

what I did wrong

and the Queen says,

forget the trial.

Let's just cut off her head.

I won't spoil the ending for you,

but it's kind of what we see

in Paul's court case

where he doesn't know

what he's done wrong,

but the Jews

literally want to kill him.

And that's what we have here.

But in our passage,

Paul's not in a dream

and the accusations against him

are serious.

But all the while,

Paul wants to remain true

even though all around him

is falsehood,

the lies,

the accusations.

Our goal,

like Paul's goal

as Christians,

is we're called to stand true

in a world

that rejects the truth.

We know that Paul knows

his purpose

and his goal

and he wants to remain true

to that goal,

true to Christ

and true to how he should respond

in the face of accusations.

Remember,

if you remember back

a couple chapters,

this all started

because as Paul returns

from his missionary journeys,

the Christian church

asked him to go

to the temple

and to take part

of this purification process.

It's at the end

of this process

that these Jewish people

from another area

come in

and start this riot.

And so,

Paul,

because of the lies

that they put out,

the accusations,

he gets caught up

in this fight,

this being arrested

and he didn't do anything.

So,

as chapter 24 starts out,

we see that Ananias,

the high priest,

whom,

if we remember from before,

is a pretty crooked high priest.

He's also a high priest

that when Paul began

to speak,

he had him punched

in the mouth.

And so,

Paul's not exactly

in a good place

starting out in verse 24.

He arrives with

some Jewish elders

and also this spokesman,

this Tertullus,

who is an attorney.

He's the legal mouthpiece

for this group

that is coming against Paul.

So,

they come before Festus,

who is the ruling governor

of the area.

And Festus has agreed

to take this trial

because not only

is Paul a Roman citizen,

but he's from

that same area.

So,

we have the accusers

on one side

and we have Paul

on the other side

and the governor

motions for them

to start.

And the start

is pretty humorous.

Oh,

fabulous,

Felix,

because of you

and your wisdom,

we've been able

to live

in such enjoyable harmony.

All over this nation,

we have made,

you have made changes

and improvements

that all delightfully

we accept

and are so thankful for.

And we don't want

to take up much

of your time,

but just for a second,

if you could,

out of your kindness,

just hear our plea.

That's how he starts out.

This is often the case

because each side

wants to win

the favor of the judge.

So often,

this flattery

happens,

but in this case,

it really is beyond flattery

and it's more

lies

and exaggerations

because

if we look back

and read what

historians say

about Felix,

he was in

no way

known for having

a peaceful term.

In fact,

up to this point,

he has the worst term

in this area

of trying to keep

the peace.

So not just unpeaceful,

but he was hated

by the Jews.

He was known

for taking bribes.

So everything

that Tertullus

is speaking

just in his introduction

is just lies

to try to flatter

the judge

and to get on

his good side.

So after his introduction,

the lies are then

directed towards Paul

as he lays out

the accusations

and we see this

in verses 5 through 9.

He says,

Paul's a plague.

He's a troublemaker.

He stirs up riots.

He creates unrest

among all the Jews

in the Roman world.

He's a ringleader

of this sect

of the Nazarenes.

This is directed,

this is meant

to be derogatory

as if Paul

had some

heretical spin-off

that he was trying

to convince

people of.

Next,

he tried to profane

or desecrate

the temple.

And this,

we know from before,

was based on

just false assumptions

that Paul had brought

in a Gentile

into a part of the temple

that was not allowed.

And that was

a serious accusation

because the Romans,

they gave the Jews

a lot of power

when it came to

dealing with offenses

to their temple.

But this wasn't even true.

And then to end it,

Felix says that

once you examine him,

you're going to see

all the true things

that I just told you

were true about Paul.

Which is really

just a slick way

of trying to convince him

of his side

before even hearing

Paul's side

of the story.

And then you hear

all the Jews yelling

like,

yeah, he did it,

that's him,

we all agree,

as if they can actually

add some legal merit

to the case

by their voices.

And those are the accusations

that we see

Paul facing.

But another thing

is going on here,

besides the accusations,

think about for a minute

the situation

that Paul finds himself in.

He's in the courtroom,

but he's on a battlefield

between two forces.

Two guerrillas,

you could say.

One was the Jewish faith

on one side,

the religion of Jerusalem

that spanned back

2,000 years to Abraham,

their history and tradition.

And on the other side

you have the Roman Empire,

the power,

and the rule

which covered

over 3 million square miles

around the Mediterranean Sea.

So he's held in grips

by them

and accused by the other.

Surely Paul wasn't trying

to wage war

against either of these two.

He wasn't.

And Paul was not fearful

of the situation

because from Paul's perspective,

he sees a whole different battle

that's being played out.

It's not a battle

between the Jews.

It's not a battle

between the Rome,

but a spiritual battle.

He's not a traitor

to the church.

He's not a criminal of Rome.

He's on the side

of Jesus Christ

in the gospel.

And Jesus

or the gospel

do not undermine

the law,

whether we're speaking

of the Jewish law

or the Roman law.

So part of Paul's argument

that he's trying to make

is that the gospel

is not at odds

between either one

and neither is Paul.

He's a loyal religious Jew.

He's also a loyal Roman citizen.

It was the truth

about Jesus

that people

did not want to hear.

The message of the gospel

was the truth

and since Paul

was preaching it,

he was the one

that they were coming after.

The battle was against him

because of the truth

that he was preaching.

The foundation

of these attacks

were coming

from the same place

as those who hated

and arrested Jesus.

If you remember back,

John 15, 18 says,

If the world hates you,

know that it has hated me

before it hated you.

The tactics

of Paul's enemies

were the same

as those used

against Jesus

when he was accused

of threatening

to destroy the temple,

of blaspheming God,

of claiming to be king.

And like Jesus,

Paul was innocent

of the charges

that were against him.

It reminded me

of the verse,

John 18, 38,

when Jesus is on trial

and Pilate says to him,

What is truth?

And after he said this,

he went back outside

to the Jews

and told them,

I find no fault

in this man.

Paul knows

the real battle

is a spiritual battle.

In addition,

he knows

that he is there

where God wants him to be.

Remember,

just a few verses

back in chapter 23,

God,

the Lord,

appeared to him

and said,

Take courage,

for as you have testified

to the facts

about me in Jerusalem,

so you must testify

also in Rome.

Paul knows this.

Paul knows where he's at

and he's where God

wants him to be,

even though it's not

where we would choose

we would want to be.

If we are standing

on the truth,

then like Paul,

we can be confident

that as we move forward

where God calls us,

that we're where

we are supposed to be.

So after the accusations,

Governor Felix

gives the nod

in verse 10

for Paul to begin

and he lays out

his defense.

He starts with an opening

that is much different

than Tertullus'

promises.

There were no lies,

there's no exaggerations.

He's respectful

and he's to the point.

He says,

You have been a judge

over this nation

for a number of years

and since you are the judge,

I cheerfully make my defense.

There's no lie there.

All that was true,

but also respectful

of the governor

that he is standing

in front of.

In verse 11,

he says,

It has not been

more than 12 days

since I've gone

to worship in the temple.

I have no Facebook account.

I don't have any followers

on TikTok.

There's no way

that I can gain

this amount of support

in this short amount

of time

in order to start

this kind of riot.

He continues to say

that they did not find him

arguing with anyone

or stirring up a crowd,

not even in the temple

where they claim

that it took place.

See, Paul truthfully

and adamantly

denies these accusations

and he's doing it

for good reason.

not only were they

not true,

but they were

the connecting pin

that the Jews

wanted to use

to attach

their religious complaints

about Paul

to civil complaints.

See,

stirring up unrest

and starting riots

and disturbing the peace,

no,

those were things

that the Romans

would be concerned about.

about being a judge

over some religious

disagreement.

Romans didn't care

about that.

They had no interest

in that.

So if the Jews

could put the two together,

then maybe they can have

something done

against Paul.

Paul continues

in verse 14.

He confesses

that he is a follower

of the way,

denying that it is a sect.

He says,

if I follow a sect,

then you follow

the same sect.

And why is that?

Because Paul worships

the same God

of our fathers

that you worship.

He worships,

he believes

the same scriptures

that the Jews believe.

Paul's not a starter

of some sect.

He's not an innovator

of something new.

He aligns

with mainstream Judaism.

That's his point.

They worship the same God.

They believe

the same law

and the prophets.

They believe

the same hope,

the resurrection

of the just

and the unjust.

And they had

the same goal

to keep a clear conscience

before God and man.

At least outwardly

they would say that,

although they may not

actually do that

in real life.

I'm sure some

also who were there

remembered Paul

when he was Saul

and how he arrested

people who were

of the way.

Now he is admitting

to being part

of the way.

But as he had explained

earlier in another trial,

he explains the reason

for this.

And I have the verse up.

This is from Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

I put it up

because I think

it's important

for us to look at.

He says,

But Saul,

still breathing threats

and murder

against the disciples

of the Lord,

went to the high priest

and asked him

for letters

to the synagogues

in Damascus

so that if he found

any belonging

to the way,

men or women,

he might bring them

bound to Jerusalem.

That's pretty ironic.

Now as he went

on his way,

he approached Damascus

and suddenly a light

from heaven

shone around him

and falling to the ground,

he heard a voice

saying to him,

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

And he said,

Who are you, Lord?

And he said,

I am Jesus

whom you are persecuting.

So the connection

to the way

is Jesus.

Jesus is the way.

He's the core.

More than that,

if there's no Jesus,

there's no gospel.

So the one thing,

the main thing

which Paul preached

was Jesus Christ.

The one thing,

the main thing

that Paul taught

about resurrection

was Jesus Christ.

They believed

the same God,

the same scriptures,

the same resurrection,

but they were missing

Jesus Christ.

Jesus makes

the continuity happen

between the Old Testament

and the New Testament.

prophecies

and promises

made in the Old Testament

are fulfilled

in the New Testament.

Sins taken away,

sins forgiven,

a relationship with God,

an eternal hope.

All this is made possible

because of Jesus Christ.

John 14, 6,

Jesus says,

I am the way.

I am the truth.

I am the life.

This is not

a conceited human being.

This is Jesus Christ,

God of all creation.

This is Jesus Christ

who went to the cross

and died for our sins.

He says,

I am the way.

You can try to find

another way,

but if you do it

around me,

it's not the way.

It's not the truth.

There is no life.

In verse 16,

Paul says,

And I have always

taken pains

to have a clear conscience

toward God and man.

While they say

that I'm a writer

or some ringleader,

what is true

is that I work at

to the point

of being inconvenienced

and burdened

if it means

that my conscience

is clear

before God

and other men.

And we know this

looking back

at what Paul went through

as he was on

his missionary trips.

He went out

of his way

not to be an offense

to another person.

He's going to death.

He's been persecuted

and gone to jail

to keep a conscience

before God

knowing that God

has called him

to these things.

That's what he's trying

to say he's really like.

And building on that,

he says that

after several years,

I've come to the temple

to donate to the poor

and give an offering.

And they found me

while I was there.

That's right.

I was in the temple

but I was surrounded

by no crowd.

I was not arguing

with anyone.

That's how the Jews

from Asia found me.

And then I don't know

if this is just

how he is talking

or if it all of a sudden

hits him.

He realizes

that those Jews

from Asia

that were accusing him,

they're not in his presence.

He's like,

oh wait,

where are those accusers?

They're not even here.

Shouldn't they be here

to bring the accusations?

The reason for that

is because like now,

it's a serious infringement.

It was a serious infringement

then of Roman law

if an accuser

did not show up

for the actual trial.

And Paul's like,

they're not even here.

How much could I have done wrong

if they don't even care

to show up

to talk about it

or to bring these

against me?

Paul then questions

those who are there.

He says,

you were at my last trial.

Was there any wrongdoing

found of me then?

No.

The only thing

that I am guilty of

is standing up

among them

and shouting,

it is with respect

to the resurrection

of the dead

that I'm on trial

before you this day.

And this points back

to his teaching

about the resurrection

of Jesus Christ.

And that's what

they don't want

to hear about.

It's what they don't

believe in.

Because if you believe

in the resurrection

of Jesus Christ,

suddenly you bring

a lot more

to the table

that you have

to deal with.

And that's,

they didn't want

to go there.

In the last chapter,

the Pharisees

declared him

innocent.

So,

from a legal

standpoint,

all the charges,

even with the lies

and the slander,

would vanish.

However,

they were still

where they are.

He was not charged

with any religious

insurrection,

no criminal offense,

nothing worthy

of being arrested.

So,

ideally,

this would have been

the time where

Felix would end

the trial

and declare Paul

not guilty.

And if Felix

was an honorable

governor,

a fair governor,

then maybe that

would have happened.

But,

he wasn't

and the Jews

weren't looking

for a fair trial.

They weren't looking

for the truth.

They were looking

for Paul

to be killed.

We know that.

That was their goal

up until this point.

They had a group

of 40 men

who had vowed

to kill him.

That's a lot of people

hating Paul.

That's some serious hate.

They didn't want

to hear about

Jesus of the way

because,

like I said,

Jesus and the gospel

brings conviction.

It brings light

on sinful hearts

and they hated that.

Felix had no ground

to convict Paul

of anything,

but he also

doesn't want

to release him.

Most likely

because he fears

of missing out

on money

or falling out

of favor

with the Jews.

So,

Paul goes

from the lies

and the slander

of the Jews

to the corruption

of a governor.

And so,

this next section

we move into

where we see

Paul on hold.

Verse 22

says,

But Felix,

having a rather

accurate knowledge

of the way,

put them off,

saying,

When Lysias,

the tribune,

comes down,

I'll decide your case.

So,

just at the end

of this case

where you would think

you were going to get

a verdict,

you got nothing.

You got put off.

Sounds hopeful.

Maybe.

Date's not exact,

but the governor's

given us something

to work with.

But what we see

is the governor

never actually calls

for Lysias

to come down.

It's just something

that he says.

There was no court date

set.

Paul's allowed

some freedoms,

but he's still arrested.

He's not free

to go and do

what he wants.

He's on hold

until further notice.

Even at times

when we feel like

we are on hold,

like nothing

is going on,

rest assured

that if we are

standing on the truth,

if we are doing

what God

has called us to do,

even in those times

where we feel like

we're on hold,

God is doing something.

In verse 24,

we see that Felix

came down

with his wife,

Drusilla,

who was Jewish.

Their relationship

came with drama.

I don't want to talk

about them too much,

but it helps to have

a little bit

of knowledge

about who they are.

The marriage

between Felix

and Drusilla

was unbiblical

to say the least.

both were married.

She was in a marriage

with someone else

when he saw her

and thought she was

the prettiest woman

in the world

and he actually,

he actually used

the help of a magician

to convince her

to leave her husband

and come marry him.

I'm not sure

how that worked,

but he's in his 50s

and she's like

22 years old.

They both

had connections.

They both

had wealth.

They both

came from a line

of power

and they both

knew

how to get

what they wanted.

that's,

that's this marriage

between Felix

the governor

and his wife

Drusilla.

Oddly enough,

they send for Paul

and it says

that they heard him

speak about faith

in Jesus Christ.

They know

what Paul's about.

They,

they knew the gospel

that he spoke

and yet for some reason

they asked him

to come

so they could hear him.

There was something

that drew

them to hear

what he had to say.

Some,

some curiosity

that had to be fed.

Drusilla was a Jew

so we can expect

that Paul

talked about

Jesus of Nazareth

but not just that,

how,

how he was

more than just

a good teacher.

How he was

crucified.

How he was

the son of God.

How he had been

prophesied

to come.

How he was

the perfect sacrifice.

The lamb

slain for our sins.

The,

the savior,

the hope of salvation.

Verse 25

says that

he reasoned

about righteousness,

about self-control

and about

the coming judgment.

So,

after Paul

tells them

about who Jesus

is,

he tells them

about these things.

Righteousness,

self-control

and the coming judgment.

See,

Paul knew

there was

what their

relationship

came with.

Felix's life

was one of

cruelty

and injustice.

Through repentance

and belief in Jesus,

there can be

righteousness

even for someone

like Felix.

Their marriage

was based on

immorality

and self-indulgence.

So,

Paul spoke

about self-control.

And lastly,

Paul talked about

the judgment

of God

and how it

could be avoided.

These were

serious matters.

Some people

may have just

brushed him off,

but in the process

of listening to Paul,

Felix became afraid.

It says that he was

alarmed

and told Paul

to go away

and that he would

summon him later.

He was shaken up,

but his ears

weren't closed up.

It says that Felix

would send for Paul

often and converse

with him.

He wanted money

from Paul,

but he also

wanted to hear more.

He wanted Paul

to pay a bribe,

but Paul kept

preaching

the truth.

And this goes on

for two years.

How long

in that process

do you think

it was before

he realized

that Paul

wasn't going

to give him money?

And yet he continued

to call Paul

to him

and talk to him

about the word.

We don't know

if Felix

ever trusted in Jesus.

It seems obvious

that by the point

of the end

of this story

that he hadn't

because while

he was governor

he left Paul

in prison

as a favor

to the Jews.

But he heard

the gospel.

He heard the truth

of who Jesus is.

And in the beginning

at least

he was alarmed

by it.

So there was

some part

of what he heard

that was starting

to sink in.

Something that he

was starting

to believe

and was afraid of.

But there was

no repentance

that we ever saw.

I bring that out

because if you're here

this morning

and you're not

a believer

there is something

that might be

tugging at your ear.

Something that might

be tugging

at your heart

as we read

through this passage

it's the Holy Spirit

wanting to get

your attention.

And so

my plea to you

would be not

to ignore that.

Satan wants you

to push this off.

My guess is that

Satan was successful

in pushing it off

with Felix.

He wants the world

around us

to lull us

back to sleep.

So the truth

of the gospel

doesn't make its way

into our heart.

But I'm telling you

that the Holy Spirit

wants to wake you up

this morning.

So don't miss

an opportunity

like Felix did

to hear the gospel.

After the end

of the service

we break the chairs down

and we kind of

leave this room.

I will be

in the common room

and if you feel

like you want to pray

you want to talk

you have questions

I will be in there.

There isn't anything

that's more important

than getting

this right

if it's something

that you're struggling

with this morning.

And so I would

encourage you

to come see me

come see Sean

and let's take it

to the Lord

and pray about it

together.

It's at this point

that Felix

is replaced

by Portius Festus

the new governor.

Oddly enough

Felix gets

replaced

because he

was unable

to deal with

a different dispute

between the Jews

and the Gentiles.

So you see

he has a history

of not doing

things right

and he's no longer

the governor.

That brings us

to chapter 25.

We have a new governor.

Looks like we might

be going through

the same redo

in the trial

that we did before

but we start

to see maybe

there's a chance

of something different

because this guy

Festus

he actually makes

a strong stand

against the Jews

in the beginning.

The Jews make

this request

for Paul to be

brought down

to Jerusalem

you know

like they want

to be honest

and sweet

and give him

a different trial.

They really want

to ambush

and kill him.

We don't know

if Festus knew that

whether he did

or not.

He still denies him.

He says

I'm going

to Caesarea

shortly.

You guys have

something against this

Paul come

with me

and we will

take it to

the tribune

when I have

a seat on that.

And so after a few days

Festus goes down

he takes his seat

he orders Paul

brought in

and like the trial

before we see

Paul's accusers

throwing these

accusations

against him

and like before

they are unable

to prove

any of them.

In verse 8

of chapter 25

he says

Paul this is Paul

neither against

the law of the Jews

neither against

the temple

nor against Caesar

have I committed

any offense.

We see here

that Paul

is starting

to make this

transition

to where he is

to go into Rome.

He knows

that's where God

wants him to go

and so he says

that even against

Caesar

I have not committed

any offense.

Again

the governor

has no civil

charge

to hold Paul

and because

the Jews

because of

favoritism

towards them

he's kind of

stuck

he doesn't

know what

to do.

He doesn't

want to hold

him

he doesn't

want to

release him

so he

remembers

the Jews

request

he's like

Paul

do you

want to

go back

to Jerusalem

thinking

that that

would

make the

Jews

happy.

Paul

knows

his hopes

are better

with the

Romans

than with

the Jews

and so

he does

not want

to take

this deal.

He says

I'm not

looking to

escape

punishment

if I

have done

something

wrong

but I

haven't

done

anything

wrong

Festus

and you

know it

and since

their accusations

were false

the governor

could not

force

Paul

to go

and that's

when

Paul

realizes

that he

needs

to

make

a plea

to Caesar

because he's

unsure

where things

are going.

I don't

want to

go back

to the

Jews

I don't

know

what

this

Festus

is doing

so he

says

that I

appeal

to

Caesar

this

obviously

catches

Festus

off guard

he doesn't

know what

to do

he talks

with his

council

on the

side

and then

he comes

back and

says

you appeal

to Caesar

so to

Caesar

you will

go

and Paul

continues

to remain

arrested

and in

prison

until

whenever

this

moves

on

to

Rome

interesting

passage

because

it's in

the middle

of

he's already

been arrested

he's already

been tried

he's tried

again

and there's

no end

result

he's

he's just

left there

and so

it

we can

find ourselves

left

there

feeling

like

I don't

know

what God

is doing

but like

Paul

if we

if we're

standing

on the

truth

and if

we're

listening

to God

and doing

what

what he

wants us

to be

doing

then

like I

said

we can

rest assured

that he

is at

work

so as

we close

just a

couple

things

for us

to think

about

we are

called

to

die

to

ourselves

so that

in

everything

like

Paul

if it's

with our

speech

if it's

with our

relationships

whether

relationships

with Christians

or relationships

to crooked

governors

we can

live like

Christ

we're to

die to

ourselves

so that

we can

more live

like

Christ

that should

affect

everything we

do

that should

affect

every

relationship

that we're

in

may it

be

may it be

the name

of

Christ

and the

verse

to end

our

passage

this morning

is Ephesians

4 15

rather

speaking the

truth in

love

we are to

grow up

in every

way

into him

who is the

head

into

Christ

let's

pray

together

Lord we pray

that

this morning

and this

afternoon

next week

whatever

whatever

situation

we find

us in

Lord we pray

that you

would

bring to

mind

how we

are to

act

bring to

mind

the truth

that we

are to

say

the truth

that we

are to

stand in

so that

we are not

seeking

ourselves

that we

are seeking

Christ

in his

name

to be

exalted

Lord

this isn't

easy

and it

literally

means at

times

that we

die to

what

ourselves

want

what our

pride

wants

what we

want to

do

what's

easier

to do

what feels

right

Lord help

us to

die to

that

so that

we aren't

we aren't

made

larger

but Christ

is made

larger

through

us

Lord

may he

be

exalted

and not

us

and God

may you

get the

glory

in our

lives

and in

all

that we

do

and we

pray these

things in

your great

and holy

name

amen