reading this morning is from Acts chapter 22 and we'll begin in verse 23 and we'll read on to chapter 23 verse 10. So please follow along. I'll begin in right where we left off last week. Verse 23, then as they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks. and said that he should be examined under scourging so that he might know why they shouted so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman. Then the commander came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman? He said, Yes. The commander answered, With a large sum I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, But I was born a citizen. Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him. And the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds. and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them. Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?' And those who stood by said, Do you revile God's high priest?' Then Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. Then there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks." Let us pray. Father, we know that your Word is meant to strengthen your disciples, and I pray that they would be strengthened today. I pray that they would be strengthened by the hope of the resurrection. In the name of Christ, amen. You may be seated. Well last week we were looking at the strength that Christ was giving us through his word. In the post-apostolic age, after the apostles, that's us, the church is entrusted with the task of witnessing to who God is, what he is doing, and what he requires of us. That witness is in word and it is in deed. Sometimes, witnessing includes giving a defense. We defend by reminding people that we cannot obey them rather than God. We are, in our defense, simply saying and doing what we have learned from God in the scriptures. But more importantly, so often, more importantly, there was a second application point last week, and that is that we are defended. and therefore we are to be a church of good cheer. This week we continue with Paul. You can see him moving into that rhetorical mode. Men and brethren, we have another speech before us, and so let's continue to follow him and gain strength for how we may serve our God and what our God is doing now. I want to begin by just making a few observations with you, and so I'd encourage you to look at the scriptures with me together. Let's make a key observation here, which we could talk about for a long time, and it's in verse 2 of chapter 23. I say this is the key because it unlocks and opens the door for how you're to view every other word that is a part of this account before us. The scene should evoke two other scenes, as they often do. The first scene that 23, verse 2 should evoke is 1 Kings 22, 24. Paul is smacked on the mouth. And then if you turn to 1 Kings 22, verse 24, you will find that Micaiah is smacked on the mouth. But more emphatically for this section, it's really Jeremiah who is the framework. And guess what happens to Jeremiah? Jeremiah 20, verses 1 and 2. Jeremiah and confronting the shepherds of Israel, it says this, Now Pashur, the son of Emer, the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord." You can see the framework that's being used here, Luke aware of the scriptures and helping us to have more to understand exactly what's going on here with Paul. He gives us references and the Spirit evokes 1 Kings and Jeremiah 20. The scenes, in other words, 1 Kings and Jeremiah, they're like stars in the night sky. And after you get enough stars, you can connect the dots and a constellation forms. It's a picture that's recognizable. You could see a scorpion or whatever. Well here, what we see is the meaning, the significance of what Luke is writing. On the one hand, Paul is a prophet sent from God to testify of what God is doing in the Christ. And because it's been framed in this way, we know who the others are in this story, even the high priest. On the other hand, those who arrested and struck Paul are evil shepherds who lead the sheep into a ditch. In our passage, Paul takes the role of Jeremiah or of Micaiah for 1 Kings. The high priest and his council act as evil shepherds. Now that you have that knowledge, go ahead and review the rest of the passage on your own time. This ends up being evidence that they're evil shepherds. It's evidence first and that the high priest is not even recognizable because he's disobeying the law. And that's why Paul doesn't know it's the high priest. And then Paul accuses them of hypocrisy, which should not be the case within the council. They are whitewashed walls, very similar to what Christ said before, whitewashed tombs. And Christ had the same point that He was making, that these are evil shepherds that lead us into a ditch. When Christ called them whitewashed tombs, He was focused on how they had misled people in conceiving of death and laws that surrounded it. Here they're called whitewashed walls, and it makes me wonder if it's because they block people from getting to the truth. They are walls blocking Israelites and Gentiles, if you read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, from knowing the truth about what God the Father is doing through Jesus Christ. And like a falling wall, they are seeking to crush Paul, the messenger of the Lord. And yet, if you were to continue reading in Jeremiah, you will find that Paul's fate is just like Jeremiah's, at least temporarily, where God delivers them both. That's the first observation, and that's the key. That's the frame in which we want to look at everything, and it makes sense of all of the parts. Here's the second thing I want you to notice. Paul centers his testimony on the hope and resurrection of God's people. This is the most shrewd I've ever seen anyone to divide the court, right there. Acts 23, verse 6, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am being judged. Truly Christ's words have been fulfilled at this moment when he said, the spirit will give you what to say in those moments. Luke gives an editorial comment in verse 7, unfolding what Paul meant. Now did you catch that? There's three things in the list and Paul says they confessed both. And so, we have to deal with that. But first, did you notice that he mentions the resurrection as the hope? Resurrection is first, and then there's angel or spirit. And I really think that angel or spirit are synonyms, and therefore that's why he says there's two or both. In terms of the resurrection, Paul certainly believes that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That's essential. And he is being persecuted for that in every city, and especially here in this court. And yet, in chapter 23, verse 8, which is right around the corner for us, we see that Christ's resurrection was just the first resurrection that is the hope. If you would like, look at Acts chapter 23, verse 8. I'm sorry, Paul elaborates in 24, verse 15. I apologize. Take a look at Acts 24, verse 15. Notice the same language is being used here. And we'll get to this later, so I don't want to spend too much time on it. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." Hope and resurrection are mentioned again, and here it is not just the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, it is the resurrection of all, the just and the unjust. And we can get into that more later. As his speeches continue, he'll speak more and more about the resurrection. But what about those terms angels or spirit? In this context, Paul is not concerned with angels in the sense of cherubim or seraphim or angelic messengers like you saw during Advent, like Gabriel. Sometimes the word angel is used equivalently to the word spirit. as you can see here even in this passage, but listen to this from Acts 12, 14-15. Do you remember when Peter was arrested and slammed in jail? And they're all back in a room praying for him that he would be delivered from the prison. And then all of a sudden he shows up. Do you remember this? Because an angel has left them out of jail. Listen to what they say about him. When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her gladness, she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. But they said to her, you're beside yourself. Yet she kept insisting that it was so, so they said, it is his angel. You see that? They don't think he grew wings. They think that it is his spirit. And so I think that clears up a lot of things and it helps us to understand the majority of the parts that are a part of this overarching passage to the point where we can now state a doctrine from this. And it's quite simply this. I want to focus in on the hope because that's what Paul focuses on. The hope of the church is life after death. Upon death, our bodies lie in the grave, but our souls or spirits go to be with Christ. Upon Christ's return, we are all raised, the just and the unjust, and the righteous shall receive the redemption of their bodies in the day of judgment." That's all a part of here. Sometimes it is assumed. Most of it is flowering and budding forth right before our eyes in this passage. But at bottom, the hope of the church is in life after death. It begins with our souls being with Christ, and it ends with the full redemption of our bodies. Now I'd like to just talk about this under two main parts this morning, our future hope and our present hope. So let's begin with our future hope. The main point Paul is making is about the Christian hope. And yet it can seem confusing to say that Judgment Day is a hopeful day. Have you had those same thoughts? Have you ever said that Judgment Day is a hopeful day? Have you ever skipped down the street and said, I can't wait for Judgment Day? Some of you don't skip anymore, but if you could, would you ever choose Judgment Day to be skipping about? Well, this, you know, sometimes we don't because we have a misconception of what's going on with Judgment Day. We have images of terror and destruction and pillars of smoke from burning cities. But I encourage you, however, to view judgment from the biblical perspective, especially since Paul says, this is our hope. Judgment day must be viewed through the framework of the Davidic Messiah. Here is a verse that should not only be in your Bibles, but it should be in your hearts. It is from 2 Samuel 8 15. It's repeated in Chronicles, but I give you 2 Samuel 8 15. And it says this, So David reigned over all Israel, and David administered judgment and justice to all his people. Now there is one greater than David, and we may say the same of Christ and his destiny, that he shall administer judgment and justice to all the world. If you read before that verse in 2 Samuel, you will see that what that meant, that summary term, it comes at the end of a, especially in Chronicles, you can see that everything is moving to this kind of consummation of all the acts that God does through David to bring the whole nation to this one point where they have shalom. where they are at peace. And what has brought them peace is the administration of judgment and justice by the Messiah, or the Anointed One. And in this case it's David, but in our case it is the Messiah, the one that David figured, Jesus the Christ. You see that David swept the land of evil and danger, and we have the same hope on Judgment Day with Christ. That's what Judgment Day is about. I want you to think about our situation. Let's just put it in real practical terms. Whether we look to the left or whether we look to the right, people are in confusion and they are waging war with each other. Think locally, for example. I don't know if you know this, but in Anne Arundel County, officially, the legislative branch is arguing and suing the executive branch. Baltimore is still full of murders, I promise you. Nationally, the legislative branch is now disagreeing with the executive branch on vaccines. There's confusion, and then internationally, and it gets far worse when we get outside of the states in our current circumstances. There are over 100,000 Russian troops sent to the Ukraine border. That can't be good. As always, if you look through history, I think there are times that are rougher than ours, quite honestly. As always, the whole world is always at each other's throat, and they are in confusion. One nation conspires against another, one family conspires against another. But I want you to just imagine what Paul is saying here, however, that when Christ returns with absolute power and His angelic hosts, the message of Christianity, the hope of you as a Christian, is that He will restore the whole world to peace under His Lordship. That is the full message of the Judgment Day and of the Resurrection. And part of that will be removing from His city all those who have refused to repent and bow the knee to Him and to seek pardon from God and to serve Him by the power of the Holy Spirit and holiness and righteousness. But again, you have got to see that it is a necessary action in His judgment and in the administration of justice to remove those who continue in their rebellion. He must do that because his goal is to restore all of creation and he's not going to have someone hanging around who deep in their heart wants to foul it all up. And that is what man is if they do not turn to Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. They are by definition those things which foul up his plans or seek to. They seek to conspire against the Lord and his anointed. In other words, Judgment Day is our hope. That's the message. And until that day, the main words of the church are expressed well by the souls of the saints in heaven. This is from Revelation 6, verses 9 through 12. I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord? And it goes on. It is the cry of Habakkuk. How long, O Lord, will I be under such incompetence? Our hope is not in a 2024 election. Our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been elected by God the Father to rule the world. Now that's our future hope, and I encourage you to hold on to that. But there is also a present hope that flies out of this passage. Does everyone know that Emma Donovan was married yesterday to Keith Verdon, and now is Emma Verdon? Well, I seek with all my heart by the grace of the Holy Spirit to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says in Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse four, there is a time to dance. So I did. I did dance. And it felt good. But up to that time, I gotta tell you, I've been in just quite a bit of mourning. Really, it's been like a two-year mourning. And the main reason, besides everything else that's going on and all the difficult decisions and the decision fatigue that leaders feel and all of that, It has been because I and you have lost people that we love. People have died. And there are people, and I don't know who all of them are, and I don't know who they all are in your life, but they have not died yet, but you have heard that they might soon. Or that it's approaching. You can start to feel that. You can feel it starting to knock on the door. And it's important that we hear Paul's message in this light also. We have a future hope that our Christian loved ones shall be raised again in the new world. That's excellence. But we often forget that it is actually not accurate to say that they are dead now in the way that we mean dead. When we say the word dead, we mean non-existent, annihilated. But when they use the word dead in the Scriptures, it accompanies further teaching on where they are alive still, but not embodied. And we need to hear these things, but we often forget that. It is actually not accurate to say, for example, that Jim Jolliffe or Harry R. O'Haver are dead. Not the way that we mean that. As we just heard from Paul, Their souls or spirits exist, and since they are believers, they are with the Lord in happiness, awaiting the redemption of their bodies. And for further instruction and support, I just want to remind you of the words of Jesus, because this can be hard to believe. You're missing them so bad, your whole life has changed, for some of you. You need extra support, and so I say this to you, that you would remember that your Christian loved ones are not dead. But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, Jesus says. When he called the Lord the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, Jesus continues and says, for he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For all live to him. And if you look at this, this is in Luke chapter 20 verse 34 through 38, it is in the context of the resurrection. Exactly what we're talking about this morning, the hope of Christians. And so the first application of considering such things is that there is a time to mourn. And I know that some of you are still mourning, but you cannot, with our faith and our hope, mourn as those who have no hope. The fellow members of the body of Christ who are no longer with us are with Christ. Do not mourn for them. And then the second application is this. Those of you approaching death, this is not the time. When you move into death, it seems like we're moving into a season that no one spoke to. I don't have any instruction on how to handle this. You told me what to do in marriage. You told me what to do when I'm being ornery. You told me that I'm supposed to do this with my children, but when we get to death, it's like this untouchable realm, and no one has any instructions from God on what to do. But that's not true. We are to let the words of Christ instruct us continually as we even enter into the approach of death. It is the time when our faith should be exercised the strongest. Remembering that our faith is what we have heard in this passage, that you shall go to be with the Lord. And yes, it is scary because you've never done this before. And there's little pieces in the scriptures as to what to expect, but there's not a full picture painted for you. But nevertheless, you have enough to hang on to, to know that you're not entering into something where you need to tremble. You are entering into the goal of your whole life. And it will be true that what Christ started in you, He finished. He has officially brought you to glory, and all you have to wait for now, with the rest of the communion of the saints in heaven, is for the redemption of your body. Those of you facing death, this is not the time to throw your faith out the window. Let the words of Christ give you courage. Though your body will lie in the earth, you, your soul, will go to be with Christ, and all the saints that have gone before you. You will not regret it. You will not be sad. The hope of the church, in other words, after saying all of this, is life after death because of what Christ has done. Upon death, our bodies lie in the grave, but our souls or spirits go to be with Christ. Upon Christ's return, We are all raised in new bodies for the day of judgment. What a future, and what a present hope we have. Truly, this is good news, and if death were a bee, Jesus Christ has removed the stinger for you, Christian. Let us pray.