Hear Pauls defense

Good morning. Now you may be wondering, what's with all this Jewish baseball stuff, right? Well, I'll have to explain. I should explain myself. First of all, for having spoken in, how do I say, diminutive ways about the Rockies a few weeks back, I have to show penance. So anyway, that's one thing just to make clear here. So one reason. But also as we go through this passage, there's another reason for bringing this kind of Jewish baseball theme. And that is what has happened in the book of Acts.

Now, one of the things we're going to do, this isn't going to be full on rules of Jewish baseball, right? Because remember, this all started back with the Exodus. Remember, there were ten plagues, right? And so in Jewish baseball, it's ten strikes and you're out, right? Not just three. So that's one. Another thing in Jewish baseball, this goes back to the plagues. We hear about a fly ball. Well, in Jewish baseball, flies mean something entirely different, right? So anyway, Jewish baseball has different rules. We won't be going there full on. This is sort of a partial step in that direction. So here's the Apostle Paul. He is at the end of his third missionary journey. And as he is at this third missionary journey and completing it, he has come to Jerusalem.

And just to kind of remember the sequence here, he had been warned repeatedly, as he said in chapter 20, in every city I am warned that bonds and affliction await me, right? So that was part one. He was warned in advance. On the way and as recorded in the book of Acts, there's actually two specific times of warning. And the most intense of those is right before he's coming here into Jerusalem. He's been warned about the things that are ahead for him.

And nonetheless, he goes into Jerusalem not because he is willfully insistent, but rather because he knows what the Lord has in mind for him. And he knows the direction the Lord wants him to go. And his intent, as he wrote in Romans, is to go to Jerusalem and then to Rome. with the blessing of Christ and in the will of God.

And so as he goes there, he meets with the rest of the believers that are gathered there. What's interesting is when he gets there, there do not appear to be other apostles around. At this point in time, the focus seems to be meeting with James, who is one of the elders of the church in Jerusalem, as well as other elders there in Jerusalem.

And then this plan is put into place in order to try to clear things up with a lot of the Jewish believers and the other Jews for Paul to sponsor four Jewish men who have taken what's called a Nazarite vow. And Paul would then sponsor them and fund them through a series of the conventional and standard and traditional Jewish sacrifices.

Well, it's going into that that he ends up in trouble, and it's because of a falsely based rumor. There was a rumor that Trophimus the Ephesian, a Gentile, had gone with Paul into this inner barrier. And of course, the Gentile going into this inner barrier was a very huge violation, bringing death. for the Jews. It was in fact not true, but that was the way the rumor went about.

Secondly, we point out off to one corner on the northwest corner of this temple courtyard is the Antonia Fortress, and we're going to see that has a part in what is going to happen in today's passages. Right towards the end, as we were looking last time, the Apostle Paul, having been through a beating headed towards death, was rescued, in a sense, by the Roman officials. And by the way, as you see the numbers described, there may be as many as 200 Roman soldiers came out to rescue Paul, by the description, because it was the commander, and plural, centurions, And that often would have been accompanied by all the soldiers who were under them. So as many as 200 Roman soldiers came out to rescue Paul here, and the Jews just got out of the way.

They didn't continue with some sort of a rebellion. And one of the things we pointed out last week, Paul was arrested there by the Romans in the rescue. They took possession of him. And unlike you have on today's TV shows where different law enforcement people are vying for who has jurisdiction, this was very clear. The Romans saying, we're taking it, right? And so they come in, take Paul, they arrest him essentially, and that's the beginning of about a half decade of Paul being under Roman arrest. So this is just the start that we've seen here.

And so the soldiers are, they've lifted up Paul, they've got him on his shoulders. They've probably got other Roman soldiers, maybe even more than what's shown here in this dramatization. And they're taking him away from the crowd of Jews. And the Jews are shouting out away with him, which is not just intended to say take him to another place, but instead do him in.

So here's the Apostle Paul having been beaten, he gets in a place of trying to appeal to the Roman commander. He's the one in charge of the entire garrison that is there in the Antonia Fortress, 600 at least, possibly up to a thousand Roman soldiers all under his command. Paul is appealing to them and that's how we see this passage entered into here. Now one of the things to keep in mind and the reason why we're heading in this Jewish baseball theme is because this is the second time, so I'm giving you a caution, this is the second time Paul is going to talk about the time when he was on the road to Damascus and he was headed towards Damascus when the Lord met him.

And this is not the last time. There's going to be one more time. So this is chapter 22 by chapter 26. He's going to be doing it again. So, you're wondering, oh no, Vern is going to tell us this again. It's going to be really bad. It'll be even worse for Phil because there's no chocolate cake. So anyway, so it'll be quite a thing and we'll try to keep you awake. Anyway, so this is the second of three times telling about this particular event. And so what are we going to do about that?

Well, I'm going to take you to Yogi Berra to fix this. Yogi Berra was a fellow who died just, I think it was 2015 when he died, but he was famous for his various witticisms. After having first been a great baseball player, New York has always played for New York, one team or another. He then became a manager, and some of his witticisms, 90% of baseball is mental, the other half is physical. I'm not so sure how good his math is, but that at least works for the rest of us.

All right, so the next one, when you come to a fork in the road, take it. Okay, that's helpful. Or a nickel ain't worth a dime anymore, right? Ah, we're not finished. Here's some more. You can observe a lot by watching. No, no, that's very, very helpful, right? And then finally, excuse me, always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't go to yours. Yeah? And so this is a great one. And here as we come to the second account in Acts where Paul is telling about his conversion, then we have an appropriate Yogi Berra-ism.

It's deja vu all over again. Now, my understanding is he said this with Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle doing back-to-back Grand Slams, right? And just again and again, and so that's when he said this. But nonetheless, we've got a déjà vu that is the appearance that you've... Oh, I've been through this before, yeah?

And that's what's going to happen here, because this is going to be the second time that the Apostle Paul is going to give us this account. And so what are we going to do about that? Just to kind of give you the big picture, in Acts chapter 9, Dr. Luke wrote in what was his original account about Saul the persecutor of the way, that was the term for Christianity, biblical Christianity, eventually becoming Paul the perpetrator of the way, or even better, the perpetuator of the way. One who would be the persecutor of Christians to begin with, and then the one who would call others to become Christians after he himself became one, and to bring about other things among those in the church. In Acts chapters 22, which we're looking at today, and 26, these are additional and subsequent accounts.

And one of the reasons why we're bringing up this Jewish baseball theme is in this account, he's going to particularly direct his recollection of those events to Jews. He's going to speak in a language that they understand using words and making reference to things that they understand. So this is targeted to Jews in the way he talks. In chapter 26 he's going to adjust his way of telling the same story to target Romans. It will be to a Roman mindset. So that's the Jewish flavor to this one here.

We're going to keep this interesting in this way. We're going to provide an overview of this, the second in the series or accounts if you will. rather than a play-by-play. And then secondly, we're going to zoom in to replay when there's something new or unique in each one of these things, particular to Acts chapter 22. And we're going to point out specific spiritual principles.

You got that? That are to be drawn from the passage. And when we're all done, there's going to be a pop fly quiz. So you've got to be ready for that. And so that's to help keep you awake, even though I know, Phil, we don't have any chocolate cake for you. OK. All right. So here we go. Acts 21, 37 through 40.

So as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, may I say something to you? And he said to them, do you know Greek? That's all kinds of questions we get these days. Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt, led the 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness.

But Paul said, I am a Jew of Tarsus and Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people. So when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand. When there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect. So let's talk about this. So here is Paul.

They're about to bring him in the barracks. That means they're going to take him up the stairs. that are coming from the temple courtyard up into Antonia Fortress, where they had stationed there something around 600 or more Roman soldiers, all in Antonia Fortress. They had actually different levels of towers. The tallest tower was about 100 feet above the temple courtyard, and they were going to take Paul into there. So that's where he was headed, and he was headed there on the shoulders of probably a half dozen Roman soldiers. So Paul says to the commander, may I say something to you? And he says so in rather sophisticated Greek. So what you see, and he said, the commander said, do you know Greek?

Right? It is actually a question of startle. It's like, what? You're actually an intelligent Greek speaking man, and you can speak sophisticated Greek, not just elementary school broken Greek, but you actually know Greek. You can speak the stuff fluently. So this is the commander's actual surprise that the Apostle Paul is able to speak so eloquently. Then he said, and he probably first thought, oh, this guy is that Egyptian fellow that about three years earlier had led 4,000 men of, now this is called the assassins. These are Jewish terrorists, right?

The only thing is they're not very good at it. So the Romans came and suppressed it. This commander may even have been among those that suppressed this revolt and rebellion. They were to come from the Mount of Olives and come attack this Antonia Fortress, but the Romans caught wind of it and stopped it before it got anywhere at all. But the Egyptian that started this ran away.

And so the commander is saying, oh, that's this guy. And so he's surprised, oh, that's not this guy. Paul instead seems to be an intelligent fellow and actually wants to talk to people and that sort of thing. So Paul says, I'm a Jew of Tarsus of Cilicia, so he's not an Egyptian.

Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city, which is a nice figure of speech, saying this is a major city. Tarsus was a city with a great reputation for having intellectual depth and prowess. The tutor of Augustus Caesar, was from Tarsus, to give you an example. It was a very highly regarded city so far as its intellectual background and culture.

So he says, I'm from there, right? I beg you, allow me to speak to the people. Now, the people in the Bible is almost always a reference to the Jews, right? If it's the people, it's the Jews. If it's peoples, plural, then that's the Gentiles. So in this case, allow me to speak to the Jews.

So when he, the commander, had given him permission, here's Paul standing on the stairs, right? He motioned to the people with his hands, and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them. It says in the Hebrew dialect, that dialect that is spoken is what would be called Aramaic. speaking in Aramaic, which is a language that was more traditionally and commonly understood among the Jewish people, but it would be a language that the Jews all present would understand well. So Paul, though he was told in advance about all these bonds and afflictions that were awaiting him, could still seek to deal with the issues. Notice that he doesn't come into this situation and say, ah, what's going to happen is going to happen, I can't deal with it, just kind of let it be. He was even walking in fellowship with the Lord, abiding in Christ, walking in the Spirit. He was in a place of actually being able to defend himself, he even used that word, honestly. So in speaking to these Jews in a Jewish way, which would be speaking to them in this Aramaic language, which would be a Hebrew dialect, he was still called to walk in the Spirit every moment from the top of the inning to the end, come what may.

Here's Acts 22, 1-5, so this begins his address to the Jews. He says, brethren and fathers, so this would be a matter of appealing to the Jews who are there. He says, I am one of you. I am a Jew, right? Hear my defense, which I now offer to you. And when he heard, when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, which we say that that would be what we call Aramaic, they became even more quiet.

And then he said, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia, so this would be, I'm a Jew, I was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, Jerusalem, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as you are today. I persecuted this way, that is, that's the term for, I persecuted Christians.

And did he irritate them? Did he hit them with pepper spray? Did he go, naughty, naughty, naughty Christians? No, he didn't do that. He persecuted them to what point? To the death. Binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priests and all the council of the elders can testify. What we saw back in Acts chapter 8 was Paul killed husbands and wives and mothers and fathers every time he had a chance, at least that was his influence and the outcome. He broke up households.

From them I also received letters to the brethren, that is other Jews, right, and started off to Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished. Again, his focus was bringing back Let him be tried and executed. That was his target. So he's telling them who he is, he's telling them this was my starting point. I was, and we would use the term, I was rabidly against what these guys were doing, these Christians were doing, and I wanted to put an end to them.

So this Gamaliel that he makes reference to, and by the way, in the earlier account, Gamaliel is not mentioned and he's not going to mention it later when he speaks and retells this account in a Roman context. This would make sense to the Jews and be a very important name to drop if dropping names was the key.

Gamaliel was the grandson of Hillel, one of the most highly regarded rabbis of all time. was also the rabbi of Saul, later called Paul. This Gamaliel was, you would say, the premier rabbi, the most prominent and well-regarded rabbi of the whole first century. Recorded, he had about a thousand disciples over his lifetime.

When Gamaliel died, it is said that the law died with him. Now, it was traditional for Pharisees, and Gamaliel was a Pharisee, as was Paul, when he was Saul, right? It was traditional for Pharisees to get married as a part of the tradition. And so Gamaliel waited till later in life to do that. And they said, Gamaliel, why would you not get married young like all the rest of the Pharisees?

He says, it's because I'm so in love with the law. I'm so in love with the law that I can't be occupied with a woman. Though Gamaliel was never the high priest, any Jew worth his matzo balls knew his name. So Paul would drop this name Gamaliel, and they would go, ah, we know who he is, and we highly regard him. We have here, Judaism had a hall of fame. Philippians 3, 4 through 11 would put that. We won't be going through all that, but here's the Apostle Paul, he says, I myself, if I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more.

Circumcised the eighth day, and by the way, did he have anything to do with that? No, that was his parents' decision. Of the nation of Israel, was that his doing? No. And of the tribe of Benjamin, was that his doing? No. A Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law of Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. As far as the definition of the law is concerned, four things he didn't have anything to do with and three things that he did whatsoever is gain for me.

And he says, those things I have counted lost. This is an accounting term. He says, I've written it off. I've written it off for the sake of Christ. So he's trying to get this across to these Jews, I had everything, but I've written it off for the sake of Christ.

So, one of the things to point out here for our specific spiritual principles, okay, defense that is based on the facts and aimed towards a biblical objective is good and godly. Defensiveness, avoidance of just consequences, and stepping off of the field of responsibility is not. So there is a place for a believer to take advantage of the opportunities to defend him or herself, but that's not to go running for the weeds, this is not to skate, this is not to avoid taking responsibility. Paul is telling these Jews the truth.

And why is he doing that? He's hoping to set in place a defense. But he doesn't waffle on the facts. Does he tune them to the Jews' ears? Yes, he does. But he doesn't tell them a big lie. He doesn't waffle on the facts. He doesn't say anything that doesn't express truth. And everything that he says is intended to glorify the Lord who bought him.

Here's Acts 22, 6-11, "...but it happened that I was on my way approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting." Now imagine Paul is telling this to Jews. I met God. He's telling them, on the road to Damascus. So you can imagine they're trying to, whoa, trying to frame this, okay?

I am Jesus the Nazarene. Now how long has it been since Jesus the Nazarene has been around Jerusalem? It's been more than two decades since Jesus the Nazarene has been around Jerusalem. For us it would be like looking back into the 90s. And you know how the 90s are. Oh, those are so 90s, right? So here, I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you are persecuting. So here, they had heard of Jesus, but it had been a couple decades plus.

Those who were with me saw the light to be shared, 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, get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do. But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. So one of the things, I am Jesus the Nazarene.

Without Jesus the Nazarene, none of Paul's account in this defense that he's giving before the Jews would make any sense. And life is that way too. Without Christ as the pivotal and central theme, none of the rest of life makes any sense. It would be like a baseball game, but no ball. Oh, well that changes everything. Matter of fact, the whole game looks pretty stupid. foolish without that ball. Christ is central. I am Jesus the Nazarene. He's not incidental to the story. So we might not have personally a road to Damascus kind of experience in our past. It would be unusual if we did. At some point, however, it is critical, it is very, very important for life and eternity that each of us has an encounter with the Lord as our Savior, the one who died for our sins and was buried and rose again.

Here's Acts 22, 12-16, A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the law and of all spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me and standing near to me said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. At that very time I looked up at him and he said, The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the righteous one and to hear an utterance from his mouth. For you will be a witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name.

So here is this Ananias, and of course what is not included in this account, but was in the Acts 9 account, is the Lord Jesus himself appeared to Ananias. That's why this Ananias fellow would even come to the Apostle Paul, as he was eventually going to be, because he was this scary guy. Ananias even brought it up in his conversation with the Lord. He was this scary guy that went around killing Christians. But Paul speaks from his end. This Ananias came to him and appeared to him.

And then we see in verse 14, that God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the righteous one, to hear an utterance from his mouth. So knowing his will, seeing the righteous one, and hearing an utterance from his mouth. So while Paul, as we know, had personal time with the Lord, That equipped him in a special way that you and I don't have.

We are called, however, to something similar. We're called through the Word of God. Each of us is called to know His will. How do we know that? The Word of God reveals that. We're called to behold the Lord of glory in the Word. We're called to hear Him as He speaks to us, His Eternal Bride. the one for whom he paid the bride price. Acts 22, 17-21 which completes the passage.

It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple that I fell into a trance. I 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 understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him." So Paul goes retroactive here and talks about this time when he himself was among those who were doing the persecution, and the persecution was not a slap on the hand. It was severe.

But notice also here, here he says, the Lord told him, get out of Jerusalem. At this point in time, he's getting a different message. Go to Jerusalem, right? So a very different message, even for the same reaction. He finishes and he says, go, for I will send you far away from the Gentiles. And that is the last set of words that Paul gets out of his mouth. This is about to turn violent again and result in the same call for away with him. This is what infuriated the Jews who were present that day. They all of a sudden went from a hushed quiet to away with him as the shouting went to a crescendo.

The Jews would be the primary target of the message And that would have been okay, but Gentiles? The Jews thought that was the thing that just cut them and stopped it right at the end. God had sent prophets to the Gentiles from time to time, and we can think of examples like Jonah. God sent Jonah to whom? To the Assyrians, those disgusting people. God sent a prophet to them. But for Paul to say, oh, God sent me to the Gentiles in general, in a big, broad way, that was completely unacceptable. They went from a hushed silence to away with him. He's done. Now, we have a pop fly quiz. This is to make sure you're awake.

One, when the situation is tense and every single word that you say matters immensely and great impacts are at stake, a believer ought to one, or A, stew and fret and worry about what to say and what the outcome might be. Or B, proceed with great personal confidence in oneself, making repeated affirming statements. I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm even great, I think, I hope. Or C, walk in the spirit, one step at a time, all the way to home base, that is, heaven. If you answered C, great. That's what God has in mind.

Let's go to pop fly quiz question number two. When circumstances are getting really, really tense and the pressure is building to higher and higher levels, the believer ought to A, just tell the truth, blurt it out, however it comes, and let the chips fall where they may. Or, B, say whatever you have to say to take the pressure off and get it off of you. Or, C, walking in the spirit, choose your words carefully as you present the truth, trusting God for the outcome. If you answered C, great.

And, pop fly quiz question number three. Is it possible that even when a believer is walking in the Spirit, trusting in the Lord, and seeking God's will, that the circumstances will not come out in a favorable way? Is that the time to, A, change strategies entirely, whatever it takes to succeed? Whatever it takes. B, stop defending oneself even to the truth.

This is where people say, oh, what would Jesus do? Well, guess what? Jesus may well do things different than we ought to do. When he was before Pilate, did he defend himself? No. Paul defends himself here, and we're going to see him actually defend himself multiple times. Jesus did not. Why? Jesus intended to go to the cross. He didn't want to put up a defense. In Paul's case, It is fine for him to put up a defense. What would Jesus do is not an adequate statement. Or C, continue walking, trusting, and pursuing a biblical approach. In all three cases, C is the biblical and godly answer.

So we have these specific spiritual sprinciples that we can operate with here because the Lord has revealed. Let's pray. Lord, thank you as we go through these things. We just pray, Heavenly Father, for you to teach us in these difficult and strained circumstances, when the pressure is on, when it seems like, boy, there are big differences in the possible outcome, we're still called to trust you and to walk with you, to abide in you and rest in you in the midst of those strained and stressful times. And we thank you for what's revealed here because you love us, you care for us, you want us to see how we're to live and how we're to walk through those difficult moments. And they will come because you love us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.