Acts 23:6-22. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 13, 2024.
We join Paul today before the Sanhedrin, the head legal council of first century Judea. The Roman commander appears to be observing because he wants to understand exactly what the charges are against Paul, who is a Roman citizen.
We saw last week that Paul was struck on the mouth when his opening statement offended the high priest. Basically, Paul explained that he had a good conscience in all that he had done.
Let’s pick it up there.
After he is unjustly struck for his testimony, Paul realizes that he is not going to receive a real hearing, much less a fair one. It seems that he chooses to switch tactics here. If they are not going to listen to him presenting the Gospel, then he can at least couch his position in terms that at least some of them can accept. Those terms would be the belief in resurrection.
Regardless of what people think about Jesus personally, the resurrection of Jesus is the true sticking point. If he wasn’t raised from the dead, then his followers were conducting a ruse and should be exposed, resisted. Yet, if he did come back from the dead, then this is a reality that must be faced.
From their reading of the Old Testament, the rabbis who were Pharisees held that God would raise all the righteous dead from the grave in order to participate in the promised kingdom age under King Messiah. They were not expecting Messiah himself to be resurrected, but they did believe that God planned to do it, i.e., it should be expected at some point. The Sadducees, however, not only believed that resurrection was impossible and not prophesied, but they rejected the reality of spirits and angels. They would scoff at the very idea of resurrection, whereas the Pharisees would only scoff at Jesus being resurrected.
When Paul complains that he is under attack because of his belief in resurrection, it would bring immediate scoffing from the Sadducees. Their outward scoffing at the very idea of resurrection would naturally provoke a defense from the Pharisees because they had been strongly arguing this point for a long time. They would not like Paul, and they would reject that Jesus was resurrected, but they would resist the tendency of the Sadducees to use belief in resurrection as proof that Paul was in error.
We should recognize that our traditions can hem us into positions that refuse to see the truth and ignore its attempts to open our eyes. Christians make this mistake every bit as much as the Jews of the first century.
Paul’s complaint will provoke a fight between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. We could accuse him of being a trouble maker, but several things are brought to the surface here. The Sanhedrin is not a united group. There are great dissensions among them. Their anger and rage is affecting their ability to reason.
It is not Paul who is creating, or causing, their troubles. He is only bringing them to the surface in front of the Roman commander. Romans did not like being involved in points of religious belief.
I think the Pharisees started out defending the concept of resurrection, but throughout the angry arguing, they ended up somewhat defending Paul, or at least the possibility of the things Paul described.
Notice that Paul speaks of “the hope and resurrection from the dead.” The resurrection is itself a hope to those who are living righteously in this wicked world. Even if we are put to death by the wicked, or die having lived under the boot of wickedness, God will resurrect the righteous in order to reward their life of faith in Him.
Think of it this way. The God of the universe created all things “very good.” Yet, humans (along with some of the angels) have messed up this universe (particularly the earth). Yet, God has promised to help humans and save us from this state that we have fallen into. When humans died, their spirits went into a spiritual holding place, Sheol, Hades, The Grave. However, the wicked would be held for a final judgment, but the righteous are held for the day when God rewards the righteous. He will empty Sheol and give the kingdoms of this world to the righteous, but the wicked will inherit everlasting shame and darkness.
May God help us to grasp this hope and to hold on to it stubbornly. The resurrection of Jesus gives evidence to us that our resurrection will one day come about at his command. God help us not to be too cynical, too quick to quit and declare that it is not worth it to serve God. We want Jesus to find us doing what we are supposed to be doing, and, if he doesn’t come back in our lifetime, we want him to see that we lived out righteousness by faith in him.
At some point, the Roman commander sees that the heated argument is going to engulf Paul and bring harm to him. He sends in his soldiers to rescue Paul again. They take him into custody and back into the fortress.
Though we have seen this Roman commander protecting Paul in this story, it really is the Lord who is protecting Paul. In a bit, we are also going to see how the Lord uses Paul’s nephew to protect Paul again. We can be too fixated on the mechanism, the person, that God uses to help us. We can treat a person or thing as if they are the solution to our problems. Is the solution for an oppressive Pharaoh a shepherd from Midian? Of course, not. Are guys with beards and bearing a staff a weakness for Pharaoh, his Kryptonite? Or perhaps, there is something about the Red Sea that always hits Pharaoh where it hurts. We can make an idol of the things that God uses to help us. Israel did this with the bronze serpent that Moses had crafted in the wilderness (see Numbers 21 and 2 Kings 18:4). In truth, before the Lord all powers of heaven and earth are weak. It is the LORD who is Pharaoh’s weakness, and Paul understood this.
Verse 11 tells us that the Lord “stood by” Paul that night. I believe that Paul was wrestling with the Lord in prayer over how he could have done a better job that day. We need to understand that Paul’s desire was to turn his people’s hearts back to Messiah Jesus, not to provoke them into riot. It is easy to think that nothing phases guys like Paul, or Elijah. However, the truth is that these are men who wrestled with what it was going to take to reach their people. Perhaps, they prayed asking for God to reveal what they were doing wrong. If only I spoke more eloquently and had greater passion, then they would all believe! Don’t you think?
Yet, that night, the Lord stood by him and gives him a message. I don’t know if this was a vision of Jesus standing by him, or if Jesus actually materialized to him. Both are quite possible. Yet, let’s look at how Jesus encourages him.
Paul is told to be of good cheer. It is possible, even when things are not “working,” to be cheerful in God. How? We can do it by remaining focused on what we can control, our actions. God does not send us to save people. He sends us to put the message of salvation in front of them. However, it will be their response to the work of the Holy Spirit that will bring about their salvation. Paul had faithfully done what Christ wanted him to do. Jesus was well pleased with Paul, and he could take joy in that (so can we).
Jesus also tells Paul that he has testified of him to Jerusalem and so he must do in Rome. We don’t always understand the full purpose of God’s work through us. Humility teaches us to step out in faith, and then be joyful that God is working through you. Yet, God sometimes gives us light on our path ahead. Jesus reminds Paul of that part of his future that he was aware of already. He would go to Rome and testify of Jesus there.
In order to be cheerful in Jesus, we will have to quit looking at politics, economies, and the possibility of world war. We will have to keep our eyes upon him and what he is giving us to do.
You may not have a visitation or a vision of Jesus. Yet, he is speaking to you now through his Word.
There can be a part in all of us that says, “I wish the Lord would stand by me,” as if his Word and his Holy Spirit are not enough. It is not visions and physical manifestations that give encouragement. We have to be careful that we are not being dishonest. Many generations that had a large amount of physical manifestations from God failed to trust God, while others believed without those things.
Let me emphasize my point by asking this question. Do you realize how impossible it is to impress the God who created everything in the universe? You could say that it is impossible. Yet, what impressed Jesus the most about any person while he was on this earth? He was impressed by a Gentile soldier who said that Jesus didn’t need to come to his house in order to heal his servant. All he needed to do was give the command and it would happen. Jesus was impressed with the faith that this Gentile had, when many in Israel couldn’t believe half as well.
It takes faith, and faith is not necessarily helped by great physical manifestations and miracles. If God always manifested and jumped through our hoops in order to get us to trust Him, then, at some point, it would cease to be faith. It becomes a negotiating over what He has to do in order to obtain our faithfulness.
Do you not know that God cares about you? There will be moments in your life where He will show up in special ways. It may only be a spiritual experience, or it could involve a dream, a vision. It might be through a person that He uses to speak into your life. Such times are like milestones in our lives where God refreshes us and keeps us pointed in the right direction. Yet, at the end of the day, He wants us to trust Him and to keep going on in faith.
Paul went to Jerusalem by faith. Not a faith that declares that I won’t be touched by anything. It is a faith that says, “I will follow You, regardless what I face, because You are worth it!” In the end, it is not up to what we can see that will protect us. It is up to the Lord Jesus, and that should give us great hope!
The next day, we are told about a plot that develops to kill Paul. Forty plus men have bound themselves with an oath that they will not eat until they have killed Paul. No doubt, they did this in the name of God. They come to the Sanhedrin and tell them their plot. They want the Sanhedrin to ask the Roman commander to bring Paul back for more questioning, but it would be a ruse in order to create an opportunity for ambush.
We keep running into this tendency to mix wicked things with God and His things. This is just how we are as humans. When we get into positions of power and authority, we become entrenched in a system that we protect because it protects us. We can use the color of law and the color of morality to cloak wicked actions.
Of course, we know that Paul will live years following this. I doubt that these men were spiritual enough to actually starve themselves to death. I’m sure that they went back to the same rabbis and ask for some kind of ritual absolution for their rash vow. But the real question is this. Will they repent? Will they actually see that God is goading them to turn away from the wicked path that they are on?
We are told that Paul’s sister’s son (nephew) learns about this plot and reveals it to Paul. The term used for “young man” here refers to a man in his 20’s or 30’s. Paul has the guard take his nephew before the commander in order to reveal the plot against him.
This is the grace of God that the right person is in the right place at the right time in order to expose a wicked thing.
Of course, the commander is rankled by the idea that he would be tricked into having a Roman citizen killed under his watch. He plans to thwart it, and he commands the young man not to tell anyone that he has made the commander aware of the plot.
Paul is rescued by the Roman commander over and over, and now his nephew helps to protect him. In all of these things, we must not lose sight that God is working through them to accomplish His purpose. God is not necessarily protecting Paul from pain and suffering. But, He is protecting Paul’s ability to share the Gospel.
This is where we need to understand that God can use anyone, even our enemies, to work something for the good of the mission. This is at the core of the message of the cross of Jesus. Without the cross, there can be no eternity with God the Father, there can be no redemption for human beings.
When you prayerfully step out in faith, you will get a mixed response. Don’t let negative responses dissuade you from what God is leading you to do. Keep your eyes upon Him. Trust Him. He will be with you and help you in a multitude of ways. However, will I trust Him and step out in faith?
Worry easily crops up in our human hearts. So, let me remind us all of Philippians 4:6-7. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
That is the path that God has for us. Anxieties will arise, but take hold of them and bring them to God in prayer with thanksgiving. He will aid us and bring us to the good thing that He intends through those things that cause us worry.