Father, help us to trust in You more. Father, we do trust in You, Father. May our trust grow deeper as we hear Your Word preached, as we focus on Your provision and Your mercy that will follow us all the days of our life and will lead us home to glory with you and your son, Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Good morning, Grace Fellowship Church. As I think most of you are aware, we had a we had a elders and wives, I guess, retreat this week. We spent from Thursday evening until Saturday noontime, lunchtime with the three elders and our wives. Dara described it like a conference. Like, so she's, we all probably are tired. She was describing how tired she was. It's like being at a conference, but there's only six people at the conference, so all the attention is focused on you six people. And it was, it was, it was a, I am, I am, I am so thankful for the fellow elders that I serve with and their wives. We are blessed to have them in our lives. I was reminded of that as we were together. It was a very humbling and sanctifying time, I think, for all of us. Me personally, for sure. The reason we get together that way have in the past and did now is Acts 20, 28, that we all know very well. We are to pay careful attention to ourselves. So that starts with myself paying attention to me and Pastor Tyler and Pastor Nick paying attention to themselves and then to one another and then to all the flock. And as we pay attention to ourselves, who is our other half? Who are we one with? Our wives. And so it's really important that we do that, I believe, and it was It was very useful. I think one thing that I thought would maybe encourage all of you that we went through together the morning we were together, in 2 Corinthians 2 it says, So, Whenever we go places, he's talking about the gospel, but he goes on to say, for we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to another fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? And so we have an aroma. We individually put off an aroma in the context we were looking at our marriages. Our marriages put off an aroma wherever we go. And we are presenting something to those that are around us. Again, individually, all of us do that. And for those that are married, our marriages do that. We say something about who God is and there's an aroma to that. Not an actual smell, of course, but that's what we're looking at in here. And so an aroma, the thing about an aroma is if I have something that smells on me or around me, after a while, I become used to that. So I don't even smell it anymore. I don't know what aroma I'm putting off necessarily. I'm very thankful and fortunate to be in a position as a pastor where I get to be challenged with how I'm being. And I'm very, I'm sincerely thankful for that. But for all of us to stop and think and ask, I guess I want to encourage you to have the humility to actually ask people. Ask some of the brethren. What does our marriage say? When you see us interacting, what does our marriage say? And considering the aroma that we put off, if it's a sweet aroma of Christ and his work in our lives, or if it's a more smelly thing that really doesn't do much to show a picture of the gospel that we believe in and that saved us. You know, so one of the things that, this isn't the only thing, but I'll give you an example of what I'm saying of something for me that I understood from this time we spent is that for some people in that group and maybe for everyone is that, you know, we're very hospitable in my home. Emily and I are hospitable people and we were affirmed in that. And we give off a welcoming aroma. But something for me that was brought to my attention that I can see and I'm thankful to know that I can work toward, and you could all be praying for me, is that when we have people in our home, we individually take great joy in having them there, and we don't take much joy in one another. So the aroma I can put off, or we can put off, is one of joy in the brethren. Joy in being hospitable, but not joy in one another. And I'm here to tell you that's not true in my heart, but that's an aroma. And you can be praying that I would take joy in my wife and in our relationship, that when you see us, you see that. So think about that maybe. Consider your life, consider your marriage, And remember, you can't smell your own aroma, good or bad. You bake bread all day, and you smell it all day. Somebody walks in the house and says, man, we just, last night we had people over and we had cooked some pork, I had seared some pork chops. And I really didn't even know there was a smell in the house. And Callie walked in and said, man, it smells good in here. So it was a good aroma. I didn't notice it. So both good and bad, if you will, or Christ exalting or deflating to the gospel that has saved us, our marriages give off an aroma. And I would think you would be wise to have the humility to ask others that you're close to, that you know here, that know you well, and be willing to hear what you may hear. And by the grace of God, to to make your marriage look more like Christ in the church to others who are around you, because that's the picture that we're promoting. Amen? Amen. Okay. Let's turn in the book of Acts to chapter 22. We'll be in verses 22 through 23 too. I'm not sure as I finished up preparation this morning that we'll get through all of the material, but we'll see where we get to. But that's what we are going to attempt to get into is Acts 22, 22 through 23 too. So please turn there and then stand and I will read. The word of God. Up to this word, they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live. And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this. But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned? When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. So the tribune came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? And he said, Yes. The tribune answered, I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said, But I am a citizen by birth. So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. And the tribune, who also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen, that he had bound him. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet. And he brought Paul down and set him before them. And looking intently at the council, Paul said, Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by to strike him on the mouth. you may be seated. This is the Word of God. It is given for the people of God to be saved and to be sanctified. In this passage, I think there's a number of things we're going to look at. And I struggle to have titles, as you may be able to tell by my titles. But I think there's a couple of things that I would like us to most consider going through here. And that is, we see here Paul's appeal to man's laws. And that's something that we can think about and apply in our lives if necessary. And we also see his clear conscience. And that's something else that I think is really valuable for us to consider what that means. So Paul, Paul has returned to Jerusalem. Let's bring us up to where we are. Remember, Paul has returned to Jerusalem with this Gentile offering. He's traveled throughout. Macedonia and Achaia and Galatia and he's bringing back with him an offering for the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem because they were in need. And the offering was to take care of their needs and the offering was also to bring some resolution to this conflict in the church between Jews and Gentiles. You know, the Jews believe that the only way to enter into Christianity was through Judaism. through circumcision, the law, and at least through Judaism. And then the Gentile Christians were welcomed in, if you will, simply by their faith in Christ alone, and this caused for upset. And we'll look at that more. So he's come back, he's brought this offering, and he's participating in a purification process. and the providing the sacrifices or paying for a Nazarite vow for four Jewish Christians. He is doing this at the instruction of the elders in Jerusalem. James and the other elders have given him this instruction to carry this out, and he is. In order that the Jewish Christians wouldn't be offended by Paul, this is kind of another offering he's making. And he submits himself to that leadership of that local assembly. And the reason they would the Jewish Christians might be bothered by him is here. He comes with a bunch of Gentiles now Yes, he's bringing an offering but he's also been out preaching the gospel to Gentiles now for for ten years Remember there that what we're looking at right now. They're in Jerusalem for the the pet for Pentecost there'd be hundreds of thousands of Jews in Jerusalem at the time and The temple where they would go to offer sacrifices and worship would be packed with people. Remember, Fort Antonia overlooks the courtyard of the Gentiles, so it overlooks the happenings. And remember the Roman soldiers, and in this case, Claudius Lysias, the tribune, he's there, and his job is to keep peace there in Jerusalem. He has soldiers with him and is to have the Roman Empire allowed the Jews to function pretty much on their own in many ways, but keeping from an insurrection, keeping from warfare or uprisings was what they were there to do. So Paul is in the temple and he's seen by some Ephesian Jews. Some Jews from Ephesus see him. and they see him in the temple and they incite the Jewish, the Judean Jews, those from there in Jerusalem, he incites them all against Paul. He, not they, they, the Ephesian Jews. They basically say a bunch of lies about Paul teaching against the temple, teaching against the Jews, and even having brought a Gentile into the temple. which he hadn't done, remember? And so, but they get this mob incited, the mob drags Paul out from inside the temple, out into the court of the Gentiles, and they're beating him to death. That is their goal. They are beating him, wanting to kill him. And again, in a mob mentality, they really don't even know what they're doing. Many of them, they're just beating this man, and mainly because he has been accused of bringing a Gentile into the holy space. And the Roman soldiers see this taking place down below them and Claudius Lysias, the tribune, rushes down with the centurion, which would be a leader of hundreds, so at least 200 soldiers, the centurions, their leaders, and then Claudius Lysias come down into the courtyard to find out what's going on. And because the chaos is so much, They can't find out what's going on. Claudius lies. You got one yelling this, another yelling this. And so he said, look, let's take him back to the barracks where we can figure out what's going on. And the rush of this crowd is so strong and the mob is so much coming after Paul, they literally have to put him up on their shoulders to carry him out. And so they're carrying Paul out of this chaotic place where he was being beaten to death. So now remember, Paul would have been bloodied and bruised and beaten. And in God's providential care, he's being brought out of there by these Roman soldiers, not because they cared about Paul necessarily, but because they didn't want this chaos that was going on. They needed to keep the peace. And so they drag him out and they're taking him into the barracks so that Claudius Lysias can question him some more. Paul to see why they're beating him and remember he thinks he's a an egyptian guy who was there Bringing people to kill jews and and he wasn't paul says no i'm not that guy As he's going into the barracks paul says to him. Hey, can I can I talk to these people? He speaks to him in greek in god's providence again paul knows greek and he speaks in greek And claudius lycius because he's speaking in greek. He allows him to turn and speak to The mob this mob that had just tried to kill him and so he turns to this mob we looked at last week and and he and he speaks to them and he speaks to them in a very Thoughtful way He connects himself to them Again, we talked about last week. He doesn't get up and start shouting them down because they had just tried to kill them He connects them. He says kinsmen brothers. I I'm just like you. You know the way you're trying to kill me? I was the same guy." And he goes on to give God's testimony in his life of how he was a hater of Christianity and Christians, even persecuting them unto death. He gave the testimony of how God had saved him on the road to Damascus, that Christ had appeared to him and called him by name and saved him. And then he gave testimony of how his obedience to God had followed. And that's where we come into today's text. And it says this, it says, up to this word, they listened to him. So this mob that had been trying to beat them, as remember, I forgot this part, I think, he turned and he spoke to them in their own native tongue, their own dialect. There was a dialect that was even particular to Judea, the Judean area. And he spoke in that form of Aramaic, again, speaking to them in their own language in a very thoughtful way that connected them. And so they were listening. They were listening well, it appears. They were quiet enough to listen. to this word Then they raised their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth for he should not be allowed to live all of a Sudden they're incited again to want him dead What infuriated them? What was what was what was it that that this call for the death of Paul? What was the word that had set them off? The word was Gentiles We see the the Jews hatred of of the inclusionary gospel. The Jews hated the Gentiles. They considered them as defiled, as dirty, as pigs or even dogs. They thought of them as subhuman almost. And they hated the Gentiles. They believed that they, the Jews, were God's chosen people. and that only Jews or proselytes, those who entered through Judaism, only Jews born that way, or those that entered into Judaism and all of its laws and rituals, could be made right with God. That's what they understood. We've seen the manifestation of this mindset of the exclusion of the Gentiles From salvation. We've seen that even by Jewish Christians in the book of Acts Even the Jewish Christians even Peter himself Struggled with this concept that anyone could come in because we hate these Gentiles the Gentiles are dirty dogs We Jews we are God's chosen people we are the pure race we are the ones that can be right with God through our religion and Remember when Paul was telling Cornelius, the Roman centurion, who was a God-fearing Gentile, and there were other Gentiles with Cornelius back in Acts 10, and he was telling them of the forgiveness of sins, the reconciliation with God in heaven that could be found in and through Jesus of Nazareth. That's what Peter is telling Cornelius and the Gentile audience. Acts 10 verse 44 while Peter was still saying these things these things being salvation and forgiveness in Jesus of Nazareth made right with God The Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word and the believers from among the circumcised Jews the believers the Jewish believers in Christ Christians who had come with Peter were amazed at Because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. They couldn't believe it. For they were hearing speak in tongues and extolling God. Peter declared, Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And they asked him to remain for some days. So we see that when these Gentiles hear the good news of Jesus Christ, And the way the early church, remember, the Holy Spirit would be poured out. The Holy Spirit was poured out on these people. They started their extol God, speaking in languages, different languages. And the Jews, the Jewish Christians now, they couldn't believe it. That's not supposed to happen. Remember, Peter suffered with, even God had showed him the vision of what he's made clean, don't call dirty. He said you can eat all kinds of things, representing that the Gentiles could be in the kingdom. In Acts 11, Peter's reporting this back to this happening we just looked at, back to the church in Jerusalem, to the Jewish believers. These are Jewish Christians. He goes back to Jerusalem. He's reporting what had happened there with Cornelius and the Gentiles. And he was explaining that the Gentiles had been indwelt with the Holy Spirit, just like they had been at Pentecost. Acts 11 16 and I remember the word of the Lord how he said John baptized with water But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit If then God gave them the same gave them the same gift to them as he gave to us When we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? When they heard these things they fell silent and they glorified God saying then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance leads to life So even though they saw this these Jewish Christians They couldn't really argue. Peter gave testimony. The six that were with him, the other Jewish men that had watched this happen, Jewish Christians, and they were silent. They were like, wow, even Gentiles. But it went completely against their understanding. And we see Peter struggling this ongoingly. What we see is this pre Supposed exclusion of the Gentiles because they were defiled We see it in the story of the the Canaanite woman that when Jesus was doing ministry in Matthew 15 listen to what happens in verse 21 and Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Saddam now remember Tyre and Saddam was up out of Judea it was up up farther on the coast of Mediterranean It was a it was a Gentile area And behold, the Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon. But he didn't answer her a word. So this Gentile woman, she comes out and she says, O Lord, son of David. She recognizes Jesus Christ for who he is. And she says, My daughter is ill. Please heal her. And Jesus doesn't even answer her. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, Send her away, for she is crying out after us. Send this Gentile woman away. She's coming after us now, because she wants you, Christ. She wants you, Jesus. But, send her away, for he answered. Jesus answered I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel He says this woman this Gentile woman Jesus himself says I'm not here for you I'm here I'm here For the lost sheep of the house of Israel But she came this woman came to Jesus and knelt before him saying Lord Help me And he answered, now listen, Gentile woman, I'm here for the lost house, the sheep of the house of Israel, the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he answered, it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. It is not right to give the bread of life meant for the sheep, the lost sheep of the house of Israel and give it to Gentiles. She said, Yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. You're right, God. You're right, Lord. You're right, Messiah. You're right, Christos. You're right. You're right. That You are a Jew. You are here to save God's people, which are the Jews for what we understand. But even the dogs get the scraps. Even though I'm a Gentile, I can receive the bread of life, can't I? Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. She acknowledges the secondary status of Gentiles inside of this very thing, but she believed that even she could be helped or saved by Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David, the promised Messiah. All the Jews had no space for this reality. This was ingrained in them, as it was any Gentiles who knew of Judaism. This truth of Gentile inclusion Paul preached. Remember the context. We're seeing this scene at Pentecost at the temple when Paul's giving God's testimony in his life and they're listening just fine until he gets to the part about ministering the Word of God to the Gentiles, including them. And they get mad and they want him dead. This is so ingrained in their thinking. Paul preaches wherever he went that Gentiles were included as a people group in God's elect. It doesn't always make a lot of sense to us because we don't have those presuppositions of certain people being kept out. We understand the inclusion of Gentiles. They didn't understand this that didn't make it didn't make sense to them. And so Paul's complete repeatedly in the New Testament pointing this out. Ephesians 2 11. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hand. So you Gentiles uncircumcised. You were you were You were called uncircumcised. You were differentiated from the circumcised, the Jews. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off Gentiles, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinance, that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility." This is what he's saying. This is what Paul's telling them. He's writing to the book, to the Ephesian Christians, and he's saying, Gentiles and Jews, there is no difference in Christ. Why did he have to say that all the time? Because that was ingrained in the way they thought. Only Jews can be saved. And when we're at Pentecost and Paul is giving his testimony and says that he was obedient to Christ and that he took the message to the Gentiles, you have this very religious Jewish group, not Jewish Christians, Jews, worshiping God. This infuriates them because they are God's special people. They are the only ones who can make their way to God. Ephesians 3, 1-10, For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, have a mystery that was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations and has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." What is this mystery that's never been known or clear? This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This gospel what gospel the gospel that saves all kinds of people Jews and Gentiles of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace Which was given me by the working of his power to me though I'm the very least of all the Saints this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring the light for everyone what is the plain and of what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church the men of all wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places." So again, we're not going to go through all of the places that Paul keeps hammering home this reality that Gentiles and Jews are no different. Able to be saved but as Paul's talking to this group at Pentecost of these Jews They're infuriated by this fact because in their understanding that can't happen only Jews Can be saved The New Testament epistles are filled with the truth of Gentile inclusion because it was such a foreign concept The all people That concept is hammered home throughout the New Testament. Because the presupposition, the very strong presupposition of Jews, Jewish Christians even, was that only they could enter the kingdom of God. So, why can we see in 1 John 2, 1 and 2, my little children, I am writing these things to you that so you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we, my little children and me, my Jewish brethren, my fellow Jewish Christians, that's his audience. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, my Jewish brethren. But not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. He's telling them it's not salvation is not just for the Jews, it is for the world. Not meaning it's for every single person, because every single we're not. Even these Jewish Christians weren't universalist, they were limiting and they were limiting to only Jews. Jewish Christians who still thought that Christ only had died for Jews, Jews by blood or proselytes that had entered through Judaism, that that was who Christ had, who he was the propitiation for. And he's saying, no, Jesus is the propitiation for the whole world. Look at Paul's instruction to Titus. Was Titus a Gentile or a Jew? Titus was a Gentile. Now, he was going to be doubted and rejected by Jewish Christians that he was around. Concerning this all people thing, Titus 2.7, Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and your teachings show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us. Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything, They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He's saying, Titus, don't let them Don't let your Gentile-ness be any kind of a stumbling block. You should be a model of good works. In your teaching, show integrity. Because the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, not just Jews. In the book of John, we see John the Baptist. And who was John the Baptist? He was the herald. He was the one who was heralding the coming Messiah. Yes, that's who John the Baptist was. He was coming to the Jews to declare the coming Messiah, to herald Jesus of Nazareth. In John 1, 29, it says, the next day, he, John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Why does John the Baptist save the world? Who is his audience? And what does his audience think? His audience, we see in John 119, and this is the Testament of John the Baptist, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? In verse 24, just before this in verse 29. Now they, the people coming to talk to him, had been sent from the Pharisees. So who's standing in front of him who he's talking to is a bunch of Jews and what do the Jews think about the coming Messiah? He's coming for the Jews only and John the Baptist says behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins Why would he have to say of the world just takes away the sins of our people and because he's talking to a bunch of Jews who do not understand. This is the mystery that's being revealed. They don't understand this. The reason that John the Baptist was proclaiming the Messiah was to take away the sins of the world, because his audience, the representatives of the Pharisees, the Jews who taught Judaism, they believed the Messiah was only coming for them. So Paul is now in front of this Jewish mob. that has wanted him dead. They'd been incited at the thought of him having defiled the holy ground of the temple because he brought a Gentile in, which he hadn't even done, but that's what they're mad about. You're bringing Gentiles out of the court of the Gentiles where they belong. Lucky they can even come that far. And you brought them inside where if they come inside, they're to be put to death. And now we want you dead, which wasn't even Jewish law, but we want you dead because you dared to bring a Gentile in. They didn't understand that. That can't happen. They were stuck in the thinking that only Jews could receive or could have right relationship with God. And so they wanted him dead even more than they wanted him dead before, because after he gives this testimony in their language, they're all listening. He gets the end and he says, sent me to the Gentiles. We have to see what are they mad about? Why did they want him dead? After they just listened to him give his testimony, up to this word, this word of the Gentiles, they listened. And then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth. Kill him. He shouldn't even be allowed to live. And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, What we see there is there. So again, get the picture. Paul has now been drug out of being beaten half to death. And he's standing there and he's preaching to them of God's salvation in his life, of God's testimony, his life. And now they're mad again. And he's he's up high because he would have been up in Fort Antonia. They're ripping off their cloaks and they're throwing dust at him. They're flinging dust into the air. It's similar to the stoning of Stephen, what happened? They all took off their cloaks and they laid them at Saul's feet. Why did they do that? You can't throw with a coat on. So you take off your coat because you can then throw the stones better, because you're about to kill someone. Also in Judaism, ripping of the clothes or taking off the clothes was contempt, showing either of brokenness or of contempt. And then they were flinging dust into the air. There wouldn't have been any stones where they were standing. So what they're doing is they're throwing what's as close as they have is they're throwing the dust, flinging it at Paul. Either because there's no stones and they're attempting to actually hit him with dust, that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense because the word means dust, or it's symbolic like we saw in 2 Samuel 16 when Shimea threw the dust at David as a sign of disgust. So either way, Hear what we know. We know they're furious. We know that they want him dead. They know they want him dead because here he goes again talking about Gentile inclusion. Christ didn't come. The Messiah is not going to come. God did not come to save all people. He came to save Jews. And they're furious. So, verse 24. The tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks. saying that he should be examined by flogging to find out why they were shouting against him like this. Again, imagine the tribune, Claudius Lysias. What is going on? I watch these people be quiet for a little bit and listen to you and then all of a sudden they want to kill you again. So he takes him back in and he's like, I've got to get to the bottom of this because I can't have this kind of tumult. Not good for my position. So, He brought him into the barracks saying that he, Paul, should be examined. The word is anatazo. It means to interrogate, to examine, often by means of torture or lashing. So he wants him to be examined, interrogated by flogging. The word is mastix. Mastix, it means to beat severely with a whip. or flogging. It's the same word used about Pilate having Jesus flogged in John 19.1. Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. That word there is mystics. Now, flogging. It's important that we know this one for as we think of Christ's sacrifice. When I think about this, this isn't the point of today's text necessarily, but I think about this. What I'm about to describe, God himself condescended to become a man. Wow, so I'm thinking about flogging, I haven't gotten there yet with you, but it just blows my mind. God himself, the God of the universe, the creator and sustainer of all things, the perfect, holy, righteous God, condescended to come and live as a man. live without sin as a man with flesh tempted in every way and then he experienced death on a cross but oh by the way before the death on the cross that ultimate death pain and the separation from God he experienced what I'm about to describe to you and this is what they were about to do to Paul flogging would have had a a tall pole maybe a seven foot high pole eight foot high pole they would strip one naked And they would stretch their arms out as far as they could get their arms stretched out, and they would tie them around the pole. And they would have their, so they would stretch, they would be stretched as far as they could be stretched, making the skin as taut as possible. Kids, when you blow up a balloon, does it take much pressure to break it? No, it pops real easy, doesn't it? as you stretch the skin of the balloon out. If the balloon's less inflated, it's not nearly as easy to break. So you stretch the skin in order to make it easier to break. So you're tied to a pole with your hands as far stretched out as possible, and then they take a whip, the cat of nine tails, a nine-tailed whip. It's a wooden handle with leather straps that on the end of it had metal gouges. that would gouge out your skin, as it would rip your skin, as it would hit your back, and you would make these marks on a diagonal pattern, kind of down the back, all down the back. And this is the flogging that Paul was about to receive. It was brutal. We don't understand flogging and my description is not going to help us to maybe get it deeply enough. But this is what happened to our king. This is what happened to God himself prior to his execution on his crucifixion on that cross. This is what they're about to do to Paul. They're about to stretch him out and whip him with a metal laden hook ended whip with nine attachments to rip the skin out of his back. to interrogate him. You think that probably worked? Probably did, didn't it? Whip me one time, or let me just see the whip. What do you want to know? I'll tell you anything you want to know. So this was a really brutal way of interrogation. The most brutal possible. So this brutal form of interrogation, Roman law forbade this against a Roman citizen. It was so brutal you could not do this to a Roman citizen. It was against the law. Their law said you cannot beat another Roman this way. Too brutal. This was so humiliating and painful that it was not able to be done to a Roman citizen. And if a Roman did this to another Roman, The penalty for the one who did it was death. That was Roman law. You scourge someone, you flog someone, you do that to a Roman citizen, you, flogger, are going to die. That is your punishment. That's why we see Paul's appeal to avoid his examination. He's now going to appeal to avoid this examination. But when they had stretched him out for the whips, He stretched out about to be flogged. Paul said to the centurion, remember that's the commander of the hundred soldiers. One of these soldiers holding the whip about to go to work or probably actually two of them each on one side. Christ took that. Okay, is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned, Paul says? Centurion, is what you're doing lawful to happen to a Roman citizen? It's not. It's a rhetorical question. The obvious answer is of course not. Paul, as a citizen of Rome, appeals to the law of the land for protection. He had no reason to intentionally become a martyr. He understood God's providence would be worked out, and in God's providence there was a law that he could appeal to, that he would not have to be whipped. This is certainly available to us as well today in our own context. We can appeal to the law of the land that the gospel could go forth. We've done it a number of times. So the laws are different in America and Kenya and China in God's providence, correct? They're not the same laws. But we certainly in God's providence can appeal to the law of the land that we would not be punished for something that is lawful in this land to do. We can do that. While our citizenship is in heaven, Christians, just like along with the Kenyan and the Chinese Christian, our citizenship jointly is in heaven. We live in a different land than the Kenyans or the Chinese, and we have a law of this land. 1st Peter 2 9 but you are a chose it might not be in your outline wrong because I sent it wrong to Tammy But you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession. This is who you are That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy But now you have received mercy is he speaking to Americans or Christians or Kenyans or Chinese? No, he's saying Christians You are a chosen race. You're a royal priesthood. You've been brought out. You're a special group of folks for the purposes of proclaiming the excellencies of him who called you. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, you're not part of this world. This isn't your citizenship. I urge you to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God in their visitation." Then he says this. Okay, so Peter said, you are different. You're a special nation. You're Jewish, but that's not what I'm appealing to. I'm appealing to the fact that you've been called out as a as a royal priesthood, a chosen nation, not appealing to your Judaism. I'm appealing to your Christianity. And so live right. And then he says this, be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be the emperor supreme or the governor's assent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. So so he says, You submit yourself, you be subject for Christ's sake to every human institution. The word for institution there is CISIS. It's K-T-S-I-S, C-I-S-I-S. It means human institution or social structure as something which has been created. So what he's telling these Christians is, look, you're citizens of heaven. But you happen to live where you live. He's speaking to the diaspora, those that have been scattered out of Jerusalem. And there's a law of the land. And he's saying you live where you live, but your citizenship is heaven. However, you need to subject yourself for Christ's sake to every human institution, not to every human, not to every human. You don't submit to the emperor unless he has the ultimate power. So they had emperors then, didn't they? So you submit to the emperor. That was their ultimate authority. The Roman emperor was considered God. He was the authority. If he said it, you follow it. However, what is being said here, every human institution, and then he goes on to say what that might look like. So what you are to submit yourself to or place yourself under is the structure or the institution that's been created by people. In this country, what's been created to govern us? The Constitution. Donald Trump is not our supreme authority. Right? We understand that. I mean, I'm not talking about God. I'm talking about just in this country. The Supreme Court is not our supreme authority. The authority is the Constitution of the United States and then whatever powers it grants to the state we live in. There's a state constitution that is the law of this land. There's a federal constitution that is the law of this land. And we are to submit ourselves, subject ourselves to it. So that means not only obey it, but if it's a law that's there, we can appeal to it. We can appeal to that. So if we're given a constitutional right to free speech, and we're told don't speak outside of the abortuary in Iowa City, we will appeal to the law of the land and say, we can, and we're appealing to that law. And ultimately in this country, that is our institution that we are governed by. We're not governed by a king. We're not governed by governors. That's not a parallel way to look at that. What we are governed by is the Constitution of the United States and then the state constitution with any powers that have been granted it by the federal constitution. That's how we live. That's what we're supposed to appeal to. Paul, back in Acts 16, he appealed to the same thing. We won't look at it because we don't need to, but same thing. He had memory of being arrested and they wanted to leave town quietly. They found out he's a Roman citizen. No, you took me as a Roman citizen. You imprisoned me wrongly. You're going to have the powers that be come and let us go themselves. All right. So we see here Paul appealing to the law in these cases. I want us to see something for us to understand here. Paul does not try to change the law. Paul does not practice involving himself in government. Paul simply appeals to the government that's in his land. You can't take this context and then take it to, well, that's why Christians should be involved in making laws. Whether or not Christians should be involved in making laws, we can talk about another day, but don't use this as the reason. All he's doing is appealing to the law that's already there. He's not advocating for us getting involved in the system of making laws. He's not doing that. He's not even trying to change the law. He's not even trying to change the law. He's simply saying, hey, doesn't your law, doesn't our law, our Roman law, say you can't scourge me. I'm a Roman citizen. He's appealing to the law that's there. He's not trying to change laws or make laws. We don't see Jesus or Paul spending their lives participating in government. We don't see that anywhere in the New Testament. No New Testament disciple is participating in government. However, we do see an appealing to the law of the land and we ought do that. There was no reason for Paul to get whipped to be a martyr. In God's providence, there was a law that he could appeal to, and he did. Okay, so Paul's appealed to the centurion who's about to examine him by flogging. Verse 26, when the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune. The centurion goes to the tribune. Claudius Lysias, he says, what are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen. So the tribune came to him and said, tribune comes down to talk to him. Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And Paul said, yes. The tribune answered, I brought this citizenship for a large sum. Just so we know what that means, we're not confused. Claudius Lysias. Lysias is a Greek name. Claudius would have been the name of the emperor. A practice back then was you could purchase citizenship. It was by paying a bribe. emperor ordained or mandated or whatever you want to decree and then like that's how he and his staff would line their pockets. So Claudius Licius is saying, look, you were born in Tarsus. You said earlier you were Paul of Tarsus. Tarsus is not Rome. I had to buy my citizenship. Did you buy your citizenship? And Paul said, I'm a citizen by birth. Paul says, I was born to a Roman father. I'm a Roman citizen. So apparently, Claudius Lysias believes him. And granted his appeal. So those who are about to examine him, those who are about to whip him, Withdrew from him immediately and the tribune also was afraid for he realized Paul was a Roman citizens and that he had bound him Even Claudius Lycius was now afraid if I had gone through with that death penalty is my sentence No a Roman citizen cannot be examined that way I But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews. So the next day, Claudius Lysias says, man, we still got this thing of this tumult that I that I witnessed. He got these Jews that want this guy dead. And I don't know why. And my job is to adjudicate these matters in this province. So unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet. And he brought Paul down and set him before them. So he commanded. So again, Rome let the Jews Israelites function how they basically function in their theocracy. But at the end of the day, they were the supreme authority. And so so this this representative of Rome was the highest on the food chain. And so he goes to these, to the chief priests and the council, by the way, the council, the word there for council is soon. Soon Adrian Sanhedrin. Okay. This is the Sanhedrin. This is the, this is the high priests and the Sanhedrin. So, so Claudius Lysias, he's taken Paul back to the Sanhedrin to let Paul interact with them, that he can adjudicate the matter. So right at the outset of this interaction, We're gonna we're gonna see one thing and then we're gonna see we're gonna wait till next week and look at his clear conscience But as he as he starts to now engage as Paul starts to now engage with the Sanhedrin the ruling class and Looking intently at the council at the need so to fix one eyes on some object continually and intensely in Acts 13 7 When Paul was talking to Elemas, the spiritual leader of, or spiritual advisor to Sergius Paulus, remember, at Cyprus? This is the same thing he did with him. Elemas, the magician, he looked him in the eye. So Paul is now standing before the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the elite of all Jews, the most important Jews there are. The high priest Ananias, the high priest, the familiar high priest with him, and the Sanhedrin, the 70 ruling class. This is who he's in front of. And what I want us to see here is he looks right at them like he had Elemas the magician. He's bold as he looks at them. He's not twiddling his thumbs or cowering down. He's being now asked by Claudius Lysias, you talk about it with the Sanhedrin. Sanhedrin, you come down here and hear this matter that I might adjudicate. So with no fear, no sheepishness, he looks them right in the eye. And he says, brothers, Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. Brothers, it's actually two words there that's translated brothers. Andres Adelphoi. Men and brothers. Men, brothers. He's saying two words. This is not the way this highest rung of Judaism was to be addressed. They were not addressed that way by Jews. By Jews. The high priest and the most important of the Sadducees and Pharisees, the rulers of the land, the proper way to address them is what we saw Peter do in Acts 4.8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders. Paying homage, if you will. Say rulers of the people and elders. You are, Paul doesn't say that. Paul isn't being derogatory. When he says, men, brothers, he is simply saying you have no authority over me. I'm not under your authority. Judaism is false. Christ is my king. You are my kinsman and I love you. I want you to be saved and know the gospel. I give up my own salvation for it, but just make sure you're aware as I'm looking you right in the eye. You have no authority over me. He's telling them. This dude was just strung up about to be whipped with a scourge. He had just about been killed by the Jews that were underneath these 70 men plus high priests. And now he's going to go into them and he's going to, again, I don't believe he's being, I just believe he's being bold and honest. He's looking him straight in the eye and he's saying, brothers, not acquiescing to their authority because how much authority do they have in his life? What sphere of authority do they fill? None. None, they had no authority over his life. The Romans did, because he lived in a Roman province, but he wasn't Jewish by religion any longer. So we're gonna stop here because I don't want to anyway rush through this next thing because I think it's really important that we consider, he makes this statement though. He says, Looking intently at the Council, Paul said, Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. In all good, that word for good there is of moral excellence. Conscience, synodesis, conscience, moral sensitivity, the psychological faculty that distinguishes between right and wrong. Paul says, I have lived rightly before God. And they punch him right in the mouth. And Ananias says, punch him. Why? What claim is he making? We'll find out next week. Father, you are good. I thank you for this, your word that gives us a and understanding in how we're to interact in the world that we live in. Father, I thank you for the boldness and the courage of Paul to love the mob enough to tell them the truth, to love the Sanhedrin enough to not give them some false sense of authority that they did not have. Father, I thank you for Paul's courage and his boldness. I thank you for your providential plan in his life that we can look at and learn from. Thank you, Father, for this example. I thank you, Father, also for the conscience that Paul had that he could speak in such a manner. Father, as we go, may we consider what a clear conscience is and looks like. Amen.