Jesus in His Church - Paul..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. In this chapter, Beloved of Christ, now the Apostle Paul is going to present his defense before the people and before the crowds in Jerusalem. So let's read together, paying much attention to each one of the words.

Please pay attention to the whole narrative as the Apostle presents his defense before the crowds. enraged crowds in Jerusalem, chapter 22. It says, brothers, well, actually, let me just take that back. Let's actually read it perhaps better from chapter 21 from verse 37, so that we will get just the little context there before he starts speaking there. So chapter 21, verse 37.

As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, may I say something to you? And he said, Do you know Greek? Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and let the 4,000 men of the Assassins out into the wilderness? Paul replied, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.

And when he had given permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people, And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying, Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said, I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia. but brought up in the city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as all of you are this day. I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed towards Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished. As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Soul, soul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.

Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. And since I could not see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. And one, Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight.

And at that very hour I received my sight and saw him. And he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one and to hear a voice from his mouth, for you will be a witness for him to everyone of what you have seen and heard. And now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name. When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.

And I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believe in You. And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him. And he said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles." Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to leave.

And as they were shouting and throwing off their clothes and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barrack, saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this. But when they had stretched him out for the weeps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, said, lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned? When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, what are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. So the tribune came and said to him, tell me, are you a Roman citizen?

And he said, yes. The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum. But Paul said, but I am a citizen by birth. So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. And the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet. And he brought Paul down and set him before them." Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Now, beloved of Christ, as we continue in this study of the Book of Acts, now we are arriving to this very crucial moment in which, as I said last week, the life of the Apostle is going to change.

He's not going to be a free man anymore, and his liberty, his freedom is going to be taken from him. And as I said last week, also this chapter 21 and chapter 21, 22 show us the conclusion of his missionary journey that finishes in the city of Jerusalem. And here in Jerusalem is not only where his missionary journey finishes, but also where he is going to be taken from his freedom and from his and from his liberty. Now, remember that the apostle desired to be in Jerusalem when we read in Acts chapter 20, verse 16, We knew that it was the desire of the Apostle to go into Jerusalem, even if it was possible there in verse 16 in chapter 20, even if it was possible on the day of Pentecost. And we know that bound in the Spirit, the Apostle Paul had been told by God himself through the Spirit that in Jerusalem he was going to be imprisoned and that he was going to suffer.

The Holy Spirit of God did not only show the destiny of what was going to happen to the Apostle, but He confirmed that through his journey to Jerusalem. So, at Tyre and Caesarea, through the mouth of the brethren, and even through the mouth of prophets, he confirmed that that was which was going to happen to the apostle. But the same spirit of the Lord that was with him as he was revealed all of this truth, and I was with him as he was going to that direction, strengthened and empowered the apostle to actually go there and not only to be willing to be in prison, but also be willing even to give his life, he said. in Chapter 21. Now, brothers and sisters, something very important that we read there in Acts, Chapter 20, verse 16, and that is that the time of the approaching of the arrival of the apostle to Jerusalem is in the time of Pentecost.

So if you remember from Acts chapter 2, in the day of Pentecost, many people will come to the city, many Jews from Israel or from Jerusalem better, and many Jews, the vouchers from many different places will come to the city. So that means that there were so many hundreds or thousands of people that were gathered there in Jerusalem. Now, this is very important because we need to picture, we need to see in our minds the controversy and the opposition of the apostle. That is the apostle on his own against this multitude of wicked, unrighteous people that want to kill him and destroy him. No, beloved of Christ, one thing is to be opposed to a person and to see the anger and the wrath of a person in his face and the things that he says he wanted to kill a person.

But another thing is to see hundreds and thousands of people that are willing to take your life and that are willing actually to not only imprison you, but indeed to take your life. That was the situation in which the Apostle Paul was before all of this multitude, this crowd of enraged people that wanted to destroy him, that were accusing him falsely with slanderous accusations of things that were not true. And it's in this context, beloved of Christ, that the apostle is going to present his defense. He is going to address this crowd, this multitude, these many people that are accusing him. He's going to address them and he's going to present a defense of the faith that he has in this Lord Jesus Christ, this Jesus of Nazareth.

He's going to present that defense in front of all of these crowds. And in a sense, what we have in chapter 22 is not only a spiritual defense that the apostle will present of the faith that is in him, of the hope that is in him between or before these crowds and this multitude, But also, if you pay attention to the reading, once these people reject the defense, because that's what we read, right? In verse 22, we're told that up to that point, they heard him, but they rejected the defense of the apostle. After that, we see another type of defense, and that is a more natural defense that apostle will present, but now before the Romans. and that the Romans will come to arrest him and to inflict punishment upon him, a very similar punishment that the Lord Jesus Christ went through, because he says, I'm a Roman citizen.

Is it lawful? Is it legal for you to for you to flock me and to do these things to me? And he presents, in a sense, a natural defense, which is accepted by the centurion and by the tribune. very different to the defense that he presented to the crowd of Jerusalem, who rejected completely the defense that he was presenting of the hope of the faith that was in the Apostle. So what we're going to be doing tonight, beloved of Christ, is something very similar to what we did last week.

And that is that I'm going to present to you the highlights, the historical highlights of the narrative of the chapter, because I consider and I think and I know from Scripture that it's very important for us to know the development of the narratives and the stories that we read in Scripture. And once we see the highlights and the important things from this chapter, I want to point you to something that we can learn as a church from Chapter 22, from the broader context, perhaps, of this defense that the apostle presents before the people and before the crowd of Jerusalem. So the first thing that we're going to do is see the highlights of the historical narrative of this context, the things that we have just read. and after that we will just shortly meditate upon what we can learn as a church and as a congregation from the things that we see here. So let's start with the first thing, and that is the defense that the apostle will present before the crowds there in Jerusalem.

And as we read and as we know, all of these people in Jerusalem, they were wanting to kill the Apostle. They were enraged. They were hating the Apostle and the things that he was saying. And the providential hand of the Lord is going to come and rescue the Apostle from the hands of all of these crowd, all of these people of Jerusalem. And He's going to use a person.

And that person is introduced to us in verse 33 of chapter 21, and this is going to be the tribune. If you have a different translation, perhaps this is translated as a commander or as a chief, a captain perhaps in your Bible. This tribune is going to come, which is a general if you want, or a chief commander, or a chief captain of the army of the Romans. And in verse 33 of chapter 21 says that he arrested him by arresting the apostle. He basically saved him from the crowds that wanted to kill him and to destroy him.

Now it is this tribune that is going to play a very important role in the next chapters. We are told in verse 37 that he's actually going to confuse the Apostle with an Egyptian that seems to be an instigator of the society there in Jerusalem, who had carried or taken 4,000 people with him. And he thought that the Apostle Paul was this Egyptian who perhaps he was as the chief captain or as the tribune or as the one that was in charge of the army. Perhaps he was actually trying to find this Egyptian. He's confused.

He confused the Apostle with that person. But when he hears the apostle that he's speaking in Greek, he says, oh, so you know Greek, so you're not an Egyptian. And then the apostle introduces himself, saying that he's actually a Jew. He's from the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. Now, the Lord providentially saved the life of Paul through this tribune.

And this tribune is not only the first time that we're going to see it here in the narrative of Acts, we're going to see him more times and we're going to see him saving providentially the life of the apostle. We are told in verse 24 of chapter 22, if you put your eyes there, that after the crowd rejected the defense that the apostle presented and they were all screaming once again that he needed to die, that he was to die. In verse 24, we are told that the tribune, the same person or the commander of the chief captain, ordered him to be brought into the barracks because he saw that these people were going to kill him again. So he ordered to bring him into the barracks once again. And this is the same person that is going to be questioned about the Roman citizenship of the apostle.

We are going to see even in chapter 23, Beloved of Christ, that once the apostle is presenting now his defense before the council, not before the crowd. This is in chapter 23. We're going to see if you go to chapter 23 in verse 10, you will see that the tribune, that this commander, that this chief captain once again is going to play a very important role. We're told in verse 10, And when the dissension became violent, when he was given his defense before the Sanhedrin or the council of the priest, and when the dissension became violent, the tribune, which is the same person, the commander or the chief captain, afraid that Paul would be turned to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks. Now, the Lord is protecting the Apostle Paul through the decision that this man is making.

Now, you will remember, and we're going to study it in chapter 23, that some people, some of the Jews will come together to even vow to kill and destroy the Apostle. We are not going to eat, we're not going to drink until we kill this Apostle. And then the Lord is going to use again this tribune, that now we will know his name, In verse 26 of chapter 23, he will use him again to basically save the life, once again, of the Apostle Paul. Actually, if you read it there from verse 24, it says, "...also provide," verse 23, "...

then he called two," this is the tribune, "...then he called two of the centurions and said, Get ready 200 soldiers with 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely to Felix the governor." We're going to see this in the next chapter. And he, this is the tribune, wrote a letter to this effect.

Clodius Lysas, this is the name of this man that was the first one in chapter 21 to arrest the Apostle, to remove him from the danger of the crowds in Jerusalem, the one that confused him with Egyptian and the one that is also once the people rejected the defense of the Apostle that is going to take him back into the barracks. This man is going to be used by the Lord to save the life of the Apostle a couple of times providentially, and even he's going to play a certain role even into chapter 24. This is the man that the Lord uses not only to save the life of the apostle, but also to give him permission to address the crowds. Because we are told there in the end of chapter 21 that the apostle asked for permission to address the crowds, and the permission is given by this man, Claudius. Lysias, the tribune, the commander or the chief captain.

So this is by this providential act of the Lord. This is how the apostle now is ready to address the crowd, the crowd that is enraged, that wants to kill him, that wants to destroy him. This is the readiness of the apostle now to address them now. Before we address the defense of the Apostle Beloved of Christ, it's very important that we understand the accusation that he was presenting his defense against. If that makes sense, it's important that we understand why he was accused off so that we will see the structure and how it flows when he's presenting his defense in Chapter 22.

So pay attention to verse 27 in chapter 21, and then we will see here the three charges that the people are bringing to the apostle. So we are told in verse 27 that when the seven days were almost completed, this is of the vow that he was joining these four men, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, men of Israel, help. This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Now, what was that place? That place was the temple, was the temple.

He was at the temple there, right? So the accusation that these people are bringing is against the people of Israel, against the law and against the temple. Now, beloved of Christ, I just want you to see how it was the Jews, it says, that stirred up the whole crowd. That is the crowd that was gathered, like in the times of Pentecost, hundreds and thousands of people that were moved and were convinced by the stirring up of these Jews that were bringing this accusation to the Apostle. We are told now after in chapter 21, in the end, that when the many people came to accuse the Apostle, there was confusion, that some people were accusing him of a particular thing and some other people were accusing him of another thing.

I want you to see there the deceitfulness of Satan moving these Jews to, first of all, bring and stir up the crowds and then in the midst of confusion, just create all of these cows in this movement against the man, Paul, who was in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't know how to present to you the danger of what he was witnessing and seeing. There are hundreds and thousands of people against him. The flesh naturally will tell us that the response that we have to have is fear and feel, you know, like that. I need to get away from this.

I need to hide. But the apostle is now going to give his face to all of these people and present indeed a defense. Those are the three charges or the three accusations against the people that he's teaching against the people, against the law and against the temple. And the way that the apostle is going to present his defense is very glorious and is very interesting because he is going to point to his personal testimony of salvation and around the testimony of salvation of what the Lord Jesus Christ did in his salvation. He is going to present the defense before this multitude, this enraged multitude of people that wanted to kill him and wanted to destroy him.

But before we get into that, I need to give you, I need to point your attention to something very important, beloved of Christ. And that is that it's very important for us to have clarity and certainty that the accusation that these people were bringing to the Apostle against the Apostle was completely false. That the Apostle was never teaching against the people of Israel, was never teaching against the law of Moses and was never teaching against the temple. This is very important because sometimes when we're trying to do our theology or the relationship of the new covenant and relation to the old covenant, sometimes we interpret that through the lenses of the controversy of Paul against the Jews. And we conclude that the controversy that Paul had with the Jews is the same relationship that the New Covenant had with the Old Covenant.

And then we see them in opposition, just as Paul was against or in controversy with the Jews, as if the New Testament was in controversy and opposition with the Old Covenant. This is very important. Paul was not against the law, nor the temple, nor the people of Israel. Paul was against the false interpretation of the Jews of the law of Moses, the temple and the traditions of the people of Israel. And he's going to present himself as being in alignment with the law and with the prophets.

Even if I need to show you that, it's very important that you read it, because sometimes we are tempted to read, and I know that this happens, the controversies that the Apostle Paul had with the Jews, as if it was against Moses. And he was not in controversy with Moses. He was not in controversy with the law. He was in controversy or disagreement with a false interpretation of the Jews, of Moses, and of the law. So if you go to chapter 24, once the apostle is presenting his defense, he's going to be presenting another defense.

Because remember that now he's not in freedom anymore. He's a man that is in chains. His freedom has been taken. So he's presenting defense after defense. Now, in chapter 24, I want you to see here this defense that he's presenting before the governor at Caesarea, or in Caesarea, and he says in verse 10, And when the governor had noted to him to speak, or allowed Paul to speak, Paul replied, paying attention, 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 up to worship in Jerusalem, and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stir 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. He's saying that by the way that is by this Christianity, that is how they were known that way.

It is through this understanding of the way that he's worshiping the God of our fathers and that he is believing everything that is laid down by the law and written in the prophets. The apostle was never in controversy or in disagreement with the prophets or with the law or with Moses. He was in disagreement and in controversy against the interpretation that the Jews had of the old covenant. And actually, they were the ones that were opposing God, because that was the like the genuine interpretation of the law. So we come back to Chapter 22, and I think this is very important for you to know, not only to acknowledge the false accusation from the crowd and from the Jews, but also knowing that they indeed were false.

The Apostle was in favor or in alignment with the law and the prophets. So beloved of Christ, as I said, the way that the apostle is going to present his defense is by his testimony. He's going to use what the Lord Jesus Christ did into his life, his salvation, his conversion to present his defense. And this way of presenting this defense is not the first and it's not going to be the last time that the apostle is actually going to use his testimony, what the Lord Jesus Christ did in his life to present a defense. He's going to do it more times before the lost and before the Romans and before the Jews and before the priests.

But he's also going to use his testimony to speak and to teach to the Christians and to the congregation. I want to show you what he does when he's speaking to the Christians, because I think we will see the heart of the apostle as he proclaims his testimony. Let's go to First Timothy, chapter one, and you will see that I'm bringing you every time back to 22 and then taking you somewhere else. First Timothy Chapter 1. In First Timothy Chapter 1, dear brothers and sisters, the Apostle Paul is going to use again his testimony this time not to present a defense before anyone, but rather just to teach the congregation the grace and the mercy of the Lord.

If you go to First Timothy Chapter 1 in verse 12, we have here a short and a brief a version of the testimony of the Apostle. It says, I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointed me to His service. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. and the grace of our Lord overflow for me with the faith and the love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost."

He was a persecutor of the church. But now he says, the purpose of this, in verse 16, now pay attention, it says, I received mercy." In other words, I was saved by the Lord. I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost sinner, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. Brothers and sisters, the experience of salvation of the Apostle Paul was a means to display what we're told here the perfect patience and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who were going to believe that it is that the saving grace of God that was poured in the life of the apostle was not only with the purpose of saving the apostle but by saving him displayed to others the mercy and the grace that was also available for them or for those who were going to believe.

So when the Apostle was speaking about his personal testimony and the things that had happened to him, he was not so much speaking about his personal life and his personal testimony, but rather he was speaking about the things that the Lord Jesus Christ did. The mercy and the display that the Lord had for those who could see in the life of the Apostle the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what the Apostle is going to do in Acts chapter 22 as he is going to address this crowd. Remember that the heart... that is given to us from verse 4 all the way down to verse 16, a testimony that is just basically the narrative of that which happened in Acts chapter 9.

You remember that before he was saved, the apostle Paul, before being even an apostle, this man who was dead in his trespasses was a hater, not only of God, but was a hater of the way, a hater of the church. And so much was his hatred that he was actively opposing the church and coming to the high priest and to the high priest and asking for letters of permission so that he will go to Damascus to take men and women captive to bring them down or up to Jerusalem so that they will be punished for this sect, for this heresy, this proclamation of this Jesus Christ. And as this blind man was going to Damascus, thinking that he had light in his eyes, the light, the shining light of Jesus Christ appeared to him in a vision. And you remember that when he saw the shining glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, this man who was blind in the spirit now became blind in the flesh. He fell down and he heard the voice of the one whom he was persecuting.

I'm Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the one that you were persecuting. Who are you, Lord? The one whom you are persecuting. He was persecuting the church and in the church he was persecuting the Lord Jesus Christ. This Lord Jesus Christ that with a shining glory introduced to present himself to this Paul.

Then you remember in Acts chapter 9 that he says to Paul, go to Damascus, because in Damascus there's going to be a man, Ananias, who is waiting for you and who is having a vision that you will come. And He's going to come and He's going to baptize you and He's going to present to you the glory of Jesus Christ. That's actually what happens in Damascus. Ananias comes to Him and then His eyes are open in the flesh. He can now see and He's filled with the Spirit and He's commanded to be an instrument, a vessel to bring the good news to the Gentiles, to the Jews and the poor.

kings, and he's going to go before the Jews, before the Gentiles, and as he had to go to Jerusalem, he must go to Rome. So, beloved Christ, this is the glorious salvation of this man, Paul, and he's going to use that to defend and to present that defense. Three charges I said. against the law and against the temple, to accuse him of being teaching. The first thing that he's going to do is that he's going to show them, not only in the Hebrew language that he's going to address them, Aramaic or Hebrew, that he's going to...

one of them, but just using the same word... of Stephen, he's going to use the same words. The crowds that wanted to kill him. Brothers, initially there in verse 1. Brothers, I am one of you.

I am a Jew. I belong to you. I'm a brother. You are my kinsmen. And I'm not only related to you by the fact that I'm a Jew, I'm an Israelite, but also I recognize the authorities that are among you and even the ones that are in front of me or before me.

fathers, not the fathers of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but rather, you know, the authorities that were present there that wanted to kill him. He acknowledges that these people in front of him are brothers and the fathers and is talking to them in the Hebrew language. going to demonstrate that the charges they're bringing against him are slanderous and are accusations. I am not against the people of the brothers and fathers. I am a Jew of the city of Tarsus, and he's going to explain to them with evidence why he is not against the law.

They had said, you're against the law of Moses. So he's going to say to them in verse three, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus, And I. I'm a rabbi, I'm a teacher of the law. I was educated at His feet. I received the knowledge of the law through Him.

And I was raised in the strict manner of the law. And even He says there in the end of verse 3 that He has a zeal for our God from the law, from the strict manner in which He was raised. Just as you have it this day. to demonstrate and present to them with this evidence now. Beloved of Christ, this type of evidence for us is not going to be waiting, right, in these contemporary times.

But back then, for Pharisee, that he was of the strictest way of the law, it was something very important. He had a reputation among the people of Israel and in Jerusalem that he was indeed a man that had a seal for the law. And this would have been of importance as he was presenting his defense. He's not only going to do that, but he's going to call or he's going to claim that the high priest bore to him, or he's actually going to say there in verse 4, that so much was his zeal for the law that he persecuted the church just as they are doing it in that particular moment, and that the high priest can testify that he came to them to ask for letters. as the high priest, as the whole council of elders, can bear me witness that He had actually come and asked for these letters to go and destroy these people, these people of the way, of the sect of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now, when you go carefully through what the apostle is trying to say, The apostle, you will see that the apostle is continually trying to bring someone else that can bear witness that what he's actually saying before the crowd is true. So he's not only saying the high priest and the whole council can bear witness that I was a persecutor of this movement, but then also in verse 9 when he's speaking about his... He says, now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. So there's someone who actually saw the light that happened there at my conversion. And even when you go to verse 12, you can see the intention of the apostle to present someone that is a genuine witness.

He presents Ananias there in verse 12. He says, Ananias, a devout man according to the law." He did not have any need to say all of those things, but what he was trying to say is, and this man who was, according to your own standard, a devout man according to the law, who is well spoken of by all the Jews who live there in Damascus, this is the one that the Lord used in my salvation. The apostle is continually trying to, first of all, prove these Jews that he's in alignment with the traditions of the law and that there is someone that can bear him witness that he's not against the traditions of Moses. Every time that he refers to...

of our fathers. He's not in any way disconnecting the sect that they call the way of Christianity from Moses and from the law and from the temple. He's actually saying And then in verse 17, he's going to address finally the charge against the temple, which I think is going to be the one that is going to cause the controversy or the difficulty in verse 22. He's going to say that he entered the temple of the Lord God of Israel and that talk to him through a vision. So how come would you accuse me that I'm profaning the temple?

If I enter the temple and in the temple I receive a vision, I was spoken by the Lord of the temple. Of course, they did not believe that, right? But it's And when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Him, the Lord, saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony, and so on and so on. I am one of you. I'm not against the people of Israel.

I am one person that is zealous for, has a zeal for the law. I'm not in opposition to Moses and to the law. And there's all of these witnesses that can prove that the things that I'm saying are true. And even I saw and I received and I was spoken to by the Lord of the temple in the temple. I am not against the ways of Moses.

I am not against the ways of the law. I am in alignment with them. But beloved of Christ, there is one voice of God alone, and there is two potential outcomes when the voice of God is uttered. One is that the voice of God is received and heard because the grace of the Spirit opened the ears of people and the other is that the ears of people remain closed because their wickedness and unrighteousness, and then the gospel and the truth of God's Word become an offense to the flesh. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe, but for those who reject the gospel, It is foolishness.

The gospel is a glorious smell, aroma, that comes to the presence of the Lord when it's proclaimed in the Spirit. But for those who reject the gospel in the flesh, it's aroma of death unto death. You see, the gospel and the voice of God to the flesh is an offense, an insult. The man that is in his sins, in his trespasses, cannot hear the voice of God and beyond that not being able to hear it, it becomes an offense and an insult to the flesh, to the carnality of the person, not only for the one that is lost, but when we're walking in the flesh, the voice of the Lord when He speaks to us, sometimes it becomes an offense to the carnalities that we have or the fleshly ways that we have inside of us. And thank to God that we have the Spirit that convict us from sin and move us into the direction of repentance and conform our ways to the ways of the Lord.

But apart from the grace of the Spirit of God, the Word of God is offensive. And these people, beloved of Christ, were not offended by the life of the apostle. They were not offended with the things that he had done and the city that he came from and the credentials that he had from Gamaliel and all the things that he had done and studied and his story of conversion and what he had done in Damascus. They were not offended with the fact that he had been in the temple or anything like that. They were offended with the mercy and the grace that he was actually displaying.

In First Timothy, chapter one says that this salvation that the apostles received was to display the mercy and the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved of Christ, was that which was offensive to these Jews. Imagine they are in verse eight when they heard this. Try to put yourself in the shoes of a wicked Jew dead in the trespasses who believes that this person of Nazareth who died years ago was a person that was against that which they held as holy and as their religion. Just imagine when they're receiving these words and they say that this shining glory that the that that Apostle Paul saw in the way to Damascus, that answer, Who are you, Lord?

In verse eight. And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth. whom you are persecuting. Imagine what the Jews who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, who hated this Jesus of Nazareth, would have started to feel up from this point when they hear that this man, Paul, who is meant to be a man who has been trained at the feet of Gamaliel, who is supposed to be a man who is very serious about the law, who is a man who knows Moses and who knows the law and who knows the things of the temple now is claiming that this Lord is Jesus of Nazareth, the one that we hate. Beloved of Christ, they would have been filled with rage.

They would have been filled with rage. And not only that, but He will continue to speak of this Jesus of Nazareth as the Lord God of Israel. He says, "...Now those who were with Me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to Me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord?

And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do. And since I could not see because of the brightness of the light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus." But it continues, And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing by me said to me, brother Saul, remember that the Jews are hearing all of these things, right? He says, brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that very hour, I received my sight and saw him.

And he said, the God of our fathers, This is what the Jews are hearing from the testimony of Paul. The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will. And then he says to see the righteous one and to hear a voice from his mouth. That it is that the Jesus of Nazareth, whom you encounter in your way to Damascus, the shining light that blind you and this voice that you heard was the voice and the sight or the vision of this Righteous One who is the Messiah of Israel, the One that was prophesied by the prophets, that you may hear His voice and see Him. For you will be a witness for Him, the Righteous One, the Jesus of Nazareth, to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now, why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name. Beloved of Christ, perhaps you don't feel it and you don't see it because you love the Lord Jesus Christ, praise God. But for the one who was a hater of the Lord, this would have been completely offensive, especially what he's now going to say that happened and took place in the temple. Because he says, when I had returned to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple, the place where the Lord God of Israel is meant to be, the place where Yahweh is meant to be, the place where the God of Israel is meant to be, Paul is going to say, I fell into a trance and saw Him, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the one who encountered Him on the way of Damascus.

The righteous one is the one who has spoken to Paul in the temple where the God of Israel is meant to be. Jesus of Nazareth speaking to this apostle in a temple. Imagine that heresy in the ears of the Jews. What an insult to the flesh, to the carnality of these dead men in their trespasses, that these men whom we hate and we consider only to be a man, you are now saying that is the one that saved you, redeemed you, that is the Messiah of Israel, and now is the one who spoke to you in the temple. What an offense!

And this Jesus of Nazareth is not only telling you that we are going to reject Him, but He's also telling you what it says in the end of verse 21. Go, for I will send you far away to the ones that the Jews hated, to the Gentiles. offense to the flesh of the Jews, contrary to what they had understood and interpreted from Moses and from the law, contrary to the Messiah that they had created in their minds, contrary to the kingdom of God that they had fabricated and created into their minds, Contrary to their interpretations of the prophets and the law. Contrary to their understanding of the temple and what the Gentiles were to be to the Jews." Completely contrary, but not contrary to the ways of God, because this was the truth of the Lord.

offensive to these Jews, that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Lord God of Israel, the one who rescued them out of the land of Egypt, the one that was guiding them through the wilderness, the one that was the rock, the suffering servant of Isaiah, the one that was prophesied by the prophets, the one that was going to be the fulfillment of the law of the Lord, the day of the coming of the Lord. It was Jesus of Nazareth. offensive to the flesh of the Jews, apart from the workings of the spirits and opening the eyes of the flesh, impossible to be received and impossible to be accepted. That's why it says in verse 22, up to these word, they listen to him. They could not handle it anymore.

They could not handle these words that were for them, they were an insult, that for them were blasphemy, that for them it was contrary to their religion. And indeed it was true. It was contrary to their God, because their God was not the God of Moses and their God was not the God of the Old Testament, was not the God of the Bible. Indeed, contrary to their God, so they could not handle it anymore. And their God, Satan, came into them once again in opposition to the voice of God and said, let's kill him.

He does not deserve to live. That it is, brothers and sisters, the presentation of the defense of the apostle Paul, a presentation of a defense in the Spirit, the gospel of Christ being proclaimed because he proclaimed there in verse 15 that it was through the calling of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that the sins of Paul were washed away. that it is that the righteousness that the system of the law could not obtain by sacrifice and all of these things, the Lord Jesus Christ there in the end of verse 16, implicitly by what Ananias said, and now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name, and His name is Jesus. He was being forgiven of the sins through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, beloved of Christ, that we might not be taking for granted the fact that when we hear the words of the Lord are sweet honey to our ears and to our souls, I hope, that when we hear the things of Christ, our hearts are not dull or indifferent to His doings and His workings and the things that He has accomplished on our behalf. We are not to take for granted that when we read a scripture, that we can weep over a scripture of the things that we see, that we can see Jesus Christ, Him crucified, and see Him more and more, and that we can enjoy His presence, and that we can know Him more and more. We are not to take that for granted, beloved of Christ, because that is contrary and in opposition to what our flesh will naturally do. Apart from the saving grace, the displaying of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ upon us, We will not handle the sayings of the Lord Jesus. And we will be as insulted as the Jews were.

And we will be as affected by the words of the Lord as they were. And we will say up to that point, we will hear you. We cannot handle that anymore. So piercing and so insulting it is to my carnality that I cannot handle it anymore. The defense, the spiritual defense of the apostle had been rejected by the flesh of the Jews.

And we are told there very briefly in the end that the apostle now is going to be rescued by the providential hand of the Lord by and through this tribune. And then when the apostle sees that this person is going to try to get information out of him through violence, he says, is it lawful for you, sir, let me ask you, is it lawful for you to beat me and to whip me or do these things to me being a Roman citizen? and being uncondemned. So then the centurion that is the one that is going to execute that disbanishment upon Paul says, oh, you are a Roman citizen. So he goes to the tribune and he says, look, this man is a Roman citizen.

He comes in the tribune and asks, are you a Roman citizen? He says, yes, I'm a Roman citizen by birth. The other guy had paid lots of money for it. So the apostle is now presenting a defense in a natural sense, and by the providence of God, he's rescued from this punishment that he was going to receive in an unjust way, and then the Lord providentially rescued him from there. I don't want to focus so much on that, because I think that there is something very important that we can learn as a congregation and as a church.

We are told that after this Tribune realizes that he was a Roman citizen. He is going to do what is possible to send him to the council so that they will address this problem. And this is what we see in verse or chapter 23. But beloved of Christ, what can we learn from all of these things that the apostle had done and all of these defense that he had presented? He starts chapter 22 by saying a word or by mentioning a word.

He says, brothers and fathers, Here the defense that I now make before you, and this word is going to be used through Acts a couple of few times because he's going to be presenting a defense, a defense before the Romans, before the council, and before, in this case, before the crowds. This is a word that then the Apostle Peter in 1st Peter chapter 3 is going to use to explain of the defense that all Christians are to present for the faith and the hope that they have within them. That it is that in the same way that the Apostle Paul presented a defense before the crowds in Jerusalem, then the Apostle Peter by the inspiration of the same spirit will say that is similar defense that we are to present before those who are persecuting us and from the hope that we have within us. So go to 1 Peter 3, verse 15, because this is what we can learn from this, perhaps three or four things that I want you to see from this type of defense that is presented not only by the apostle, but that we're also called to have or to present in our faith. First Peter chapter three.

Now just read these from verse 13, and you will see not only the apostle Paul there, but you will see what the Spirit of God through Peter says to the Christians. Verse 13 of chapter three, First Peter. Now, who is there to harm you if you're zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed. Now pay attention to this.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. But in your hearts, honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being ready, always being prepared to make a defense. The same word that Apostle used to give a defense in Acts chapter 22. Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you're slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ might be put to shame.

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. I don't know if you can see completely the life of the Apostle Paul there. Four things I want you to see there. I think I preached like three or four sermons from these verses there. But I just want you to see four things that are to be in us or with us as we present a defense of the faith that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ before the wicked, before those who persecute us and before those who can harm us.

The first one is found there in the end of verse 14, and it says, Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. Beloved of Christ, that is contrary, contrary to the flesh. Contrary to that which naturally will come from us as a natural reaction to the circumstances. Imagine the Apostle Paul, a crowd is in front of him, wanting to kill him, to imprison him, wanting him dead. The Lord says, Fear not, nor be troubled.

How is a normal person, humanly speaking, not fear or not be troubled when there is such a great opposition before and in front of us for the things that we have said? When there is a risk of harm, when there is a risk of our life being taken, when there is a risk of a freedom being taken, when there is a risk of something being lost. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ, through His Word and His Spirit, calls us to have no fear of them, nor be troubled. The maximum thing that a person can do is to take your life. But the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord God is the one that actually is able to send the soul of a person to heaven or to hell, right?

But the most that a person can do is to take the life of the flesh, to take our breath, and that's it. But they cannot do anything more. Yet by being established in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to have no fear and not to be troubled. But this has a contrary or this has a condition, if you want, or this has a flip side, if you want. It says in verse 15, but in your hearts, Honor Christ as Lord, or honor Christ the Lord as holy.

You see, beloved of Christ, it is impossible for us to have no fear or not to tremble before the terrifying presence of those who can harm us or who can take our lives if the Lord Jesus Christ is not enthroned in our hearts as holy, because it is the absolute certainty of the ruling power, the eternal kingdom, the sovereign control of the Lord Jesus Christ as the holy God of this universe, what empowers the soul of a Christian not to fear that which is temporal and that which is going to pass away. The human mind cannot obtain certainty and power to face that which is temporal if the eyes are not set in that which is eternal. That it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is to be enthroned in our hearts, to rule in our hearts internally in the soul of the believer as the King, as the Lord, as the Savior. And is that fact the one that empowers the Christian to be able to stand in no fear, and not trembling before the opposition of the flesh and before the opposition of Satan. So ultimately, the power of the Christian is not derived from what I know and the things that I can do, but rather because of a relationship with the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that when He is enthroned indeed in the heart, then the man, even though he may be feeble and weak externally, is strong and is mighty.

And it is full with power, not His, but the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only that the enthroning of the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts makes us and gives us the power not to tremble, not to fear, but also is that which qualifies our readiness. It says always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Now, the hope that is in us, it is the Jesus Christ who is enthroned into our hearts. That is the hope that is within us.

But beloved of Christ, readiness to open your mouth is not to have your head filled with information to provide an answer, but it's rather having your heart filled with the presence of Christ. Because beloved of Christ, we are not going to convince people through the intellect, but rather we're going to convince people through the power of Jesus Christ speaking from us so that the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak. But when the heart is checked for the abundance, the abundance of it, is the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Christian is not with the burden to be heavenly prepared and to know an answer for every single question, but the burden of the Christian or the necessity of the Christian is to be able to give an answer for the hope that is indeed within the heart of that person. Beloved of Christ, how many people open their mouth to give a defense of the gospel, to proclaim the gospel with their hearts is absent from the hope of Jesus Christ in them.

When their souls is away, I have no experience the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in their heart. How many people do not have a right answer to every single question that can be placed before them and their heart is absence of the real and genuine hope of the Lord Jesus Christ? One thing is to know or to speak about something that we've heard of. Another thing is to speak about something that you know. One thing is to speak of something that you've heard by someone, by someone, by someone, by someone, by someone, by someone, and just simply just like a like a parrot, I think is the word, just simply repeat the words that you've heard from someone else and then just put that as if they were your own words.

Another thing is to speak of Jesus Christ. Because the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ has been upon you, because His Word has been upon you, because His Word abides in your heart. One thing is just simply just to repeat and just to go through lines of something that someone invented. And another thing is just to have the Word of Jesus Christ in your heart as a sword. that pierces the heart of those who hear that you're able to give an answer for the hope that is indeed within you.

And that hope is the Lord Jesus Christ, the hope of our glory, the blessed hope, right? He says, Paul, the blessed hope, the Lord Jesus Christ, the burden of the Christian, the apologetics of the Christian is to have Jesus Christ enthroned in our hearts to speak with power, to speak the words of Christ and not to speak the words of men, because the words of men are pleasing to the flesh. But the words of Jesus Christ are the ones that are insulting to the flesh of men. And once the flesh is insulted, we give that to the Lord. So to pierce that in conviction unto life, and just to pierce that heart unto rejection of the gospel, so that wrath will be treasured up for the day of wrath.

When Christ Jesus is enthroned in the heart, the mouth of the person is not only filled with the words of Christ, but the life of the Christian is the life of Christ. And because the life of the Christian is the life of Christ, the conscience of that person will be clear. It says there, yet do it with gentleness and respect. How is a person going to give a defense of Christianity if that person is walking in the flesh? That person is going to be burdened by emotions, not only by fear and by trembling, but he or his or her performance is going to be the source of satisfaction.

So when a word is said or when a statement is said, it's good, but when I do it and I don't do it in a correct way, so then I do not derive satisfaction from the things that I've done. because the person has become the source of peace and the source of satisfaction, not able to do it with the Spirit of Christ's gentleness and respect. How is a person not going to be filled with anger when someone is going to oppose them or to threaten to take their life? How are we going to respond to the threats against our life with respect and gentleness? That is not us.

That is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that did not return, revile accusations. He closed his mouth. He just waited on the one who was going to judge justly. He gave himself for that because that is what scripture has said that it was going to happen. Having a good conscience so that when you're slandered, Those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame."

Beloved of Christ, there's nothing more powerful than the accusation of Jesus Christ living in a person, bringing conviction to those who witness the life of that person. It's what the Lord says in Matthew chapter 5, that they may see your good deeds. and glorify the Lord and glorify the Father, that they may see your honorable behavior and bring glory to the Father, that they may see Jesus Christ not only in your conscience and in your heart, but through and out of you, living through you, that they may glorify the Father, that when it was natural for you to open your mouth and reviled against us, you actually closed your mouth, but you gave us love and patience and endurance just as the Lord Jesus Christ did. Beloved of Christ, what I'm saying here is that Christ is meant to be in us as he was in the apostle Paul, so that he will endure the things that he had to endure, because it was necessary that Paul will go to Jerusalem and that he will go to Rome. It was necessary that he will go there.

And Paul was not going to be able to bear the affliction and the accusations and all the things in the flesh. So the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ had to be in him. so that every time that he will present a defense before the crowds, and before the council, and before the Romans, and before everyone, it would be the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved of Christ, that is the urgent necessity of our times. It is not that we are to speak the words of men, but that we are to indeed speak the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That is the necessity of your life, that your hearts may be filled not with the wisdom of men, but that your hearts may be filled with the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Word of God is not just to have the letters in front of us, it's to have the Spirit of God illuminating His Word to our hearts. It's speaking and hearing His Word through what we have here, genuinely and being changed by the abiding Word of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts. He is not an intellectual, cold and flat, abiding of statements in you, but is the transforming power of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, abounding and filling the heart of the believer. How I desire that the words that I'm saying, you can hear them and they are true unto your souls, beloved.

This is what we need as a congregation. This is what we need as a family. This is what we need as a community, that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ indeed may abide in your hearts. And then the things that I'm saying here may not be foreign or something that you don't even know what I'm talking about, but rather this may be the experience of your heart in communion with the Lord so that when the crowds are before us, where Jerusalem is before us, when the Sanhedrin is before us, that when the Romans are before us, that when the government is before us asking for a hope, that we can give the hope that is within us. And that hope is Jesus Christ.

Amen.