The Old Testament reading is from Jeremiah 23. As you know, I have been reading from Jeremiah for our Old Testament readings because there is so much Jeremiah, that is parallel to the experiences of the Apostle Paul that we're studying about in Acts at this time. And this one talks about the Lord as the branch coming as the branch of righteousness, the one that, of course, Paul preached was the branch of righteousness, but it also shows the persecution that came against Jeremiah, the rejection of his message and the false teachers. that were about, in Israel, spreading lies in the name of the Lord. And that's the same thing, of course, that you have with the leaders at Jerusalem in the time of Paul when they did not receive the Messiah and spoke against Him and tried to reject Paul and his message. So, Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse 1. This is the word of our God. Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed my people, you have scattered my flock, driven them away and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord. But I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries where I have driven them. and bring them back to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them, and they shall fear no more nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness. A king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely. Now, this is the name by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say as the Lord lives and brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but as the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land. My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man and like a man whom wine is overcome because of the Lord and because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of a curse, the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil and their might is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord. Therefore, their way shall be to them like slippery ways in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them. For I will bring disaster on them the year of their punishment, says the Lord. And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to err. Also, I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hands of evildoers so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to me and her inhabitants like Gomorrah. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets. Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land. Thus says the Lord of hosts. Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord. They continually say to those who despise me, the Lord has said you shall have peace and everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart. They say no evil shall come upon you. For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord and has perceived and heard his word? Who has marked his word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury, a violent whirlwind. It shall fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and performed the thoughts of his heart. In the latter days, you will understand it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. I am a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God far off." Sorry, I read that wrong. Let me read that again. Verse 23. Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God far off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so I shall not see him, says the Lord? Do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord? I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of deceit of their own heart. who try to make my people forget my name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has a word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat, says the Lord? Is not my word like a fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophet, says the Lord, who steal my words, everyone from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, he says, Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, says the Lord. So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you saying, what is the oracle of the Lord? You shall then say to them, what oracle? I will even forsake you, says the Lord. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say the oracle of the Lord, I will even punish that man in his house. Thus, every one of you shall say to his neighbor and everyone to his brother, what has the Lord answered and what has the Lord spoken? And the oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more. For every man's word will be his oracle. For you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. Thus you shall say to the prophet, what has the Lord answered you and what has the Lord spoken? But since you say the oracle of the Lord, therefore, thus says the Lord, because you say this word, the oracle of the Lord, and I have sent you saying, do not say the oracle of the Lord, Therefore, behold, I even I will utterly forget you and forsake you in the city that I gave you and your fathers and will be and will be and will cast you out of my presence and I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten. May God bless to us the hearing. Promise of God, the preservation of his people. Well, our New Testament scripture reading is Jeremiah, I mean, Acts 25. We're looking at that entire chapter, say a few words of introduction to our sermon and then have our scripture reading after that, which you might want to be turning to Acts 25. Last week in our sermon series through Acts, we looked at chapter 24, and when that chapter ended, Paul was still in prison at Caesarea. He had been there for two years, and a new governor had come. He had been left there by Felix, who was the Roman governor of the province of Judea, because Felix couldn't make up his mind about what to do with Paul. It was kind of a perplexing situation. That could be the theme of this section, what to do with Paul. That's the big question that all the Roman governors and officials are having. Paul had been brought there by Claudius Lysias, the commander at the garrison in Jerusalem two years before. He had been arrested when the Jews from Asia had accused Paul of profaning the temple. He hadn't profaned the temple, but they accused him of that. And they stirred up a mob of angry Jews against him and were going to kill him right on the spot without a trial. But the commander, the Roman commander, had heard the commotion or been made aware of it. And he came out with his armies and rescued Paul. And after the investigation, he couldn't discover what it was that Paul had done, that there were so many things, accusations and things that were flying from the Jewish leaders. The real cause, of course, was that Paul had been preaching that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, that he is the Lord and that he was risen from the dead. And especially what infuriated the Jews was that Paul had been preaching that Gentiles could be saved. through faith alone in Jesus Christ, moral repentance and faith that they could be saved without being circumcised and keeping the law of Moses. Paul was teaching that these Gentiles could be saved by nothing more than moral repentance and faith in Christ. The commander could not ascertain this because what all the fuss was about because the Jews were accusing Paul of all sorts of other things. that might be more likely to be accepted by the Romans and also by the people who are not so antagonistic about Paul. But whatever the cause of their anger against Paul, as soon as the commander learned about the plot or the vow that 40 men had taken, that they would kill Paul, they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. And having learned that Paul was a Roman citizen by this time, The commander transported Paul under heavy guard by night to Caesarea, where the governor of Judea lived, at his palace there, and brought him to that environment as a safe place where he could be protected and where he could also have a trial if the Jews came up there. And of course, the governor there was Governor Felix at that time. Now, Felix was in a bit of a bind because after examining Paul before his accusers, before the Jews, He knew that Paul was innocent, but he also knew that releasing him would greatly infuriate the Jews. And he already had very bad relations with the Jews. They were the people he was governing, and he didn't really want to release Paul and make that worse. He also knew that condemning Paul, who was a Roman citizen, would not bode well, that Paul would surely appeal. And then they would see that he had no grounds for having condemned Paul. So he was in a bit of a bind. He didn't know quite what to do and so Felix did what seems to be in his character, he did nothing. He just simply said, oh well, we'll just leave this matter and he kept Paul in confinement for two years doing nothing. He also had an ulterior motive that we were told about that he was hoping that maybe Paul knew a lot of people and maybe Paul would get some money together and grease the wheels a little bit so that he would go ahead the wheels of justice so that he would let Paul go. But of course, no bribe was forthcoming. Instead, Paul. preached to him. He actually invited Paul to come and talk to him and thinking that he would hear some nice little religious thoughts and things that were, you know, metaphysical ideas that you could kind of meditate on and that sort of thing. And Paul came, as we saw last week, and he preached at him. He brought the message to him very pointedly and directly about things like self-control and righteousness and the judgment to come. He warned him of the judgment that was going to come. And Felix was terrified when he heard the message. And he did what he always does. What's that? He just put it off. Just tried to ignore it. Put it on the shelf. Pretend like he hadn't heard it. Try to let the fear cool off. He was heated with fear and he let it cool off. I talked to you last week about the danger of that. That if the Holy Spirit has shown you the truth, you've been heated up with fear and conviction of your sin, And then you walk away from it and you don't do anything with that. It's very, very dangerous because every time you do that, your heart gets harder, just like the way you harden iron. You heat it up and then when it cools off, it's harder than it was before you heated it. And if you don't respond to the word of God. then your heart will get very, very hard. I've been in the ministry long enough to see that in the whole cycle of someone over, you know, a 10 year period getting harder and harder and harder. And it's very sad because sometimes such a person almost gets to the place where they're beyond rescue. So it's a very important lesson that that we learned last week. But as for Paul, You know, there he was in custody for two years in the governor's palace. He made the most of the opportunities that he had while he was there during that two year period. You can imagine, Paul, you know, everybody that was in the governor's palace, Paul was talking to them and witnessing to them. People were coming to visit him. There was the church at Caesarea there and people were coming to see him. And so Paul made the best of it. But now a new governor had come along. So things were going to change. Festus was the new governor. Felix was removed because of the terrible job that he was doing, but because he had connections in high places, that's how he got to that position in the first place. Because of his connections, he wasn't punished, but he was just kind of, you know, able to resign his office and go along. We don't know much about Festus, though, who came after him because he was only governor for two years. Had a little bit in Josephus' history, and then we have what we have in Acts, but there's not a whole lot more about him We know that he, it appears that he died in office after only two years as governor. And what we can learn of him, you know, that's what we find. But of course, Luke is not primarily concerned with giving us information about Festus, except as it pertains to the advance of the kingdom of God, because that's Luke's subject. He's telling us how the kingdom of God went forth in the first century. And we have here in Acts 25, which we're looking at today, Paul's interaction with this new governor, Festus, as the leftover prisoner, Felix. And what Luke presents to us here for our edification and encouragement is the way the Lord worked powerfully to bring about another marvelous opportunity for Paul to testify of Jesus Christ. God, in his grace, gives opportunity to his people to testify that Jesus, who was crucified, is alive. And that's what Paul is able to do in a very remarkable way. We're going to look at how all the pieces came together in God's providence in order that Paul might be able to do this yet again. So let's look at our scripture reading here. It's Acts 25. It's the very word of God. And so I exhort you to give careful attention because this is not the word of man. It's the word of God. And we can benefit from it much if we receive it as the word of God. Acts 25, beginning in verse one. Now, when Festus had come to the province after three days, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul, and they petitioned him asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem while they lay an ambush along the road to kill him. But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea and that he himself was going there shortly. Therefore, he said, let those who have authority among you go down with me and choose this man to see if there is any fault in him. And when he had remained among them more than 10 days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, he commanded Paul to be brought. When he had come, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. While he answered for himself, neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all. But Fastus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things? So Paul said, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews, I have done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I am offender or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying. But if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar. Then Fessus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go. And after some days, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus. When they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix, among whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me when I was in Jerusalem asking for a judgment against him. To them, I answered, it is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him. Therefore, when they had come together without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in. When the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation against him of such things as I supposed. They had some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters. But when Paul appeared, appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I could send him to Caesarea. Then Agrippa said, I mean, send him to Caesar. Sorry. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I also would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, he said, you shall hear him. So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city at Festus command, Paul was brought in and Festus said, King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, You see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him. I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. Therefore, I have brought him out before you and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place, I may have something to write for. It seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him. May God bless to us the reading of his holy word. You can see in this passage how the Lord brought it about through the working of his marvelous providence. that Paul might testify before King Agrippa and before all the dignitaries that were with him and that were in the city of Caesarea. It's very encouraging to see how God brings about such circumstances for the expansion of his kingdom. As we turn now to look at the details, we need to ask God. To stir us up, to make us more zealous for the advance of the kingdom of God, for praying for opportunities that we would be able to testify that Jesus who died is alive. Seeing how God worked here ought to give us encouragement and hope in our God who does work in these ways. So let's look at the particulars. First, see how the Lord foils the plots of his servants, enemies, that his servants may continue to testify of him as long as he desires them to so testify. We see this in our text in the way that he protects Paul from the schemes of the Jews once again. Now, some of you may say, well, we've already seen this before. We've already seen God protecting Paul from the schemes of the Jews. Why do we need to look at it again? I hope that none of you would say that, because you need to understand that the Holy Spirit has revealed to us several accounts, various times when Paul was marvelously preserved. That's why we're seeing Psalm 91, because it corresponds with that. If we're serving the Lord, we need the encouragement that comes to us from seeing again and again how God delivers his servants. The Lord's people have been persecuted through the ages. And these accounts remind them that God is with them and that unless he gives leave, that they will not even dash their foot against a stone. We may face more persecution in our society in the days to come as well. And we need these accounts as part of our understanding to fortify us. that we may be able to stand against persecution. I hope that your resolve that you will endeavor to stand in persecution if it should come, that you will forsake everything for Jesus Christ. So we need to see that the enemy's plots fail until it is God's appointed time for his servants to die or to suffer for his name. Now, if you object to hearing multiple deliverance accounts, It betrays a bad attitude in your heart. I remember as a child, when I used to watch Batman, and they would have every week that Batman would get in some kind of a pinch. I remember one time when he was in an hourglass, you know, and the sand was coming down. He and Robin were in there and they couldn't get out. And then the show would end. And then they'd say, tune in next week. And you'd have to come and watch and see what happened. And every week it was the same thing, that he'd be in some other kind of situation. And every week he wanted to see what happened. How did he get out of this one? What would happen? And this account here of Paul is almost like that. We see he gets in another fix, and another fix, and another fix, and another fix. And God keeps bringing him out again, and again, and again. So if you think about it, we don't get weary of repetition of something that's important to us. I mean, does a hockey fan say, man, it's the same thing every time. My team plays and they win, and I've already seen this. Why should I go to another game? It's just gonna be the same thing over again. This is getting kind of old. Why should I bother? See, if it's something that's important to you, then it's gonna be important to you. You don't mind seeing it. again and again. Something similar could be said about your favorite food. You know, you say, oh man, we had steak two weeks ago. You know, we already had that. What's the difference with this steak and the one I had two weeks ago? And, you know, that's same kind of thing. Now, if you say that about your spouse and about spending an evening with your spouse, oh, we did that last week. We did that two weeks. Why do we need to be together again? There's a problem, isn't there? No, it's something you want to do over and over again. So you get the point. We have two more accounts here of Paul's deliverance from his Jewish adversaries. The first comes about as a result of the mere preference of Festus in this particular situation. Take a look. The Jews see in the appointment of this new governor Festus a golden opportunity to get rid of Paul. Like we can weasel our way in and manipulate the situation with this new inexperienced governor. Festus being newly appointed appears to be very earnest at his new post. You notice that he was only in Caesarea for three days. He didn't even have time to get his computer hooked up. And he's already going down to visit the leaders at Jerusalem. So, you know, this is a he's a very zealous, eager guy. He's not like Felix. He probably would have sat around for a month before he went down. But it's very wise. He knows that he needs to do all that he can to ingratiate himself to the leaders at Jerusalem, because these are the people that he's going to be governing. And as I said, Felix had a terrible relationship with them. So you see, this is to the Jews' advantage. Here's a new governor, inexperienced, and he wants to be friends with us. It's remarkable to see the way, you know, what the Jews had on their minds as soon as he came to visit. Even though two years had gone by, Paul was still on their minds. They immediately proceed to tell him about Paul and about how important it is to them that something be done to Paul because of his injustices and the crimes that he has committed. They saw this as their golden opportunity. Inexperienced governor, governor who did not know the history of how they had made plots to destroy Paul by unjust means, and a governor who was eager to establish good relationships. Now they could get Paul. The time had come. You can see what their ploy is in verse two and three. It says, Then the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul and they petitioned him asking a favor against him. Now, it's interesting. That's well translated. Asking a favor. You know, look, you want to be friends with us. This is something that you can do for us. You know, what is it? Pretty simple that he would summon him to Jerusalem while they lay in ambush among the road to kill him. Now, they didn't tell him that last part. That's just what is going on in their mind. They said to him, summon him, you can come and conduct a trial here. But in their heads, they were saying, and we'll lay an ambush and we can kill him while he's on the way. So that was what they wanted to do. So the drama builds here. Will they succeed in doing away with Paul? Well, look at how their plans are once again foiled in a very simple way. In God's providence, Festus simply does not want to hang around Jerusalem to conduct a trial of a prisoner that is already in Caesarea. He lives in Caesarea, and he has no idea, because they didn't tell him about the ambush part, why they want this to be done in Jerusalem. Paul's up in Caesarea, and they can't tell him what their real motive is. So Festus simply asserts that he's going back to Caesarea very shortly. He's not going to stay around Jerusalem, and they can send up a delegation, and he'll have a hearing right away. Such wonderful workings of God to preserve the life of his servant, the preference of a governor. It's just very simple. The Jews had a carefully laid plot, but it had a glitch in it. Of course, it may be that Festus was wise enough to know that they would do something like this, but it doesn't appear that he was because of what happens later. But anyway, the second narrow escape comes about by Paul invoking a legal privilege. In this case, the Jews did go ahead and make their way up to Caesarea to accuse Paul, as Festus had proposed. I'm sure they were grumbling about it because, you know, what are they going to say, right? They'd already tried this before. But they go up there without delay. And once again, they have no way to substantiate any of the charges that they bring against Paul. from the way they had spoken to Festus before about Paul. I'm sure that he probably thought that this is going to be an easy thing. They have all these charges, they say, against Paul. They'll just come and lay out all the charges and set up the evidence and then can accuse Paul. We can condemn Paul and be done with it. But he tells us that he was surprised by that when they came, they didn't really have anything. And so Probably we need to remember the words of Proverbs 18, 17. It's always important to hear both sides of the story. I really like what he says about the Roman justice system that we always hear the accused before his accusers, you know, so he can hear their charges face to face. Proverbs 18, 17 says the first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. So if someone wants to come and talk to you about something that somebody else did, Call the other person into the situation. Sometimes you get an entirely different story when both people are there. You need to if you're going to accuse someone, do it in their presence, not in their in their absence. But in any event, the Jews are unable to verify their charges. The plot thickens when Festus, seeing how unhappy the Jews are about this, decides that he will do the Jews a favor after all. That's what it says. He knew how much they wanted Paul to go to Jerusalem for some reason. And he sees that it has to do with religious matters. And so maybe they have some experts there that can explain what Paul has done better than they've just now explained it. Maybe it's reasonable to have a trial there. So in verse 9, we read that Thestis, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things? Now, Paul, of course, he wasn't an inexperienced man with the Jews. He knew these guys were up to something wanting him to go to Jerusalem. And he utterly refuses to do any such thing. And it's wonderful how he is able as a prisoner to refuse because God had gone before in his providence Such that Paul was a Roman citizen and such that Roman citizens had been given in Roman law the right to appeal to Caesar if they didn't feel they were getting justice in the local jurisdiction, the provincial jurisdiction in this case. God had purposed all of that in advance in order to protect Paul. Conceivably, if Paul had gone up, then it would have been the end of Paul, so to speak. I mean, God always has his ways. He could have done it another way, but that's the way that he protects him. And you see that, Paul, there's a I think those are right who say that there's a tone of rebuke here and what Paul says to Festus. He says in verse 10, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews, I have done no wrong, as you, Governor Festus, very well know. He says, for if I am an offender or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying. But if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar. You see how he points out that he is at the proper tribunal and that it is obvious from what has just proceeded that he did no wrong and how fast this knows that and should have not tried to send him to Jerusalem. Interestingly, though, he states that if he had done something that was worthy of death, then he would gladly bear the penalty. Now, a little digression here for a moment. This is very important. As believers, we are to recognize the civil magistrate as God's ministers of justice. Even though they're not always just in their dealings, they have been appointed by God to administer justice. And it is a mercy to have them administering justice. And if we have done wrongs that ought to be punished. then we should not refuse to accept our punishment. If you've broken, if you violated in some way, pay your penalty. Do not refuse. Don't seek injustice when rather you should promote justice and encourage justice. If you've done wrong, bear the punishment. Anyway, after consulting with his counsel, Thetis concludes that the appeal must stand. It was clearly within the rights of a Roman citizen to have his case heard before Caesar again, if he felt that he was not getting justice locally. But you see, in all of this, the hand of the Lord. These things happen, including the tight pinches that Paul got into. Those also happen in order that we may see God's hand of deliverance. It was God's will that His people be in Egypt as slaves under oppression and that Pharaoh would refuse to let them go in order that God might show that He was Lord. We've talked about that sort of thing before. It was he who brought it about that Festus refused to have the case at Jerusalem initially that Paul might be spared. And then that Festus deciding to go and have it at Jerusalem should be hindered because of Paul being able to appeal as a Roman citizen. All this was God's doing. We need to learn to see his hand in all of our affairs. Do not despair with whatever happens in your life. It is like an adventure story. We just need to wait and see how God is going to bring about the deliverance. Read a good book. You know, the people get in pinches and then they get delivered. That's all what happens in the real world under the hand of God. And we need to live joyfully. under the hand of God. I'm looking really forward to preaching through Ecclesiastes after we finish Acts. We're going to look at that whole thing of the vanity of this world unless we look at things with God. If we only look under the sun without reference to God, it's all vanity. But if we see the hand of God in all of our affairs, whatever they are, the difficulties and the deliverances, then we get to know our God. Psalm 91. Our psalm of focus talks about how God always preserves His people, always preserves His people. Even when it looks like you're being destroyed, even when you die, it is only that you'll be raised up again. This is the way God works and we need to get used to it. When Joseph goes to prison, it's in order that he might then be raised up to sit on the throne. This is how God works. We need to get used to it. Jesus goes to the grave. It's because He's going to rise again and be exalted to reign at God's right hand. Now, you'll say to me, yes, but Paul had spent two years in prison. In fact, he was eventually to be put to death. Yes, you see, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Although in God's time, as God had specified that first he would go and testify at Rome, there was no need for Paul to fear, only to trust and to wait on the Lord. And don't get me wrong either. We're not called to be indifferent as we encounter these things. I talked to you about this before as well. We need to be engaged in prayer. We need to be looking for ways to be delivered. We need to take up our sword in cases where it is necessary in military situations. We need to do whatever is necessary. But trusting in God all the while, no matter how badly things go or how well they go in the immediate situation, God is directing these affairs and we need to absolutely trust him. There is no need for us to fret. You are in God's hands in one way or another. The Lord will be exalted in your life. And the same is true of the church as a whole. You know, you need to pray for her and labor for her and fight for her. But you can know all the while that there is no danger of her demise. God will never let the church be destroyed. She will always come out on top in the end. But because of the kind of God He is, there are times when He reduces the church to nothing but dust and rubble, like Psalm 102 talks about. And what do the saints do, according to Psalm 102, when the church is reduced to nothing but dust and rubble? They rejoice in the dust and the rubble, because they know that God will raise it back up again. He always does. Do not despair of the work of God. You might think it's strange that God works that way, but get used to it. That's the way he works. This is true even in the grand outflowing of history in the macro scale. You know, when we look at individual situations, we see Jonah, he gets cast into the sea. We say, is this the end of Jonah? A fish swallows him. Is this the end of Jonah? The fish delivers him. Jonah goes on. That's a little thing. And then we look at the big picture and we see the movements of nations, the big scheme of things. It looks like Israel is ended. They're going into exile. Jerusalem and the temple are completely destroyed. Again, they're reduced to rubble. The saints know God will raise it up again. My brothers and sisters, I am encouraged to see two things in our modern society. For a long time, a long time, The church has been attacked by the Enlightenment, by coming forward with ideas, secularists trying to destroy the church by argument. There was a time 50 to 150 years ago when it looked like that they had won on two fronts. Rationalistic philosophy had made many of the church bow to her rationalistic demands so that the Scriptures were being questioned and doubted by theologians and by all the schools that were teaching. And there were all these questions about the Word of God in the name of rationalistic ideas and philosophy. And then there was naturalistic evolutionary science, on the other hand, that made many in the church bow to her acclaimed sure findings. But it is very encouraging to me to see how both rationalistic philosophy and naturalistic science are completely unraveling before our eyes today. What had seemed so certain to the most brilliant minds in the world is now more and more exposed as utterly foolish, completely unraveling. And the Word of God stands. All we have to do is trust the Lord and wait for our enemies to fail. Yes, we are called to fight. We are called to pray and to sweat and to labor. But no matter how desperate the battle is, the Lord will bring everything to its completion. The Lord will always preserve his saints in his church. Just as in Acts 25, he graciously preserved Paul, that Paul might testify of Jesus again. Now, I want to move on and look at the next thing that the Lord does to bring it about that Paul might testify. The first thing is that he preserves Paul. Second, see how he marvelously brings focus on the real issue, the issue that really mattered. You can see in our text how the Jews tried to divert the issue. They knew that Paul was preaching, that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and was made alive, and that he was the Christ, the Lord and the Savior. They knew that Paul was preaching, that he had seen Jesus, and that Jesus had sent him to preach reconciliation through faith to Jew and Gentile. They knew that this was the real issue that they were offended by, but they tried to divert the issue to something else. They had to come up with something that would stand up in court, in the Roman court. And they had to come up with something that would also discredit Paul before their fellow Jews. who might be more disposed than they were to believe what Paul was saying. So if we can show that this man is a snake in some other ways, rather than focusing on the actual issue of the gospel that he preaches, we'll focus on all these other things that Paul has done. If they could trash him and discredit his message, then they would be victorious. You will remember that even some of the Jews who believed in Christ have been infected with rumors about Paul. that he had forbade Jews to circumcise their children and to keep the law of Moses, which he had not done. But you see, the church, even the believers in Christ had heard those rumors and had given some credence to them. So they were having an effect with these lies about Paul. They couldn't say, they couldn't discredit him by saying about the gospel itself, because these people have believed the gospel. But you see, that's the idea. Verse 7, it says that they laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. From Paul's response in verse 8, you can tell what the charges were. Same that they'd done before. He had transgressed the law of the Jews, which he had not. That he had defiled the temple by bringing a Greek into the temple they said. No one had seen him do that. But it was a rumor that spread around that they laid hold of and they didn't have anyone to bear witness to that. And that he had offended against Caesar, that he was a man who went around in the cities and stirred up sedition, revolt against the governor and against the magistrates. Paul never did that. What happened is he went in and preached the gospel and then people get angry and start a riot. Paul didn't say, hey, Christians, let's go out and protest today. Let's get your spines and let's go out and have a have a sit in or a walk out or do whatever. He didn't do any of that stuff. He preached the gospel. They repented and believed and they lived the gospel for Jesus Christ. The problem with these charges, you see, is that it diverts the issue. So that even if the charges don't stand, it diverts the issue of what Paul is all about. It kept people from seeing the real message that was the real offense of these wicked men. We have seen on several occasions that Paul wouldn't let that happen. He kept bringing it up again. I'm on trial for the hope of Israel. I'm on trial because I'm saying that Jesus rose from the dead. Paul believes that Jesus of Nazareth lives. raised from the dead, and they deny it. That's the real issue. Now, interestingly, in Acts 25, Festus, of all people, is the one who draws attention to the real issue. As he listens to Paul's accusers and he listens to Paul, he sees what it really is that has offended him. Festus, though, is perplexed here because, as he explains, he doesn't know what to put in his report to Caesar. He got into a little bit of a bind when he said, will you go up to Jerusalem? Instead of saying Paul's innocent, will you go up to Jerusalem and be tried again? And now Paul says, I appeal. He's like, oh, I don't have anything to say. It's charges against him. So he's kind of in a little bit of an awkward situation. Look at verse 25 where he explains it. He says, but when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him. I have nothing certain to write to my Lord, Lord Caesar concerning him. Therefore, I have brought him out to you and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination has taken place, I may have something to write. And this is such a funny statement, for it seems unreasonable to send a prisoner and not specify the charges against him. So Caesar gets this guy, here's a prisoner, you've got to have a trial. Okay, what are the charges? Well, actually we don't have any charges, but everybody's mad at him, so we thought that he should be tried in Rome. It's rather embarrassing, because Paul really should have been acquitted by now. So Festus is not sure what to do. But happily for him, King Agrippa, who has jurisdiction over the neighboring region, has come to welcome Thestis to his new office. He's paying a friendly visit as another man in office. Incidentally, this is King Agrippa II, the great-grandson of Herod the Great and the son of King Herod Agrippa I. You remember Herod Agrippa I? He's the one that was eaten by worms a little earlier. Bernice is Agrippa the second sister, and there were rumors that he lived in an incestuous relationship with her, but we better not accuse unless we can have the accusers face to face. It was not substantiated. King Agrippa has a lot of interest in Jerusalem because he had been given authority by Caesar to appoint those who are the high priests in Jerusalem. And he had a lot of connection and he was known to be an expert. He was sort of a consultant with Rome about matters Jewish. And so he has no official jurisdiction over Paul. So this isn't a trial here. But Festus wishes simply to consult with Agrippa in order to get information so that he can know what to put in his message to Caesar about Paul. Agrippa then is the man that is needed at the moment. And it's in God's providence that Agrippa is here visiting right at this time. But even though Festus is perplexed, He perceives the real issue of division between the divided Paul from the Jewish authorities. He explains this in verse 18. It says, When the accusers stood up and brought no accusation against him of such things as I suppose, but they had some questions against him about their own religion, and about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. He's dead right. That's the whole issue. A certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. That's what this whole issue is all about. Brothers and sisters, this is in fact the issue that divides the whole human race one from another. Is Jesus alive? Or is He not alive? Is He the risen, reigning Lord who is crucified for sinners and whose sacrifice was accepted by the Father? Or is He just a man that lived and taught good things and died? If you truly believe that He is alive, that He died and is alive, then your whole life revolves around Him. Because you believe that He alone is God's way of salvation sent from Heaven. You believe that He came into the world and died for transgressors. and that He rose again on the third day because God the Father accepted His offering for our justification. You believe that sin is a very serious matter that could only be atoned for by such measures as the death of the Lord Jesus. You believe that He is judge of the living and the dead and that He will come again with glory. to judge because He lives and He watches and He sees us. As we saw last week, because you believe that, you strive always to have a conscience void of offense. You're not a policy person who just tries to figure out what will be to your political advantage, but you're a person who lives with a conscience and a heart before God. Because He is risen and reigning, you joyfully bow to Him as Lord. You delight to do His will. He has given you His Holy Spirit to work in your heart and give you a desire to do what is pleasing to Him, because you know that He is raised from the dead. You look at the world in an entirely different way than those who do not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead or who will not admit it. Everyone else has no real hope. What are they hoping? What do they want? going to get. You just kind of plug along and kind of try to be happy for a while and then die. And then what? There's no future. See, there's no way to deal with their sin and their guilt. There's no way to be able to forgive other people for the things that they have done. They have no future. You see what a difference this makes? I mean, this is what divides one philosopher from another, one biologist from another. What divides loved ones? Those that are in your home. Perhaps your parents that do not believe. Perhaps your children. Perhaps a sibling. You are not living your life for the same things. You're living for an entirely different purpose. For an entirely different hope. And it causes division and strife. And this is also what makes the difference in your daily walk, is it not? Even as a believer. On those days when you're not mindful that Jesus who died is alive, when you've ignored that, and you're maybe guilty and doing something and you don't want to repent of it, then your whole life is very different in those times. It's when you are very mindful and cognizant that Jesus lives, and you're living in communion with Him, and you're walking before Him all through the day. It's entirely different the way you treat your family. The way you respond to difficulties. The hope that you have. All of these things. This is the issue. This is what makes the difference. That a certain Jesus died and now lives. And that you know that. And you affirm that. Now, it's a marvelous thing when the Lord in His province brings issues, the big issues, to the forefront as He does here. You know, if you speak to other people about Christ very often, you probably experience sometimes when that happens. You know, when somebody comes along and they just ask this marvelous question, like, wow, this is tremendous. The Philippian jailer comes up, you know, there's an earthquake, and he says, what must I do to be saved? It's like, wow, God brought that about. Or someone comes up and they say, so why did Jesus die on the cross? Or they come up and they say, how can a person know that his sins are forgiven? This is this is perfect. This is this is an opportunity that God has brought my way. In such cases, the Lord has brought the principal thing to the fore. He has prepared an opportunity for you to testify. Consider what we have seen then so far in Paul's case, what has been done to prepare that he might testify first, that Paul was marvelously preserved. God preserved him to be his witness. And second, that he was that God has brought the principal issue to the forefront, that it's about Jesus and that he lives. Now, finally, I want you to consider how the Lord brings people together to hear the gospel. Paul had a tremendous opportunity here dropped right into his lap. Look at how the events are unfolded in our text to give Paul an opportunity to testify. First of all, that Festus was perplexed about, you know, what am I going to write to Caesar? And he wants help. He's looking, somebody help me with this. Second, that he sees clearly what the dividing issue is, and he raises that, what we just saw, that Paul believes that the certain Jesus who died is alive. That's the issue. How are we going to deal with this? Third, that Agrippa, the expert on Jewish matters, man who wants to learn about these things, who knows about them, who's curious about them, shows up just at the right time. Fourth, that Agrippa is gripped by Festus' declaration about Jesus and the resurrection, and that he wants to hear more from Paul. And fifth, that Paul is summoned, not this time to defend himself, but rather to explain about the matter of Jesus who died, whom he affirms to be alive. See, they're not saying, Paul, come and defend yourself from the charges. We've already done that. But come and explain to us about this thing that's dividing you, that you say Jesus is alive. Tell us about that, Paul. We want to examine this. We want to hear more about it. It's not really a trial, like I said. Agrippa had no jurisdiction at Caesarea. He's just a consultant. And Paul's already going to Rome. This is an inquiry. It's a quest for information and a golden opportunity because Paul is being asked to explain about Jesus and the resurrection and why he believes it. And not only did the Lord bring all those circumstances together, the Lord also brought a whole crowd of people together, important people to hear the gospel. Look at verse 23. So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp, Great pomp. That means that they had a procession, they had decorated prancing horses, and men with uniforms, and polished gleaming swords. There they were arrayed and there are purple robes with the crowns on their head. And there's the governor with his red robe that the governor wore. And, you know, this all of this whole procession is coming in. And there are others. The verse continues that when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp and had entered the auditorium with commanders and the prominent men of the city at fastest command, Paul was brought in. So there were five commanders that were at Caesarea, we know, who commanded five military auxiliary cohorts that were there. And the prominent men of the city were there. The who's who at Caesarea. They were all there. And they were there for one purpose. Isn't this amazing? One amazing purpose. All the important people were gathered together to hear Paul explain what he believed and preached about Jesus that was so offensive to the Jews. That Jesus who died was alive. That's what the subject is. What an amazing opportunity. Do you suppose that Cornelius, the first Gentile convert who lived in Caesarea, was there? Do you suppose that one of his that his commander was one of the five minutes the centurions were just under the commanders and there were five of these? They knew Cornelius and the prominent men of the city, you know, who who are some of these, you know, was what about what about Philip, the evangelist and his four daughters? You remember, Paul stayed with him at Caesarea. Do you suppose that he was able to attend this event? He was a prominent man in the city. Probably he regularly visited Paul when he was confined there. You can hardly imagine how excited these believers at Caesarea must have been about all this. You suppose that they if they knew about it ahead, they may have spent the night in prayer as Paul was going to be addressing these officials of their city. Just think, Paul had been shut in the governor's house for two years as a prisoner. Many had seen his manner of life there. Many had spoken to him. But now he's brought forward to testify of the hope that he has before the whole city. And after this, he is going to Rome to testify before Nero. I tell you, it can look so dark to us, but the Lord does things like this. You know, ministers of the gospel can be put in prison. We can say, oh, you know, they can no longer preach. And then they get an opportunity to come and preach before the whole city and all the officials. Paul had no crown. He had no robe. He had no procession with him. He had only a prisoner's chains. But he is the one who is remembered in history. because he is the one who testified that Jesus died and then was made alive. His hearers had no idea that this doctrine would spread into the world, that 2,000 years after, the only reason that we would know about Festus and Bernice and Agrippa II is because of the Apostle Paul who is standing there before them testifying. If you are a believer, it thrills your heart Whenever there is occasion for the good news of Jesus Christ to be preached and proclaimed, let this account of what happened to Paul encourage you that the Lord is at work in our world. Pray that he will open opportunities like this for evangelists, for pastors, for missionaries, for teachers, and yes, for you. with that uncle or that parent or that sibling of yours that does not know the Lord. Pray that God will open the way. Pray that God will open the opportunity that His Word will go forth. God is faithful. And He opens up thousands of opportunities. We wouldn't be here talking about Jesus right now if God hadn't opened opportunities thousands of times so that through a chain of many, many people that the Word of God has come for us. Be ready. Be prayerful. Be eager. and never be discouraged. We will be given opportunities even in the great ebb and flow of history, as movements will arise and seem so powerful and so dominant, and then fall apart and frazzle, and the Word of God goes on and on and on. Our Lord is making His Gospel known, and He will use each one of us in that work. And trust the matter to Him, and you will see Him work. But tell me, Are you yourself thrilled to know that Jesus died and that he rose again? Does that make a difference to you? Do you believe that Jesus died and that he rose again? Because that makes all the difference. That's the dividing line. That's the dividing line between heaven and hell. That's the dividing line between reconciliation with God and eternity. away from God in the lake of fire. See, this is very, very important. This is what matters. This is what we need to see. Jesus, who died, is alive. Please stand. Gracious Heavenly Father, we praise You and we thank You that Jesus, who died, is alive and that He will never die. that his church will never die. We know how arrogant men have often thought that they were just about to pull the plug on the church, that they had just about done the church in, and that in every case, the church comes forth again and again and again. We know that many, many times in the history of the church in various places that we have been reduced to dust and rubble. But we also know that again and again that we are raised up. And we thank you, Lord, that when the church comes back again, that it comes back with more power than it had before. And we pray, O Lord, that your word would continue to go forth into the earth. We pray that you would give us many an opportunity to testify of the one who died and who lives again, that we would be able to tell of the hope that we have in him. And Father, I pray that everyone in this room would have that hope. Lord, it's a terrible thing if anyone is living outside of that hope if they are not in tune with Jesus who is alive, if they have somehow missed the grace of God. Father, we pray that you would bring all under his authority, his dominion, under the joy of communion and fellowship with him who lives and who died for our sins. Thank you, Father, that he is able to make us completely clean. Lord, we are totally unable to cleanse ourselves from our sins, but we praise you that Jesus is able to do so. We are unable to change our stony hearts, but we praise you that Jesus is able to do that too. Father, give us hope and confidence in our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and give us opportunity to tell everyone about him. May the whole earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord, even as the waters cover the sea. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. As we prepare to come to the Lord's Supper.