We're already up to chapter 25, up to verse 12, and we left off with Felix, and Felix there is, his wife is Drusilla, and basically Felix is basically, actually it doesn't say he don't see her in scripture, but if you look at some of the writings, Felix is in big trouble right now with the Roman Empire, and basically he's transferring all the responsibility over to Festus, but now Festus has a problem. And so let's see what happens this morning. Then, that's Acts 25, starting with verse 12. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Unto Caesar, thou shalt thou go. And after certain days, King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus. And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul's cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bond by Felix, about whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him, to whom I had answered, It is not the matter of the Romans to deliver any man to die, but for that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him. Therefore, when they were come hither without any delay on the morrow, I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought forth, against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusations of such things as I supposed, but had certain questions against him of their own superstition and of one Jesus." This is a key verse here. "...and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem and there be judged of these matters. But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself to-morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him. And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing with the chief captains and principal men of the city, at Festus' commandment, Paul was brought forth. And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man about whom all the multitudes of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him. of whom I have no certain things to write unto my Lord, wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before the O King Agrippa, that after examination had I might have somewhat to write. For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him." This is a court case. This is a trial going on. This is actually incredible because our due process in the United States of America is much fashioned after some of the absolute foundational principles of jurisprudence in Rome. To this day, basically, we do a lot, and there were good things that Rome did that were very fair. We're going to learn one of the phrases. And so here, what we have here Once again, it might seem repetitive, but God has never uttered a boring word in eternity. And so why we're looking at this over and over as the Lord is trying to teach us a lesson here. If He has the Holy Spirit inspire this book, and it's somewhat repetitive, and it pleases the Holy Ghost to give this to us for our edification, then how can we not listen to it? How can we not pay attention to it, and how can we not love it? If the Lord says it's good for us, then it's good. So we see that it's commonly understood that new lords, new laws, and new customs would change basically when a new procurator would come in. So Felix has now transferred the power. He has basically said, OK, well, I know about Jewish law. I know a lot about what's going on, but I'm going to get Festus. Festus is now the new governor, and he gets an incredible visit from some very important people when he becomes the procurator. So all of a sudden here, Porcius Festus, as soon as he enters into the province of Caesarea, he took full possession of the government and was there for only two years. He's the Roman procurator. And basically, Felix did not want the heat. He wanted blood. And he wanted to go after Paul. At this point, he would have had no problem, basically, with Paul being killed. he knew he had to answer to Rome. And I think by this time they're being a little more careful after what happened to this Jesus Christ. They're being very careful at that whole debacle because there was a lot of fallout over that with the Jews and the Romans after that happened. And so here it is all over again with Paul the apostle. So basically what we have here, Paul had not been, there was no evidence of anything at all. And in verse 12, we pick up when we see, Festus, when he had conferred with the council, he answered. Festus went to the council first. He went to the Jewish council first. I find that very troubling because isn't it amazing the ones that throw the most ruckus are always the ones that get the most attention. My father always used to say it's the squeaking wheel that always gets the grease. They were throwing it all around. They're the ones that were just doing everything they could to set a precedent that if anyone comes up against our council, we're gonna have them killed. We're just gonna have them killed, and that's gonna be it, and that's it. But then all of a sudden, Festus starts coming up with these thoughts. But the problem is he doesn't know how to plug them in because he's not at all well-versed and educated in Jewish law or Jewish policy. He obviously doesn't know much about the Old Testament. But here, basically what he's saying is, well, King Agrippa, we'll learn about Agrippa here in a little bit, King Agrippa here does know Jewish law. He knows a lot about Roman legislation. We've got a real problem here because there's been riots in the streets. There's already been two absolute, very profound coups to kind of take Paul and to have him murdered, and I need help. And so he goes, and it's the more people they go to, the more wicked they become. Down the line, there is hardly anybody that has any type of integrity at all, other than to protect Paul and keep from being killed. I mean, you would love to see a guy like Cornelius being elevated to procurator. Here, Cornelius, back in Caesarea, was a Christian. He let Peter stay with him. How would you like him on your bench? You're kind of like getting Jim Jordan here as the Speaker of the House now, House of Representatives. All of a sudden all the stuff's coming out against him. They're all saying there's all these wicked things. And you see where I'm going with this. Palestine was in great upheaval. And remember the great burning of Jerusalem is right around the corner. We read that last week. And so basically what's happening here is How's it any different now? The Jews and the Romans are still fighting. We see that Festus had answered, that he had came back and he had given a governor's resolution not to concede to the Jewish council. And he goes, he basically goes back to the understanding where we looked at back in chapter 23, verses 13 and 14. We have bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. And so this is basically the edict where they wanted to kill him. They're saying, We're not even just going to fast. We're binding ourselves with a curse. We are literally going to condemn ourselves until we kill him. And it was probably 20 or 30 of these terrorist Jews, very much like the ones in Palestine today, that were coming after to kill him. But they didn't just want to come after Paul. I think what they were getting ready to do is single out all these people of the way. Isn't that how it usually happens? You know, you smite the shepherd and you smite the sheep. That's basically what they were trying to do. What if this was a trial, like here? What if we were in court right now? We could actually have a court trial here, a mock court trial, basically based on these verses here. What if we were to do that? Let's try to go that direction. Let's say Matthew's Paul the Apostle. I'm going to ask some questions. And I'm going to bring some other names up and I'm going to lead you into it and see what you think about that. We're going to set up a mock jury right now and we're going to ask questions and see if this jury would come up with the conclusion that we need to come up with a conclusion for the salvation of mankind and we're going to see where we can go with this. And so basically what I'm going to do here is I'm going to start with what's called a little voir des, and then kind of like go after the jury, ask questions, and see if they would be the right jury members to be the ones that should have been on a jury to try Paul. So the first question, let's just say, Brother Dave, Dave Cross, let's just say that you were at the stoning of Stephen, okay, and you were there with Paul. Let's just say that you were there and you saw what happened. Would you be a good trial jury member in order to help Paul the Apostle get off? Would you be a good pick? So then if I'm the defense attorney, I'm going like this. Okay, you're done. Okay, so Teresa, let's just say you're James the Just. And no, no, better yet, no, I'm going to save Ananias for Charlie. Let's say you're James the Just. You did not get saved until after Christ resurrected. You are now in a situation now where you now have found out that your half-brother is actually your Savior. Are you a good jury member? Are you a good pick for the jury? Of course you are. Why? You're one of the few that actually agrees with what Paul was trying to say on the stand. So you're sensitive to his situation. Right, they probably would. You're Bernice, Lise, you're Bernice. So far you have had relationships with your uncle and your brother. You never married them. You have never married them yet. You're coming in with all this beautiful garb and pomp, and you've been asked to be on the jury. And basically, are you a good jury pick for Paul the Apostle? Whether he gets killed? Yes. To help Paul. I'm trying to pick a jury that would actually... Exactly. So you're done. You're off the jury. Dave's off the jury. You're off the jury. Charlie. Now, we have two Ananias. Two. Ananias back in Acts chapter 9. Now let's see if anybody remembers the two Ananias. We'll see if you're a good jury pick or not. Are you sensitive to Paul's love for Jesus Christ? If you're Ananias back in Acts 9. I'll give you a hint. He's the one that Christ went to when Paul was absolutely blind and he said, I don't want him coming to my house. He's public enemy number one. And here's the giveaway here. Jesus says, you go. He's one of mine. I've picked him, I've chosen him, and I love him. Are you a good pick for the jury? At this point, Adonai still may not even know. Who knows? He might still be scared to death over what happened because they had to get Paul out of town at one point and lower him over a roof. So what do you think, Charlie? We're gonna keep him on the jury, okay? So, so far, we've got really two good solid jury members right now. Now, the high priest, Noah, the other Ananias, are you sensitive to Paul's case and do you love the gospel of Jesus Christ, the chief priest we learned that? See, if you guys remember what we're learning about two chapters ago, you are now the chief, the high priest, and anybody can help him, anybody that can remember. We're here to help each other, okay? Are you a good pick for the jury for Paul the Apostle? Let's get this together. Paul is on trial, and right there he's standing, and Felix is gone now because he was nothing but a weak-kneed, yellow-bellied coward, and he did a lot like our judges and all today, and he hands over the case to Festus. Festus is now scratching his head wondering, how in the world are we supposed to try this Paul the Apostle? So, so far our jury picks are this. Dave's been cut off, Teresa's good, Lisey's gone, and Charlie's good. We would always want Charlie. And then, so he's Ananias, you're Ananias the chief priest. Think about what I just said, the name. Are you a good pick for the jury? For defending Paul the Apostle. Alright, so far, I'm going somewhere with this. No, you're not, because the chief priest, you are public enemy number one against Paul because you've tried to lead coups to have him killed. So, so far, we're like almost split on the jury, right? What about Rachel? You're Drusilla. you were married to Felix. You've had a lot of weird things happen in your life, and I don't even want to go there, but I mean, you have never been a paragon of virtue, and here comes Paul the Apostle. Are you a good pick for the jury? No. Forget it. You're done. So far, we could only find two good jury members. Exactly. Isn't that amazing? And we're going somewhere with this. How about Let's say, how about, this is an easy one. Ben, you're the Apostle Peter. Would you be a good jury member to try to help Paul on his court trial? Yes. See, we got a good one right there. There's Peter. Peter right now is probably in Judea in the wilderness, and he probably is preaching kind of like John the Baptist, and he's working the Jewish Council. He'd be a good jury pick. He'd be a very good jury pick. Let me ask Greg, you're Festus. Would you be a good jury pick? You know, that's a tough one. So far, he's done everything to defend Paul. That is a tough one. But then Festus, he can't be because he's the procurator. You see where I'm going with this? You're seeing what the process is. Voir des is a process where the defense attorney goes after a whole bunch of jury members and asks them questions to find out who would have the best sensitivity to help their defendant. And here, basically, Paul doesn't get any of it. Matthew's Paul the Apostle. Paul the Apostle, were you a Pharisee? Did you hold the cloaks of Stephen? So right now you're catering to the Jewish council. So basically you're the one that's on the stand, and right now what I'm trying to build a case here is, where's the evidence? That is what we're looking at here if you look at these verses. We've read the verses if you were paying attention. I'm coming up with evidence. I am Festus. And now all of a sudden Agrippa and Bernice have come in to the courtroom. Bernice comes in with great pomp. And by the way, and I'll read you this here in a minute. I don't want to take too much time doing this, but Bernice has had affairs with her uncle. Bernice has been literally tied to her brother Agrippa II and literally had a relationship. And it was found in the writings of Josephus where he actually bought her a diamond ring and just showered her basically with gifts, beautiful robes and all these things, just like Caligula. He had gone after his sister. It was a horrible thing. She actually left Agrippa at one point. She went actually to another Another very wicked lord in Rome, I think it was Titus Vespian, I have it written down here, and then she went back to Agrippa and she was having an affair with her brother. That's what Bernice was doing. And then Bernice, I see this and I look at this, oh, it just makes me sick. She comes into Caesarea, we're going to look at what Caesarea was, with great pomp. She's not even married. Here she's having an affair with her brother and she comes in with great pomp in order for Festus to usher the new procurator in who has absolutely no knowledge of Jewish law. That's just stupid to have a governor that has no understanding of Jewish law when all you're doing is dealing with Pharisees and Sadducees and the Saiyans and all types of different Jews. Paul the Apostle, are you a Roman citizen? Boy, that makes it tough. Paul's on the judgment seat here. You're going to get some big questions here in a minute. What about any more jury members? How about Fred? You're Cornelius. You are a Roman soldier. You're a Roman centurion. But you housed Peter and you had church services at your house. Are you a good pick for the jury? Absolutely! See, we're getting some good... I would have loved to have had Cornelius there! Where is he? Isn't it amazing how clandestine this was that none of these people that love Paul got to show up? There was some kind of politics going on. Isn't it amazing what they're doing to Donald Trump now, doing everything they can to dump this on him right before the election. That's Venezuela 2.0. It's happening also if you talk to Pastor Olson, the very same thing's happening in Brazil, the very same thing. But I'm trying to put this all together. we're having a court trial, then all of a sudden Festus stands up, he turns over all authority to Agrippa II. Wait till you hear about Agrippa II. You're gonna love his family line. Wait till you hear who he is. Agrippa II comes in and he's standing there with Festus, they're in their robes, they got their goofy hats on, all their colors and their gold, probably enough gold to, you know, put one of those on eBay today, you'd be rich. Tons of gold. And they're all standing there, And Festus says to Agrippa, I don't know what to do with this guy. Look at the verses here. I'm going to get to Paul the Apostle here in a minute. I've got some questions for Paul over here. Look at chapter, look at verse 21. But when Paul had appealed reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Caesar. You can see right here he's scratching his head. He goes, I don't know what to do with the guy. Then Agrippus said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself. Tomorrow, said he, thou shalt hear him. And well, tomorrow when Agrippus come, and Bernice with great pomp, and was entered into the palace of hearing with the chief captains and principal men of the city at Festus commanded, Paul was brought forth." But, Paul, why are you here? Why are you here? This is what Festus is asking. I mean, this is what the court trial was like. Why are you here? What have you done wrong? Why is this Jewish council so furious at you that they wanted to kill you twice? Once on the way to Jerusalem, then coming from Caesarea, and why did your little nephew come to Felix and say, wait a minute, there's 40 men that have made a curse, basically, that they want to kill you. Why are you here? Why am I putting up my time to take care of your case? Remember, this was a Robin Tribunal. Yeah, I mean, yeah. That's a good answer, actually. He really couldn't do anything. They chained him. It's hard to do anything, even if you're right when somebody chains you and throws you in a wagon. That's a good answer. That's a very good answer, actually. More practical than I thought. But there's a key word here that they're struggling with. Verse 19, read it. Can you read that, Teresa? Thank you. Superstition? They're saying that the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior was unnatural. It was a superstition. Basically having bats in your basement with smoke coming out of it with all kind of dead mice like the Haitians do and they have all these voodoo rituals that are just filthy and wicked. They're calling it superstitious. This is as far as all the preaching has got with Paul the Apostle. He's been standing there pouring his heart out. This is the fourth defense. Four times. And he's begged them to understand about the resurrection of Christ. Paul the Apostle Why are you here? Now, think about what we just said. Why are you here? Because I believe in Jesus. And that's what you get as a Christian. He's there because he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And basically they couldn't come up with anything. So Festus had to say to Agrippa, what's this superstition about? This is what they're upset about. And basically they have to bring up, what do they do? And this is the most wonderful part of, and I know Paul would say this even today, the most wonderful part about the trial in verse 19. It pointed him to Jesus. When they were going after Paul, they brought up Jesus. See what I mean? Paul the Apostle, he's a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he's a Roman citizen. This makes it extremely, extremely complicated because he not only has a background with the Pharisees, he's got a background, his father's a Roman citizen, and they're not supposed to touch him. They're not supposed to beat him. And in fact, Paul's so bold, we learned many months ago how he stayed in the jail after being there when they said he could leave. They wanted him to leave. Get out of here. We messed up. Uh-uh. No, no, no, no, no. I'll sit here until I rot. I am going to expose you for what you've done. And that was not just for him. He was doing that for mankind, basically, and for other Christians. And so look at the trial. So here we have trial. We have jury members here, some that could have been very good on the jury, other ones that would have been a complete, absolute, insensitive joke. My point is, where were the jury members of Jesus' trial? He never got an attorney. He never got a paralegal. He never got a witness. No one could be there with Him, and they politicized that. Look at Paul. He has nobody. Oh, here they had Tertullus. Ananias had Tertullus and he was the attorney. Ananias stands up and he wants Paul dead, and so they have their attorneys. They have the king comes in, Agrippa comes in, Bernice, you have Drusilla, you have Felix, all these people against one little Jewish man. Isn't that incredible? And there was absolutely no help. He had no help. But he had THE help. He had Christ sitting on the right hand of God just like Stephen did. And don't even think for one minute during this trial, Paul wasn't thinking about that. That was part of his humility. That was part of his agony. The church wasn't just his passion, it was his agony. And one of the problems was, he was an incredible threat against the church. How could he not be thinking at this point, boy, what the church could have done if I hadn't had him killed. Some of them could have helped me. Some of them might even be here. And I mean, look at all of this. You can see that this doesn't end. This goes to a gripple. What happens? Who is a gripple? Let's look at a gripple real quick. You're going to find this fascinating. Well, Paul is ready to be tried by two governors. Festus is visited by a king who, in all actuality, is there on an unusually rare occasion. Agrippa is not coming to see Festus just as a renewal of an old acquaintance, but to check on things and to bring this wicked woman, Bernice, who is no paragon of virtue, with him. He's there with Bernice to congratulate and usher in the new governor of this Roman providence of Caesarea. Do we know anything about Caesarea? You know, we've heard about Caesarea. That's where Cornelius was from. That's where Peter stayed on the rooftop. But there's a lot more to Caesarea. I look back, a little look back at Caesarea. Caesarea, it was the name of it, it pertained to honoring the name of Caesar. Now, the question is, this is an important question, because a lot of people get this confused. Is this the same Caesarea that Jesus was up with Peter when Peter made the great confession? Remember the confession that Peter made? And he said, Thou art the Christ of the living God. Remember that? Lise? Actually, that's the answer. They're two separate. Exactly. Good. They're actually very far from each other. This is called Caesarea Palestine. And today, when you, Teresa has asked to pray for Israel, Boy, is the detail in Scripture here mythological? Is it of legend? Are these phony and fake names? No, Caesarea Philippi is all the way up past Galilee. It's way up on the northwest border. You've got Caesarea Palestine is actually right in the Gaza Strip, right between Jerusalem and all the beautiful little areas that Jesus grew up in, Cana. If you looked at a map, you would have it. I wish I had my board. We'll have to do that one week. But anyway, if you look on the map, you will see, basically, Caesarea Palestine is right on the coast of the Great Sea, and it was a great seaport. It's incredible, the money that came through there. It was much like Corinth. Jerusalem is south of that. It's southwest, probably, I don't know, probably two or three hours southwest. Then if you go north, Caesarea Palestine is right between Jerusalem and Galilee, up in Cana. And it's amazing how Caesarea of Palestine is actually a little east of Samaria, that horrible condemned area that the Jews would not allow any of the Jews like Jesus to go through. And of course, our Lord goes right through there and sees the woman at the well. But if you look on your maps, that's a good idea if you look in the back of your Bible and you look in your maps, you see Caesarea of Palestine is right there on the east coast, Very much different than Caesarea Philippi, and that today, that's the area of Hamas. You see the contention that's still going on there today? Caesarea Palestine? I mean, it's a mess. Even to this day, it's still a mess. Well, who was Agrippa II? We just looked at Caesarea and how important that area is. It was named much after Caesar, of course. It was built at the expense of Herod the Great. Guess who Herod the Great is? Herod the Great is the great-grandfather of Agrippus II. Herod the Great is the one that basically had all the babies murdered during the time of Jesus. Look how he's connected. And then his uncle is Herod the Tetrarch. He's the one that murdered James and went after Peter. Now, Herods, that's a good question, because the Herod, they were given quarter, like, quarter rule over, basically, over the Roman provinces, because Caesar Augustus, he hated Herods. He hated them, and he would never let them be a... There was never a chance for them to be king over the whole land. They would get these little provinces. And so, basically, Agrippa, too, was related to them. And the woman that comes in with them, sadly enough, she looks like his wife. That's his sister. I mean, and she's related to him. It's a mess. The whole thing's a mess. I mean, you talk about Jerry Springer. I mean, this would be a really good way to put this together. It was named in honor of Caesar Augustus. Caesarea or Palestine, it was between Jerusalem and Canaan, Nazareth and Galilee, not to be confused with Caesarea Philippi, northwest of Galilee, up near Phoenicia. So there are two different places. Agrippa II or Junior, and you would come to the conclusion that if there is an Agrippa II, then there must be an Agrippa I or a Senior. He arrested Peter and had James executed, died in 44 AD, and we see here Agrippa II. He's second in command. He has been actually put in charge of the province of Caesarea, and he is a king. He's a quarter king. So when you're saying, well, why is he called King Agrippa, and why is there a king, a Caesar? Well, they had these little provinces that they were king over. And Agrippa II is there, and he's there to help Festus. And so, and we see here that basically we've already talked about Bernice, but let's do a little compendium of Herod II's life. I think that is very applicable to the tenor of the situation of these wicked procurators and governors and where they're at. And they all loved the pomp of each other, but behind the scenes, most of them hated each other. You know, behind closed doors, personally, they hated each other, but when they were in front of everybody, it's kind of like how Bill and Hillary Clinton are to each other. You know, they're married in front of everybody, but behind the scenes they hate each other. You know, it's kind of the same thing. And so basically, is it a good idea to come up against the children of God? I know we know the answer, but I think it's important to look at the answer. Let's take a real quick compendium of Herod II's life. We can do that so quick. I mean, it makes it very easy to understand how God thinks, reacts, and feels against those that attacked His children. Acts 12, verses 1-3. I'd like to ask Matthew, could you read Acts 12, verses 1-3? Now this is the action, this is the problem, this is what Herod was doing against the church. And then I'll ask, let's see, maybe if Charlie, could you look up Acts chapter 12 and then read verses 21 to 24? Okay, so this is the opening, Matthew's going in, he's going to read basically what Herod was doing and what the results were. Did it work out for him or not? Was that a good idea? Well, back then he thought it was. He thought that he could really, back Agrippa, this is now, we're talking about Agrippa II's uncle, a grip of two here. He's thinking, wow, if I can get rid of Peter, I can get rid of James. Well, they've already gotten rid of Jesus. He's gone. He's dead. Of course, he doesn't believe in a resurrection. He's saying, he's dead. If I can just keep going down the line and I can just keep killing these Christians, then we will have no problems with the Jewish council. We have no problem with them because here, you know, Pilate comes in, of course, in the judgment seat against Christ, and he was getting all kind of kickbacks for bringing that remotely into Jerusalem. And so they're thinking they're just going to keep on going. Well, you know what? You go up against God, you're going to lose. Okay? Who's got these verses here? Read 24. I love this. A tender plant root out of a dry ground is what explains Jesus Christ in the very first gospel in Isaiah 53, 2. That's how the Christian church has always been identified as. It's this little bruised reed. And look what happens. The Christian church is multiplying. And there, Herod, he's doing everything he can. He's already murdered James. And he just about got Peter. Peter, though the angels spared Peter. And he was going after them, and the Lord had it. He said, I had it. The Lord said, he's done with Herod. And all the pomp, and they were calling him God, Herod II. They were all chanting to him, calling him God and worshiping him. And then he started having a stomach ache. It got bad, you know. All of a sudden, it got worse than a stomachache. He just got eaten by worms. And that's what the Lord can do. Remember Belshazzar. Remember the story of Belshazzar. And now they're partying back in the book of Daniel. I think it's Daniel 5. And they're partying. He's mocking. They're mocking the Lord. They're drunk. They're drinking. And all of a sudden, a severed hand comes sliding down the wall. Boy, that'd get your attention in the middle of the night, wouldn't it? Maybe not if you're drunk. But anyway, and then so all of a sudden, he hears the words are written, many, many take a little portion. You've been found and wanton in the back. Same kind of thing happened here. The Lord had had it. And when he's done, he's done. I wouldn't want to be, I wouldn't want to be Herod. I wouldn't want to be Agrippa or any of them. They're coming after a good man. Here Paul, Paul is now in front of Agrippa. They're scratching their head. He's given his defense. And here's a few bullet points that we'll have to probably, I'm sure, finish them up next week. We're getting kind of late here. But Festus appeals to Agrippa. I find it fascinating, the rest of the chapter, from verses 13 all the way to 27. Festus is talking the whole time. He gets the whole part of the Bible. And the whole part of it is showing how stupid he is. The whole time he has no idea what to do to Paul. So he goes to Agrippa. Do you know what to do with him? What did he do? And all I can accuse him of is superstition in verse 19? Oh, he's superstitious. Which one of them out of all the Romans wasn't superstitious and following all of that Greek stuff? and all the philosophers and all the unknown gods and all. And so what, can they kill him based on superstition? Well, according to their own law, they're worse than he is. And so they're standing there asking, here's what happens. Paul has given his defense regarding the death of Christ and his resurrection. Nobody can contest it. The power of the Almighty God in his creation. This was Paul's defense, as Matthew was talking about as he was being Paul. He was playing the part of Paul earlier when we were doing the trial. He confirms he is not a naturalist, believing as the Greeks and the Romans. He gives the truth and the meaning of life itself. And he gave this account on the road to Damascus. He gave his account on the road to Damascus. What happened to him, he actually had already gone back and told them what happened. We see here in verse 14, going back a little, Festus had took over for Felix, and here is the real hinge point. Festus did not want any blame for what Felix had done. He wanted to wash his hands of that. Kind of like another guy that we remember that wanted to wash his hands, right? Who was that? Festus, in verse going forward, he confirms that it would not be fair. There's a Latin term called aldi et alterem partem, which means hear the other side. Now he does something good here, and it's something we should always consider both sides. It's a very important foundational principle. John 7, 51 says, Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth? And that's very important. At least they're going to hear Paul. But Festus assures Agrippa that Paul is having a fair trial, and he deals with him face to face, and he gives him the platform. And what he's trying to say here is Felix wasn't doing this very well. And whether Felix was or wasn't, Festus is saying, I did a better job. So look at me. And here he's got Agrippa as a king, and he's telling Agrippa, I didn't tell you anything that happened here that was messed up. That's Felix's fault. And so, you know, see how they all just are so in love with each other. They throw each other under the bus. But Festus assures Agrippa that Paul has a fair trial, deals with him face to face, has license and opportunity to answer to himself and plead his cause. And he would solidify that the crimes and the charges against him, there were none. So far to this point, he's been held for over two years and there's still no evidence against him. Festus confirms that this was done speedily. He gave him a speedy trial, unlike Felix, who kept him in jail for two years. So here the accusers had brought absolutely no evidence, no proof of these charges, and this goes right back to Pilate's plea. But pathetically, with all of this, we know what Paul says. I mean, what Paul is saying here, we go back to Christ's trial. Look at the verses here. Luke chapter 23, 4. Then said Pilate to the chief priest and to the people, I find no fault in this man. Then it gets taken to a whole nother degree. John 18, 37. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world. that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." At this point, Christ got nothing. He got no defense, he got no jury, he got no due process, he got no help, and he had done nothing wrong. And you see how this fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament, that He's going no matter what. Well, He's in the Garden of Gethsemane begging the Lord, let this cup pass before me. And the Lord God says, no, this is your job, this is what you're going to do. And the Lord said, not my will, but thy will be done, of course. And Paul here is carrying on the same gospel, and with all of this, Felix, Ananias, Tertullus, Claudius Laetius, Festus, Agrippus II, and even Bernice and all of her pomp and glory had nothing on him. Nothing. Superstition is all they could come with. So since Paul cannot be charged with being dangerous to private property or public peace, being a robber, a murderer or a rebel against the Roman power, Festus proposes that the Jews were furious over his superstition. What was this superstition? They're calling Teresa his resurrection. How could a dead man resurrect from the dead? They couldn't understand that. And sadly, of course, we all sit here and we're like, of course we understand it. It's not just a belief to us. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just a belief. It's not just a shared religion or our little hinge point on Jesus. Well, you have Confucius. You have your Muslim thing. You have your Mormon thing. You have this and that. And I have Jesus. And we all can be agreed that it's all religion. We're all okay. Oh, no. Uh-uh. This is where it gets life eternal. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the difference between life and eternal death. And that's it. And here Paul makes that very clear, and they're scratching their heads. What's he talking about? If Jesus is alive, where is He? Look at the verses here. Let's finish the class with some really good verses this morning. 1 Corinthians 15, 12, and 13. Can someone read those? This is Paul's defense. I'm here, we're talking about this trial and everything. I think Paul's defense couldn't be any better. 15, 12, and 13, and then jump to 21 when you're done. Over and over again, Paul reifies this, and he's writing this to the Corinthians, and he's trying to remind them. Then go to 1 Corinthians 15.42, can you read that? 1 Corinthians 15.42. Thank you, Lisa. Amen. And then we go forward, basically in Philemon 3.12, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made comfortable unto his death. What does it take to believe in the resurrection? And this is where the real problem was. What does it take? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. I think that's perfect. One of the terms used to discredit and destroy the resurrection today, after our Savior has been coined over the centuries for being a liar, is valid knowledge. It's a quote from an atheist writer. His name is Michael Shermer. And here's a quote. The proposition that Jesus was crucified may be true by historical validation inasmuch as a man whom we refer to as this Jesus of Nazareth probably existed. The Romans routinely crucified people for even petty crimes, and most biblical scholars, even those who are atheists or agnostics, such as renowned religious studies professor Bart Ehrman of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, assent to this fact. The proposition that Jesus died for our sins, in contrast, is a faith-based clam claim with no purchase on valid knowledge. That's what the resurrection has been reduced to in most colleges. No valid knowledge. There's no empirical evidence, they say, basically. Well, I proclaim this and I believe that this is so wonderful to our hearts. Revelations 1.18 says, I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. That is truth, perfect truth. Lisa. Right. and put so much emphasis in science. And science cannot actually do anything. Because if you know anything about science, when you go to do, when a scientist goes to do something, trying to prove a hypothesis, for instance, they are having to prove it over and over and over again. And that does not mean, like, 20 years down the road, somebody's gonna come back and say, Right. Right. That's right. scientist is honest, they'll tell you that. But if they're not, they're going to sit there and say, oh, well, this, that, the other thing. Well, you know, but they keep coming back and saying, well, you know, Grosbeak, Magnum Man, and all these other theories out there. Then they come back and they say, well, we find evidence for this, and then a few months later they come back Right. Right? And there are endless witnesses all through the New Testament. What does it say? Let a matter be established. Paul said it. It's back in the Old Testament or the law. Let a matter be established by two or more witnesses. Endless. Over 500 witnesses saw him. The tomb is empty. Maybe there's no DNA, but it happened. Well, we'll finish with that this morning. Thank you. Let's finish and we'll get moving forward here. I'd like to ask maybe, Matthew, could you close us this morning? Thank you.