Latest / Scripture Central / Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Jul 31 - Aug 6) Acts 22–28

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Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Jul 31 - Aug 6) Acts 22–28 · Scripture Central

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Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Come
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Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler presented by Scripture
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Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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videos, so if you want to see the visuals, we invite you to
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find us on YouTube. Thanks for listening and enjoy.
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I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. This is Scripture Central's
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Come, Follow Me insights this week, Act 22 through 28.
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So as we jump into today's lesson we we actually need to go
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back to Chapter 21 and pick up a couple of items that we didn't
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get to in the last lesson that actually fit beautifully with
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with these chapters that were covering today.
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So if you look at the the Paul's Mission third missionary journey
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map, it shows you as he finishes that mission and comes into the
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coastline, that Eastern Mediterranean coastline.
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That's where the beginning part of Chapter 21 picks up the
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story. But he gets these.
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Stories where he meets again with Philip.
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We saw him earlier. He is one of the seven who is
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called and also a man named Agabus.
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And there seems to be all these instances where people are
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trying to convey to Paul that they have felt the inspiration
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that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
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But Paul will not be dissuaded. Yeah, he's not dissuaded.
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You'll see this pattern over in verse 4.
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There's a group of disciples who urge him not to go to Jerusalem
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in verse 12. When we heard these things that
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the prophecy of Agabus in verse 10 and 11 that whoever owns this
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girdle is going to be bound. And they all know that's Paul's
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okay that so we have these foreboding feelings.
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And then it says in verse 12 when we heard these things,
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notice the we Luke would be included in that mix.
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Now both we and they have that place, besought him not to go up
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to Jerusalem. Very similar to once again,
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Peter trying to dissuade the Savior from going down to
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Jerusalem. Well, you even have that in
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verse 14, where the disciples finally say the will of the Lord
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be done. And you might think Paul seems
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to be the one who's willful here, willfully wanting to get
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himself up in Jerusalem. But Paul also also has access to
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inspiration. And we can understand that Paul
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is is being driven by the Spirit to do this, and this is what is
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part of his mission to do, even if it results in being bound and
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taken to Rome. It's a beautiful beautiful
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example that is left for us here in this chapter.
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Paul's words, if you if you look closely in fact of verse 13, his
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answer says what me need to weep and to break mine heart.
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For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at
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Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
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He's saying, look, I I'm not. This isn't a struggle for me.
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I'm ready to. I've given my life to the Lord.
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Now I'm ready to go and give my life for the cause in Jerusalem.
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A powerful example of how deeply converted Paul the apostle has
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become at this point. Now once they get to Jerusalem,
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you'll pick up the story in verse 18.
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The day following Paul went in with us unto James and all the
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elders were present. And thus begins a fascinating
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discussion because James once again a little reminder is the
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seems to be the leader of the Judaizer group in Jerusalem.
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And so he gets Paul back home in Jerusalem.
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And he says, verse 20, when they had heard it, they glorified the
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Lord and said unto Paul, thou seest brother, how many
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thousands of Jews there are which believe.
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And they are all zealous of the law.
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So this is, you know, probably more than a decade after the
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ascension of the Savior. And here's James saying, look at
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all these Jews who are believing they've joined the Christian
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movement and they're still zealous of the law, and we don't
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want to do any damage with this group here.
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And you pick up verse 21, they are informed of thee that thou
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teachest all the Jews, which are among the Gentiles to forsake
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Moses. So their solution is
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fascinating. James and these other Jewdaizers
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in Jerusalem, they they come to Paul and they say, look, because
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there are a lot of rumors going around Jerusalem and they're all
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going to find out that you're here and they're all going to
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make accusations against you because they've heard what
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you've been preaching out in those those gentile areas and
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they're going to be really concerned.
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So we've got a solution. We have some men here are who
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are taking a Nazarite vow. Why don't you go ahead and take
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that Nazarite vow with them? Go into the temple, one of the
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four chambers of the court of the women, the the Chamber of
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the Nazarites. You can shave your head.
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You can make this vow and that will that will silence any
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rumors that you you don't like Moses or the Law of Moses.
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And Paul had already done a nicer right vow.
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We saw some chapters earlier. So Paul is not in a situation
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where he would say, well absolutely never do that because
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he has already done something like this.
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So here we go. Verse 26, if you turn the page
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over, says, Then Paul took them in and the next day, purifying
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himself with them, entered into the temple to signify the
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accomplishment of the days of purification.
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Until then, an offering should be offered for every one of
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them. So when the seven days were
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almost ended. So this is a weeklong vow before
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you make that final offering. The Jews, which were of Asia
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when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and
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laid hands on him. And what are they crying?
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They're yelling to everybody. Hey, this is the guy we've been
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telling you about. And here he is in our sacred
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space, because these Jews from the diaspora all around the
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Mediterranean region and farther into the east, they come to
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Jerusalem for these festival times of year.
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And all of the people from up in Turkey and Greece, these these
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devout Jews who have come to Jerusalem now, they see their
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Public Enemy #1 Paul in their temple taking a Nazareth vow.
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They're very confused. So they they get all of the
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people, the men of Israel, in an uproar.
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And then there's this other detail, verse 29.
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For they had seen before with him in the city Trophymus and
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Ephesian, whom they suppose that Paul had brought into the
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Temple. Suppose they didn't verify.
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We have mob mentality here and again the the temple platform
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area is about 25 American football fields, large, huge,
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and this is the best place in Jerusalem to get a large crowd.
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And so this creates a big challenge.
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The Romans in fact have built a fortress like right next to the
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temple to solve for this very issue.
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Whenever a riot might break out. Could you imagine having a
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police precinct? In one of our temples today,
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just in case the LDS members in the temple break out in the
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right inside the temple, it's just, it's unconscionable,
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unfathomable. But back then we had these
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people who just kind of broke out in riots.
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And this sets off this long chain of engagements that Paul
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has with different leaders. And we get a repeat over these
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next chapters of his story again and again of what brought him to
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this point. So it's interesting that we get
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to hear Paul's story of conversion multiple times.
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And he's also trying to convey I am a Jew who happens to worship
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Jesus as my savior. Now we think there's a clear
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distinction today between Christianity and Judaism.
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In Paul's mind, there wasn't that much of a difference.
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But these some of these Jews, they really felt Paul was the
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cause of their troubles and because of this supposed
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bringing Trophymus the Gentile, this Ephesian into the Temple
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that that rumor spreads. And keep in mind if you if you
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look at the Temple Mount, they have this 500 cubit square area
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that is marked off with what is called the Sworeg.
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It's this latticework fence and there are 13 openings in the
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Sworeg where you can walk through gates if you will, And
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off to the side of each one written in Greek and Latin is
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this inscription that says Gentiles beware, if you pass
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this point you're going to be responsible for your own death.
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We will kill you. So they're thinking that Paul
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has now defiled the temple, supposing that he's brought this
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Ephesian with him into the temple.
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So they're dragging him out of the court of the women and out
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into the court of the Gentiles beyond this 500 cubit square
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sacred space. And they're in the vicinity now,
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we would assume, of the Antonia Fortress in that northwest
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corner of this huge Temple Mount.
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Well, the centurions and the Roman soldiers are watching this
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happen. And they say we got a problem.
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And so they come running down the stairs, go into the mob,
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into the crowd, and they grab Paul away from this group who
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are ready to kill him right there in the court of the
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Gentiles. And of course, Paul's like, hey,
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hey, now that I have the audience gathered, could I
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please have a moment to speak to the people?
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And we imagine there's like the staircase going up into into the
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the fortress and then he from there he can talk to the people.
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And it's beautiful because Paul's able to speak to the
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Romans in their language and they're confused by that.
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They're saying how do you do this?
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And then he turns and he can speak to the people in the in
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their language as well. And thus opens chapter 22 with
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his speech to the men down in the court of the Gentiles as
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he's up on the the stairway leading into the Antonia
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Fortress. And he says, verse three, I am
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Verily a man which I'm a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in
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Solicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamalia.
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That will get a lot of people's attention because Gamalia was
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one of the the best teachers in the the phericycle school of
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Hallel. And highly respected.
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So if you're one of the top students of one of the highly
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respected teachers, well, you're obviously somebody to listen to
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as well. So now he gives them their his
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story and tells about his conversion on that road to
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Damascus. You see, by the way, in verse
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nine they that were with me saw indeed the light and were
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afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
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But if you go back to racks Chapter 9, verse seven, it says
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the opposite. And keep in mind that back there
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in Chapter 9, Joseph Smith in his translation shifted the the
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meaning in Chapter 9 to match exactly what's going on here
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with this first retelling of the story in Acts 22 verse 9.
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And then he tells about Anna and I is healing him and he's he's
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giving all of this story, reminding them that I was there
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when Steven was stoned. And we turn the page over.
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And verse 21, he he says to the group that the Lord told him
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depart for I will send the far hence unto the Gentiles.
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Now you'll notice that that steps over a line for many of
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the people. Oh yeah, cuz Judaism it's by
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birth. Today we think about religion as
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something that you you choose. There's conversion.
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And in the ancient world, particularly among the ancient
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Israelites, the Jews, they didn't see conversion the way we
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think about it. You were born into it.
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And I would use a quick example. In India, there's a religion
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that emerged about 500 years ago called Sikhism, and they
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similarly believe that. You are born into whatever
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religion or family God wants you to be in.
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It's kind of how the Jews felt. And so the idea that Gentiles
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could become Jewish or Israelite for some Jews was really, really
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problematic and causes all this massive stir where they want to
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lay hands on Paul. So at that point verse 22 says,
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they gave him audience unto this word that that was it, and then
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lifted up their voice and said away with such a fellow from the
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earth, for it is not fit that he should live.
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So they cast off their clothes. They threw dust into the air.
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It's this, this massive uproar right there in the temple.
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And so the chief captain commanded him to be brought into
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the castle or the Antonia fortress, and bade that he
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should be examined by scourging. So if you beat people that
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somehow will get what you need out of them, you'll somehow find
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the truth that way. And so they bound him.
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And Paul turns to the centurion and says up, is it lawful for
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you to scourge a man that is a Roman and and uncondemned?
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By the way, I haven't, I haven't had a fair trial.
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You're now going to execute a punishment on me.
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And so the centurion instantly stopped, goes to the leader, the
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chief captain says, by the way, this man's a Roman.
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And so he says, are you really a Roman?
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Yes, I am. And then he says the chief
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captain answered with a great sum obtained by this freedom.
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And Paul said I was freeborn. So Roman citizenship is this
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fascinating thing. There are a variety of ways you
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can get your citizenship, and when you got it, it was worth an
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awful lot. You could be born into it, like
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Paul, which would imply that his father had Roman citizenship.
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You can purchase it like the chief of the the chief captain
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here has obviously paid a great sum of money to purchase his
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citizenship. Or if you do great favors for
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Rome individually or your family, Caesar can can appoint
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citizenship to you or an entire city or a region.
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If they do something spectacular to help roam, everybody in that
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city can get Roman citizenship. How did Paul get his
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citizenship? We don't know.
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He was born into it. But we don't know at what point
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his his parentage achieved this Roman citizenship.
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But he's he's using it very, very effectively at this point
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and. Clearly it's really valuable.
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You imagine if you look around the world today, there's
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different nations. And if you are born in a certain
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nation, you get certain privileges that a foreigner
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doesn't. So if I was born in the United
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States, so if I went to Germany or to China or Brazil, I'm not
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going to have certain privileges there because I wasn't born into
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that nation. I won't have certain rights.
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And this was a very significant thing throughout the ancient
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Roman world and people throughout the Roman world.
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Were hankering to get Roman citizenship because of the
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enormous advantages it provided, including, for example, a fair
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trial, at least in theory, versus had he just been any
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typical Jew, the Romans would not have felt bad to beat the
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guy and possibly beat him to death.
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He's not a Roman citizen, so our laws don't protect him.
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So in verse 30 it tells us that on the Morrow, because he would
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have known the certainty whereof he was accused of the Jews, he
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loosed him from his bands and commanded the chief priest and
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all the council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him
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before them. So we have this, this trial in
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front of the Jewish leadership, the sanhedron with lots of
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guards from the Roman cohort standing there to make sure
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nothing, nothing goes wrong with this trial.
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And I love how Paul both who has a good brain and has inspired.
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How he handles himself in this situation, recognizing that the
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Jewish court itself is divided into different theological
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factions and that he knows he's not going to get a fair trial.
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All he needs to do is to express his theological view and the
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sides will start fighting and kind of forget about him, which
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is exactly what he did. So.
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So they begin by smiting him at the High Priest's request, at
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which point point Paul turns and and says something pretty,
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pretty rough against the High Priest.
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Verse three, it says, Paul said unto him, God shall smite thee.
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Thou whited wall for citizens, thou to judge me after the law,
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and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law.
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I'm not condemned, and you're once again you're smiting me.
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And then everybody says, Paul, are you really going to revile
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God's high priest like that? That's just crazy.
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The High Priest has just reviled the Law of Moses in his action.
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And Paul calls him out for that. And everybody wants to protect
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the immorality of the high priest because of his position.
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So you can just get a sense of just the wickedness and instead
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of standing for what was true regardless of who is living the
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truth or not, they want to hold up the position even if the
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person holding the position was doing immoral acts and actually
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be more specific. They're trying to uphold the
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person themself and not the position, but because that
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person's in that. High lofted position.
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Well, he can't do anything immoral, so you Can't Sing bad
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about him. It's really, really wrong.
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But even then Paul apologizes. In verse five he says, I wish
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not or I didn't know brother and that he was the high priest.
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For it is written, thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of
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thy people there. There is a definite deference
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given to that position. And Paul say why I didn't know
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he was the high priest or I probably wouldn't have said
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that. And then this is where Taylor
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mentioned earlier. Verse six says Paul is looking
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at the group and he perceives part of sad to see part of
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Pharisee. So he simply says, look, I'm a
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Pharisee. I'm the son of a Pharisee of the
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hope and the resurrection of the dead.
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I am called into question. Boom, that's it.
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He did. He did what he needed to do.
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Now these two groups start fighting and bickering back and
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forth about the resurrection because the SAD to sees don't
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believe in resurrection. And so they're they're
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contending so sharply that it says verse 10.
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When there arose a great dissension, the chief captain,
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fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them,
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commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force
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from among them, and to bring him back into the castle, back
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into the safety of the Antonio fortress.
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I have seen debates break out in the back of an elders corps
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meeting, but never this level. Were you worried that somebody's
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going to have their their tie ripped off?
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This is, this is intense. So verse 11 tells us that the
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night following the Lord stood by Paul and said, be of good
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cheer Paul. For as thou hast testified of me
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in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome, verse 11
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right there. That's a game changer for Paul
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because up to this point he's been ready to lay down his life
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and let let whatever happens happen to him in Jerusalem.
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And at that point he realizes, oh, the Lord is standing here
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saying, I have another mission for you, Paul.
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You need to bear witness of my name in front of Caesar.
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Are you noticing that there probably isn't any other apostle
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in the ranks at that time who would have had the kind of
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access to get into Caesar's court to to bear a witness of
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Christ in Caesar's Royal Court? But Paul does, because of his
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citizenship and because of his connection with all of these
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Gentiles up in the Greco Roman world of Turkey and Greece and
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Italy. And so at this point, Paul
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knows, okay, I can't be killed here in Jerusalem.
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I got to get to Rome. Even though there's a plot by
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over 40 men and you get this long narrative here, explain all
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the details of how the plot was discovered, how it was
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communicated to the Romans and how they dealt with it, and then
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how the Roman who protected Paul wanted to prove to his superior
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that he was awesome at protecting this Roman citizen.
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So it's very interesting the intricacies of what happens here
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to protect and preserve Paul's life, both by it was Paul's
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nephew as well as this, this Roman Roman soldier.
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Yeah, it's a. It's a.
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Kind of a sad story on one level that all these men took this vow
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that we will not eat or drink until Paul is dead.
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Well, he he's not going to die for years at this point, and
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I've often wondered, like I I wonder if Luke had ever found
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out. Whatever happened to those men?
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Do they all die from starvation? So in verse 23 we make our way
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up with this huge group of of men protecting Paul from
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Jerusalem to Caesaria Maritima. Which is again the capital city
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of the the Roman leadership in the region.
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And then you you're introduced to this new character, the
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governor Felix. So now in chapter 24 we get the
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High priest Ananias descending with the elders with a certain
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orator named Tertulis to Caesarea to come and try to to
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finish Paul off. In the eyes of these Romans, and
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so Tertulis, this orator, he began to accuse Paul, saying,
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seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness and that very
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worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy Providence.
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There's a little bit of flattery going on here.
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We're we're so grateful for your leadership, Felix.
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It's a lot of flattery. The Jews really had a pretty
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tense relationship with their Roman overlords, and they are
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just absolutely kowtowing to the Romans in order that they can
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kill Paul. It's pretty sad, you see.
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These are Pharisees, some of. Them verse 5 For we have found
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this man, a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition.
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Ooh, there's a keyword for Roman leadership.
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He He's causing sedition among all the Jews throughout the
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world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
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So he's he's stirring up all these people, and he's trying to
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now profane our temple. And so you get in verse 10, it
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says. Then Paul, after the governor
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had beckoned unto him to speak, answered.
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For as much as I know that thou has been of many years a judge
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unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself.
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I don't need an orator to speak for me.
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I'm going to give my own defense.
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So he steps up. And he starts telling his story
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again and pointing out the fact that the the point of contention
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from his perspective is that there's a resurrection of the
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dead, both of the just and the unjust.
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And it says in verse 21, except it be for this one voice that I
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cried standing among them, touching the resurrection of the
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dead. I'm called in question by you
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this day. So he keeps bringing it back to
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this. Major friction point for them
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and it says when Felix heard these things having more perfect
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knowledge of that way, he deferred them and said when
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Lyceus the chief captain shall come down, I will know the
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uttermost of your matter. In other words, he wants his guy
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who was in charge of of all of that experience to come and give
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his own testimony. Because at this point he doesn't
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know who to believe or what to believe.
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So it says. After certain days, when Felix
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came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for
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Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
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And so they're they're listening.
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And then you get a a little detail that Luke throws into the
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mix here in verse 26. He hoped also that money should
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have been given him of Paul, that he might lose him.
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He's looking for a bribe, a buyout, which was quite common
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in the ancient world and unfortunately in some places
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still the day where there's corruption, where leaders
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dispense justice depending on how much money they can get for
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the acts they do, to preserve people's lives or to give them
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benefit. And verse 27 tells you that
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after two years Porcia's Festus came into Felix's room or took
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Felix's place, and Felix, willing to show the Jews a
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pleasure, left Paul bound. He knew he was innocent by this
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time, but he left him bound. Why?
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To show these leaders of the Jews a pleasure.
25:10
And you're going to see that again in chapter 25 with Festus
25:15
in verse nine. It uses the exact same phrase.
25:18
So we can imagine for these Roman rulers who were in the
25:20
place of Pontius Pilate, we now have Felix and then Festus.
25:25
They have this kind of rabble rousing group of Jews and
25:28
they're thinking to themselves, how do I maintain the peace?
25:32
So they're willing to hold an innocent man in order to appease
25:37
the rabble rouser crowd of some of the Jews.
25:40
And the the question we have to ask ourselves in our lives, are
25:44
we willing to do what's right? Even if there are people for the
25:48
wrong reasons, will be angry at us for doing what's right.
25:53
So here we go again. Take two now, Festus.
25:57
Instead of Felix and he listens to some of the arguments, the
26:02
high priest and the chief of the Jews in verse 2 informed him
26:05
against Paul and besaw him. They pled bring him down to
26:08
Jerusalem to judge here. So they're pleading with Festus
26:11
to bring him up to Jerusalem knowing that they can set a trap
26:15
along the way where they can kill Paul before he even gets to
26:19
Jerusalem. So when Festus asks Paul if he's
26:23
willing to go up to Jerusalem to be judged there.
26:26
I love what happens in verse 10. It's a it's, it seals Paul's
26:29
fate then, said Paul. I stand at Caesar's judgment
26:35
seat, where I ought to be judged to the Jews.
26:38
Have I done no wrong? As thou very well knowest?
26:42
These are bold words. But as a Roman citizen he is now
26:46
using one of his rights as a citizen, which is nobody else is
26:51
going to judge me. I get to go to Caesar's judgment
26:54
seat. I'm going to be judged of Caesar
26:57
in Rome and then then eventually convinces Festus.
27:01
I mean, he seems to have some sense of judge judgment and
27:04
we'll just skip ahead just briefly to verse 16.
27:07
He says it is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to
27:12
die before that he which is accused have the accusers face
27:16
to face and have license to answer for himself concerning
27:20
the crime laid against him. So even the Pagan Romans had a
27:23
sense of justice, particularly for their own citizens, and they
27:27
realized Paul at least deserves that.
27:29
We deliver justice to him and not have him executed simply
27:34
because a crowd is shouting about it.
27:36
He needs the opportunity to stand Facetoface against his
27:39
accusers and have his side of the story heard.
27:42
So now let's do trial #3. King Agrippa.
27:48
Agrippa the second a great grandson of.
27:52
Harrod the builder that we sometimes call Harrod the great,
27:57
he's the one who who had was the king when the savior was born.
28:02
So his great grandson Harrod Agrippa the 2nd, and Bernice,
28:05
his sister, come to Caesaria, and Festus tells them all about
28:11
this fascinating case, and he says, hey, I've got I've I have
28:15
to write letters to Caesar to go to Rome with this prisoner.
28:19
And I I don't know what to to exactly write.
28:23
And Agrippa says perfect because I want to hear the case and then
28:26
you'll know some of the things that you can write in this
28:28
letter of accusation to send with Paul to Caesar's judgment
28:33
seat. So we gather everybody together
28:37
in Chapter 26, and we're going to tell the story yet again and
28:44
at this point. Paul is in the middle of telling
28:47
all of this detail about the Lord Jesus Christ, what he had
28:52
suffered, how he had died, how he was buried.
28:56
And then you get to verse 23, that Christ should suffer, and
29:00
that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and
29:04
should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles.
29:09
Now that's a trigger point, not just for Sadducees.
29:13
Especially for Roman leadership, who are pagans in their
29:18
religious practices and they believe the Greek philosophy
29:23
that there is no such thing as resurrection.
29:25
So for Paul to be talking about this being that he worships
29:28
this, this man who's become a God to him, that he died under
29:34
Roman hands and was resurrected. Festus breaks in at that point,
29:42
and we have Paul in some of his letters saying foolishness to
29:46
the Greeks stumbling block for the Jews and that Jesus in that
29:51
culture and time was hard for everybody to accept because of
29:56
the cultural baggage they brought to their encounter with
29:58
Jesus. So Festus jumps in in verse 24
30:01
with a loud voice, he says, Paul, thou art beside thyself.
30:05
Much learning doth make thee mad.
30:08
Basically. This is ridiculous.
30:10
Resurrection of your Come on. And Paul's response is I am not
30:17
mad, most noble Festus, but I speak forth the words of truth
30:21
and soberness. And then he turns to Agrippa.
30:25
For the king knowth of these things, before whom also I speak
30:28
freely. For I am persuaded that none of
30:30
these things are hidden from him, For this thing was not done
30:34
in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the
30:38
prophets? I know that thou believest.
30:43
And then Agrippa said under Paul, almost thou persuadest me
30:48
to be a Christian. Now, in most English
30:52
translations today of the Bible, verse 28 is translated not in a
30:57
ooh, I'm that close to being baptized.
30:59
Most other English translations besides the King James Version
31:02
will say things like really? In such a short period of time?
31:06
You think you're going to convince me to become a
31:08
Christian? And to give up all that I have,
31:11
all of this power and might and majesty, is kind of the the
31:14
sense, the feeling going on here.
31:16
But either way it's it's beautiful how Paul responds.
31:20
I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me
31:24
this day. We're both almost and altogether
31:28
such as I am, except these bonds.
31:31
This word, persuade, comes from the same root word that we have
31:36
in Greek for faith. And so the whole core here is
31:41
Paul has faith in Jesus Christ, he's been preaching to other
31:45
people to have faith in Jesus Christ.
31:47
And we have this leader essentially denying or saying, I
31:51
refuse to be persuaded. I refuse to have faith or trust
31:57
in the things that you are saying or if we want to
31:59
translate it, how we have here. The King James is like, well, I
32:02
almost trust and almost believe, but not enough.
32:05
And the invitation is for all of us.
32:07
Are we willing to be fully persuaded to be all in on faith
32:12
in Jesus Christ? That's powerful.
32:15
So now look at the conclusion they they went aside.
32:21
They huddled off to the side, talking among themselves, and
32:26
they came to the conclusion this man doeth nothing worthy of
32:28
death or of bonds, then set Agrippa unde Festus.
32:33
This man might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed
32:39
unto Caesar. Now I just have to jump in here
32:41
and say that is true on paper, legally.
32:46
But what we've seen with Felix and now Festus is they both knew
32:51
he was innocent and should have already been set at liberty.
32:54
But they didn't do it. So what guarantee would it be
32:57
that Agrippa would show up and say, yeah, we have to set him
33:00
free? Or would he say we we need to
33:02
keep the peace among the leadership of the Jews?
33:05
Let's not set him free. So just because on paper it
33:08
looks like, yeah, he's innocent and he would have been set free.
33:11
The reality is, thanks to that vision of the Lord standing by
33:14
him at night, Paul doesn't care about any of that.
33:17
He's not relying on Festus or Felix before him or Agrippa now
33:22
to set him free, because Paul has already been set free by the
33:26
Lord and he's on the Lord's errand.
33:30
And he quite frankly doesn't care at this point what these
33:34
men in great power in their own minds are going to do to him.
33:39
I also think it's an interesting lesson of how a mob mentality
33:43
that people can get really passionate about something and
33:47
that somehow they convinced himself that that strong driving
33:50
passion is evidence that they're based on fact and truth or
33:56
reality. And we know from all these
33:58
stories that these Jewish leaders had everything opposite.
34:03
But because they felt so strongly about their opinion,
34:06
they tried to create an alternate reality, which
34:10
eventually got Paul out of their midst.
34:13
That's ultimate they wanted. They didn't care what was true,
34:17
they only wanted their worldview to be reconfirmed, which meant
34:23
Paul was no longer around. Which now brings us.
34:27
To the final two chapters of Luke's book of the Acts.
34:33
So if we take the final journey to Rome, the map, and we try to
34:40
recreate a little portion of it, here you have Turkey, here you
34:45
have Greece, and over here you have Italy, with Sicily down
34:52
there and Malta over here. We have Crete, this island here,
34:57
and we have Cyprus over here, so we're leaving from Caesaria,
35:03
where he's been judged. And we start on this journey and
35:07
he gives you some detail about that journey sailing up over the
35:12
island of Cyprus and we start working our way along the
35:17
coastline. Ideally you just jump across the
35:21
Aegean Sea. And then you come around the
35:24
southern end of Greece and you jump across the Adriatic Sea and
35:28
you make it to Italy. But as is the case with many of
35:34
us in our life's journey, that which we have mapped out doesn't
35:40
always play out the way we anticipated.
35:45
So you see here in verse one. He says.
35:49
We determined. It was determined that we should
35:52
sail into Italy. I think this is significant,
35:54
Taylor, because this isn't Luke getting his information about
35:59
this perilous journey third hand or or later on.
36:04
He's going through this with Paul, which is interesting.
36:08
Imagine Luke. Luke is the one who provides us
36:12
the Gospel of Luke in the book of Acts.
36:15
I just want you to think about these words that we have loved,
36:18
that have so helped us to understand.
36:19
Jesus were delivered by a man who experienced these things
36:24
with Paul. He knew of God's power, Jesus's
36:28
power to save, physically and spiritually.
36:31
Who, by the way? Let's remember Luke was a
36:35
Gentile. He he's a convert to the church
36:38
later on, living over here, probably in Troas Troy, near
36:43
Ephesus. And he's he's journeying with
36:47
Paul at different points and now he gets to be with Paul during
36:51
this as a gentile going towards Rome under the direction of
36:56
Julius, a centurion of Augustus's band.
36:59
So they they leave and Paul is on less than house arrest.
37:05
In verse three, he's given liberty to go to his friends and
37:08
refresh himself while they're getting the ship to to go east.
37:13
Or to go West, rather, And it says verse four.
37:16
When we had launched from fence, we sailed under Cypress, because
37:20
the winds were contrary. So here we go, we're headed West
37:26
and we're sailing verse verse 7 very slowly many days and scarce
37:33
were come over against kinitis, the wind not suffering us.
37:37
So we sailed under Crete, over against Selmoni.
37:42
So they then come down under Crete sailing because the winds
37:48
just were not working for them. And this is where this story
37:52
gets in my mind. Fascinating.
37:54
I love this thing. Look over state and hardly
37:57
passing it. They came into a we came into a
38:00
place which is called the Fair Havens nywhere and two was the
38:04
city of Lacia. So they come to this spot on the
38:09
southern side. Of this island of Crete and it's
38:15
near the fair havens near La Sia now when much time was spent
38:21
because it took us way longer than we thought.
38:24
Because the winds were were not working for us and we've we've
38:30
delayed how much it says. Sailing was now dangerous
38:35
because the fast was now already passed.
38:39
So the fast. Would be Yom Kippur, the day of
38:43
atonement, which happens late September, early October
38:46
depending on the the lunar cycle of that year.
38:50
So it's it's the beginning of what we would call today the
38:53
fall season. Well, sailing on the
38:57
Mediterranean Sea starting in late September, early October,
39:01
after the fast after Yom Kippur. Notoriously dangerous.
39:05
And we've seen that it was. It's been rough just getting to
39:08
that point. So at this stage it says Paul
39:15
admonished them, so Paul stands up.
39:18
Oh, and keep in mind, let's put this in context.
39:20
If you look over verse 37, take a quick peek ahead, you find out
39:25
that there are 203 score and 16 souls on the ship, Luke and Paul
39:31
being two of those, so there's 276 people.
39:35
That gives you a sense of the size and the scope and the
39:39
scale. Of this group of sailors,
39:43
soldiers and prisoners and other passengers that we don't know
39:47
about, yeah, this is not a small Galilean fishing ship.
39:51
And so when the storms arise here, it is very serious.
39:55
So in this group, picture it 276 for for those of you in a in a
40:00
regular sized ward, picture about 276 in a sacrament
40:04
meeting, one person standing up and saying.
40:08
Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and
40:12
much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our
40:18
lives. Now can I can I just say that
40:24
for most of the 275 other people on that ship, this would have
40:29
been very odd? To have a prisoner stand up and
40:34
and say that it's like, who do you, who do you think you are
40:38
and why should I listen to you? Well, watch what happens.
40:42
This is fascinating. This is one of my favorite
40:44
lessons of all of the scriptures on the principle of follow the
40:50
prophet, Verse 11 starts by saying.
40:55
Nevertheless, in spite of what Paul just said, the centurion
41:01
believed the master and the owner of the ship more than
41:06
those things which were spoken by Paul.
41:08
Are you seeing? Let's turn to the experts of the
41:12
world let's let's turn to the the guy who owns the ship and
41:17
who's in charge of the ship and ask him and it says verse 12,
41:22
because the fair havens or the haven was not commodious to
41:26
winter in. So if we if we stay here like
41:30
Paul suggesting in the fair havens, we have to spend the
41:33
winter here, and it's not commodious, it's going to be
41:37
very uncomfortable. The more part advised to depart,
41:42
since also if by any means they might attain to fenice and there
41:47
to winter, which is in the haven of Crete and lies toward the
41:51
southwest and northwest. Now notice this.
41:55
If we can just limp our way in this boat over to this
42:01
westernmost end of Crete, then we can get to this city, Venice.
42:07
It's a much better place to stay.
42:10
It will be commodious to winter in.
42:14
Is the the principal here? Oh, and let's add one more
42:17
verse. And when the South wind blew
42:21
softly, did you catch that? There's this gentle S breeze
42:29
blowing and I'm not a sailor, but I know enough about sail
42:36
sailing that if you're in that location trying to get to that
42:41
location, probably one of the best breezes you could have
42:44
would be a gentle S breeze, because then you just put your
42:48
sails at that 45 degree angle. That gentle S breeze hits that
42:52
sail and just tucks you along that coastline over to Fenice
42:58
and it's just a pleasant afternoon ride.
43:01
Everything's great. Are you noticing?
43:04
All of the experts say go, We don't want to spend winter here,
43:09
so we would prefer not to stay. Oh, and the gentle soft breeze
43:12
is telling me it's perfect, which would cause me to look at
43:16
Paul and think, what does he know?
43:21
He's crazy, and so they disregard his counsel.
43:27
Verse 14 opens with an interesting word.
43:31
But, brothers and sisters, can I suggest that every time you and
43:37
I choose to go against what the prophets have counseled us to do
43:45
anytime, that we stack up a list of all the reasons why we're
43:49
right and they may be wrong, or why they may be misinformed or
43:53
not completely understand our situation or have our best
43:56
interest in mind. Whatever it may be, anytime we
44:00
go against what they say market, there's going to be a verse in
44:05
our own journal that will start with the word but in this case,
44:10
but not long after, there rose against it a tempestuous wind
44:15
called Euroclyden. Euroclyden being an east wind.
44:22
And you'll notice that throughout scriptures, including
44:26
the Book of Mormon and E, wind is always a wind of destruction,
44:32
a wind that brings with it death.
44:35
A wind, that is, you lose control, which is exactly what
44:39
happens in this ship. Verse 15.
44:42
It says when the ship was caught and could not bear up into the
44:46
wind, we let her drive. We just needed to go this little
44:51
teeny distance and we have the safety of the shore right on our
44:54
right hand side. But because of this violent E
44:58
wind this year of Clyden, we no longer have control of the ship,
45:02
so we now have to let her drive. Isn't that a beautiful principle
45:09
in the the gospel of Jesus Christ, that there's safety in
45:14
following the prophets? It doesn't mean that we're not
45:17
going to have major storms, but we're going to be able to
45:20
weather those storms better. They would have been at the fair
45:23
havens when this terrible storm came.
45:25
And yeah, it might not have been a very commodious winter, but
45:28
they wouldn't have experienced all these struggles that we're
45:30
about to read about coming up. So they now lose control.
45:35
They they no longer can use their agency to decide what to
45:38
do with the ship. So they let her drive and
45:42
running under a certain island, which is called Clauda, we had
45:45
much work to come by the boat, which when they had taken up
45:48
they used, helps undergirding the ship fearing less they
45:51
should fall into the quicksands. They strike sail and so we're
45:54
driven. So it's just getting worse and
45:56
worse and worse. So what do we have to do?
45:59
The next day they lightened the ship.
46:02
On the third day they cast out with their own hands the
46:05
tackling of the ship. These things, the back of the
46:07
fair havens. Everybody would have said, ooh,
46:10
that is essential for our our voyage on the sea.
46:13
You have to have the tackling of the ship.
46:15
Well, now things that you thought were essential are
46:18
weighing you down. And they're saying we're going
46:21
to die, we're going to sink because of the storm and the
46:24
waves that are coming in. We have to lighten the ship,
46:27
lighten the load. We have to simplify our life so
46:32
they start throwing out things that before we're seen as
46:35
essential, and when neither the sun nor the stars in many days
46:39
appeared and no small Tempest lay on us, all hope that we
46:43
should be saved was then taken away.
46:46
At this point, everybody's sitting there saying we're we're
46:48
dead, we're all going to die. All hope is taken away.
46:54
Don't you love what happens? In verse 21?
46:57
Paul stood up after long abstinence, and he said, Sirs,
47:03
you should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from
47:06
Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
47:09
So he doesn't dwell on that. But he reminds them, I I, I kind
47:13
of warned you that this would happen.
47:16
And now I exhort you to be of good cheer.
47:22
Don't you love that that this great apostle speaking for the
47:26
Lord Now the the exhortation to the group is be of good cheer
47:32
for there shall be no loss to of any man's life among you.
47:36
But of the ship. I don't know about you, but if
47:39
I'm in a ship that big with 276 people and now this guy who had
47:45
told us not to leave and we left, now we're having
47:47
struggles. If he stood up and said, I'm
47:50
going to going to make a promise, we're going to lose the
47:53
ship, but we're not going to lose anybody's life.
47:56
None of the 276 of us are going to die.
48:00
Speaking for myself, I would have had a really hard time
48:03
believing that if I'm just a a random passenger on the ship.
48:08
But I love, I love the response here He tells them why verse 23
48:14
over there stood by me this night the Angel of God, who's I
48:18
am and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul, thou must be
48:22
brought before Caesar. And low God has given thee all
48:26
them that sail with thee, where forcers be of good cheer.
48:33
For I believe God that it shall be with us even as it was told
48:36
me. Can you see a pattern that God's
48:40
prophets, one of their messages, is to be of good cheer?
48:45
Put your focus on the Lord. Trust in his promises.
48:48
They're sure. And so he said, we're going to
48:52
be cast upon a certain island And then verse 27 says, But when
48:58
the 14th night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria
49:02
about midnight, the shipment deemed that they drew near to
49:06
some country. So they sense it's nighttime.
49:09
So they sounded, which means they dropped that weight down in
49:12
and it's got a rope with knots tied every so many feet and they
49:18
can tell how far down the sea floor is.
49:20
And then they sound again and they realize we are coming in to
49:24
land, we're getting closer to something.
49:27
So they put down the anchors and they wait for the day.
49:31
And at that point you can picture a group of the sailors
49:34
getting together saying this is our chance, let's get out of
49:37
here, Verse 30, the ship. And we're about to flee out of
49:40
the ship. And when they had let down this
49:42
lifeboat into the sea under the colors, though, they would have
49:47
cast anchors out of the four ship.
49:50
We're we're just going down here to go and get the anchors out of
49:52
the front. Paul knows what's happening.
49:55
And so he said to the centurion and to the soldiers, except
49:58
these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.
50:04
You'll notice what's happened now with our centurion and our
50:06
soldiers. They don't question Paul
50:09
anymore. They trust him completely.
50:12
So they run over, and the soldiers cut off the ropes of
50:15
the boat and let her fall off, preventing these shipmen, these
50:19
these sailors, from getting in and getting to land on on their
50:23
own. And so then Paul tells them,
50:26
everybody eat up, everybody eats.
50:29
Not a hair of your head is going to fall from any of you.
50:31
None of you are going to be harmed.
50:33
And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to
50:36
God in the presence of them all. And when he had broken it, he
50:38
began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer
50:44
and they also took some meat and we were in the all in the ship
50:47
203 score and 16 souls. So now we lighten the ship in
50:51
the next morning when the sun comes up the the ship's lighter
50:55
so we can get in and closer to this island which we find out
50:58
later is Malta. And the ship gets torn apart but
51:03
all of the people get into the water.
51:05
Some grab wood, others swim to shore on their own, and instead
51:10
of killing them, like the soldiers said in verse 42, the
51:14
centurion willing to save Paul commanded that they, which could
51:19
swim, should cast themselves first in the sea and get to
51:22
land, and the rest came to shore on boards.
51:24
So the centurion refused to let the soldiers kill the prisoners
51:28
because they've they've he has learned to trust what Paul says.
51:34
I imagine that if that centurion were here today, he might remind
51:39
us of the power that comes from not trusting in the arm of
51:43
flesh, or trusting in our own preferences, or trusting in our
51:47
own logic and reasoning, but putting faith in God, faith in
51:53
the Lord Jesus Christ, by following the prophet and the
51:59
seers and the revelators that God has chosen for the earth.
52:03
Which now brings us to Chapter 28.
52:06
So now we get to the story where they've landed on Malta and
52:09
listen to the way that Luke describes the people.
52:12
Verse two and the barbarous people showed us no little
52:17
kindness. The word barbarous is kind of
52:20
like the people who are untrained, uncouth.
52:23
They're like the outsiders, the foreigners, people who don't
52:26
want to hang around. And here's Luke, who often sees,
52:30
like he learned from his master Jesus, how to see people who are
52:33
often unseen. He describes them with the
52:36
technical term you might get in the Greco Roman world.
52:39
He says they treated us with kindness.
52:43
And I just love the humanity that Jesus teaches us to treat
52:47
people with kindness. And even those who may not know
52:50
Jesus have the light of Christ and can also live with kindness.
52:55
And of course here it's winter time and they get the fire and
52:58
they're getting taken care of and we get the story of Paul now
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having survived shipwreck. What is he?
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An experience? The Viper comes out of the fire
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and bites his hand and doesn't even just bite his hand.
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It fastens on his hands. So you can picture picture these
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locals watching Paul as he put a bundle of sticks on the fire and
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a Viper comes out and attaches to his hand.
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So Paul's got this snake and it's a very poisonous Viper.
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He somehow gets it off and he keeps going to work.
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Well, all locals say, hmm, we've got a solution.
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No doubt this man is a murderer whom though he hath escaped the
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sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.
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Keep in mind, under Pagan worship, under under this, this
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Greco Roman pantheon of gods and goddesses, they they see the
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gods and goddesses as giving vengeance to those who have done
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wrong. And he's saying, well, if
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Poseidon didn't quite do him in, then this other God of the the
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serpents is going to finish him off because he's clearly done
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something very wrong. Probably he's a murderer.
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And so they're just watching with their clock ticking,
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waiting for Paul to pass out and then die.
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But it says verse five. He shook off the beast into the
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fire and he felt no harm how they looked when he should have
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swollen or fallen down dead suddenly.
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But after they had looked a great while and saw no harm come
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to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a God.
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We've seen this pattern with Paul before going the other
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direction. One or the other.
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They can't just be a servant of God who's experiencing life.
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So we we get introduced to Publius, who is the chief man of
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the island, and he lodged us three days courteously in his
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home. Well, Publius has a father who
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lay sick of a fever, of a bloody flux, and Paul entered in,
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prayed, laid hands on him, and healed him.
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And then when they saw this, others also, which had diseases
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on the island, came, and Paul healed them as well.
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And then it says they laid it us with such things as were
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necessary, and they they finished their winter experience
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there. And it says, after three months
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we departed in a ship of Alexandria which had wintered in
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the Isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.
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And then they went over and landed on the mainland of Italy.
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And now we're going to work our way up the western coast of
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Italy before heading into Rome. So some of you might be a little
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bit confused by the ending of the book of Acts here in chapter
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28. It ends with Paul arriving in
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Rome. He's on house arrest.
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He doesn't get to go and testify in front of Caesar yet in this
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story, and we know that multiple things are going to happen.
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He's going to write multiple letters, He's going to have
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visitors. And this could go on for a
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couple of years. But it's fascinating that Luke
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ends his gospel here at the chapter 28 with Paul just on
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house arrest. Now what do we know about the
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ending of Paul's story? Christian tradition holds that
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he is killed by Nero in Rome and as a Roman citizen you you can't
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be crucified. So tradition also holds that
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Peter is killed by Nero in Rome and that tradition is that he
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was crucified upside down. But because Paul's a Roman
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citizen, you can't crucify him. So the tradition is he is
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beheaded in Rome. And we know that Nero dies in
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June, June 9th of the year 68, and possible that Paul and Peter
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both killed that spring before Nero's death, which is
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fascinating because Luke is ending his his record here, this
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book probably a few years before that point.
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And we just don't get the end of the story.
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So we're going to have to pick up more of the details later on
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with some of Paul's latest epistles, the the very last ones
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that he's going to write the pastoral epistles to Timothy and
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Titus. And I like how it ends because
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we end on this note, preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching
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those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all
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confidence no but man forbidding him.
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Let's remember what is the purpose of the book of Acts and
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the scriptures in general to point us to Jesus Christ.
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So instead of fixating on the death of Paul and ending the
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story there, where we and thinking about Paul, we end
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thinking about Jesus and what Paul would have us be focused
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on, which is spreading God's Kingdom.
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So it's very interesting that we know how it ends for Paul, but
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the Kingdom of God does not end. That's a beautiful principle.
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So in closing, we've covered a lot of Paul's Perilous journey
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to Jerusalem 1st, and now to Rome.
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That's his story. I wonder what our story is in
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the bigger scheme of things, and if it points people to the Lord
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Jesus Christ. That's our goal is to be on his
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errand, to hearken to his voice, to hear him, to follow his
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prophets with faith in God, faith in his Son, Jesus Christ,
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faith in the Holy Ghost. And we move forward, carrying
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forth the Kingdom of God into all parts of the world that we
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have any kind of an influence with.
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That's our hope and our prayer for all of us as we move
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forward. In the name of Jesus Christ,
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Amen, Now that you're loved. And spread light and goodness.