When the Verdict Is Final | Acts 24:1–21 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life podcast.

What if the most important verdict of your life is not the one people give you?

What the God is.

Continue in our service and take a look at the book of Acts.

And this morning we're going to be in Acts chapter 24.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

We're going to be in Acts chapter 24 this morning.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

And um if you've if you've watched sports anytime in the last couple of years, you'll notice now the prevalence of instant replay in all of sports.

There used to be maybe just professional sports like professional football, where there'd be instant replay and the referees would you know get a call right.

But that has gone beyond professional level, and now that is at the collegiate level.

Collegiate level, you have instant replay, and there could be a play that's disputed, instant replay, instant replay is shown and is corrected or upheld.

Basketball has it now.

Players are upset about a foul.

That wasn't a foul, I blocked it.

Conf or no, you were fouled, you fouled them.

And I even caught this week, because I'm not really a big baseball fan, but I even caught this this week how Major League Baseball has now put into place instant replay.

Review.

And may be real demonstrative about it.

Step back and go, strike.

And it back in the day that was it.

Manager fly out mad and everybody upset.

But now you can challenge it.

And just because a player challenges a play doesn't mean that he's right.

It just means it's up for review.

I love that phrase.

You hear it a lot.

Imagine there's a game and you got a quarterback.

I don't know, Dak Prescott.

Anybody else has a fantasy football team and you want a little bit of advice, just find out who's playing Dallas.

Start that running back.

Start that receiving.

Anyway, imagine Dak goes back, he throws the ball.

It's in Jerry World.

Jerry's huge stadium and CD lamb.

You know, he lays out and he it looks like he caught the ball.

And he gets up and he's all excited and he's celebrating and first down.

And the whole crowd erupts.

First down, first down, we're on the way.

We're on the way, baby, first down.

Everybody's all excited.

And then you got the DB who just says, that's a little sign for do the review.

Challenge it.

Review.

The referee comes out and says, What?

The previous play is under review.

They'll go back, look at the instant replay.

There'll be like a uh is a some kind of group in another city, maybe New York, whatever.

They review it and they discuss it with the referees, and the referee comes about upon further review.

The call has been overturned because the review shows CD, he didn't catch the ball.

He trapped the ball and he knew he trapped the ball.

Somebody would put him on the stand, but he tried to make it sound like or look like he really caught the ball, but they caught it upon review.

Now you could have 75,000 people there all like, yeah, yeah, he caught it first down.

CD can be demonstrative first down and do everything else.

But upon further review, it doesn't matter how many people thought it was a catch, there's a judge or a group who judges rightly because they reviewed the play.

And there's one player, of course the guy teammates, but one player in particular, he knew because he was covering CD or the receiver, he knew it wasn't a catch.

How do you think he feels on the field?

Knowing that he tried to knowing that the call was wrong.

How do you think that defensive back who was covering CD, how do you think he should feel?

I would think he'd be totally confident that it doesn't matter if there are a million people in the stands if he didn't catch the ball.

Major League Baseball, it's a different sign.

Hey, strike out! What does he do?

He taps his helmet.

It's going to review.

If he knows it's a ball, the instant replay will show it was a ball, not a strike.

You can be confident when you know you can put it up for review.

How should Christians live in light of the fact that there will be a final ultimate review?

How should my objective this morning, let me lay it out plain for you, my objective when you leave here this place, and as you go about your week, that there will be times where people will see you make false assumptions and judgments and so forth.

But I want everybody in the room and whoever's watching to be able to go through life knowing you stand before God, righteous, holy, and just be able to go through life and go.

Or do that with me.

Now, some of y'all aren't going to need to practice, but y'all understand that there's gonna come a day when the Lord will say all of it is upon further review.

The ultimate judge will make that determination.

Now, I want to tell you this morning as we look at Acts 24, it's not just having confidence, knowing that the just judge will rule, it's not just about having confidence through life.

We'll see an example in the apostle Paul to not just kind of be be quiet and just be all you know confident, but to step into the moment.

Because what may look like an obstacle, as I talked about last week, what may appear to be an obstacle, what may appear to be all that's wrong done against you, may actually be the path that God is using.

Let's get to our kingdom truth.

This again is core orthodox Christian teaching, Christian beliefs.

You don't get away with it as you study God's word.

It is uh it's throughout scripture.

It's this God has appointed a final judgment for every person, and his judgment, his verdict is righteous, decisive, and eternally binding.

And again, if you want to take a look at the sermon notes, you can scan the QR code there and click sermon notes.

All of this is there, you can fill in the bubbles.

But this is the point.

God has appointed a final judgment.

There will be a review.

For every person, and this verdict is righteous, decisive, and eternally binding, cannot be overturned.

A couple passages that I'm gonna call your attention to just in the New Testament.

One of them is 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10.

2 Corinthians 5:10

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Now, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, the judgment has already been determined.

You are not guilty.

Jesus paid the penalty we deserved.

He is our advocate, he's the one who stands righteous and says, My righteousness is credited to her account, to his account.

He, the court is dismissed.

You can rejoice in that now.

But understand, God is still righteous.

Praise God.

Kylisa, God moved on Kylisa to bring that word about God being just.

He is loving and just.

Hallelujah.

And now we understand, he is the just judge.

Righteous, he rules with all righteousness.

Those who don't know Jesus, they have to stand before God alone with their sins.

That's a place where no one wants to be.

And there's not a second chance, there's no purgatory, there isn't another opportunity.

In Hebrews 9, 27 and 28, it says, and just as it is appointed for man to die once, no reincarnation.

And after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, there's not another Savior coming, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

That truth saints, that kingdom truth changes everything.

Changes our perspective, changes how we walk through life, changes everything.

When you know God has said not guilty and he has the final say so.

When you know that, when you know his final verdict is more important than anyone else's verdict, you can live with confidence and peace.

They may think that you don't have anything going for you, but you can say, God says, I'm righteous.

He calls me his child.

You can look forward to God saying, Well done, good and faithful servant.

So it changes everything.

We're gonna see today how it operated in Paul's life because as we've been studying over the last couple of weeks, we we've beginning in Acts 21, we arrived at the place where Paul is in Jerusalem.

All the three missionary journeys have completed.

His desire in the last over a year has been to collect an offering from Gentile churches for poor believers in Jerusalem to demonstrate the unity of the body of Christ.

Jew, Gentile, one body in Jesus.

Poor saints in Jerusalem, struggling, collecting a collection from multiple Gentile churches, and he had the opportunity to bring to deliver it in Jerusalem.

He brought it there to Jerusalem.

He he met with uh with James and Peter.

No, all right, Peter, and other leaders.

He met there and and they said, Well, there's still a lot of uh controversy about you.

Uh uh take up this uh these finish the vows of these uh of these men, and he does that, and he goes to the temple purified, and someone, one of the uh Jews from Asia, haters gonna hate.

They identify Paul and they start a lie that he brought a Gentile into the temple courts, area that areas that were forbidden for Gentiles to be in, non-Jews.

There's a ruckus, thousands of people are throwing up arms, and they start to beat Paul.

And it looks like Paul is gonna be killed.

All those others who told him on his journey, don't go to Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem.

It looks like they were right, they were right, but God had a man looking over who had authority over it all and saw all the madness.

He was the commander of all of the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem.

The commander, the tribune, his name was Claudius Lysias.

God providentially had him looking over and said, upon further review, rescued Paul.

Soldiers got him, carried him out.

And he didn't know what was going on, he didn't know why he was doing being beaten, but he gave Paul an opportunity to speak to the people.

He spoke to the people, Paul did in Hebrew, and after a while they got all upset.

And so he did, I don't know what's going on with this dude, but flog him.

Well, he played the big joker that he's a Roman citizen.

That stopped everything.

Lyceus put him in a prison just to hold him, to protect him.

Jesus appeared to him at night.

You will, as you've testified of me here, you will testify to me in Rome.

And how many of you know when Jesus says you will, there's no one who can overturn it.

The next day, all the Sanhedrin, uh the Jewish high council, they arrive because Lysa said, We're gonna have an informal investigation because I need to understand what's going on.

The whole council arrives, they lodge, they throw lies at him, and Paul says it's because of the hope of the resurrection.

It's the reason why I am here.

Don't miss this fact.

He brought the resurrection.

The Sanhedrin comprised of Sadducees and Pharisees.

The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, the Sanhedrin didn't, they started getting a fight.

Came to blows.

Lysias again, my Lord gets him into prison.

Lots of motion.

Look, that's takes him away.

Then over 40 men, as we covered uh a couple of weeks ago, over 40 men make a vow, we're not gonna eat or drink until we kill him.

God had Paul's nephew in earshot range.

He tells a centurion who had reported to Lysias what was going on, and the word got to Lysias through the nephew, and Lyas said, I just gotta get Paul out of town.

And he dedicates half of his men to take Paul out of town before the 40 can set up, 40 plus rather, can get set up to ambush Paul.

Lysias had nearly 500 soldiers to lead him out.

Because when God says you will make it to Rome, you're gonna make it to Rome.

They escort him out of Jerusalem to Caesarea.

He's been dropped off with Felix.

Felix, the governor.

He was the one that Lysaus reported to, and he wrote a letter and so forth.

Everything now has gone from mob to official court hearing.

It's official now.

He's before the governor.

Jesus said, over 20 years earlier, when he walked the earth, you will be brought before governors and kings.

There'll be opportunity to bear witness, and there he is.

Five days later, as we pick him up in verse 1 of chapter 24, we have we find out after five days, Paul has been there for five days.

Then the high priest Anis, or Ananias.

Ananias came down with some elders.

So you have the high priest, you have some of the elders, we assume that they were members of the Sanhedrin as well.

They came down because Felix wanted to know, but there were no charges against Paul.

So they come.

He has convened this assembly.

But it wasn't just the high priest and elders of the Jews.

There's also what?

With who?

A what?

A spokesman, one Tertulus.

Hmm.

Spokesperson.

Now, first of all, understand for the high priest to leave Jerusalem and to come with these elders, this shows you how important this is and how they view Paul.

He is viewed as an existential threat.

He is a threat to the system.

He's a threat to our control.

The high priest goes with elders and they hire a lawyer.

A lawyer, and people don't know exactly.

Was he Jew?

But he says we a lot.

But he is a lawyer and he is skilled in courtroom rhetoric.

He is skilled in how to present a case before the governor.

Where the Jews may not have been, he is an expert.

This is what he does.

This is his thing.

They have hired him to present the case.

And what we're going to see here is the case he brings out.

It's not random, it is structured.

This is according to how court cases were delivered.

This is what he did.

You will find the structure and we'll read it, and then we will see Paul's reply.

So, looking, they laid before the governor their case against Paul.

And when he had been summoned, Tertulus began to accuse him, saying, Since through you, since through you we enjoy much peace, and since through your foresight, oh most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation.

Everywhere, everywhere, in every way and everywhere.

Everywhere and everywhere, we accept this with what?

Boy.

Now we don't have to know a whole lot about uh politics, Jewish politics, Romans politics, all that.

But we don't know this.

He's laying it on pretty thick, isn't he?

He said, Through you, Felix, we enjoy much peace.

That's a lie.

The Jews despised Felix.

He was violent and he was reviled.

He had been a slave.

And there's a quote about him that's famous that look, he was a king that had a mind of a slave.

And that's how he ruled.

The Jews despised him.

But see, one of the first things that you would do in one of these court cases is you have to appeal to the judge to try to win the case before it even begins.

This was part of the rhetorical, this was part of the form, the rhetoric.

You start with praises.

This is the beginning.

I caught the box.

First down.

Trying to be demonstrative.

Meaning just adding a whole lot of extra sauce.

You know, if you got a good steak, you don't need to put a whole lot of sauce on it.

You don't need a whole lot of A1 and high and ketchup.

It's good right by itself.

But here he goes.

He goes into his thing.

Reforms are being made, meaning we are prosperous because of your policies.

And everywhere, and every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude.

Really?

But this is how they would do.

And he's an expert.

And then the next part, verse 4, but to detain you no further.

This is how these things would roll.

This is how the presentation.

We don't want to take up much of your time.

In one way or another, that would be stated.

Because of your importance and your significance and who you are, we don't want to take up much of your time.

We don't want to retain you any further.

Now watch this.

The way that he has appealed to Felix is important.

He's appealed to the fact that Felix has kept peace and is the one who has resulted in the prosperity of the Jews.

Because the way he is packaging now, he's going to package a religious, a religious issue or debate.

Tertullus is packaging it as a legal one.

Because what between the religious disputes, the Romans didn't get involved in that.

But if he can package this as a legal issue, as in he's a threat to the peace of Rome, if he can package it that way, then they can get Paul on charges and most likely get him executed.

So this is intentional.

This is deliberate.

He's trying to repackage this, and now he moves into his accusation.

But to detain you all further, I beg you, in your kindness, to hear us briefly.

For we have found this man to be a read it, a plague.

What?

See that word plague.

Plague is metaphorically used to describe a mischievous and malignant person, a pestilence, and menace to the public.

Menace.

A pest?

He's like a cockroach.

You find one, there are ten behind the walls.

He's a pest, a pestilence and malignant like a cancer.

If you let him go any further, all of this is going to spread.

You know what you do with a malignant tumor?

Try to extract it as soon as possible.

Get it out.

He's a plague.

Why do you call him a plague?

Here comes the accusation.

I'm going to tell you what it is.

He's got three points to his accusation.

He has three points to them.

All of this so far is just name-calling, right?

This is all uh accusations that just, you know.

But he now the exit, the actual accusation is that he is guilty of sedition.

Number one, sedition.

Stirs up riots.

He's guilty of subversion, not only doing the riots, but stirring up others with a calculated campaign.

There's somebody, there's different between someone who starts up a riot and someone who is the captain of unrest and riots and subverting authority.

Sedition, subversion, and sacrilege.

Listen to it.

He is one who stirs up riots among all the Jews.

He stirs up riots among all of the Jews.

Hear again the exaggeration?

All the Jews throughout the world.

That is sedition, rioting throughout the world.

And he is a what?

Ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

My goodness.

He is a ringleader.

He's a captain.

This is the second part of his argument.

The subversion.

He's the ringleader.

He's the captain of this sect.

Now, sect just means a school of thought, a way of thinking of things.

By itself, it's neutral.

Depends on the context.

The Sadducees were called a sect, Pharisees were a sect.

But he's saying here, he's using it in the negative sense.

I.e., he's not one of us.

Because we here are the religious leaders.

He represents a sect, and not only represents, he's the ring leader of a faction we don't approve of.

A sect of Nazarenes, the one and only place in the New Testament where Jesus' followers are called Nazarenes.

Jesus of Nazareth, and what good could what good thing can come out of Nazareth?

It was a slur.

What good can come out of Nazareth?

Jesus of Nazareth was used like a slur for some.

Here, his followers are called Nazarenes.

A slur.

Again, trying to put them in as a dangerous sect, like that Nazarene that was crucified 20 plus years before.

He's dangerous.

The sect of the Nazarenes, he's a ringleader, so subversion.

And then he even tried to profane the temple.

He was trying to profane the temple.

Sacrilege.

He tried to profane the temple, and then talking about bringing a Gentile, Trophimus, into the temple area.

The air part of the temple uh grounds that Jews were not allowed to go into.

He he's guilty of, he tried to profane the temple, but then what does he say?

We did what?

We seized him.

Lie.

You all know the story.

We've talked about it.

They didn't seize Paul.

They didn't seize Paul.

A mob formed.

And then they started to beat him.

And then he was arrested and nearly flogged.

Lysaus was the one who brought him out.

But they make it sound like they saved the day.

Mob activity, trying to kill Paul without bringing him to trial, you know, no court case, no witnesses.

They made it sound like they were doing civic duty.

Hey, we we were protective.

We seized him almost like they were heroic.

That's what Tertullus was paid to do.

Painted this way.

And then he says, Well, by examining him yourself, you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.

Another standard, part of the standard boilerplate template way of presenting.

You can present him yourself.

That's the point of being able to turn it back over to the judge.

Then the other, the Jews that were with him, they joined in.

Yeah! Yeah, he's right, all of that.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sedition, subversion, sacrilege.

Get him, get him, get him.

First down, take him out, Felix.

Try to be as loud as possible.

Because they know the game too.

Can we get Felix on our side by the thing he values the most?

Peace.

If he's a danger to peace, take him out.

That's what they are going after, what they are appealing to.

That's their argument.

That's what they present.

Now, you'll notice in the ESV, there's no verse seven.

Haskell sees it in his text.

I'm going to read it for you.

Oh, want everybody to be able to see it.

There's no verse seven because some manuscripts that were uh created later than the event they didn't have.

They had a verse seven, but the ones closer to the events, they we found them, some of them, and they don't have verse seven.

So you'll notice it as a footnote in the text.

And it says, this from the New King James Version.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Let me just read it.

He even tried to profane the temple.

This is verse six, and we seized him.

Here's the extra part.

End of verse six and verse seven, and wanted to judge him according to our law.

We wanted to judge him for ourselves.

But the commander Lysaus, why'd they throw him in it?

It's like they threw him under the bus.

He wasn't there.

I mean, in terms of it, he wasn't there to defend himself.

But hey, they took him in.

The commander Lysaeus came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come to you.

What the what?

This all lies now.

He's been making all kinds of stuff up, blaming Lysaeus.

He took him by violence.

We wanted to, we seized him to judge him accurately according.

No, you wanted to kill him.

Lysaus saved him, but they have turned it and twisted it.

Why?

Because we don't want to take up much of your time, Felix.

Lysaus, we would have handled this ourselves.

This is really a religious issue.

Give it back to us.

This doesn't belong in Roman courts.

We have jurisdiction over this.

Let's continue what we started.

Let's continue try to kill him.

Notice through all of this, Paul is silent.

Because there's something that you know you have peace when you know there is a judge.

And upon further review, oh, you can have all the people in the room celebrating, shouting, and patting themselves on the back.

But there will be.

So he can hold his peace.

Before we get that, here's the first Kingdom Life principle I want us to get to.

We only have two this morning.

The first one is this don't let confidence be a substitute for evidence.

I am bringing this to you as someone who is also in the stadium watching all of this stuff played out in social media and in TV.

There's all kinds of things happening on the field.

And that whatever the whatever you name the field, you name it, politics, government, workplace, uh, everything that are going on.

There are things that are played out that are for like eye candy.

It's intended to stir you up and to cheer and to come alongside somebody.

They're my team.

There's so much tribalism in our culture.

I urge you, saints, don't get caught up in it.

Don't get caught up in it.

Do not let confidence, because there are a lot of people who will sound like they're right, pump their chests and everything else, and pat each other and look like they're right.

But confidence is not a substitute for evidence.

We are called to be a people of truth.

We are called to be a people to wait and discern before giving assessments.

And everyone wants us to rush to quick judgments.

No, saints, no saints.

That is not for us to do.

Before you accuse, understand, pull back.

Do you have evidence?

Do you know?

Before you choose a side, have you heard the other side?

Before you tear down someone's reputation, someone's name, before you do that, do you really have reason?

I'm urging you as and many on social media, don't repost.

Fact check.

Before you repost, understand your voice saints.

Because here's the thing: if you are known for jumping on every train, if you're known to be a cheerleader for every fringe, belief, and theory, if you're known for that and always reposting, what's gonna happen when you try to say Jesus is raised from the dead?

If you're known for always getting behind the latest thing, oh COVID, the cause of COVID is 5G.

That's what people believe.

I got that message.

It's 5G.

Well, now you look back six years later, but you know what?

If you posted that, that might be on your feed.

Do you know it's true?

Well, I tell you what, you know what we do know is true?

The tomb is empty.

Jesus raised with all power, seated at the right hand of the Father, and there is one way.

There is He is the way, the truth, and the life, and salvation is only found in Him.

Neither is there salvation in any other.

There's only one name, and at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow.

We do know that.

I tell you what, before you post something else, before you hop on a bandwagon, post about Jesus.

Tell somebody about Jesus raised from the dead, because a lot of things we don't know, it's okay to say.

I really don't know how to feel about that right now.

But I can tell you though, if those things are true, that is wrong according to God's word.

But God is going to make all things right.

There's a new world coming.

I don't know about politics in a particular candidate because I don't follow a donkey.

I don't follow an elephant.

I follow a lamb.

He is the lamb of slavery for the foundation of the world.

And let me tell you what his name is.

His name is Jesus.

Now, does your candidate believe that?

Well, I think so.

Are they putting in policies?

Let me know.

Maybe I'll support those policies, but I support a king.

Those are the only ones I'm that's he's the only one I'm gonna have pom poms for.

No, okay.

I'm one of the guy cheerleaders, right?

I'm one of the guy cheer.

I'm not one.

Y'all know what I'm saying, right?

He is my candidate of choice, he's my king.

Whole lot of AI controversy and speculation.

Let's just be honest.

We don't know.

We don't know what the future is going to be if the Lord tarries.

But we do know how the story ends.

We can't say that.

It's like Skynet.

I've said it myself.

It's like Terminator.

They're taking over.

They're gonna take it to Skynet like Terminator.

Ain't gonna end like that.

Because Jesus said, I'll be back.

Jacob, did you get that reference?

Okay, good.

I make sure I when I refer to some movie that's in the early 80s, I do my Gen X and uh, I'm sorry, Gen the Millennials and Gen Alpha Gen Z, you know, check.

Did you get that one in Terminator?

You can Google that.

Terminator.

There's like nine Terminator movies right now, but there was the first one, right?

Let's look at a couple passages to underscore that life principle.

Proverbs 18, 17.

The one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him.

Upon further review.

Review.

1 Timothy 5 19.

Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

Just because there are a lot of reposts doesn't mean it's right.

Just because there is a crowd doesn't mean the crowd is right.

We are to stand on the side of truth.

And I will tell you, even as you look upon me, and I do my best to prepare, to study, to have word that is truth every Sunday.

I'm serving what the Lord has given me, and He's He's the cook.

I'm just getting the ingredients.

But if I ever come up on this stage and preach heresy, just because you've trusted me years and if I preach a lie, tell our elders.

First of all, he's gonna tell it.

He uh don't know Pascal, he's the first one who said over twenty about twenty thirty years ago, God has a call in your life and you need to do it.

And he's still with me.

Amen.

Amount of confidence I have because you're here, Pascal.

I love you too.

But just because a respected leader says it doesn't mean it's right.

Always evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.

Well, now Paul gets his chance.

The Jews have joined in the charge.

And when the governor had nodded him to him to speak, look at that.

Felix knows he's somebody, don't he?

He don't need to speak.

Okay, Paul, you he's like.

He nods at him to speak.

Paul replied.

What I want you to see is that he replies in the same structure, but in a different way.

Watch.

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

That's his opening.

Hey, you've been in that position for a long time.

So I'm real happy to be in front of you to share my defense.

No flattery, no buttering up, no extra sauce.

Because you know, when you got truth, you don't have to put a whole lot of sauce on.

We got a good piece of meat.

When you know what the review is going to show, put I we're gonna put this on review, review the tape.

You don't have to add a whole lot of flattery, you're just gonna speak the truth.

Then he says, you can verify.

That is not more than 12 days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.

It hasn't even been two weeks since I went up to worship, since I arrived in Jerusalem and and went up to worship.

It hasn't even been 12 days since I went up to worship, and they didn't find me.

I went up to worship, not sacrilege, I went up to worship, and they didn't find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city.

Watch this.

Where Tertullus Brought accusations, brought insults, Paul brought a timeline.

It hadn't even been twelve days.

How could I have stirred up a riot in less than twelve days?

If I have was able to do all of that, you can surely find witnesses, because it wasn't twelve years ago, it was twelve days ago.

And if I'm a ringleader guilty of subversion, you ought to be able to find somebody who was in the meeting.

You can verify.

Anybody at the temple that saw me acting sacrilegious?

Anyone actually see Trophemus who he was accused of bringing?

Anybody actually see him?

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.

They said, everywhere and in all places, name a place.

Name somebody's house.

Name a synagogue.

Where in the temple did it happen?

Facts.

Can they provide a witness?

No, these folks got a whole lot going on, but uh they got all of their robes and they've paid this dude, Tertulus, who obviously was high dollar and all of that.

But what they can't produce are witnesses.

They can't produce eyewitnesses, and Paul exposes it right away.

That's why he's been so calm, cool, and collected.

They can't produce anyone who legitimately was present and certainly they weren't there.

See, that's why the scribes and Pharisees back when Jesus was walking around.

That's how they had to pay somebody to lie.

They had to pay multiple people.

They schemed all of this well in advance.

It's only been 12 days since I went up to worship, and they didn't find me disputing, rioting, or anything else, stirring up a crowd.

I'm not a ringleader 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.

There's no proof.

Sedition, subversion, sacrilege, none of the above.

Didn't riot, didn't stir anyone else to riot.

And I came to worship.

I didn't come with sacrilege.

Why would I have done all the purification and everything else?

If you review the tape, you'll see.

It wasn't a catch.

I'm confident of that.

But what I want you to see here is how Paul shifts the conversation.

Masterful way that he shifts the conversation.

And this is exactly how he would do.

Every time in the situation like this, he doesn't just defend himself because we'll see it's not about saving his skin.

But he says, This I confess to you.

Let me tell you what I am guilty of.

That according to the way, according to the way, which they call a sect.

This is what Christians call themselves.

They call themselves followers of the way.

Christians was a term others used to describe them.

They call themselves followers of the way.

Not a way, the way.

The way, the one and only.

And he says, according to the way, which they call a splinter, an unauthorized splinter of Judaism, it is the way.

I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law and written in the prophets.

I.e., what I have been telling and what I believe and what I have shared is all consistent with the law and the prophets.

Don't just do it the law, first five books.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, all of them too.

Consistent, i.e., this isn't a splinter faction group.

It is all in line, having a hope in God, who, which these men themselves accept that there will be a resurrection, both of the just and the unjust.

Do you see how Paul shoehorns the gospel in this conversation?

Look here.

Look, Felix didn't ask him about Jesus.

He didn't ask him whether it was raised from the dead.

He didn't ask him anything.

Jesus isn't on court.

He's not on the stand, but I'm gonna bring him up anyway.

Because listen here, that the whole case, God is the one who has the final verdict.

So all I gotta do is remember, he's up in the booth.

I'm just knowing there's a review coming, but meanwhile, why before he comes with his verdict, let me share with you what I am guilty of.

Let me share you what this is really all about.

It's because it's about the resurrection of both the just and the unjust, the resurrection, the raising of the dead.

That's why I am here, and that is what they supposedly also believe in, that they have accepted.

Now let's take a look at scripture and see what Paul is talking about.

Scriptures like Daniel 12, 2.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

We haven't found Paul talking much about the resurrection of the unjust, but we do see it here because it's true, just and unjust.

And the reason why I bring it, I wanted to bring out that kingdom truth about God being the final judge and his verdict being final and righteous is because Paul is going to come back to this every time he is in front of an official court.

He brings the fact that you all are looking at me as if you all are the final authority and I'm just should be here pleading for your grace.

He points to a higher authority.

He points to this true judge and his courtroom that is in heaven.

And so because he is above you, I can boldly declare the truth unequivocally and without fear.

This he keeps coming back to it.

And saints, let us all kind of take this as a template for how we are to conduct our lives and in our conversations with those who don't know Jesus.

Everything being centered around the gospel, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

Come on, keep coming back to it.

Shoehorn the gospel every way that you can, because that's what this life is all about.

Understand, Paul knew that this was the reason he was here.

He says, For I always take pains to have a clear conscience towards both God and man.

I have a clear conscience, I haven't done anything wrong that I know of.

I have a clear conscience and also a clear conscience before men, meaning I'm I'm blameless, not sinless, but blameless.

No one can come and bring an accusation.

I challenge all of them to tell you what they found me doing.

Evidence.

I have a clear conscience before God and men.

And now that that's done with, the reason why I do that is because there is a resurrection of the just and the unjust.

Judgment is coming.

And my being here today in front of you, Felix, is not about trying to get an escape from what might happen, because the Lord has already told me I'm gonna make it to Rome.

It's not about getting an escape.

It's what Jesus had said way back, 20 plus years earlier.

They will bring you before before all of this, they will lay their hands on you, persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake.

13.

This will be your.

This will be your opportunity to bear witness, to testify about me.

What looks like an obstacle is actually the path itself.

All the chatter and all of the noise and even false accusations against you, it is a platform.

It's an opportunity to showcase that you've been living righteous to the best, you know, and you're evil, you're willing to confess where you haven't.

You have a clear conscience, and also to give testimony of Jesus Christ.

Don't just label what's happened to you wrong.

It is wrong, but it's an opportunity.

Every day, every conversation, every accusation, all of the opposition is an opportunity.

God wouldn't have kept you here if there wasn't promise and potential in the next moment.

He would have taken you out, but he didn't because there's still work for you to do.

You are still alive.

You have sickness and all that in your body.

They said you wouldn't make it, but you're here because he has a purpose for you.

That in every opposite, every struggle, all of the pain, all of the treatments, you had an opportunity to share Jesus and the hope of the resurrection.

Do not miss your moment.

Do not miss your opportunity.

Declare that Jesus raised from the dead, he has the final judgment.

And understand you can live with confidence.

Give them that moment.

That's why he has peace.

He knows his job.

Do you know your job?

Well, I'm not really somebody who's really good about preaching or teaching.

You got a testimony.

Do you know when Paul was in front of thousands that day?

He didn't go into a long exposition of text.

He shared his testimony.

Who I was before Jesus?

How the Lord saved me, and how my life has changed.

You do have a testimony, right?

You do know you were a sinner.

Apart from God, separated, and only hope for you was judgment.

Do you realize that that's that marked your life and you had no hope, separated from God, but Jesus encountered you, stopped you, and and you fell on your knees.

You confessed Jesus as Lord, turned away from your sin, believing in him, and you were raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, and now your hope is beyond this life.

You have eternal life.

That is your testimony, right?

You friend, not that you come to church.

Being in a garage doesn't make you a car.

Coming to church doesn't make you a Christian.

You have to decide that you're gonna follow Jesus and make him your Lord.

I hope you've made that decision.

And if you have made that decision, you know there is a final judge.

He has the ultimate say so.

His verdict trumps all of man's verdict, even the verdict you've made about yourself.

I'm guilty of all of this.

I'm just a wrong person, but God loved you before the foundation of the world, and he's kept you here for a purpose to testify.

You can't do that in heaven.

There's no one to tell Jesus about in heaven.

No one's impressed.

Oh, yeah, he's right there.

You see that?

Brian, it's like shining.

Like I'm gonna tell somebody in heaven about Jesus.

Do you know Jesus?

Yeah, let me tell you.

Not only will everyone believe in heaven, demons believe already.

And every knee will bow, everyone will confess Jesus is Lord.

It's just you've gotten in early by grace.

Oh, thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Jesus.

He's turned this whole thing around.

I talked about the big joker being his Roman citizenship, and he didn't play that until he had the right time.

This could be like the king of spades right here.

His righteous life and his testimony to the resurrection of Jesus.

It was undeniable.

It changed the whole table.

Things moved right there.

I always take pains to have a clear conscience before both God and men.

Then he gets back to answering the accusations.

Sometimes you just need to insert the gospel and you can come back out.

You don't have to push anybody for a decision.

You don't want to manipulate anybody to Christ.

He says, now after several years, I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings.

He's giving a timeline.

This is why I was in Jerusalem.

I had collected this offering.

That's alms, giving, an offering for the poor to bring alms to my nation, fellow Jews, to present offerings and alms.

This is why I was here.

No sacrilege.

I came to support fellow Jews.

But while I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, not causing a riot or anything like that.

They saw me purified in the temple without a crowd or any tumult, noise, you know, everything else.

None of that.

No ruckus.

But some Jews from Asia, haters gonna hate, they they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation should they have anything against me.

Or else, let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they have found when I stood before the council.

Let those one, the ones who accused me of defaming, you know, the temple and and defiling it, they should be here right now.

It wasn't that long ago, it was less than two weeks ago.

How come they didn't make the trip?

Because you can't find them, they don't exist.

Oh, they made an accusation, but they didn't see anything.

They didn't see that take place.

And any one of these guys right up here, you know, all the Sanhedrin, all these leaders, hey, if they've got anything to say, any wrongdoing they found any evidence, let them bring it.

Oh, but I am guilty of this.

No how he brings it right back to the gospel.

Other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them.

He's speaking of that council that Lysaeus had convened, you know, just a couple days earlier.

Other than this one thing, I cried out while standing among them, it is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.

It's because of Jesus, the resurrection, that truth, Jesus raised from the dead, he wasn't a false prophet.

He is the one that Israel has been looking for for generations.

Because Paul knew who God was, the judge, loving and just because he knew that, and because he knew his eternal destiny, he wasn't concerned about all of this, and my encouragement is leverage every opportunity to point people to Jesus.

Sometimes we, including myself, can bemoan our situation, we can give it way too much power.

We make the mountain bigger than it actually is.

Our imaginations run away with us, and we see stories and we read stuff, and before you know it, you know, these algorithms, if you click on an article or something, it's gonna give you more of the same.

So there's an accumulation effect.

Oh, negativity.

Are you gonna make it?

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.

Is there going to be any hope?

We can sit around and just bemoan our situation and not see the opportunities that are in them that we didn't have if we weren't in the situation.

And not saying that the situation feels better, but I'm saying it has purpose.

And not saying that that it's not wrong, if something wrong was done to you, not saying that there is evil in the world, but God has left you here, and he's allowed wrong to happen because he's going to use it to draw others to himself, and not everybody can handle adversity, not everybody is built for adversity.

But you, if you have a struggle, a challenge, you got the spirit of the living God in you, and God who knew you would encounter that and didn't allow more than you can handle without his strength.

Understand, there's a more than we can handle that we piled on us, but by the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, we are more than conquerors, we can overcome, and he's equipped you.

You can speak confidently of Jesus.

View your circumstances differently.

Remember, this is Paul's mindset, and let it be ours.

He was less concerned about what his circumstances were doing to him than what God could do through him.

And we see this played out throughout Paul's life.

We have seen it, uh, we saw it played out.

Did I get too far?

There it is.

We saw it played out in Philippi.

Going in prison, everything else, earthquake, and then the aim of the doors flying open to the prison, and he stayed there.

Because the Lord didn't tell him to move.

He didn't interpret that as a way as a time to leave.

And the Lord brought the jailer to him.

What must I do to be saved?

If he and Silas were beaten just for that opportunity to share the good news with that Philippian jailer, it was all worth it.

Don't waste the conversation, don't waste your opportunity.

Don't, don't, don't diminish the difficulty.

Don't waste a moment.

Leverage it.

Speak the truth.

Live the truth.

Be confident that you have a judge who is all about righteousness and truth.

And he has the final say-so.

Let me wrap up with this.

There's a whole lot of noise in the stands.

And there's you have an adversary who puts on a big time show.

He loves to say how he has defeated you and you are weak and so on and so forth.

He's got a lot of bluster.

He's got a lot of people who are cheering for your demise and downfall.

But saints, you know the truth.

He's out there saying, hey, look, if God really loved you, you wouldn't have all of this going on.

He might use other people to say that.

The further the previous play is under review.

You know the Lord is going to review everything.

And because of Jesus, the verdict is not guilty.

There will be a resurrection of the just and of the unjust.

And therefore, in front of everyone, in every platform, in every platform that opposition gives you, every platform that wrong give wrongdoing or accidents give you, use that platform.

Optimize it for the Lord's glory.

Testify to Jesus.

And you'll realize the purpose for that moment.

One to destroy you, but for God to get the glory through you.

Don't miss your moment.

Lord, thank you for your grace.

Thank you for the victory that we have in Jesus.

Lord, I'm so glad we won't suffer your wrath.

All of us who have professed Jesus, I pray for those who haven't that they will come to the end of themselves.

And Lord, you bring them there.

Help us, Lord, to remember you are the just judge.

Your verdicts, they are enduring.

Earthly judges can get it wrong.

Earthly courts can be manipulated.

And Lord, earthly judges' judgments are temporary, but yours is eternal.

Help us to set our minds, our hearts on things above.

On that day, when you say, Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord.

We long for that.

We love you.

In Jesus' name's sake, let us say.

Amen.