23rd chapter of Acts, really hitting narrative portions, kind of spreads out a little bit, but we'll see some things that might be helpful along the way. It's kind of like our lives, you know, it's everyday, some of it kind of everyday stuff that you don't think anything is going on and perhaps Things aren't going the way that we would hope they would. Not necessarily things in Paul's life seem like everyday, but there are some everyday kinds of things that he goes through as well. And the Lord's moving him to a certain end. So, Paul has presented, as we enter into this chapter, to the unbelieving Jewish brethren his justification for his ministry to the Gentiles. But he was soundly rejected when he claimed, and I want you to notice this, it's real critical, it's a critical point about Paul and his ministry being rejected by his own countrymen. It was for this reason when he was rejected, when he claimed that their God had appointed him to go to the Gentiles. That was offensive to them. Chapter 22, verses 21 and 22, you'll notice that's as far as they would listen to him. Once he said that the Lord had said, I will send you far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience to this word. This constitutes the major reason why the Apostle Paul suffered from his countrymen, the Jews. His imprisonment was because he dared to claim that God, their God, has sent him to go to the Gentiles and preach to them salvation. That's what offended him. I want to share this remark is not found in any other of his epistles. It consists of this that Paul in these two epistles attributes of Ephesians and Colossians in particular attributes his imprisonment not to his preaching Christianity in general but to his asserting the right of the Gentiles to be admitted into the church on an equal footing with the Jews and without being obliged to conform themselves to the Jewish law. This was the doctrine to which he considered himself a martyr. In Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1, for this cause, and it's interesting, this chapter, Acts 23, is the chapter where he begins to be called the prisoner. here it begins for this cause I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles notice that if you've heard of the dispensation the grace of God which is given to me you to you word verse six that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power this was of the Lord and they rejected him altogether because of what he was doing with the Gentiles Ephesians 6.18, he says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. in Colossians verse 24 chapter 1 who, where we're at in our studies, who, referring to him, I rejoice in my sufferings for you, Gentiles, he says, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is his church, where have I made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you. and again in chapter 2 verse 1 I would that you would know that you knew what conflict I have for you that offended his countrymen the Jewish unbelievers very much they rejected him and at this point if we could put ourselves in his place it looked like that everything he was doing was falling apart I mean, he was discounted in his ministry, and he's going to be falsely accused, called a seditionist, and so forth. In spite of the results that he saw, he continued faithful in the ministry. And this is very important as we work through this, and it's brief. But just because things don't go the way that we think they ought to go, we shouldn't just throw up our hands and quit. We're to keep on serving the Lord. That's who we serve. Paul kept on going. He's a prime example of that for us. I'm telling you what, when you're in the thick of it and you're ministering and you're being a witness for Christ in all that you do at work and things like that, it's not going to go well. But talking to a brother this morning, and I remember years ago, we had, we'd taken it upon ourselves to preach the gospel in the office. And that didn't go over well, and it offended me. It set me back. I said, I told my boss, she was the one that told me that I can't do that. I said, you guys can stand around here and talk on government time. and talk about flowers and gardening and hunting and all these things. But the moment I mentioned Jesus, everybody, and I'm telling you, it got to the point where they were all upset. And I had to regather what I was doing, consider whether I was doing the right thing the way I was doing it. I was younger. Not according to knowledge necessarily. Could have done it better. I admit some of that. But you don't quit witnessing for Christ. Now, that's where he is, and we need to be remembered about that. Now, the chief captain, we're going to find out his name. He's the one who sent the soldiers down among the mob. They were going to kill the Apostle Paul. We find out his name in this chapter is Claudius, Lysias Claudius, a Roman first name, Greek last name. Remember, he bought a citizenship, For a great psalmist says, they most likely named him that, Lysias, and he was probably a Greek, Claudius. He ordered that the Apostle Paul be examined by Scourging, remember that. However, once Paul disclosed that he was a Roman citizen, the chief captain dismissed the examiners and chose another course of action. He would now bring, and that's where we are, chapter 23, Paul before the Sanhedrin, which is called the council, and hope to determine what the charges are against him to find out a just cause for this great public disturbance. So this chapter covers a period of two days. Paul, it begins with in verse one, earnestly beholding the council, the Greek Sanhedrin. the Jewish council of elders that have come together. He earnestly beheld them. I'm thinking about a man, we have enough information knowing that he has had an eye disorder, His speech is contemptible. He's not someone perhaps like me. I don't like listening to my own voice. I don't know how you deal with that, but I don't like listening to my voice. It seems like something along the line. It's not very encouraging. You've got to listen to what is being said more than to the tenor of the voice, necessarily. Consider his bodily presence is weak, and we gather that from 2 Corinthians. He has this eye disorder, as we mentioned, and yet he is concerned about, he's not looking for a fight, but he loves his brethren and he gets eye contact with them and he's trying to tell them he has another opportunity and he looks for a moment that he might plead with his countrymen. I think we ought to do everything as if it depended on us. to preach Christ to others and witness Christ as if it depended on us and yet it all depends on the Lord let's be like Christ and let it just work the way he will work it whether or not we're received whether we're received or not The success or failure of this really depends on the Lord, and we know he's going to get the run. We know that Paul, it seems like he's having some doubts about things, but yet he's going to be personally brought to a courage because of the appearance of the Lord to him. in this, I think, the next day. But he stands and he earnestly beholds the council and said this, men and brethren, brethren in the flesh, not in the Lord, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. Everything that this man had done, as far back as he could remember, he had a clear conscience about it. And we're not talking about just since he came to faith in Christ. He believed that he was doing the right thing before Christ. He was doing the things according to the law. We're talking about his outward display. He had a wicked heart just like everyone, every human being has. But before Christ he even had this witness in his conscience before God. He says in 2nd Timothy 1.3, I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance of Thee in my prayers night and day. He mentions that again. He has committed no outward moral act before God that offended his own conscience. One man says he did not act contrary to the dictates of his own conscience but according to them in which his view was to the glory of God and the honor of his law. He protests to them bringing God in for a witness. Now, I can tell you that conscience isn't a reliable thing to work by. People say, well, I feel like and I feel this. Well, your feelings are just wrong. It's wrong. But he was working from the principle of the Old Testament and working outwardly those things and had confidence before the Lord in it. But he was with that also saying that his going to the Gentiles was not an offense to him in the least bit because the Lord had sent him. But I warn anyone about it. Ignorance is not being presented here as if it justifies sin. It cannot be said according to Romans 1. that acts of unrighteous acts, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, these that are without the Lord are willfully doing these things and know they are against God. There's no ignorance involved here. They're doing it, Romans 132. Who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Paul's outward acts were according to the dictates of his conscience before God, according to the law. He truly thought, and Jesus said so himself, he truly thought that he was doing God's service. The Lord said so in John 16, 1, that there would be those who would, they would kill them, the saints of God, thinking that they do God's service. Verse 2, And the high priest, Ananias, commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Now, he did not know evidently that Ananias was the high priest. He had been familiar with high priests before this, Caiaphas and Annas, but not Ananias, because he does something that he has to kind of backtrack on, and it gets him into a little bit of a tight spot, but look at how this is handled. This one says, Paul says to him, God shall smite you, thou whited wall. A whited wall is not just a painted wall, it's a plastered wall. It's a wall like they had, they put this plaster on it and it covered the imperfections and made it look better than it actually was. They did that with tombs. 2327 of Matthew, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees of whom this group is. Hypocrites, the Lord Jesus says, calls them. You are like unto whited sepulchers. Obviously we know what tombs are all about. They had more like caves then. And they would dress them up. But what were they for? They were for holding the dead. No matter what you do, we can have the nicest box in the world made. But the fact of the matter, what's going into that box isn't going to care in the least about how it's garnished. So it's considered a plaster. He said, you whited wall, God's going to smite you. They were, and he's saying, that there's something wrong with your heart. and with them in particular. You've got an outward covering, but I know what's going on in so many words. It moved my mind to consider something just for a moment. You know, they plastered over the walls They hide the defects, cover it up, and really it's kind of a type of men and their moral and religious actions without Christ. They're just covering up. It's a facade of what's really going on inside the heart. We as the people of God have a new heart, a new mind. By the covenant of God, he did this. I took a look at the scripture and I thought about it for a while and considered you have a person who has a heart transplant and what they do is they take out the old heart, they redirect the blood through a machine and they take out the old heart and they put in a new heart, another heart. Now it's the same human heart but that's not what the scriptures show us. The order is completely different. He doesn't take out the old heart and put in a new heart. He puts in a new heart and will take out the old heart. But at the moment, we have old. But the time's coming when the old will be done away. In Ezekiel 36, 26, you'll see this order in the other places as well, but he says, a new heart also will I give you. and a new spirit will I put it within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I thought the order was very good and true to the scripture. What is our heart? What's going on? As a people of God, things ought to be different. I can tell you, and you can confess the same thing, there's no joy for the child of God who hides his sin. No. It can't be. I get all eaten up with it. I know you have to be the same way. Proverbs 28, 13, he that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. Happy is the man that feareth always, but he that hardens his heart shall fall into mischief." It's different for us. We can't rest content with things in the heart. Can we? When I say the dirty word, even in the heart, I don't get by with it. Do you? When we think the wrong thoughts, do we dwell on it and continue on and play with it? Or do we get convicted about it and thank God for a cleansing again, a restoration, a fellowship? Isn't that what it's like? I hope so, because if it's not, You're dead. But he says to him, you sit to judge me after the law and command me to be smitten contrary to the law. It was wrong by the law of Moses to have one beaten until he had been proven guilty of a crime. Nicodemus himself said in John chapter 7 verse 15, with his own in the council, And they were considering the Lord Jesus, what they would do, what could they do with him. And he says, does our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he does? No, it's not according to the law. And verse 4 of our text, and they that stood by said, Paul didn't know this, revilest thou the high priest? you rail upon him? It's contrary to the law and Paul even brings it up. He said I didn't know brethren, I wist not brethren that he was the high priest. Now we had mentioned earlier that the issue of the law was not fully comprehended in about Acts chapter 21 or 19 somewhere near. Remember that? Jesus Christ is the high priest and He's presently seated at the right hand of the Father. There really isn't a high priest at that time. It's just a matter of time where it will really be done away. But they hadn't come to that knowledge yet as fully as they will. Paul said, thou should not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. And there are scriptures in Exodus 22, 28, this one. Thou shalt not revile the gods. And gods sometimes refers to those that are in power. Nor curse. Use profane language to show disdain. Curse the ruler of thy people. So Paul says, and look at the wisdom. Now he got to be the Lord at work. How could you think to do these kinds of things and turn this around? But the Lord had to be working. He says in verse six, but when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the council, in the Sanhedrin, men and brethren, Notices, I wasn't, I was a Pharisee. He says, I am a Pharisee. It's as if today I think it's come to a place where, you know, you're a Democrat or a Republican. It's kind of a political government. And he says, I am a Pharisee. Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. My family's in this. And we'll come up here in just a minute about the family. of the hope or concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead I'm called in question. I'm being judged about this thing that you claim to believe. The Scriptures teach. And when it is so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And the multitude was divided. By His words, immediately, as if this were a room divided in two, that a wall came up between them. There was a stand between them, and it wasn't going to come down. And they became divided. A schism was among the council. For the Sadducees, now He explains what's going on. They say there's no resurrection. neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. That is, they confess the resurrection and spiritual beings. and there arose a great cry and the scribes that were of the Pharisees part arose and strove 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 we're not gonna be God fighters in this instance we're gonna we're leaving this be as it is now it looks like it's a like he might have gained some friends It was the wisdom of God working through him, obviously. But I would just say that not too much should be read into this moment when the Pharisees appear to help Paul. After all, it was just a day or so earlier that the two parties were going to beat him to death, had it not been for the intervention of the chief captain. The Pharisees had been particularly troublesome to the churches all along. You might recall this, they came to Antioch, Syria being liars and deceivers trying to compel the Gentile saints to be circumcised and subject themselves to the law of Moses. You remember that in earlier studies? Paul was able to exploit the differences between these two parties to his advantage And so he exemplifies this saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That's it. They were both his enemies. But at the moment, their attention is diverted from him to their differences. But they are enemies of him, of God, and his people. And as we read, It looks like they are complicit in a conspiracy to have him murdered. Verse 10, and you'll see that in just a minute. When there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and to bring him back into the castle. They evidently had been around him and it looked like they began to have physical contact and were fighting over him and would have pulled him apart. So the chief captain is responsible for this Roman citizen's safety. That's his interest. He must protect this man. Right or wrong to him, he must protect him from harm. Verse 11, and the night following the Lord stood by Paul, him, and said be of good cheer. Thought the interesting, digging around like I need to do, and I looked up the word cheer because in the Septuagint the word is translated, the Greek is translated courage, having courage, and yet the word cheer was used so I got it out. You think of cheer. is to instill with hope or courage. That's what cheer means. And so I learned something more about this word. The Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer. The Lord came to him on purpose and gave him comfort, cheered him, and gave him courage, the courage that he needed to move forward. I think that's special, special care it shows of the Lord for His people. He would come to them and comfort them in His time. What a loving Lord. It says, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou also bear witness also at Rome. And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together We don't know who exactly they are, but we know their number. Bound themselves together under a curse. It's a duplicated anathema. Cursing themselves with a curse, saying that they would neither eat or drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than 40, which had made this conspiracy, this covenant. and they came to the chief priests and the elders who are constituted of both parties Sadducees and Pharisees and said we have bound ourselves under a curse under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul now therefore ye chief priests and elders, noted in verse 14, with the council signify, give an indication to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow as though you would inquire something more perfectly concerning him and we ever or ever he come near as if to you, before he reaches his place, already prepared to kill him. That's the heart of these people. When someone should have stood up and objected, this is wrong, it's not right, everybody is for it. And notice this, and when Paul's sister's son, his nephew, heard of their lying in wait, it just makes me think he was a part of the, at least some contact with the Pharisees. I believe the family, is my opinion, is as a part of this ruling party. has been given ear overhearing this and it works to his advantage. When Paul's sister's son heard of their lying in wait, they were going to ambush him, he went and entered into the castle and told Paul. very discreet about it. This whole deal is kept very discreet. I mean, no one's knowing anything, not even the soldiers in the vicinity. This is kept close. Watch how it works. Then Paul called one of the centurions unto him and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain, for he has a certain thing to tell him. He didn't tell the centurion, Nobody knows, but Paul, his nephew, and he's going to take this straight to the chief captain. So the centurion takes him. So he took him, verse 18, and brought him to the chief captain and said, and here's the first time he's called this, Paul, the prisoner, called me unto him and prayed, or asked, me to bring this young man unto Thee who has something to say unto Thee. Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and I don't know how young he is. I would think that being as Paul's sister, that he's probably of age. So not necessarily leaving a little boy around, but a young man. Eutychus was a young man that fell out of the house, the third floor window when Paul was long preaching. He's called a young man. But bring this young man to thee, he says, who has something to say unto thee. I don't know what it is. Here you go. Then the chief captain took him by the hand, went with him aside privately, alone, separated from everyone else, and asked him, what is it that you have to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed, and this word is the same one that Judas used when he covenanted with them for thirty pieces of silver. It's the very same word. Similar things that had happened to Christ are happening with the Apostle Paul. We saw it as we were looking at these words. He covenanted. The Jews have made a covenant to desire thee that you would bring down tomorrow into the council as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly, as if they really want to know more accurately the truth involved concerning him. But do not yield. Very interesting word. It's built on the word trust. Don't trust them. Do not yield unto them. for there lie in wait of them more than forty men which have bound themselves with an oath under a curse is the word that they will neither eat nor drink till they kill them and now they're ready looking for a promise from thee so the chief captain then let the young man depart gave him some advice and charged him See thou tell no man that thou hast showed these things to me. Keep it quiet. Very important. Now remember, he's responsible for the safety of this man. The less people know about it, the more secure Paul will be. So I believe they really kept it close. See thou tell no man that thou hast showed these things to me. And he called unto him, two centurions and proof of in the scripture what a centurion is a leader over a hundred because that's exactly what we'll see here he called two centurions saying make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea a good distance away here to the coast and horsemen three score and ten you got two hundred soldiers 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen at the third hour of the night, have them ready to go. Nine o'clock tonight, get them ready. It's 472 soldiers, by what we read here, those two and all those under them. 472 soldiers. They're called an army in verse 27. They're gathered together at 9 p.m. and take Paul away. Says, he goes on to instruct them, and provide them beasts that they may set Paul on. He doesn't have to walk. We're going to give him a ride, get him a taxi, pay the fare, get him over here, do whatever it takes. I mean, they're going to extremes to make sure he's safe. That's a lot of men. Bring him safe to Felix the governor. That's an interesting title. How do you say the word? H-E-G-E-M-O-N-Y. Hegemony. I think that's how you say it. That is a king of a land, a nation, has appointed someone to rule over another nation. Peter, in 1 Peter 2.1, you're to be subject unto the governors. It's something that we might think about in the future. As far as I know, Peter's the only one that uses that word in that way, subject to them. It might help us in our walk. What will we do in a case of anarchy or takeover of some sort? What would you do? Christians should bow to those in authority. we need to consider who it is that's in authority. If another country comes in and they're in authority, I think we'd be better off bowing our heads before them. Soldier or not, you might consider it. And you look at 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, consider it. He wrote a letter after this manor, Claudius Lysias, Unto the most excellent governor Felix." I cannot say that word, but it's literally, the Greek is translated and it's spoken just like hegemony, meaning preponderant influence or authority, especially of one nation over others. That's an important word. It ought to be in our vocabulary now. unto the most excellent governor Felix sends greetings." This man, he explains, was taken, in this epistle he explains to Felix, was taken of the Jews and should have been killed. Notice how he distorts the truth here. He takes out this to cover himself because of what he had done wrongfully to this citizen in binding him to be flogged or beaten. They strapped him, getting ready to flog him. He should have been killed of them. Then came I with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman." That's a little bit out of order. He found out after it, but he's covered his tracks. It's serious business. So he's covering that up. Verse 28, And when I would have known the cause whereof they accused him, I brought him forth into the council the first time there, whom I perceived to be accused of questions concerning the law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or bonds. And when it was told me, How that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers. I've done all I can. I think he's relieved to have had Paul moved to another area now. And gave commandment to his accusers also to say before you, Felix, what they had against him. Farewell. He closes the letter. Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris, which is about 68 miles away by a path of some sort, according to the books, Caesarea is. Antipatris is about 42 miles away, so it's going to be an all-nighter, because the men are walking as well, as those are horses, but they're walking only as fast as the men on foot can go. They brought him by Nigel and Hippatrus, on the morrow they, referring to the 200 footmen and the 200 spearmen, they left. This is the word that means allow. It means to allow, let. And it's a simply archaic way of using L-E-F-T. They left or allowed the horsemen, the seventy, to go with him on to Caesarea, and returned, that is, all the footmen, four hundred, to the castle. Who, when they came to Caesarea, the seventy with Paul on horses, and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, seeing this group of people, seeing the significance, very, must be very important, he takes and reads the letter immediately. He asked him what province he was in. Is this even my responsibility? And when he understood that he was of Cilicia, evidently that means he was part of his authority, he said, I'll hear thee. said he, when your accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall. That's the same, the Greek is praetorium, is translated as praetorium once. Judgment hall, common hall, and praetorium. Also one palace. It wasn't just dumb. He's being put up in a very, very nice place for the time being. Paul is granted a limited amount of freedom in about the next week, in the next chapter. We'll see that. All his friends, and remember when he stopped by Caesarea, a number stayed there with him and went on with him to Jerusalem. They get to come and visit him and lay host and all those kinds of things. They're in this beautiful place, I hear it was, or read that it was. So he's granted a limited amount of freedom. And so that closes out this chapter. And you just move on as you see the events take place that make it happen so that Paul continues on his journey to Rome. Thank you for your attention.