54 "Present Hope from Ancient Promises" Acts 22:23-23:10 | Sunday, July 5, 2026

Chapter 22.

Our text this morning will begin in

verse number 23 and we'll go through

chapter 23 verse number 11.

As we come to Acts 22 23, Paul has been

arrested in Jerusalem

and he has stated his defense first

before the crowd of Jews in Jerusalem.

In that particular text, we saw last

week that he tells them that he was

selected by God and sent by Christ. And

therefore, we can trust Paul's ministry

and his message. He was sent by God. He

was selected by Christ. But it was his

mission to the Gentiles

that immediately turned the crowd away

from him. as it says even in verse 22.

And they gave him audience unto this

word and then lifted up their voices and

said, "Away with such a fellow from the

earth, for it is not fit that he should

live." And as they cried out and cast

off their clothes and threw dust into

the air, the chief captain commanded him

to be brought into the castle and bade

that he should be examined by scourging

that he might know wherefore they cried

so against him. And as they bound him

with thongs or with leather straps, Paul

said unto the centurion that stood by,

"Is it lawful for you to scourge a man

that is a Roman and unconddemned?" When

the centurion heard that, he went and

told the chief captain, saying, "Take

heed what thou doest, for this man is a

Roman." Then the chief captain came and

said unto him, "Tell me, Art thou a

Roman?" And he said, "Yay." And the

chief captain answered with a great sum

obtained I this freedom. And Paul said,

but I was freeborn.

Then straightway they departed from him

which should have examined him. And the

chief captain also was afraid after he

knew that he was a Roman and because he

had bound him on the marorrow because he

would know have would have known the

certainty wherefore he was accused of

the Jews. He loosed him from his bands

and commanded the chief priests and all

their council to appear and brought Paul

down and set him before them. And Paul

earnestly beholding the council said,

"Men and brethren, I have lived in all

good conscience before God until this

day." And the high priest Ananas

commanded them that stood by him to

smite him on the mouth. Then Paul said

Paul unto him, God shall smite thee,

thou whited wall, for sitest thou to

judge me after the law, and commandest

me to be smitten contrary to the law.

And they that stood by said, Revilest

thou God's high priest? Then said Paul,

I wish not, brethren, that he was the

high priest. For it is written, Thou

shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy

people. But when Paul perceived that one

part were Sadducees and the other

Pharisees, he cried out in the council,

"Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the

son of a Pharisee. Of the hope and

resurrection of the dead, I am called in

question." And when he had so said,

there arose a dissension between the

Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the

multitude was divided. For the Sadducees

say, there is no resurrection, neither

angel nor spirit. But the Pharisees

confessed both. And there arose a great

cry. And the scribes that were of the

Pharisees part arose in strobes, saying,

"We find no evil in this man. But if a

spirit or an angel had spoken to him,

let us not fight against God." And when

there arose a great dissension, the

chief captain, fearing thus Paul should

have been pulled in pieces of them,

commanded the soldiers to go down and to

take him by force from among them and to

bring him into the castle. The night

following, the Lord stood by him and

said, "Be of good cheer, Paul, for as

thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem,

so must thou bear witness also at Rome."

This morning, as we obviously focus on

the resurrection,

the title of our message this morning is

present hope from ancient promises.

Present hope from ancient promises.

Let's ask God one more time to help us

understand his word to speak to us. Oh,

Father, we've opened your word. We ask

now for the illumination of your Holy

Spirit to enlighten our eyes to see the

truth of your word that we may

understand it, believe it, and that it

may make a difference in our lives. We

need your help this morning. So we ask

for it in the name of our savior Jesus.

Amen. Thank you for standing. You can be

seated.

What does it mean to have hope? What

does it mean to have hope? In one sense,

it means that you hope something will

happen that you aren't sure whether or

not it really will. Just like some might

hope to graduate. They work hard. They

write reports, go to classes, take

tests, hoping the work is good enough to

earn that diploma. Or it might be that

some hope to get married, that they hope

one day to meet Mr. Wright or to meet

Mrs. Wright and to wear that dress or to

see her wear that dress as she walks

down the aisle. You hope to have the

best marriage that you possibly can, but

sometimes uh it can be a dream because

you're still single right now. That's

one sense we use the word hope. I hope

that this happens. But there's another

way that we use this word hope that

carries much greater certainty.

It's when you wake up the morning of

your graduation and you know that

diploma is in the bag. that by the end

of this day, I'm going to walk across

that platform. I'm going to receive the

degree from my hard-earned efforts and

and I'll be able to go forward. I know

that that's coming. It's like when the

woman is engaged to the man, has the

ring on her finger and starts the

countdown, right? You've seen that. I

know. I know. When we got married that

Hannah had like a countdown on her phone

that showed her every single day how

many hours, how many minutes, how many

days. Why? Because you're anticipating

that day. There's not really any doubt

about it. It's especially that kind of

hope when you wake up the morning of

that wedding. You get the dress on or

you start driving to the church just

knowing by the end of this day I'll be

married. And so in one sense hope can

carry some doubt but in another sense it

carries absolute certainty.

When it comes to your resurrection from

the dead, what kind of hope do you have?

Is it the kind of hope where you fear

death?

The kind of hope where you aren't really

sure what comes next, what happens after

life, or are you filled with

anticipation and confidence that when

you die, you will be raised to life?

Which kind of hope do you have?

What about your born again loved ones?

Those that have already gone before us

in Christ. Do you hope to see them again

one day? Or do you know that you'll see

them one day? You may not necessarily be

counting down the days to your death. We

don't want to be morbid or fatalistic

here, but you just you just know that

you know what, even if I should die,

here's what I know that means. I'll be

reunited with my wife or with my

husband. I'll be reunited with my mom or

my dad, my grandparents, or perhaps my

child.

Is that the kind of hope you have? Well,

I want to tell you today that you don't

have to doubt whether or not heaven is

for real. You can anticipate the glory

to come. Because if your faith is in

Jesus, I want you to know that you have

real hope in a real bodily resurrection.

And if you're not a Christian this

morning, I also want you to know that if

you'll trust in Jesus Christ as your

savior today, you can leave this place

with the same hope that every believer

has, that one day we will be raised

again to life eternal. You can have that

hope today. You might ask, how can you

be so sure?

Well, the certainty that you're looking

for can be found in Paul's defense here

in Acts 23.

Luke wrote this gospel, his gospel, and

the book of Acts to a Roman official

named Theophilles.

Theophilles was familiar with the

ministry of Paul. Theophilles likely

lived in Rome. And it because of the

ending of Acts doesn't it doesn't end

with Paul's death. It's very likely that

Paul was still imprisoned in Rome. And

perhaps that that's even how Theophilos

came to hear about the Christian faith

because in some of Paul's letters from

prison in Rome, he tells the believers

that those of Caesar's household greet

you. He had one people to Christ in the

palace of the king. It's quite likely

that a man like Theophilos would even be

among them.

But how can he really trust

Paul's message, Paul's ministry? How

could he trust what Paul preached about

Jesus? These are the kind of questions

that Theophilles is having because

persecution is ramping up in the Roman

Empire. And he is a man of wealth, a man

of power and prestige is at the center

of that persecution, that pressure. And

so Luke revealed to us in Luke 1:4 that

Luke 1:4

he wrote these things that Theophilles

might know the certainty

of the things he had been taught about

Jesus.

What that tells us is that every account

that Luke writes is carefully retold for

the purpose of strengthening

Theophilos's faith. And therefore, the

intent of this message is meant to

strengthen your faith. And so what Luke

has done in recording Paul's defense is

he has affirmed our ability to trust

what Paul says and what Paul does

because he was selected by God and he

was sent by Christ. That was his first

defense.

Now, as he appears before the council

and the priests,

his defense turns more to his message,

the hope and the resurrection of the

dead.

That's what it's about. And what that

tells us is that this text is meant to

strengthen our faith in our hope in our

resurrection. That's what it's intended

to do. And so I want us to understand

today and Luke wants us to understand

and God wants us to understand that as

Christians our hope in the resurrection

is not a hope that carries uncertain

doubt but it is a hope that carries

absolute certainty in your life. Paul's

defense reveals why that is. The chief

captain

wanted to get to the bottom of the

accusations against Paul. He gave Paul

permission to speak to the crowd. Paul

begins to speak to them in Hebrew, which

means the chief captain could not

understand what Paul was saying to them.

Next thing he knows, you know, Paul is

talking and he's been going for a while.

And next thing he knows, the crowd just

starts going berserk and they start

casting off their robes or perhaps even

tearing them and they're taking dust and

casting it up in the air. I mean, can

you imagine the commotion? A whole

multitude is just throwing dirt up in

the air and and he's worried about the

violence of the people. And so they come

and they take Paul and bring him back

into the castle. But what we notice in

verse number 24 is it says the chief

captain commanded him to be brought into

the castle and bade that he should be

examined by scourging. Watch this. Does

this sound familiar? That he might know

wherefore they cried so against him.

Luke is signaling something to us here

in his narrative because he uses twice

the same language he used in his message

to Theophilos in Luke chapter 1 that he

Luke 1 · chapter mention

would know the certainty of what he'

been taught. And now this chief captain

wants to know why Paul is being accused.

And because he could not get an answer

the easy way, he intends to the hard way

to interrogate Paul by scourging him. A

Roman scourge was a whip with several

tails on it that was either made up of

iron chains or of leather straps and

woven into the end of each of those

tails would have been either metal

shards or pieces of bone or stones. and

and it was intended to inflict as much

pain and as much damage as possible so

as to not only punish but to extract

information.

That is what he intends to do with Paul.

It tells us that they had bound Paul.

That the idea is that they had stretched

him out between these two poles

intending to begin whipping his back.

And it's like at the last moment, Paul

says, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a

man who is a Roman?

Romans were protected by law from being

beaten without being condemned." The

centurion recognizes that they're in

trouble. He immediately goes to the

chief captain. He says, he says, "Watch

out for what you do to this man, for he

is a Roman." Immediately the chief

captain comes to Paul likely still

stretched out here and he says are you

really a Roman? And Paul says yes I am.

And then the chief captain replies I

bought my citizenship with a large

money. The the idea here is that he had

bribed his way to Roman citizenship

which was very common in that day. And

by the time that Paul has been arrested

here, they had been trying to weed out

the corruption of the bribed

citizenship. And so the cost of

citizenship had gone down significantly

because of that, the value of it. And so

he comes to Paul hoping to have a leg up

on him and say, "I paid a huge money for

this." Expecting Paul to say, "Yeah, I

didn't I didn't it didn't cost me very

much." But you know what Paul's reply

is? I was freeborn. It literally means I

was fathered into citizenship.

He was citizen by birth. They carried

the greatest amounts of protection where

they could not even be bound without

being condemned. And so now it tells us

that he's afraid at the end of verse 29.

And so his attempt to get the answers

he's looking for by scourging fails. And

now he's got one other option. That's to

call the the council what's called the

Sanhedrin. It consisted of 70 different

uh priests, Pharisees and Sadducees and

scribes of the law. These these elite

religious doctors of the law of God. And

it was presided over by the high priest.

And so he he calls for them to gather

together. I want you to notice why. Look

again at verse 30. It says on the

marorrow

again pay attention to the words here.

because he would have known the

certainty. Wherefore he was accused of

the Jews, he loosed him from his bands.

This tells us that this man wants

answers.

Much like Theophilus wants answers why

this Paul is bound in Rome if he's such

a great man of God. Why is he

imprisoned? Well, Luke takes him right

back to his initial arrest in Jerusalem

and he's he he's building this case. Why

has Paul been arrested? I need to know.

I need answers.

Listen, there are still people today who

are looking for answers.

They they don't understand why

Christians are so exclusive in their

faith. They they why there's so much

controversy surrounding Christianity.

They're taught to believe that it's

fantasy and fairy tales. Yet, they still

want to know what happens when we die.

They they want to know what happens when

if there's a resurrection, if there's

heaven, if there's eternal life. Why we

believe that a man who is crucified

is our only hope of salvation.

The world has questions and they need

answers. This is why the Apostle Peter

wrote to Christians in 1 Peter chapter

3:15, "Be ready always to give an answer

to every man that askketh you a reason

of the hope that is in you." People are

looking for hope and we have the answer.

And they need us to be ready to give it.

We need not only to know what we

believe, but why we believe it. We need

to know the answers to the questions

that people are asking about our faith.

As Paul stands before the council, we

can see why we can be certain of the

resurrection.

Paul's defense here in chapter 23 is

really a continuation. Here's what you

notice in Paul's defenses. In each

defense, Luke reveals a little bit more.

He's he's building up to it. And so he's

revealed that Paul was sent by God,

selected by God, and sent by Christ. And

now now it's getting to what is the real

reason why Paul is being arrested, why

he's being opposed by the Jews. And and

he's going to unfold this to us as well.

And what Paul continues to reveal to us

is that his resurrection hope was rooted

in the faith of his fathers. Remember

Paul has been brought and arrested and

accused for what reasons? Number one,

they said that he was teaching all men

everywhere against the Jewish people.

They said that that he was teaching them

not to keep the law, that he was

speaking against the temple of God. They

accused him of bringing a a gentile into

the inner court of the temple which was

strictly forbidden. And so there are all

these accusations being hurled against

Paul that suggest in his faith in Christ

he has abandoned the faith of their

fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But

what Paul reveals is that quite the

opposite is true. Notice in verse number

one of chapter 23. And Paul earnestly

beholding the council said, "Men and

brethren, I have lived in all good

conscience before God until this day."

He says, "I've not abandoned our God.

Everything I have done, my confession of

faith in Jesus, my preaching of Jesus in

Damascus and Jerusalem, my preaching of

Jesus among the Gentiles, I have done

all of this in good conscience before

God. None of it's fake." See, Paul came

to realize that his faith in Jesus was

not divorced from his Jewish faith, but

rather Jesus was the Messiah that he and

all the Jews were looking for. That's

what he realized.

But look in verse two, and the high

priest, Ananas,

commanded them that stood by him to

smite him on the mouth. And so, right

after Paul says this, he gets a punch in

the face.

But what we find is that Paul is Paul is

fully aware of the hypocrisy

of what the high priest has just done.

It says in verse number three, "Then

Paul said unto him, God shall smite

thee, thou whited wall. For sitest thou

to judge me after the law, and

commandest me to be smitten contrary to

the law." What's he talking about here?

If you were to go back to the book of

Leviticus, you would find that it was

strictly forbidden in the law of God for

a man to be bound or beaten without

being fully condemned by the law yet.

And so, in other words, when this high

priest, before Paul has even given his

defense, before he's had a fair trial,

when he orders Paul to be hit in the

mouth, that's against the law. And Paul

looks at him and says, "You're there

sitting on the judgment seat against me

while while going against the law

completely.

You're a hypocrite." He calls him a

whited wall. What is that? Well, in

those days of stone and plaster walls,

you could have a a a a solid wall here

that's got a massive crack in it or it's

decayed, it's crumbling, it's falling

apart. And they would take plaster, this

untempered mortar, and they would trow

it on there. And they would dress it all

up and make it look nice and make it

look solid. But underneath the surface

was cracks, brokenness, and decay. Paul

says, "You're just like a whited wall.

You You are dressed up all nice and

fancy in your religious garb, and yet on

the inside is nothing but crumbling rot

and decay.

It's quite a response from Paul.

But his speech, his statement there was

actually quite prophetic because this

high priest Ananas was known for his

corruption, for being in cohorts with

Rome. And his utter disregard for the

law and his corruption actually led to

his assassination 10 years later by his

own men. He was smitten as Paul said.

But then what we find is that in spite

of this miscarriage of justice,

Paul conceded his responsibility to

respect the priestly office. Would you

look at verse four? It says, "And they

that stood by said, revilest thou God's

high priest."

And Paul said, I wisest not, brethren,

that he was the high priest. For it is

written, thou shalt not speak evil of

the ruler of thy people. He quotes there

from Exodus 22 28 where God says that

they are not to curse the gods nor the

nor speak evil of the rulers of their

people.

But do you notice what's going on here?

Evidently, Ananas was not dressed in his

high priestly robes. And because Paul

had been gone traveling so much, he

truly did not know who the high priest

was. But he especially wouldn't have

been able to tell by the high priest's

actions. But either way, Paul steps back

and he says, "I'm sorry. You're right.

The Bible says not to speak evil of the

ruler of thy people. I was wrong." Now,

this is fascinating.

Here you have a man. I want you to put

yourself in the shoes of the Pharisees.

All you have heard is that this man Paul

who used to be with you, who used to be

on your side teaching the law, students

of Galiel, this famous renowned man of

15 years ago of a Pharisee that he has

now turned to this Jesus and he has now

gone to the Gentiles and he they've

heard these rumors that he is speaking

against the people and speaking against

the law and speaking against the

prophets. And yet when he stands here

before the high priest, he still hears,

they still hear him referring to the God

of their fathers. I've lived in good

conscience before God until this day.

When the high priest strikes him on the

face, Paul demonstrates his care that

the law be carried out properly.

And then when he's confronted for it,

Paul says, "You're right. I'm not to

speak evil of the ruler of my people."

This doesn't sound like a man who's

abandoned the faith of his fathers. This

doesn't sound like a man who disregards

the law or the temple order. This sounds

like a man who is under perfectly a a

good order at this time.

What Paul is doing here is he's going

out of his way to demonstrate before his

Jewish audience that he has not

abandoned the faith for something new or

for something different. Well, if Paul

is still faithful to the God of their

fathers and faithful to the law of their

religious system, then why is he under

question?

Now, Paul moves to plainly declare the

reason he is on trial. It says in verse

number six, "But when Paul perceived

that one part were Sadducees and the

other Pharisees, he cried out in the

council, here you go, big red flashing

LED lights, this chief captain, this is

why Paul has been called in question."

He says this, "I am a Pharisee, the son

of a Pharisee. Of the hope and

resurrection of the dead am I called in

question." He says, "I am on trial for

the hope of Israel and the resurrection

of the dead."

Now, what exactly is this talking about?

Well, what Paul is doing is he is making

a very strategic move here because Luke

tells us that in verse number seven that

there was a a dissension between the s

Pharisees and Sadducees and the

multitude was divided. For the Sadducees

say that there is no resurrection,

neither angel nor spirit. But the

Pharisees confess both. Paul knows these

groups. He knows the Sadducees do not

believe in the resurrection, nor angels

nor spirits. And he knows the Pharisees

do believe in the resurrection and

angels and spirits. And so he cuts

through everything and he says, "Here's

why I'm I'm on trial. The hope and

resurrection of the dead." Now, what is

he talking about there? The hope of

Israel is what's it it refers to the

unfolding of God's endtime plan. His

plan to reather and restore Israel to

overthrow the wicked to to establish an

everlasting kingdom. This hope was

rooted in the prophecies of Isaiah,

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others.

They told of a coming Davidic king who

would bring revival and restoration to

Israel, who would who would cleanse the

nation from sin and would deliver them

from their enemies and overthrow the

wicked, establish this kingdom of

righteousness, justice, and peace. This

was Israel's hope for many of them. The

Pharisees would fall under that

category. That's the hope of Israel,

that the Messiah would come and would

restore things to how they should be.

The resurrection of the dead

specifically points them to the prophet

Daniel, who affirms that following this

end time establishment of God's

everlasting kingdom ruled by the

Messiah, the dead would be raised. It

says, "Some to everlasting life and some

to everlasting contempt." That's what

Daniel taught. Revealed from God by

angels that a day is coming that once

the kingdom is in full uh full flow that

there will be a bodily resurrection of

the dead and those who are faithful will

be raised unto life and those who are

unfaithful will be raised under

condemnation and judgment. That's the

resurrection of the dead. So here's what

Paul is saying. I am called into

question this day because the gospel

that I preach relates directly to the

hope of Israel and to the resurrection

of the dead. In other words, Paul's

gospel is not a recent invention of men.

Rather, it is an ancient promise from

God that in these prophecies,

God said that the sins of the people

would be forgiven. that they would be

raised to everlasting life while the

wicked are raised to everlasting

destruction.

He he presented that the forgiveness of

sins and eternal life through the death

and resurrection of Jesus fulfills God's

plan to restore Israel to gather the

kingdoms to God to judge the wicked to

raise the dead and establish his eternal

kingdom. Paul says that is the message

that I'm preached. That is why I'm on

trial. Here in lies the controversy

though. Listen carefully because this is

the same controversy that we face today.

The gospel that Paul preached

is that these ancient promises

are only fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

That there's no other Messiah that we're

to look for. That Islam will not get you

there and Buddhism will not get you

there and Hinduism or any other

religious system. No. The only hope you

have of resurrection unto life is

through Jesus Christ. That is the

controversy of the gospel. Because even

today,

many believe that there are many paths

to God. And yet, as Christians, we still

preach from the Bible, from Jesus's own

words himself, that he is the way, he is

the truth, he is the life, that no man

comes to the father but through Jesus

Christ.

And the exclusivity of that message

causes division and dissension because

people want another way.

Well, how can we know

that resurrection only comes through

Christ?

What Paul reveals here is that it is

rooted in the ancient promises of God.

Do you realize that Jesus fulfilled

every promise God made to redeem us from

our sin?

That that he promised to send a man

through the seed of the woman Eve? Who

whose heel would be bruised as he

crushed the serpent's head? A prophetic

symbol that the Savior would conquer our

greatest enemy while in the process

suffering a wound. He's a wounded

conqueror. That was a promise from God.

God promised to send this Messiah, this

king through the children of Israel,

from the tribe of Judah, through the

lineage of David in Bethlehem

through the womb of a virgin. God

promised it.

He promised that this king would atone

for our sin by sacrificing his own life,

by shedding his own blood for us. But

God also promised to raise this king

from the dead. He promised that he would

seat him at his right hand and give him

the throne of his father David until all

his enemies were under his feet. That

was the hope that Israel was looking

for. This king in whom their hope

rested. But Paul's message is that the

king already came and his name is Jesus

Christ.

Because Jesus was born in Bethlehem

through the womb of a virgin named Mary

who was of the house and lineage of

David. And Jesus came just as God

promised and lived a sinless life. And

he died on the cross to make atonement

for the sins of all mankind just as God

promised. And God raised him from the

dead just as he promised. And he

ascended into heaven and is seated at

the right hand of God just as God

promised. Because God has fulfilled

every ancient promise he's made thus

far. That means that every other ancient

promise that remains, God will also

fulfill through Jesus Christ. That

includes

putting his enemies under his feet. That

includes redeeming the nations to

himself.

That includes bodily resurrection from

the dead unto life eternal. These are

promises of God that all who believe on

Jesus will be forgiven. They will be

raised incorruptible to live in God's

everlasting kingdom. Paul says, "This

is why I'm called into question.

I preach that Jesus is the only hope of

our resurrection. That he's the Messiah.

He's the king.

It's at this point the Pharisees who

have proven in Acts to be far more open

and inclined to believe than the

Sadducees. It's almost like they come to

Paul's defense. If you look at verse

number uh nine, it says, "And there

arose a great cry. And the scribes that

were of the Pharisees part arose in

strobes, saying, "We find no evil in

this man. But if a spirit or an angel

hath spoken to him, let us not fight

against God." Does that sound familiar?

Because back in Acts chapter 4, when

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Peter and John were beaten, Galiel, the

man who trained the Apostle Paul, that

great Pharisee and rabbi of the Jewish

people, he stood up when they were

beating him and said, "Hey, watch what

you do to these men." Because if if this

Jesus is just like this guy who got a

great following and died and his

following faded or this guy who gained a

following and he died and it it faded.

If this is false, it'll fade away.

But he said, "But if not, do you want to

be found fighting against God?"

The Pharisees have a little more balance

here. In Acts chapter 15, we find that

Acts 15 · chapter mention

there were many Pharisees that believed

by this point. Perhaps some of those

believing Pharisees were even in this

council. We're not sure, but it could

be.

But what we find is they say, "Just as

Pilate said of Jesus, there's no evil in

this man."

What if a spirit or an angel did speak

to him? We don't want to be found

fighting against God. Nevertheless, it

says there in verse number 10 that there

arose a great dissension and the chief

captain fearing lest Paul should have

been pulled in pieces of them commanded

the soldiers to go down and taken by

force from among them and to bring him

into the castle. Now Paul is once again

in holding.

But notice what happens in verse 11.

This is significant.

And the night following the Lord, who's

that? Jesus.

The Lord stood by him and said, "Be of

good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast

testified of me in Jerusalem, so must

thou bear witness also at Rome."

Paul has just declared that he is on

trial for preaching that Jesus is the

hope of our resurrection from the dead.

And you know what happens the next

night? Jesus, notice his position, stood

by him. You ever needed someone to stand

by you,

to verify what you have said, to be a

witness to what you have done? You ever

had it where people were fighting

against you and somebody came and stood

beside you and somebody took up the

fight for you? That's what Jesus is

doing here. You know what that means?

The Jesus that Paul preached first of

all is alive and well just as he said.

And he appeared to him. And Jesus takes

the position of standing not on the side

of the chief captain, not on the side of

the Sadducees or the Pharisees, but on

the side of his witness Paul, which

verifies that what Paul says is true.

Jesus

is the only hope you have of

resurrection from the dead.

See, because the risen Christ

fulfilled ancient promises,

Theophilos could rest assured that

resurrection hope comes not with doubt

but with certainty.

And the promises that gave Theophilles

hope gives you hope today as well.

Because the faith that you have in

Christ is not a recent invention of man

but an ancient promise of God fulfilled

in Christ.

Our faith is unlike any other faith in

the world because it goes all the way

back to the creation of the world. The

God that we worship is the one who made

the sun, the moon, and the stars, the

earth, the land, and the sea, and all

that is in them. The God that we worship

goes back not just 2,000 years to Jesus,

but 6,000 years to Adam and Eve. He's

the one that they walked with in the

cool of the go in the garden, in the

cool of the day. He's the God who

appeared to Noah and where Noah found

grace in his eyes and and said, "I'm

going to judge the world, but I'm going

to save you and your family." It's the

same God who appeared to Abraham and of

the Caldes and called him and and set

him apart and as his chosen people. It's

the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It's the God who made all these promises

to restore his blessing to mankind by

sending the seed of Abraham whom Paul

identified in Galatians chapter 3 as

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

being Jesus Christ. He is the wounded

victor of whom God spoke after Adam and

Eve first sinned. He is the conqueror of

death, hell, and the grave. He is the

conqueror of sin. He is the conqueror of

Satan. This is what our faith is in. Not

something that just goes back to the

first century, but something that goes

all the way back to the creation of the

world. That is the God that we worship.

That is him.

He's the God

savior and fulfilled it.

The death and resurrection of Jesus was

always God's plan to facilitate the

forgiveness of your sin to save you from

the just wrath that he had against your

sin to reconcile you to a right

relationship with God and then to raise

you to everlasting life. Christ was

always God's plan. God sent his

witnesses into the world to testify as

Paul did of this gospel message so that

you could be saved, so you could be

forgiven. So you could have the hope of

the resurrection from the dead until

life eternal. And when Paul was in a

jail cell alone on trial for his faith,

the living risen Christ stood by him and

his witness.

And he he vowed there to protect Paul

until he could witness of him at Rome.

Also,

I tell you today, believers that you can

be certain of the resurrection because

it's rooted in ancient promises that

were fulfilled by the risen Christ.

What that means for you is that when

you're dealing with serious physical

ailments,

whether it be cancer, heart problems, or

failing kidneys, or when you're

diagnosed with a terminal illness or a

painful disease, friend, if your faith

is in Jesus Christ, you don't have to

fear death. You don't have to fear you

can you don't have to just hope you can

make it to heaven. No, you can mark it

down that you will get to heaven. You

can mark it down that you will be in the

presence of Jesus Christ. that even if

this health issue brings you down to the

grave, friend, it cannot defeat you. It

cannot destroy you. Because the

resurrection of Jesus Christ, if he was

crucified,

the the most excruciating form of death

possible, if he took that scourge that

Paul was threatened to take, if he took

it across his back, and his body was

broken open, and he died of suffocation,

and his heart failed, and if he died in

that way, was buried in a tomb for three

days, and by his own power raised from

the dead, don't you think that he has

the power to raise you from whatever

ailment that you face? friend, none of

it can keep you in the grave. Christ

will raise you.

It will not be the end of you because

the moment you pass from this life, you

awaken in the presence of Jesus Christ,

fully conscious, fully aware, and fully

thrilled to be in his presence.

I can't for a moment pretend to describe

what that looks like or feels like.

But it's what Paul taught. To be absent

from the body is to be present with the

Lord. And Paul was selected by God. And

he was sent by Jesus. And when he

preached the hope of the resurrection,

Jesus stood by him. And because he did,

friend, you can have real hope. Not hope

that comes with doubt, but hope that

comes with certainty.

But that state of eternal consciousness,

friend, is not even the end.

because you have the guarantee of a

bodily resurrection.

When Jesus rose from the dead, the

Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 called

him the first fruits of the

resurrection. You know what the first

fruits is? It's the very first grape

that comes on the vine. You know what

that first grape tells you? There's a

whole bunch more grapes coming.

Jesus is called the first fruits of our

resurrection. You want to know why they

celebrated the feast of first fruits?

Because that feast of first fruits

celebrated to God the fact that more

fruit is coming. And it was a picture, a

type, a shadow of Jesus Christ. That

just as he is the first fruits that

belongs to God, there are many more

resurrections that are going to come

through Jesus afterwards. And that

includes you. That you will be raised

bodily. Your when he returns, your grave

will split wide open. and your soul and

your spirit that is with Christ will be

reunited with that body, but a body that

was better.

I can't I can't guarantee that. I don't

have scripture that backs this up,

but I would imagine that if you're past

what you would call your prime,

you wouldn't consider this body that you

live in today glorious, would you? This

body that has knee aches. This body that

gets cancer, this body that that hurts.

My my ankle is swollen right now.

This isn't the body that Christ is going

to restore us to. He's going to restore

us to prime, even better than prime.

Because it's going to be a body that's

not distorted by sin. It's not wrecked

by corruption and decay. No, it's going

to be a glorified body after the image

of Jesus Christ. Jesus will have more

wounds on his glorified body than you

have because we will see the nails in

his hands and his feet. That's the hope

that you have believer perfectly whole.

you will live. This is this was one of

the most transformative

things that I came to understand through

scripture because when we think of

eternal life, we think of heaven. We

think of all that we we have this

wondering in our mind, don't we, of what

will that be like?

Are we going to be like floating spirits

and angelic bodies? You know, I don't

know how all that works, but it says

that we'll have a glorified body.

And what the Bible seems to describe

is that it will be just like today, but

only better.

As real as you are right now, as

material as you are, the way you talk to

people, the way you interact, the way

that we worship, the way that we sing

together, it's going to be just like

this, but way better in ways that we

can't describe. Why do you think the

prophets have trouble describing heaven?

Because it's indescribable. What we do

know is we will be there in soul and

spirit, but we will also be there in

body. That's what the Bible teaches. And

that means that you have real hope. You

don't need to fear death. You don't have

to worry that that if even if this body

decays, even if cancer takes my life,

even if I'm wrecked by the time, if I

can barely function and barely move, if

my mind is completely gone with dementia

or Alzheimer's, what I know is that when

I awake in the presence of Jesus Christ,

I won't forget a thing anymore. I'll

remember him in all of his glory and all

of his beauty. And I'll get to live

forever with him in a perfectly healed

body and mind. That is your hope.

But this is also a tremendous source of

hope for believers because many of us

know Christians that we dearly love who

have already passed from this life.

But this hope assures you that they

aren't really dead.

This is why the Bible refers to

believers who have passed as merely

asleep

because when Christ returns, they will

be awakened once again, restored to that

glorified body as well. They are in the

presence of Jesus as we speak. Their

faith has become sight and they know

Jesus face to face. But we also have

hope that they will be raised bodily and

you will see them again. You will talk

them again with them again. You will be

able to touch them, feel them, hold

their hand, hug them. You'll be able to

experience them in fullness as you did

here, but only without sin and without

the disease and without the decay. We

will we I don't think we can fully grasp

what that's like. I am talking about

your mother and your father that you

deeply love and deeply miss today. You

will see them face to face if they are

in Christ. Talking about your sister or

your brother that went home way too

early. That grandparent who raised you.

talking about that child you got so

little time with.

There will be a reunion bodily,

visibly in heaven. That is the

believer's hope. How can I be so sure?

Because this faith that we have in

Christ is not a recent invention of man.

It is an ancient promise from God

fulfilled in Christ.

If you know Jesus,

you have hope.

And if you don't know Jesus, you can

have hope even today.

The Bible says, I must tell you, as we

talked about in Daniel,

that in the last time

the dead will be raised,

some to everlasting life

and others to everlasting contempt.

judgment, destruction,

and the difference between the two is

your sin.

Sin separates you from God. A chasm that

is so vast that you can never bridge it

on your own. Which is why Jesus came. He

offered his life on the cross to atone

for your sin. That word atonement

was made up in the English language to

describe what the Bible says to make

somebody at one with God. At onement

that's what Jesus came and shed his

blood to do was to cover your sin to

satisfy God's wrath against you to make

payment for you to take the judgment and

the wrath of God for you. Why? So that

instead of you being condemned to

everlasting destruction, you can be

raised to everlasting

life.

All you must do is accept by faith the

reality that Jesus death and

resurrection

fulfilled God's plan to save your soul.

You must believe on Jesus Christ. And if

you'll believe on him today, you can

have not a hope that comes with some

doubt, but a hope that carries absolute

certainty that you will be raised to

everlasting life. Would you trust in

Christ today?

When someone asks you believer for the

reason you have this hope of the

resurrection,

you can tell them it's because my faith

is not a recent invention of man. It

comes from an ancient promise of God. It

goes all the way back to the beginning

of the world when God promised to send

his son to suffer in my place to rise

again and reign forever. And if God's

fulfilled every promise in Christ up to

this point, then why should I doubt that

he will fulfill his promise in Christ

who raised me from the dead? My hope is

rooted in an ancient eternal God with

ancient promises fulfilled in Christ. My

present hope comes from the ancient

promises of God because he lives. We

know that in Christ we will live also

and therefore we have hope. Let's pray.