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 Acts 23:25-35: Friday 30^th June 2017: Varnishing the truth.

^“25 He wrote a letter as follows: ²⁶ Claudius Lysias, To His Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings.  ²⁷ This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. ²⁸ I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹ I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. ³⁰ When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him.  ³¹ So the soldiers, carrying out their orders, took Paul with them during the night and brought him as far as Antipatris. ³² The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. ³³ When the cavalry arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and handed Paul over to him. ³⁴ The governor read the letter and asked what province he was from. Learning that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, ‘I will hear your case when your accusers get here.’ Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace.”NIV UK

‘’This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen’’ (28).          I read these words with a wry, inward smile. What capacity we have to cover our own backs; to adjust the story so that we look better than we actually are. As we tell our tales, we can exaggerate. We can re-write history so that we appear more heroic than we really are.  We remember the Commander did not discover that Paul was a Roman citizen until after rescuing him (22:22ff), and that he came within a hair’s breadth of having him tortured to elicit information from him. He was saved from a serious error just in time when it was brought to his attention that Paul was a citizen of Rome. He left that bit out – of course!

‘Image management’, they call it. It’s when you try to present yourself (or someone else) in the best light. This image projection may bear little resemblance to reality. What counts is that it should be successful: that people come to believe in the version of you that you want them to see.  However, the Bible says that our ‘yes’ should be ‘yes’, and our ‘no’ be ‘no.’ We should be people of simple, straightforward honesty.

PRAYER: Lord, please help me to walk in the light.

Acts 23:12-24: A mysterious providence.

12 The next morning some Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. 13 More than forty men were involved in this plot. 14 They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have taken a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. 15 Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him before you on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets here.” 16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard of this plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. 17 Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” 18 So he took him to the commander. The centurion said, “Paul, the prisoner, sent for me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.” 19 The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside and asked, “What is it you want to tell me?”20 He said: “Some Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul before the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of wanting more accurate information about him. 21 Don’t give in to them, because more than forty of them are waiting in ambush for him. They have taken an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready now, waiting for your consent to their request.” 22 The commander dismissed the young man with this warning: “Don’t tell anyone that you have reported this to me”
23 Then he called two of his centurions and ordered them, “Get ready a detachment of two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen[b] to go to Caesarea at nine tonight. 24 Provide horses for Paul so that he may be taken safely to Governor Felix.”NIV UK

‘The Lord had told his servant that he was needed in Rome, but the conspirators said that he should not leave Jerusalem. There is only one conclusion where such a collision occurs – God’s Word must stand, to the discomfort of those who have sworn that they will neither eat nor drink till they have perpetrated their plan to the contrary.’ F.B. Meyer: ‘Devotional Commentary’, p.498.  It is interesting to find that Paul had family in Jerusalem. How typical of the ways of God that the plot should be defeated through the intervention of an obscure young man. We are not told how he heard about it, only that he did. It reminds me of the key part a boy played in the miracle of the feeding of the multitude. In both cases, we don’t know their names, but they played vital roles.

‘’But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him’’ 1 Corinthians 1:27-29.

When I was in my first church in Southport I had the privilege of visiting a lady called Miss Rose. She was well into her nineties by then, but she had exercised a significant Bible teaching ministry among women. I’ll never forget her saying to me, ‘I’m one of God’s ‘’are nots.’’ ‘ She explained, ‘It says in the Bible that He takes the things that are not to nullify the things that are.’

PRAYER: Thank you Lord that whenever you want a job doing you can always put your hand on the right person to do it, and regularly you find them in obscurity.

Acts 22:30 – 23:11: A card well played.

^“30 The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and set him before them.  23 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, ‘My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.’ ² At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, ‘God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!’ ⁴ Those who were standing near Paul said, ‘How dare you insult God’s high priest!’ ⁵ Paul replied, ‘Brothers, I did not realise that he was the high priest; for it is written: “Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.” ’ ⁶ Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, ‘My brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.’ ⁷ When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.) ⁹ There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. ‘We find nothing wrong with this man,’ they said. ‘What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?’ ¹⁰ The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks. ¹¹ The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, ‘Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.’” NIV UK

1. An honourable man (23:1-5): Someone said that we each have to look deeply into our own eyes in the light of Scripture. Paul sought to live with a clear conscience. That didn’t mean he always did what was right, but he tried to. Furthermore, when he realised he was in the wrong (5) he sought to put things right. While Paul could not respect Ananias as a person, he did have respect for his God-given authority. He admitted he had committed a sin of ignorance;
2. A clever ploy (6-10): Paul decided ‘to release the biggest cat into a room full of self-important pigeons.’ What he did ‘is more or less the equivalent of someone in a crowded and heated political meeting in a volatile southern American state suddenly producing a Confederate flag and waving it around. Some will always rally to it, whatever else they think about the person doing the waving. Whatever other substantive issues people might have expected to discuss will be lost in the melee.’ Tom Wright: ‘Acts for everyone Part 2’, p.169. Basically, the Pharisees believed in the supernatural, whereas the Sadducees were the anti-supernaturalists. The Pharisees believed in the doctrine of the ‘final’ resurrection but they weren’t prepared to accept that Jesus had risen from the dead; but they could see,from their point of view, that Jesus, having died, was being kept by God in a safe place awaiting resurrection day (along with all the other righteous dead), and that his ‘angel’ or ‘spirit’ (9) might well have spoken with the the apostle. The reference to the resurrection by Paul was a smart move, a clever ploy, and I can’t help but admire his ‘bottle’ and intelligence. He played this card in a timely fashion;
3. An encouraging word (11): Paul’s instinct to get to Rome was correct. He was assured that he would reach the great city. He wasn’t promised an easy ride, but he would have a pulpit (or ‘dock’ – for Paul it amounted to the same thing). Many Christians right through to the present day could witness to having times when they have felt the Lord’s presence in a real way, and have heard His voice. They may not have seen Him with physical eyes, or heard an audible voice, yet the experience was as good as.

PRAYER: Lord, I don’t want to ever trust in human wit or ingenuity. Nevertheless, I place all I have at your disposal. Bless and use the intelligence you have given me that, surrendered to you, it may be used for your purposes.

Acts 22:22-29: Much ado about something.

^“22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, ‘Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!’²³ As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵ As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, ‘Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?’²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. ‘What are you going to do?’ he asked. ‘This man is a Roman citizen.’²⁷ The commander went to Paul and asked, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’‘Yes, I am,’ he answered.²⁸ Then the commander said, ‘I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.’‘But I was born a citizen,’ Paul replied.²⁹ Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realised that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.” NIV UK

I read about a bishop who said, ‘Wherever Paul went, a riot broke out; wherever I go they make tea!’  When I was a student, I was involved for a time with an open air service in Crawley centre. On a Saturday morning, a group of us drove over from the college and joined forces with some local Christians. Bob, one of our number, was an out and out evangelist. Physically, he was a force to be reckoned with – he was a big guy. He’d been a burglar prior to his conversion, but now he spoke easily about Jesus to people he met. I remember a particular day when Bob was talking to a young Marxist on the edge of the crowd. The ‘lefty’ was there selling his papers. He was smaller in stature than Bob, but I thought he was going to hit him. There was such venom etched into his face – such hatred for the Christian, it appeared.                                                                                          The gospel will make some people very angry. That’s just how it is. Don’t be surprised. Don’t expect everyone to be pleasant to you and your Christianity.

However, God’s protection is real. As long as he wants you alive in this world, he will rescue you from the malice of men. There were at least two human factors involved in Paul’s safe-keeping at this time: a.) the intervention of the commander – although he initially wanted to have him tortured to extract information; b.) the fact of Paul’s Roman citizenship. There may well be political/social advantages that we can judiciously use from time to time to further the gospel cause. However, we must not trust in them, but always in Him, who works everything for our good and His glory.

Acts 22:21,22: At what point do you switch off?

“21 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He’s not fit to live!”  NIV UK

‘’The crowd listened to Paul until said this’’ (22a, underlining mine).
Sometimes you will not like what you hear from the pulpit, and it will be for all the wrong reasons.
What is your ‘until’ moment? What makes you switch off? What gets you ‘hot under the collar’? What themes press your ‘buttons’?
You may not yet know of course; but I think most of us can identify with the honest Christian who said to the preacher after church one morning, ‘I feel like I’ve been sitting on a drawing pin all through the service.’ That’s the work of the ‘uncomfortable Comforter’, as the Holy Spirit has been called. Conviction of sin can be excruciatingly painful. We feel its sharpness.
It may be that your ‘until’ experience will trigger some other emotion. In the case of the ‘rich young ruler’ it was sadness (Luke 18:23).

PRAYER: Lord, I know there will be times when I feel the bite of your Word. In those moments, help me not to close the Bible, or get angry with the preacher, or choose diversionary tactics. I know that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So I ask for your help with my often wayward heart. Please strengthen me to face your challenges, to welcome your rebukes, and to be willing to embrace your will.

Acts 22:8-21:Jesus is Lord

^“8 ‘“Who are you, Lord?” I asked. ‘“I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁹ My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.¹⁰ ‘“What shall I do, Lord?” I asked. ‘“Get up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. ¹² ‘A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight!” And at that very moment I was able to see him. ¹⁴ ‘Then he said: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” ¹⁷ ‘When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw the Lord speaking to me. “Quick!” he said. “Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.” ¹⁹ ‘“Lord,” I replied, “these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.” ²¹ ‘Then the Lord said to me, “Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.”’” NIV UK

Saul addressed Jesus as ‘’Lord’’ from the time he met him on the Damascus road. Look how many times he calls Him ‘’Lord’’ in this passage (8, 10, 19); also note repeated references to ‘’the Lord’’ (10, 17, 21). Yesterday we reflected on some of F.B.Meyer’s practical words about getting to know God’s particular will for your life. Of course, the starting point must be a full surrender to Jesus. Once you are in that place, you are able to ask the question: ‘’What shall I do, Lord?’ and really want to know. ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ is more than a credal statement; it is a way of life for a disciple

Note how the revelation of God’s will came to the newly converted man in stages (10, 14-16, 18-21). God brought an Ananias into his life to supply one piece of the jigsaw. Gradually and progressively the bigger picture emerged. (By the way, when two people know Jesus as Lord, they can call each other ‘’Brother’’ 13, however different they may be in other ways).

The will of God for Saul was to include much suffering (9:16): ‘God is the master of the scenes; we must not choose what part we shall act; it concerns us only to be careful that we do it well, always saying,’If this please God, let it be as it is.’ ‘ Jeremy Taylor.

PRAYER: Lord God, I have only one short life to live. I don’t want to waste it. I offer myself to you. Please guide all my steps; I want to walk each day in accordance with your will

 Acts 22:10-16: Knowing God’s will.

^“10 ‘“What shall I do, Lord?” I asked. ‘“Get up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me. ¹² ‘A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews living there. ¹³ He stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight!” And at that very moment I was able to see him. ¹⁴ ‘Then he said: “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. ¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptised and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” ” NIV UK

‘’There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do’’ (10b).

‘’The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will…’’ (14a).

F.B. Meyer writes beautifully about this in his ‘Great verses through the Bible’,pp.410/411. He points out that there is a general will of God for all men. This is revealed in His Word. ‘But in addition to this, God has a particular will for each of his children. The moon shines on the sea, but there is a special path of moonbeams to the spot where you stand, where you should be born, live, and die; what you should accomplish by your life; with what souls you should be brought into contact.’

However, if you are still uncertain as to God’s particular will, what should you do? ‘(1) Carefully remove all your preconceptions and prejudices, so that your mind and heart can be a tablet for God to write on. (2) Set aside much time for waiting on God, in the study of his Holy Word. (3) Let the glory of Jesus be the supreme consideration with you. (4) Do not run to and fro,asking your friends and companions what they would recommend. (5) Wait the Lord’s leisure, nor dare to act unless you are sure that you are in the line of his purpose. (6) Mark the trend of his providence, for it will certainly corroborate his inner voice. (7) When you have once made up your mind in faith and prayer, dare to act and never look back. He will not let you be ashamed.’

Acts 22:6-11: ‘Suddenly’…again!

^“6 ‘About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, “Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?” ⁸ ‘“Who are you, Lord?” I asked.  ‘“I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁹ My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ ‘“What shall I do, Lord?” I asked. ‘“Get up,” the Lord said, “and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.” ¹¹ My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.” NIV UK

Here is another of those ‘’suddenly’’ moments in ‘Acts’ (see for example 2:2; 12:7; 16:26). Things can change rapidly with God’s intervention.

You may be praying for someone, and they seem so hardened against the gospel. Don’t despair of anyone. The Lord has His own ways to meet people, to speak to them, to stop them in their tracks and turn them around. Furthermore, it can all occur so ‘’suddenly’’ that you think, ‘Where did that come from?’ Even though you have been praying about it (or him, or her) you get a glorious shock!

There is a mystery about God’s personal dealings with individuals, but there is no doubt that He meets with people and turns them around. It seems that those with Paul to some extent shared the experience, but there is no record that they too were converted.

For our part, we should not give up on anyone, but keep praying.God may change the world through someone on your prayer list.

 Acts 22:1-5: The powerful weapon of personal testimony.

^“1 ‘Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defence.’  ² When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.  Then Paul said: ³ ‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵ as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.” NIV UK

The repetition of Paul’s testimony in the book of ‘Acts’ is significant. His conversion was a key moment in the history of the church. It is clear that he was an educated man; a deeply religious man, and an angry man. He hated the church and opposed believers. Yet he was converted.

The story of your conversion is unique to you. Don’t doubt for one moment that it is a powerful God-given weapon in your armoury. Pray for opportunities to use it, and look for them. Paul told his story on a number of occasions

In the eighteenth century, two young men in the swim of society, Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton, went to Oxford, and they agreed to research two key points of Christianity with the clear aim of proving them false. One of them, Gilbert West, would study to prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead; the other,George Lyttleton (the first Baron Lyttleton) would aim to prove that Saul of Tarsus was never converted – that he did not become the apostle Paul. Each determined to do a thorough job, taking a year to establish his case. However, as they went about their serious business, they eventually concluded that Christianity was true and became Christians. West eventually wrote ‘Observations on the History and Evidences of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.’ Lyttleton wrote a lengthy text entitled ‘Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul.’

In 1761, Lyttleton wrote these words to West: ‘Sir, in a late conversation we had together upon the subject of the Christian religion, I told you that besides all the proofs of it which may be drawn from the prophecies of the Old Testament, from the necessary connection it has with the whole system of the Jewish religion, from the miracles of Christ, and from the evidence given of his resurrection by all the other apostles, I thought the conversion and apostleship of Saint Paul alone, duly considered, was of itself a demonstration sufficient to prove Christianity a divine revelation.’

In chapter 22 Paul gives the before and after pictures. On the face of it, you might say he was not a likely candidate for conversion, but such is the power of God.

David Pawson was speaking at a youth club one night. When he came home his wife asked him how he got on. ‘There’s hope for two of them,’ he replied. ‘They got angry!’