And look at the end of that, because that's basically review, and I think it's important to look at that. So we'll pick up in verse 26, and then we'll read through 24 some. We see here in Acts chapter 23, verse 26, the name Claudius Laetius. And we start out, Claudius Laetius, unto the most excellent governor, Felix, sendeth greeting. So some of these names are popping up, and we'll continue to look at those. This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them. Then came I with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council, whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds. When it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee and gave commandment to his accusers, also to say before thee what they had against him, farewell. Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatrus. On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the castle, who, when they came to Caesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia, I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall. And then on to chapter 24 here. And after five days, Ananias, the high priest, descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence. We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of Nazarenes, who also hath gone about to profane the temple, whom we took, and would have judged according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias, that's Claudius Lysias, as came upon us and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him. And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so. Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because that thou mayest understand that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. For those of you that came in right now, we are in chapter 24, verse 15, and here Paul is giving his third defense. So verse 16 we pick up, And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation and offerings. whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult, who ought to have been here before thee, and object if they had aught against me. Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council, except it be for this one voice that I cried, standing among them, touching the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question by you this day. And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them and said, When Latius the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. And that's where we're going to stop here. We might get that far this morning. But here we see an incredible antithesis back and forth between a man of God who is Paul the Apostle, who is emulating, and he's speaking the same words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he's standing here, he's the one that is being taken in, he's in custody, and what does he do? What does he teach them? There's so many ways to take this apart and to be able to talk about it and to be able to hit the doctrinal issues, hit the political issues, hit all the different things. But the reason I go back and I'm going way back and read because it's been a while since we looked at this. We had different sessions of Sunday school class this summer and I think we need to pull all this together again. And so here we see in the end of Acts 23, which is a lead into 24, we see Paul's third defense. And just in review, I'd just like to say this. I hope no one here is saying, oh no, not again, not another arraignment in trial of Paul. It seems like this has been rehashed in our class after class after class, how Paul is moved from one venue to another, from one courtroom to the next, and one might get the horrible notion that this is boring. that we're seeing it over and over again. It's become repetitive. I find in Scripture, when you see something repetitive, it's almost like a Hebraism. It's God trying to tell us something very, very important that we need to listen to it even more. And so here, I hope that we're excited to hear these words for this reason. We see it's a seemingly same situation. The same charges are brought against Paul as he's held in custody. But let me just remind you this. This is very important in our studies. God has never uttered a boring word in eternity. That's never happened. If He has the Holy Spirit inspire this book and is somewhat repetitive and it pleases the Holy Ghost to give this to us for our edification, then there must be something profitable for us in this record. In my opinion, it's all profitable. So this morning we're going to give attention to learning the history of the early church and to continue on in the principles and the application by our Lord's grace to teach us. Here we see the Roman guard. We go back and Paul was speaking to Felix, who is the governor of Rome and is captured. He's not pleading for his life or begging to be released. But what is he doing? He's giving the gospel. He's saying something. He's trying to teach us something, and he's showing Porteous Felix that he's got a problem. Paul's saying, I don't have the problem. You've got a real problem, because you're going to be facing a judgment one day that is going to be very different than the one that I'm facing in front of the Roman Empire right now. And here he is. He's reaching out to Paul. I mean, Paul's reaching out to Felix, and he's witnessing to him. He's been in chains, he's been taken, he's been beaten, he's been incarcerated, and he's the one that has the truth. We see basically here that Felix was, he's saying basically in essence to Felix, you are not a righteous man. You are wicked and you are the one that is going to face a greater judgment than me. And you will not be judged by Roman law, but by God's holy inerrant law. And so this is a real lead-in. With Paul standing on this, basically what do we learn from this? Everything that he was just accused of is nothing but an absolute political lie. It's a wrangling. It's a kangaroo court. And it reminds us of another trial that we had seen way back in the book of John, and all throughout the Gospels, and all throughout Scripture. We see here that the objective here was to foil this Jewish conspiracy would be foiled in order to not have Paul murdered on the way to his arraignment. So there we had read before that there were horsemen that brought Paul and here we see again in these verses that we're reading there's going to be another attempt on Paul's life. So basically, Paul's crying out, saying, I want to go before the king. Because if they take me back to Jerusalem, which we would all think that that's where he would wind up, if they take me back there, I'm not ever going to make it there. So this is what happens. His life right back by now is hanging by a thread, we would think. Felix, who is Felix again? He's a high-up official. He's a governor. And we see that Luke writes this letter about Felix, and he puts great detail in there. And he's clearly designed these levels of order. We see that the Lord has clearly designed the levels of order in Rome for a reason. Felix, he was a governor, and he was part of the members of the Senate, like the round table. And he's referred to as the most excellent governor. But the thing is, here's a little background once again on Felix. Notice how he's being very careful. He's the governor of Caesarea. Felix himself was born into slavery, but given his freedom by his mother of Claudius, Claudius himself. And Felix was the elevated governor, and he wasn't there very long. Festus, he's there for like six or seven years, and then Festus takes over. And there was a real changing of the guard, and the Jewish, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Council had an awful lot to do with this. And it got to be very tense. Felix was the governor of Judea from AD 52 to 59, and he was the one that brutally angered the Jews, and he was a very bloodthirsty type of governor, as opposed to Festus. So I think what's incredible here is here we see Felix going up one-on-one against Paul and at this point Paul is still preserved. Talk about an odd couple. Remember Felix Unger? You put Paul at the other end of that, you couldn't see anybody. There are more opposite people here. And this goes on, and I just find it fascinating as you see that we're only in the third of six defenses that Paul's make. And we're going to look here in a few minutes at the defense. You would think at this point Paul would be like, I want out of here. I want to get back out. Remember John the Baptist when he was taken in. He sends his disciples to the Lord, to Jesus, and he says, Is this really the Messiah or do I look for another? He didn't want to be incarcerated. He wanted to be out there in the wilderness. He loved what he was doing. And he was talking about, he was probably saying, Jesus, why? Why? I was doing a great job. Why are you putting me in here? Because he knew it was the Lord's will. But, what did the Lord say? That the sick are healed. You tell John, the job's being done. And then, of course, when John said that he must increase and I must decrease, you'd think that this is what Paul was like. No! Paul's getting ready on this third defense to really step it up a notch. And that's why I think, even though it might seem repetitive, it's very important for us to look at this and to really consider it. Claudius, we see the letter. There's letters going back and forth. And Paul had been beaten. Paul had been, at this point, he had been through a lot. He had a lot of lashes. He had been stoned. And we see, once again, that the plot against Paul's life rendered any further hearings at Jerusalem, and that was going to be very, very dangerous. So he's in Caesarea. Then he was in Antipatrus for a while. We've gone all through that. And by God's providence, we see that the edict to have Paul at some point overturned and him killed and executed along the way, he was actually being protected by the Roman Empire. It was the Jews that wanted him dead. And Felix once again was a bloodthirsty man, and Paul now would stand before governors and kings, which Christ had said to his disciples. Can someone look up Matthew chapter 10, verses 18 to 20? Remember all of these questions that we have even today at the things that we see around us. I see this and I read what's happening here to Paul and Christ had said very plainly what was going to happen in these last days and what would happen to Christians and basically before we read this simply if they hate me the people are going to hate you. And so look at what happens here in Matthew chapter 10 verses 18 to 20 here. And that's so important. To solidify and to ingest what Noah is just reading here. If you're not led by the truth, and if you do not believe in the true, unvarnished Word of God, and if you're not in it, that is a power that you're basically giving away. Because when you have that, and you know that the Holy Spirit is speaking through you, you can be as nervous as you want. But if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, when the play calls for it, He will be there and he will speak through you. I've never seen it fail. And here Paul is about to make that manifestation extremely important because here he is on the chopping block and he's ready to not cower and to cry and to get me out of here. No, he's going to take the playing field here. And that's what happens. And it's not just Felix, it's not just Claudius, Herod, and all these other figures. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, we see a name that's very familiar, another high priest that has the very same name of the man that helped Paul when he was blind, when he was on the road to Damascus. And the Lord cries down, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Why are you kicking against the pricks? And Saul could say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And he had no idea what he was in for. And the first part is the Lord blinds him, takes him to a man named Ananias, and Ananias is like, wait a minute, this guy's public enemy number one, Lord. We don't want this guy. I mean, he could turn us all in, and he could have us all exposed, and they could just ruin what we're working on. The Lord says, do it. and do it now. And he does, and he prays with Ananias, and Ananias takes Paul by the hand, leads him, Paul gets his eyesight, and here all these things happen up to this point. He's still got a long way to go. And we see Ananias, and here Ananias the high priest, he has this Jewish, he's an orator, more like a lawyer, Tertullus comes in, and Ananias is much like Caiaphas and Pilate with Herod. These very names we see here, these men here, they're furious against Paul. And we see a high priest who should be honoring the law and honoring the words that Paul had given, but he hates them. And this is a very incredible lesson on the blindness of what was supposed to be one of the highest levels of authority in the Christian church was the high priest. And here Ananias has totally rejected the truth and the work and the real law of the high priest and how we've seen that today in many churches. And how he's taken on this establishment and he now It's so obtuse as to how clouded these high priests are now. They actually are making legislation, the Pharisees with the Sadducees, and here the Pharisees claim to believe in the prophets of old who claim at 100%, if you look in the Old Testament, they believe in a resurrection. The Sadducees do not believe in a resurrection. How can you worship with someone that doesn't believe in a resurrection? There's a lot of evangelicals out there that are questioning it today. The debate goes on. I have a quote here in a few minutes that we're going to read. It's incredible what evangelicals today are saying about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're saying it doesn't even exist hardly anymore. It's getting crazy. Lise. Yes. Right. Right. And that brings up an excellent point. I was going to save this. But now that you brought it up, I don't want to forget this. I know that some of us here have talked about something very interesting. And this has come up. And I saw, I was watching this incredible question and answer session a few days ago. And the question was, this elderly man gets up and he goes, I love and I believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But I have talked to family members that claim to be Christians, and they have said to me, Are you sure about this? What if this isn't true? What are we going to do with all this gospel stuff, and this Jesus stuff, and the resurrection? What if this isn't true? And I love the response that came from that. The response was, well, put it this way. And this was the answer that I just, I never heard this before, and I just hung on to it, and I love it to this minute. The answer was this. If it's not true, and we believe it, then we have nothing to lose anyway, because we were wicked to begin with. But if it is true, and we're hedging our bets on the fact that it's not, we've got a big problem. So that's really, I think that's very profound. Lisey. Right. Right. Right. That's right. Right. Amen. Right. That's right. Right. It's a platform. And they just love to stand on it and they love to debate it. There's a lot of debaters out there today. But here we see this once again, going along with what Lise just said. Look at the debate that's going on here. Ananias is a high priest. He's supposed to be going back to the Levitical law and honoring what Moses had said and honoring what Aaron, the work of Aaron, and he's defying the very man who is claiming that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. How many times have we seen that? Is that too repetitive for us? Is that boring? Is that something that we should just stop looking at because we're tired of hearing about it? I can't ever hear about it enough because what it does is it emboldens my wicked soul and it draws me closer to the Lord when I see how this happens. And what happens here is Ananias, he's snuggling up to this guy Tertullus and he says to Felix, Oh, most noble man, we love your consistency and we love the peace that you bring us. The man was a bloodthirsty murderer. He had murdered tens of thousands of Jews according to some of the writings of Josephus. It was a lot. Many, many people. Maybe it wasn't tens of thousands, but it was a lot. It was in the thousands. He was a murderer. He goes, but this Paul the Apostle, he is a pestilent fellow. Where did we hear pestilences in the Bible? They're plagues. They're saying, he's a plague. He's a problem to us because he's costing us some of our people. Our people are hearing this gospel of Jesus Christ and they are not wanting to come back to our synagogues. And that becomes a real problem. So we see that these lies continue on. We see that basically the high priests have absolutely turned their back on the truth. Well, the office of the high priest, we see that Ananias becomes a prosecutor in the judgment hall, just like we see Caiaphas and Annas did with Christ. And this was horrible. We can be very confident that they were not true high priests, but they were perpetrated high priests. And we see this, we see how Ananias was... One of the problems you see with the high priests of the day is they would change. You know, when you were a high priest, you were supposed to be a high priest in perpetuity. And you see Annas was basically benched and Caiaphas comes in. Matthew Henry says, shall the high priest turn informer and leave all his business in the temple of Jerusalem to go to be called as a prosecutor and inherit the judgment hall? Is this what a high priest is supposed to do? Is to go in and become a prosecutor against a Christian? This is where this is all messed up. And here Tertullus, he uses what is very, very, very dangerous. he used flattering words, and he says how wonderful Felix is. And Felix, we know, is not wonderful at all. As we go forward to verses 8 to 10 in chapter 24, I'm just doing a quick review. We're going over because we've done this before, but in going forward where we pick up, there were more falsehoods that plainly were emanated from these same lies and these were the ones that brought Jesus to Calvary. Remember this political display of lies against our Lord. Could someone look up Luke chapter 22 and read verses 66 to 71 and see if this doesn't seem a little familiar to you. And that students of the faith, the elders of the people, and the chief priests, and the scribes come together and let them hear the council saying, art thou the Christ? Tell us. And he said, I said, if that's what it is, you will not believe me. And then I also ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shalt the Son of Man sit on the right hand of the power of God. What does it say about the mouth of Jesus Christ? They're mocking Him. They're saying this comes out of His own mouth. Remember John 1.1? Does anybody remember what that verse is? Yeah. And the word was with God, the same was in the beginning, all things were created by him without it was not anything that was created that was created. He's the logos. The Logos, the Word. The Word that comes out of Jesus' mouth is the holy and inerrant Word of God. And they're mocking Him here. And basically what I hate about this, what I think is extremely dangerous, here the high priests and all of these politicians are questioning Him. Does anybody open the floor a little bit? Does this hit anybody's heart or mind? Something you can remember where a question was a very, very dangerous part of Scripture. Very dangerous. Yes. Hath God said. And all of a sudden Satan planted into Eve's ears. Does he really mean what he's saying? That is the seed of many pastures of paganism. questioning God and making Him the student and taking what He commands and basically tearing it down to nothing. And so we're taking a turn from basically Paul going from, he goes all the way from Corinth, he goes into Jerusalem, he comes in and they arraign him, he goes to Antipatris and to Caesarea, and then he's here, he's on the third defense, now he takes the stand. And now he opens his mouth. And look at what he says. There's what we read. I'm just going to give an opening verse. We're going to go back a little bit. But here's the opening verse where he starts speaking. We go to chapter 24. And it says in verse 9, and the Jews also assented, saying that things were so. They assented, and they were saying and concurring that everything Paul had said was a lie. But then something amazing happens. Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, for as much as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself. You want to know what's so fascinating about this? You look at the person, all right, so what he's talking about. He is holding Felix to a standard. And he's saying, you've been a judge for many years, and if you're going to be working with these Jews, these Pharisees, you better get your book out, and you better go back to the law, and you better see what you're talking about. Because Paul's saying, I did nothing that you're accusing me of. I didn't go into the synagogues, I didn't start riots, I didn't lift people up, I didn't do anything to hurt the gospel of Jesus Christ in these temples, and that's what belongs there. And that's what he starts talking about. We see that in verse 10. Paul does not cower. He does not schmooze Felix. He recognized him as a judge. He doesn't stand there like Tertullus and say, You constant, persistent man that brought us so much wonderful peace. He doesn't flatter. You know the Lord hates that. He doesn't use flattery. He doesn't cower. He recognizes him as a judge. Paul never says he's a good judge either. He simply states the fact. We are not to flatter or fawn over others to gain their acceptance. We're not to do that. Psalm 55, 21. Can someone look that up and read that please? Psalm 55, 21. And Paul here providentially accepts the challenge to face Felix. And we see in verse 10, even cheerfully. They were drawn swords. How can you get around such wonderful literature? They were drawn swords that basically these beautiful words come out of people's mouths, but in their hearts they're drawn swords ready to cut your head off. And that's what a lot of these politicians do. Here's a statement by a current day pastor who makes this His name is Russell Moore. We saw him in the question and answer session from the Southern Baptist Convention, and I think he does a great job in a lot of ways. He's reformed, and I think he has a lot of good things to say. He warns that the very essence of Christianity today is in crisis. as the words of Jesus Christ are mistaken for liberal talking points by believers, emphasizing the influence of political and tribal ideologies on America's religious practices. Almost every part of the Christian American life now is tribalized and factionalized, and religion, it seems, is not immune. This fusion of political beliefs and religious teachings may be diluting the core messages of the faith." I think that's very profound. Basically, you're saying they're literally taking Scripture and using it against Scripture. I think that's a very, very good way to describe Satan. Oh, he used Scripture right against Christ Himself. Matthew 4, that's exactly right in the Temptations. And he asked the Lord question after question, can you actually turn the stone into bread? Can you be caught up by your angels if you're cast off this very high 450-foot cathedral? Here, Paul, he providentially accepts the challenge to face Felix very cheerfully. He declares him a judge, and Paul is reminding Felix of his responsibility to Jewish law via the Old Testament, the proper customs, and true beliefs of the very prophets. They profess to love. Even Jesus said himself to the Pharisees, he said, Moses, speak of me. What did he say about Abraham? Remember at the end of chapter eight in the book of John? He said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day. They spoke about the coming of the Messiah. They knew the gospel. And basically what's happening here is basically Paul's bringing this back to them and he's getting ready to hit them with something really big while he's talking in his defense and he's reminding them. But he's trying to remember the Pharisees, the very prophets that you spoke about and that you cling to are the very ones that spoke about Christ Himself. They hated that. Remember Jesus said, I and my Father are one. That was six words that really poured gas on the fire. And so here we see Paul goes in and he rolls his sleeves up. He gives a timeline and he says in the last 12 days, he goes, how can I be a rioter? How can I do all of this wrangling and cause all of these problems when this is what I was doing the last 12 days? These are the last 12 days that you were trying to bring me in and accuse me of being this rioter. He had spent them in Caesarea. He was incarcerated, waiting for his accusers to arrive. That did not leave much time to incite rioting. Then the other seven days, we remember back in chapters 21, verses 24, and verses 27, what had happened? Remember the Jews had come to him? Remember when they came to him and said, listen, you know, we really think that you need to kind of upgrade or update or maybe reify, whatever you want to call it, some of the purification rites of the Jewish culture to show them that basically you're with us and that you agree with us. He spent five days. So if you take the seven days back, we were just discussing in these five days, you have 12 days. Where does it say, where do we see anywhere any of the details we've given that he was inciting riots? I mean, we can see today how riots are used very profoundly in order to overturn elections and to overturn other things. They're used as a ploy. They're not just something that happens out of nowhere. They are planned. That's exactly what happened. They are contrived. And Paul had no way of doing that. He had all he could do. First, he was going into the synagogues and he was preaching the gospel of Christ. You know, mentioning the gospel of Jesus Christ, many times this morning, and I find it very interesting, the very same question and answer session I was reading last week, one of the questions came out about, what is the gospel? I hear people going to church and they're wondering, what is the gospel of Jesus Christ? And the pastor says, with all of his teaching and the people that he's asked over the years, only 1% of the people that he spoke to gave him a correct answer on what the gospel of Jesus Christ was. You know, one of the prevailing ones that was basically across the board? Well, Jesus died for us so we might be happy because he loves all of us. That's basically what was said. Because he died because he loves us all because, you know, and there was no differentiation there. Do we really know what the gospel is? So, I'll ask you this morning, what is it? What is the gospel? Exactly. That's the beginning, that's the opening, the Evangelion. It's the good news. But the good news of what? What is it? Yeah, Teresa. It's the Word of God, but the Gospel is in the Word of God. So if somebody asks you the details, what is it? It's the works and persons and the life, the ministry, the death, burial, and the resurrection, the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's what He did coming into the first Advent, coming down here. And the fact that it's an extension and it's pointing right to the second Advent that's on its way, that is the good news. And people regard that as a complete hoax. The gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we know it in our souls? Do we know it in our hearts? Is it something that comes out of our pores like Ezekiel? Well, this is just the beginning. Look at what Paul says. This is incredible. He says in verse 12, And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But," he says, I confess this, but this I confess unto thee, that after the way," I love that, the people of the way, who were they? Remember? Yes. John 14, 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but I am with the people that follow Christ. That after the way, which they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. He says, you sit there and tell me that I'm a writer and I am defying the law from the prophets. I'm telling you, he says, I'm keeping those. You're the ones that are messing them up. And I think that's very profound. Here Paul gives this timeline and he goes right into going after him. He gives the gospel and we see what the gospel is. He starts by going all the way back to Exodus chapter 3. Remember when we studied this many times, we've talked about this. One of the objections Moses had, he said, well, how are they going to hear me? How are they going to believe who I'm talking about? And he says, the Lord God Almighty Himself, and I think this is incredible enough that we're actually able to read those words of God Himself. He says, you tell the people, I am the God of your fathers. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So we jump over here in Acts 24, verse 14, and Paul says, I worship the God of our fathers. No. I worship the same God as the God of our fathers. And he comes back and he says that. But then he steps it up another notch. Look at this. In verse 14, 15, he goes, "...and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow," the Pharisees believe it, "...that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." See, most people just leave it as a very convenient, it's only a resurrection of the just, and the unjust have no hope. No, it's a resurrection of the just and the unjust. Oh, they have a hope of a resurrection, but they have no hope of an eternal felicity. It's eternal damnation and a burning hell. And Christ himself said that over and over and over again. But this resurrection, let me ask you a question. Does anybody here know where the resurrection appears in the Old Testament? Does anybody have any idea in the Old Testament where the resurrection appears? Is it in the Old Testament? We've been asking the question in the Wednesday night prayer meeting for weeks. Is the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament? And of course, we saw many, many verses as David cried out. We saw in Ezekiel and many other verses. Is the resurrection in the Old Testament, Lisa? Yeah. I'll tell you what. I'll take you all the way back to Job. And Job speaks of a resurrection. Did you know that? Who wants to have the privilege of reading Job 19.25-27? And here, Job is in the midst of A really bad situation. We all know what happened to Job. He's lost everything. Covered with boils, and this is what he says. Job 19, 25 to 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the land latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins Thank you. Look at that. Look at that. Look what he says. He goes, I might be rotting flesh right now with boils from head to toe. My wife is not very happy with me right now. My kids are dead. I've lost my cattle. I've lost everything that I have. My house is blown down. And he says, but when I shed this mortal coil, I will see the Lord my Redeemer liveth. That's a Messianic prophecy. He was our Redeemer, our Savior. He says, My Redeemer liveth. How about in the book of Daniel? Does any of y'all remember the book of Daniel? The lion's dead, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? You know, I didn't know Johnny Cash wrote a song about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I heard that on a Christian radio station. I love it. He sings this song, he says, they wouldn't bow, they wouldn't bend, they wouldn't burn. He got it right there. So anyway, I had to say that. But anyway, you think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you think of Daniel in the lion's den, you think of Bel, all these things that happen, the visions, But then you get to the end, in the very last chapter, someone will look up Daniel 12, 1 and 2. Daniel 12, 1 and 2. Look at this. This is incredible. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince, with the children of thy people. There shall be a time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be conquered and employed. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. There's a powerful verses. Some to shame. But they're all going to be resurrected. The Lord is going to bring all the pieces together and He's going to glue them back together as metaphorically speaking. But here my point is, and as we'll have to finish here, Paul takes Felix and Ananias, Tertullus, and all of these reigning officials right to the resurrection of Jesus Christ and talks about a resurrection. And actually we had read a little ways back that already he had caused some real problems between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Remember, they don't believe in a resurrection, the Sadducees. That actually caused problems. And so he brings it up again. And he reifies it. Well, I think when we talk about reifying and being repetitive, I think that we can end the class by encouraging ourselves by reading this and going over it over again and again. Is our job as Christians just to mention the resurrection of Christ to one person at one time in our whole lives? And then we can just say, oh, did my job. I'm out of here. No. It's repetitive. It's repetitive. You tell one person and you tell another person. You give out tracts. You witness and you talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that resurrection is embedded in there. And you do it over and over. And I think that's one of the many reasons why the Lord is giving this to us repetitively and encouraging us. And so next week, what we're going to be looking at is he speaks of the resurrection, then all of a sudden, Felix, just like Pontius Pilate, washes his hands and hands Paul over to Festus. Now, what do you hear about Festus? He's a real interesting character. We'll look at that next week. Let's finish with prayer. Hey, Brother Jerry, could you close us this morning in prayer? Thank you.