We'll continue looking at the life of Paul here. And we'll start where we left off at the end of Acts 21 and the beginning of Acts 22. And we'll just start walking through the text and stopping periodically maybe to discuss it, to ask questions, to maybe consider or apply some things. But we'll just walk through the text together and we'll get wherever we get. we'll go at whatever pace we're able to go at, and we'll spend a little bit of time doing that. Of course, we will spend some time in prayer as well later on before we dismiss, so we'll leave some time for that. But Acts 22, and we'll begin at verse number one men brethren and fathers hearing my defense which I make now on to you and when they heard that he speak in the Hebrew tongue to them they kept the more silence and he sayeth I am verily a man which image you born in Tarsus a city in Cilicia yet brought up in the city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as ye all are this day And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them, which were bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it came to pass that as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be as witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it came to pass that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance. And so I am saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I am imprisoned and beat, And that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. And we may end up getting a little bit further than that portion, but we'll stop there and start to walk through it. But if you remember where we left off now two weeks ago, Paul has just entered Jerusalem. And when he comes into town, let's see here, in chapter 21, chapter 21, Let's go back to verse 17. And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following, Paul went in with us unto James, and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe, and they are all zealous of the law. And they are informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. What is it therefore? The multitude must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this, that we say to thee, We have four men which have a vow on them. Take them, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads, and all may know that those things whereof they were informed concerning thee are nothing, but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law so he comes into jerusalem and the the jewish believers in jerusalem say hey paul people have been hearing some things about you and they don't like you uh... because they hear that you are telling people to forsake uh... the law of moses and paul was not telling people to forsake the old testament scriptures by any means but he was teaching that circumcision and other mosaic Parts of the Mosaic Law are not necessary under the New Covenant, are not necessary for salvation. For sure, that was a heresy that was going through churches. And so, they encouraged him to go with four other men, I think, into the temple. to do this Jewish ceremony. I think more than likely a Nazarite vow that they were performing. And so he goes there with them to the temple, basically to show people that he's not the boogeyman that they think he is, okay? And that's when everything turns amok. Verse 25, "...as touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only they that keep themselves from things offered to idol and from blood, and from strangled and from fornication. Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them. And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia..." Now that's key, okay? Jews from Asia spot Paul. That's significant because Paul had already been in Asia. He had been in a city of Asia for three years, Ephesus. And the Jews, the Jewish unbelievers, not any Jewish believers there, but the Jewish unbelievers in Ephesus especially did not like Paul. And so they spot him. here. And it says in verse 27, when they saw him in the temple, they stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people. So they're saying he teaches against the Jews and the law. He teaches against the Old Testament Scriptures. In this place he teaches against the temple and further brought Greeks also into the temple and hath polluted this place, this holy place. Now that's That is just not true. The very next verse informs us that that's not true. It says in parenthesis, Therefore they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus and Ephesians, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. So they see Paul with the Gentile, Trophimus, and they think that he goes into the court of the Jews with Paul. If you remember, the temple had two courts. It was divided into the court of the Gentiles and then there was a section further inside that only Jews could go. In fact, most people say that Gentiles could Legally, the Roman Empire allowed Gentiles to be killed if they entered that section of the temple. Paul be taking a lot of people off by bringing a gentile into the Jewish section there but he'd be endangering his friend's life big time because the Jews would have license to kill him for that. But the fact of the matter is he didn't do it. They saw him with this Ephesian and they assume or make up a lie or whatever that he brought him into this part of the temple and he didn't. It's false. He didn't do that. But it doesn't matter. They don't care if it's true or not. They just want to get rid of Paul. That's what matters. And so they say he's teaching against the Jewish people, he's teaching against the law, he's teaching against the temple, he's brought a Greek into the temple and polluted the holy place. Verse 30, and all the city was moved and the people ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, Is this not amazing? Just stop and think about this for a second. What were these people doing just a couple minutes ago? Think about where they are at. The temple. What are they doing in the temple? Worshipping God. Or at least they think they're worshipping God. And a couple minutes later, what are they doing? Trying to kill someone. Like, That right there should tell you there's something wrong with this group of people. Not only are they trying to kill him, but they're trying to kill him over false accusation, false pretenses and whatnot. So verse 31, as they went about to kill him, tidings came to the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. So the Romans, quickly hear what's going on. "...who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left, beating of Paul." So when the Roman soldiers show up, the Jews stop what they're doing because they themselves could be arrested and in deep trouble for just beating a man in the street, you know? So they stop. 33. Then the chief captain came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done. And some cried one thing, some another among the multitude. And when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people followed after, trying away with him." So there's like this mob following after Paul. And they literally pick him up, basically, to take him into the castle to protect him. Verse 37, And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? And the chief captain's response is, Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? And so Paul speaks to the chief captain in Greek, and it takes him off guard. He's not expecting this Jew to speak to him in Greek. especially because the chief captain thinks he's somebody else. He sees the Jews mobbing this guy, about to kill this guy, and he thinks that, well, he says in verse 38 who he thinks he is, So he thinks that he's like an Egyptian terrorist who has gotten together, and that did happen, it wasn't Paul, but he thought it was Paul. Are you that Egyptian who rounded up 4,000 guys to revolt and attack? But Paul said, verse 39, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, a citizen of no means city. And I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. And when he had given him license, or permission, Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with a hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue." So now he switches to Hebrew, and most people think at that time it was probably Aramaic, the dialect, because that's what most of the Jews would have been speaking as far as the Hebrew language. But regardless, he speaks in the language of the people. He speaks to them in the Hebrew tongue. And that brings us to chapter 22, verse 1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you. And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence. And he saith, I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. Something strikes me. Let me ask this. What strikes you about the way Paul addresses this angry mob when he's given permission to speak to them? What strikes you about the way he speaks to them? He's given permission to speak. He's going to make a defense of himself and ultimately of the gospel ministry he's involved in. What strikes you about the way that he speaks to these Jews who were just beating him to a pulp? Well, yeah, first of all, in verse 3 he says that they were zealous toward God. Now their zeal was misinformed and off track, but still he could have accused them of a whole lot worse than that. That's kind of He's being quite kind to say that they're zealous toward God. But what else? He kept us cool. What does he call them in verse 1? Men, brethren, and fathers. I think I would have been saying, hey you low down scumbags, you know, I mean, you, you know, law breaking thugs, you know, I mean, I mean they're breaking the law, you can't just beat someone to a pulp like that. I mean, he could have called them hypocrites because they were just in the temple claiming to worship God and then a couple minutes later they're beating him to a pulp even though he didn't do anything wrong. Instead, he addresses them, I think, kindly. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defense which I make now unto you. And I think we can apply that in a lot of ways. It's not at all wrong for Christians to stand against error. Christians should stand against error. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about doing it. Am I right? Well, yeah, in a sense, turning the other cheek. I see Paul here who has just almost been beat to death by these people, and now he's got a chance to speak. And he does speak the truth, but he speaks the truth in love. He does it in kindness. He doesn't call these people names. He cares for their souls. I think he's trying to win these people to Christ. He cares about His kinsmen according to the flesh. Romans 9 says that if it were possible, He would die for them if it would bring them to Christ. That's how much He loved His fellow Jews. It's not like He detested the Jews and said, you losers, I'm going to the Gentiles. He loved the Jews. It's not wrong to stand against error at all. We should stand against error. We should stand for the truth. We should preach the gospel. Let's make sure we do it in love. If we are going to be condemned by the world for what we stand for, let it be for what we stand for and not how we go about doing it. In other words, I want to be accused of standing for biblical truth, biblical doctrine, the gospel, Christianity. I don't want to be accused of being a jerk, being unkind. Does that make sense? And so I think we do need to be mindful of that. Not only that, he accommodates them by speaking to them in their Hebrew tongue. And then he identifies with them even a little bit in verse 3. He says, I'm a Jew. and I was brought up in the city. He wasn't born in Jerusalem, but he was brought up in Jerusalem. Not only was he a Jew and brought up in Jerusalem, but he was trained by Gamaliel, which was one of the most well-known rabbis for training in that day. You could say if you were a Pharisee, the best school you could go to was Gamaliel school, okay? So, he's not just an ordinary guy, he's a Jew, he's brought up in the city, he trained at the feet of Gamaliel, and was taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. Then in verse 4 he says, I persecuted this way. I persecuted Christians unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness in all the estate of the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring them, which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. And it came to pass that as I made my journey, and was coming to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me." So now he goes into his conversion story, his testimony. Once again, he's giving a defense of himself But in a sense, he's also bringing in his gospel experience. He's bringing in his conversion experience to this story. And on the road to Damascus at noon, there's a light from heaven. And let me just stop and say, that's got to be a pretty bright light if it blinds you at noon, right? It's got to be brighter than the sun, I would think. And so this bright light at noon shines on him and blinds him. He falls to the ground, verse 7, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. Look at what he says next, And one Ananias, So he talks about this man that he runs into, or this man that he goes to see shortly after his conversion experience. 1 Ananias, a devout man according to the law. So here's another Christian, and Paul is saying he's a devout man according to the law. Christians didn't disrespect the Old Testament Scriptures or deny the Old Testament Scriptures or toss aside the Old Testament Scriptures. They believed the Old Testament Scriptures. But they realized that Christ was the one foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. That He was the fulfillment of the promises in the Old Testament Scriptures. And this is something that the unbelieving Jews refused to see. But he's making it known that they held to the Old Testament. The Old Testament is part of the same story as the New Testament. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old. It's the rest of the story. But it's amazing when people almost talk about the Bible like the Old Testament has nothing to do with the New Testament or vice versa. They have everything to do. What book of the Old Testament do you need in order for the book of Hebrews to make sense? There's an Old Testament book that no one likes to read through that makes the book of Hebrews make sense. You all know it. What's your least favorite book of the Bible to read? Leviticus! Leviticus! The book of Hebrews is rooted in Leviticus. We see that Christ is the fulfillment of those Old Testament pictures. Those Old Testament types, those sacrifices that they would do over and over and over. Christ is the fulfillment of those things. Those were a shadow of the things to come. So the Old Testament and the New Testament, it's not like, well, God changed His mind and decided to do it a different way. No, it's one story. The whole Bible is one story. The New Testament is related to the Old Testament and vice versa. In fact, the Old Testament is quoted quite often in the New Testament. I think actually, ironically enough, since we're talking about Leviticus, I think Leviticus, and I could be wrong, but I think Leviticus is the most often quoted Old Testament book quoted in the New Testament. And we can't stand reading through Leviticus, right? But it's an important book. It really is. Anyway, So he makes these statements. He was trained according to the law. Ananias was a devout man according to the law. These Christians were not saying that the Old Testament has nothing to do with Christianity. The Old Testament is the foundation. The Old Testament is what brought in the fulfillment of Christianity. talking about Ananias, "...came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same hour I looked up upon him." Verse 14, and he said, "...the God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that just one, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard." And now, why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. And it came to pass, that when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance, and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beaten every synagogue, them that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And He said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. We'll stop right there for a second, just for a moment. But what are some things that strike you or that grab your attention maybe in that section that we've read and been going through? I know I've been making a lot of comments, but are there any questions or comments regarding what we just read? Any questions or comments? What do you think of verse 14, when Ananias tells Paul, or Saul at the time, but Paul, "...the God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know us as well, and see that just one, and should hear the voice of his mouth. For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard." What does that show us about, not about Paul, but about God? Yeah. He can use anybody. In fact, I see him being the initiator here. It's not that Paul turned his life around and God says, alright, I can use you. We see God breaking into Paul's life here. He blinds him on the road to Damascus and says, you are my chosen vessel to do this. God's grace is amazing. God's grace is absolutely amazing. God could have done that to anybody. God could have called anybody to this, but he calls probably the single greatest enemy of Christianity at the time in that region and changes his life. and calls him by his grace to be the apostle to the Gentiles. The chiefest of sinners, Paul calls himself. I mean, God is good. God is good. Let me ask you this, and this is probably more of an apologetic issue. Verse 16. Does anyone see any problems with verse 16. I don't think there are any problems with verse 16. I think there are problems with the way some people read verse 16. Yeah? Right. Well, first of all, grammatically I would say, and there's some that would probably disagree with me on this, but I think grammatically The phrase, wash away thy sins, is attached to calling on the name of the Lord, not rise and be baptized. Why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. So if there's any phrase in that verse that's attached to wash away thy sins, it's calling on the name of the Lord, not rise and be baptized. I mean, let's read it again. And now why tarryest thou? Arise and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Exactly! It wouldn't make sense. It wouldn't make sense. There's no basis for the phrase, calling on the name of the Lord, and it makes absolutely no sense if wash away thy sins is connected to the rest of the verse. Does that make sense? Then, not only that, if you have a discussion with someone who tries to say that this is teaching baptismal regeneration, let's remember that we not only believe that the Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice, but we believe all of the Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice. In other words, if there's a verse or portion of scripture that is, I use the word obscure, In other words, the reading could be a little tricky. There are definitely clear places in Scripture that can correct us and show us the right way. Okay, the rule of faith. One verse I think is probably great is 1 Corinthians 1. Why don't we turn there real fast. 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Ananias is talking to Paul. So if Ananias was teaching Paul that baptism is part of salvation, we would expect Paul to also believe that baptism is part of salvation, correct? Alright, let's look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 when he recounts his time in Corinth for the first time. He says, verse 13, Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Verse 14, I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name. And I baptize also the household of Stephanas, besides I know not whether I baptize any other. Verse 17, For Christ sent me not to do what? For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." So he makes a distinction here. Christ didn't send me to baptize, y'all. He sent me to preach the gospel. Now, these believers did get baptized, and that's definitely part of the Great Commission. But he clearly makes a distinction here. I didn't come to baptize, I came to preach the gospel. If baptism is part of the gospel and part of salvation, then Paul missed a pretty important part here, don't you think? But the fact of the matter is that's not a part of Paul's theology at all. We see Paul throughout his ministry in life teaching that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Period. And that baptism is something that identifies someone with Christ. And no doubt, baptism is a picture of our salvation. When you're baptized, it's a symbol of what has taken place in your life. You've been buried, you've died with Christ, and you've been raised to walk in newness of life. We could even say that baptism is a picture of your sins being washed away. We see in Titus chapter 3. Why don't you turn there real quick, and then we'll go back to Acts. But Titus 3. Titus, Titus, Titus. Alright, Titus. Chapter 3 and verse number 5. We read this, didn't we read this just this past Sunday? This portion of Scripture? Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Now, time out. Baptism is a picture of what? Death, burial, and resurrection. It's a picture of what's taking place in your life. We actually see the theological term in that verse. Regeneration. And here we see the washing of regeneration. Alright, so I got no problem with someone even saying that baptism is a symbol of your sins being washed away. Yeah, it's a picture of regeneration. The washing of regeneration. Your death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. You're raised to walk in newness of life. But the fact of the matter is the New Testament Scriptures are quite clear that no one is saved by baptism. Baptismal regeneration is a heresy. And that's quite clear. And not only that, I think when you sit down and actually read the verse in Acts 22, it's quite clear that the washing away of sins is not connected with baptism. It's connected with calling on the name of the Lord. We have just a little bit of time left here, but I want you to see what happens in verse 22. Verse 21, Paul is telling his, he's giving this testimony to the Jews, right? Remember the angry mob? He's standing in front of the angry mob, telling them his conversion story. And he's telling them about how he went to Ananias, and Ananias says, hey, rise and be baptized. And then Ananias also tells Paul that he's been called to go to the Gentiles. Verse 21. Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. Look at what happens in verse 22. And they gave him audience unto this word. So in other words, they were listening to Paul until he said the G word. Gentile. They were listening until he said something about being sent to the Gentiles, and they don't like that. They gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bade that he should be examined by scourging." That's a fancy word for torture right there, right? We're going to examine him by scourging. that he might know wherefore they cried so against him." Because the Romans are still trying to figure out why do the Jews hate this dude and why are they trying to beat him up? And so they bring him into the castle and they bade that he should be examined by scourging that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? And you hear the brakes. Because the Romans bind him. And they're about to scourge him for information. And he says, is it lawful to do this to a Roman citizen who hasn't formally been convicted of a crime? And they stop for a second because they know that it's not lawful to do that. It was illegal to bind or, and especially, scourge a Roman citizen when they were not, you know, not even charged with a crime. And so when he says this, it says verse 26, when the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest, for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum I obtained this freedom. So the chief captain is not even a Roman by, he's actually not even a Roman by birth. He bought his citizenship, which was technically illegal. You weren't allowed to do that, but there were lots of bribes that were accepted back in that day. And some official must have accepted his bribe. To make a long story short though, he bought his citizenship. Paul said, I was born, I was free born. In other words, well, I was born a Roman citizen. Verse 29, then straightway they departed from him. which should have examined him. And the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them." So, they can't scourge him for information, so they're going to have him meet with the Jewish Sanhedrin, the religious leaders, to find out what's actually going on. Why were they beating this man in the street when we arrived? What did he do? But let's just stop for a second there. Just a practical question. Is it wrong for a Christian to appeal to the law? When being treated unjustly, is it wrong for a Christian to appeal to the law? I say no. Paul did right here. He said, I'm a Roman citizen. You can't do this to a Roman citizen. Now, I don't see Paul being rude or unkind or unchrist-like in any way, shape, or form. So I do think that would be wrong, for a Christian to appeal to their rights in an unchrist-like manner. But I don't think it's wrong to appeal to the law. Now the day may come when Christians appeal to the law and it doesn't matter. Injustice may happen, and if it does, it does. But I don't think it's wrong for a Christian to appeal to the law as we see Paul doing here in this situation. Then verse 23, we'll just read this real quick and maybe make a comment. and then we'll head to prayer. And Paul earnestly beholding the council said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. In other words, my reputation, my testimony is clear. I've lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. So the high priest is saying, You know, I don't think it was probably a slap across the face. It was probably worse than that, but give him a good shot, you know. Then Paul said unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. In other words, and that's basically a term for a hypocrite. That's what Christ called the Pharisees in the Gospels. You whitewashed sepulchers. You hypocrites. For he says for citizens out to judge me after the law and command us me to be smitten Contrary to the law in other words. He's saying you just broke the law you can't you can't do that to someone in this situation so once again Paul is appealing to the law, but he he Gets a little bit harsher tone He says gosh of smite thee thou whited wall for sit as thou to judge me after the law and command us me to be smitten Contrary to the law But look at what happens. And this kind of goes back to what we just talked about. And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? You're going to talk to the high priest that way? Now remember, the Jewish high priest was a man of authority. He wasn't just a religious leader, but in the Jewish culture, religion and politics go hand in hand. He's a man of authority. Look at what Paul says, verse 5. Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest. In other words, I didn't know he was the high priest. Now, there's a couple reasons why people think Paul said this. Some people think that Paul's eyesight was bad at this time and he didn't know who was talking. Also, Paul hadn't been in Jerusalem for a while, so some people just think that Paul didn't know who it was. In any way, Paul says, I wish not, brethren, that he was the high priest. And then he says, For it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. So Paul says, I didn't know that was the high priest. If I did know, I wouldn't have done that, because it is written, thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. In other words, he's saying, you're not supposed to talk to the high priest that way, and if I'd known it was the high priest, I wouldn't have done that. So once again, we actually see Paul attempting to be respectful to an authority, do we not? Is this a wicked authority? I think so. I think he's a wicked authority. In fact, he just commanded someone to break the law by smiting Paul. So he's an unjust ruler and a wicked ruler. But do we not see Paul showing him some respect? If I'd known that was a high priest, I wouldn't have said that. I think we need to put high priority on conducting ourselves in an honorable way in front of believers. I'm not saying don't stand up for truth and for what's right, but do it honorably. Don't be a goon. Don't be un-Christ-like. We'll probably stop right there. I was thinking of a passage to turn to there, actually one from 1 Peter. Look at just this one verse, verse 11. We'll skip through this conversation here. and look at verse 11. And the night following, so the meeting, the hearing with the Sanhedrin is over and Paul is by himself. The night following, the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. So Paul knows that his days are not done yet. He's going to Rome. Jerusalem is a long way from Rome. We don't have the map up there, but it's a long way. He says, you're going to Rome, Paul. What you're doing here, you're going to do in Rome. That tells me a couple of things. First of all, God didn't just somehow lose control. I mean, the wheels didn't fall off for God here. Like, oh no, my apostle is in trouble, and I didn't see that coming. God's in control of this whole thing. God is in control of this whole thing. In fact, God is ordaining these means as a means of bringing Paul to Rome to speak to some of the most powerful men in the world at that time about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that's something that we can take comfort in. The sovereignty of God. I forget the quote. It was on the church Facebook last night. I shared it because it was so good. I forget what it was now exactly. I think it was something like when you're going through a trial. It was a quote from Charles Spurgeon. Something like, when you're going through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow that you lay your head on at night. What a wonderful statement. Because Paul is in a bad way right here. I mean, he's in a bad situation. And yet, God is in control. God is in control. What God wants to happen is happening. The sovereignty of God is the pillow that we lay our head to bed on at night. And I think that's something that we can practically take some comfort in. that our God is in control and that He will have the inheritance for which He died. And that His will will be accomplished. Any thoughts or questions? We'll stop there, but any thoughts or comments? Or anything that stuck out to you in the midst of all that? Yeah? Absolutely. I mean, what a wonderful picture of a life change. Like, one of the biggest enemies of the gospel. And his life completely changes. He actually joins ranks with the people he was trying to kill and imprison. I can't even... I mean, that makes no sense on a logical, worldly perspective, does it not? That's like... you're persecuting your enemy, you're beating your enemy, they're in trouble and then all of a sudden you join their side to go what they're going through. Go with them through what they're going through. This is a wonderful testimony of the power of the gospel. Yes? Yeah, no doubt I think it had a sanctifying influence on the Apostle Paul. I mean, the Apostle Paul himself said, when I'm weak is when I'm strong. Your grace is sufficient for me. I gotta believe that the Apostle Paul was, at some point he had to have been leaning on the grace of God. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yup. I love that he sneaks the gospel in, in his defense of what's going on too, because he identified the Lord Jesus, he identified Jesus Christ as the Lord when he's talking to those Jews. And just a wonderful opportunity for him to share the gospel and live out the gospel. Absolutely. Anything else? Anything else? I thought we would get a lot further in there than we did, but maybe it was just me. Maybe I just talked too much or something. I don't know. I hope it's been a blessing and it helped to you. It's a very practical portion of Scripture. We do see some doctrinal things throughout as well, but it's an encouraging passage of Scripture because you would think You would think just from an outsider looking in, man, Paul is losing. He's losing. And really, he's winning. God's will is being accomplished. We see that the Apostle Paul would go on to write, I think it was four of the books of the New Testament shortly after this, in prison. He would start writing the inspired scriptures while in prison. He would be witnessing to the soldiers while in prison. He would eventually come to some of the most powerful men in the Roman Empire and be able to share the gospel with them because of what's happening. Yes? Absolutely. Absolutely. And it gets even more amazing as we go on. We didn't get as far as I was thinking we would, but his nephew, the next day the Jews form a plot to kill him. Forty men take a vow, we're not going to eat or drink until Paul's dead. And of all people, Paul's nephew hears the plot and comes to Paul. and says, this is what's going on. And then Paul sends him to the chief captain. And they end up sending Paul to Caesarea to talk to Felix. And they send, I think, like over 200, it's like 270 soldiers with him along the way, I think, to protect him. Just the sovereignty of God in this whole thing, I mean, What are the odds that Paul's nephew is there to hear these 40 Jews plotting to kill Paul the next day? And it's all part of God's plan. Absolutely. There was something else I was going to mention as far as prayer. Obviously be praying for Pastor and Beth as they come back. Keep Ruth Wolford in your prayers. Keep Josh Ball in your prayers as well. There's not much of an update really, is there? They transferred him to a different hospital.