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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. There was an Egyptian who led a group of 4000 assassins, though Josephus, who was prone to exaggeration on all of his numbers, places the number at like 30,000. But there were 4000 who were taken to the Mount of Olives. He, this Egyptian guy, claimed he was a prophet of God and announced that the city would be destroyed. In fact, he said, I'm a prophet of God and at my word, all the walls of Jerusalem are going to collapse like Jericho once did. So the Romans attacked them and killed a lot of them. Most of them imprisoned some of them, but the leader escaped. So here, Claudius Lysias sees Paul and says, aren't you that Egyptian guy?
You know, we've been looking for you for three years now. Verse 39, Paul said, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, mean, not a small city, a notable city, a noble city, called a free city by the Roman Empire, known for its beauty, its education, its structure, and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people. I'm sure he started getting a little bit surprised.
He thinks he's seeing an Egyptian and Paul speaks flawless Greek. So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. Here's his chance.
Remember he said, I would let myself be accursed from Christ for my brethren's sake, the Jews, Romans chapter nine. Here's his chance. He's motioning them to get their attention. And when there was a great silence, now mark that, not just quiet it down. The silence was as profound as the noise just moments ago.
Dead silence. He's going to say something. He's going to speak. And he spoke to them in the Hebrew language. Now, Paul, in the next chapter, and we're going to read through it, is a story you already know because you've already read about it.
So we're just going to read through this pretty quickly. He's giving his testimony. He's going to stand up and he's not going to say, now, let me tell you the fulfillment of Daniel chapter nine and 173,880 day prophecy. Let me prove to you that Abraham spoke of Christ. He's just going to say something that is really irrefutable.
And that is what Jesus did for him. Personal testimony. Use your personal testimony. When you engage in philosophical discussions or theological discussions, you'll have blowback. You'll have argument.
What is unarguable is your own story. It happened to you. This is what happened to me. My life would change. I was saved.
How do you know you're saved? Well, I was there when it happened. You weren't.
I was. Let me tell you what happened to my life. Especially if your life truly is changed. If it's different. If people knew you before Christ and they see you now, they go, tell us why you're so different. OK. You tell your testimony. And that's important because in verse one, look at a word.
Brethren and fathers again, a respectful tone, brethren and fathers. Hear my defense before you. That word defense is the Greek word apologia. Apologia is where we get a word apologetics. You've heard of apologetics. It doesn't mean that you apologize for believing in Jesus, but that you defend why you believe in Jesus. It's not like I apologize.
I'm sorry. I'm a Christian. That's not an apologetics. It's a clear, logical presentation for the gospel. So he says, here's my defense, my apologia. It's the word Peter used in first Peter chapter three, verse 15, that we should always be ready to give every man, everyone an apologia, a defense, a reason for the hope that lies in us with meekness and fear. And so in giving his apologetic message, he's beginning with his testimony.
And he begins with his conduct before Christ, moves to his conversion experience with Christ and follows it with his commission by Christ. He's just telling a story. Now, your testimony is powerful. Learn to use it, learn to abridge it and say it quickly. Learn a medium version, even a longer version if people want to discuss it.
But learn it. I know you know it because it happened to you, but learn to present it. Revelation Chapter 12 and they overcame part of what they overcame with was the word of their testimony. The word of their testimony.
So he gives a defense. And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they all kept more silent. And he said, I am indeed a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia. But brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel.
Now, that was a notable teacher. The grandson of Hallel, the famous luminary of Judaism. Gamaliel, we've read about him already and we've heard from him already. But you know, Gamaliel, not only did Paul know Gamaliel, Gamaliel knew Paul. And we have writings where Gamaliel said, I only have one problem with Paul with Saul of Tarsus. I only had one problem with him. I couldn't provide enough books for him to read.
Isn't that an interesting problem to have? This guy was just reading everything and learning everything. And I didn't have enough to provide for this Paul to read. I know a lot of you parents have the same problem with your kids, right?
They don't want to look at the phone. They just want to read those books. That was Paul's problem. He just couldn't give him enough books to read. He was just this avid scholar. And by the way, when he's his last letter, he says, you know, bring the books and parchments with you when you come.
He wanted more stuff to read. He said, Raised in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our Father's law and was zealous toward God as you all are today. I persecuted this way, the Christians, that's that saying, that's the designation. I persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women. As also the high priest bears me witness and all the council of the elders from whom I also receive letters, from whom I also receive letters to the brethren and went to Damascus to bring in chains, even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.
All of the events that we read about in Chapter nine. That would happen as I journeyed and I came near Damascus at about noon. Suddenly, a great light from heaven shone around me and I fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. Some see a contradiction in this because in the actual account that Luke tells us in Chapter nine, it says the people who journeyed with him heard the voice and saw the light. Here it says they saw the light, but they didn't hear the voice. The apparent contradiction is easily resolved when you understand that in the Greek language, two words are used. So in Chapter nine, they heard the sound of a voice here. The word indicates they didn't understand the articulations.
They just heard, like, just they knew a voice was speaking, but they didn't pick up any of the articulate sounds, the differentiations and the meaning of the words. So there's no contradiction at all, actually fills in quite nicely what happened. And so I said, verse 10. What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise, go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.
Now, there is a mark of genuine conversion when the first thing out of the converts mouth is, Lord, what do you want me to do? Lord, I'm yours. My life is not my own anymore. I've given my life to Jesus. I acknowledge you gave your life for me on the cross. So I'm yours. I'm your slave. I'm your servant. My life is lived to find out what you want me to do.
That's genuine. First question, what do you want me to do, Lord? Now, why didn't the Lord say, OK, Paul, here's the five year plan. First, you're going to go to Damascus, then you're going to go to Saudi Arabia, then you're going to Damascus, then after that to Jerusalem, then back to Tarsus of Cilicia.
In fact, I'll give you your 10 year plan. Why? He just says one thing to them. Just take one step. Go to Damascus.
Talk to a guy named Ananias. Well, what's he going to say? Just take the step. Now, that's how the Lord leads you. And some of us need to just take the next step. We say take the next step.
For some it's baptism, for others it's service. Take the next step. And some of us don't take the step of obedience because we're not sure where the Lord is going to lead us, if it's favorable or comforting or comfortable.
Well, you know, Lord, just reveal to me what you have in mind. Just go to Damascus with step one. You'll get step two when you get there. Some of us haven't gotten very far on our spiritual walk or being used by God because we haven't taken the first step. Just keep moving. Take the next step and then the next step. All of us have a next step to take, which will bring growth.
All of us. Paul's was in his testimony, go to Damascus. So and it'll be told what you're supposed to do. And since I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, we want to help you understand what real peace looks like so you can experience it in your own life. That's why we want to send you a copy of Unleashing Peace, Experiencing God's Shalom in Your Pursuit of Happiness by Jeremiah J. Johnston. This resource is our thanks for your gift of at least 50 dollars today to help share solid biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give at least 50 dollars today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Now, it was hard for Paul to take the next step because he couldn't see anything.
Just go to Damascus. Well, if you wouldn't have shined that bright light in my eyes, it would have been a lot easier. I mean, I don't know if this is a good thing or not to follow you, but he went. And a certain Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me and he stood and he said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that same hour, I looked up at him. And then he said, The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know his will. And see the just one, which he did on the Damascus road. And hear the voice of his mouth, for you will be his witnesses to all men of what you have seen and heard. OK, there is a pattern in the Book of Acts.
I hope by now you are seeing this pattern. And the pattern is that God uses people to reach people. An Ethiopian eunuch needed to be reached with the gospel. The heavens didn't open for him. He didn't see a bright light. God said, Philip, go down to Gaza, which is the desert. Why?
Just go. And the Lord sent him to the Ethiopian eunuch. So God used Philip to speak to the eunuch. God used Ananias to speak to Saul. God had used Stephen to speak to Saul.
He was convicted. That was the first time the Lord really was dealing with his heart at the killing of Stephen. Cornelius, you know, he's praying and an angel comes and says, OK, your your prayers and alms have come up as a memorial before God now. So an angel from heaven is talking to him.
Couldn't the angel just have continued the conversation and said, so here's what you do, man. You pray and receive the Jewish Messiah. His name is Jesus. He died for your sins. He rose again from the grave. You receive him, you'll have life.
He didn't do that. Angel said, go get Peter down in Joppa. In the meantime, God tells Peter, hey, there's men coming from Caesarea.
Go downstairs, open the door, ask no questions and go with them. So Paul goes down or Peter goes downstairs, opens the door, ask questions, but goes with them. The Lord uses people to speak to people. I mean, if Jesus appears to Saul on the road, why not just tell him everything? He didn't. He uses Ananias.
He used Stephen. He uses Peter for Cornelius and and and he's going to use you. He's going to use you to speak his will, his word to somebody so their life will never be the same again. That means tomorrow could be the most exciting day of your life. A Paul the apostle could get saved tomorrow. A Cornelius could come to Christ tomorrow. Isn't that exciting just to think about that? Some of you live for that. You love to share the gospel with people. That's what could happen.
That's what that's what it's all about. That's the pattern in the Book of Acts. What verse did I leave off on? Which? 16. So I read 16. Verse 17.
Thank you. Now it happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple that I was in a trance. And I saw him saying to me, make haste or hurry up, get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me.
So remember what happened? He was in Damascus. He then goes where after Damascus? Not Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia. In Galatians, he said, I went to Arabia for three years.
So in Arabia, man, there were no phones, no iPads, no television. It was just probably him, some of his books, his scrolls and God. And he has to relearn sort of everything he had been taught and get square what he believed in about Jesus. Three years in Arabia, goes back to Damascus, a riot breaks out.
They led him over the wall in a basket. Then he comes to Jerusalem, where he's in the temple in this trance. The Lord tells him, they're not going to like you here.
You've got to get out of town. So the church ships him back to Tarsus of Cilicia for about seven years. So here's again, just what we said chapters ago.
I don't expect you to remember. It was 10 years before the Lord used Paul the Apostle from his conversion date. 10 years. He was in Damascus, went to Arabia, Jerusalem after Damascus again. Seven years over in Tarsus of Cilicia before he goes to Antioch and strengthens the church there and goes on his journey. So he's given his testimony.
I'm filling in some of these things here. So I said, verse 19, since the Lord is speaking to me in the temple. So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I am prisoned and beat those who believe on you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him. Then he said to me. So here's Paul. He's telling his testimony. You know, I was going to Damascus and then this happened and then I was blind.
Then I could see. Then I came to Jerusalem and the Lord spoke to me in a temple and I said, Lord, they got to know me here. And so but here's the here's the clincher.
Here's the pinnacle. Then he, Jesus, said to me, depart. Get out of here. Get out of Jerusalem.
Get out of Dodge. For I will send you far from here to the Gentiles. And they listened to him until this word. What word?
Gentiles. That word. Oh, that word. And then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live. Wow.
Because he said one word, it wasn't even a cuss word. Actually, it was. Did you know that staunch Jews at the time, very devout religious Jews, believed the only reason Gentiles were created by God was to make hell hotter? It is in their writings to kindle, I'm quoting now, kindle the fires of hell.
That's why God made him. So Paul is saying, you know, God is just saying, I'm going to send you directly to the Gentiles passing Judaism, just giving them the message of their Messiah, the Jewish Messiah. Not requiring them to be circumcised or keep the law of Moses, but just believe in the Jewish Messiah. Now, later on, Paul will say that God did this to make the Jewish people jealous of this special relationship. God was working with non-Jewish people because, after all, the message was about their Messiah, Jewish Messiah. Says God is just sending me directly to the Gentiles. Now, the reason they're so upset isn't just because of the word itself, because what Paul was essentially saying is God is sending me to the Gentiles means they can be saved, like anybody else who wants to believe in Jesus can be saved, but it placed Gentiles on equal footing with Jews. That's what made him upset. You're saying that those scum who were put here by God to make hell hotter are equal to us, the chosen people?
Well, that's what he told me, to go give them the message. Then, as they cried out and tore off their clothes, wow, it's getting bad out there. And through dust in the air, the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. Remember the scourging, Jesus was scourged. It was a flagellum, a whip, short wooden handle stout, leather ropes, thongs attached to it. In the leather were bits of glass and metal and bone. And the idea is that when the prisoner was whipped, it stuck into the flesh, it grabbed, and then the soldier would pull the whip, lacerating the cutaneous layers down to the subcutaneous layers, down to the muscles, shredding the victim. Many victims did not even live through a flogging. They died, or they were crippled, or there was great blood loss, and eventually they died. Jesus endured it.
That's why he couldn't make it all the way to Golgotha carrying the cross. So they commanded him to be scourged to find out information about what's going on. Now, as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander saying, Take care.
What do you do? This man's a Roman. And the commander came to him and he said, Tell me, are you a Roman? Because if you say you're a Roman citizen, remember he thought he was an Egyptian, if you claim to be a Roman citizen so as to stop the flogging, and they find out you're not a Roman citizen, you know what the punishment now is?
Death, capital punishment. To claim to be a Roman citizen if you're not is capital punishment. Are you a Roman?
He said, Yes. The commander answered with a large sum, I obtained this citizenship. And Paul said, I was freeborn.
I was born a citizen. And immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him. And the commander was also afraid after he found out he was a Roman because he had bound him.
The next day, he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews. He released him from his bonds, commanded the chief priests in all their counsel to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them. So now he is facing the Sanhedrin with the high priest Annas. Now, the Sanhedrin, Jesus himself also was taken to the Antonio fortress, also stood trial before the Sanhedrin. So it's very similar to the latter days of Jesus' life. Well, we're out of time. So I can't tell you a little bit about Paul's Roman citizenship, but we'll pick up in the next chapter and that'll be our introduction for chapter 23.
But look, we're coming close. Soon we'll be done with the Book of Acts. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you experience God's Shalom in life's busiest seasons. Unleashing Peace by Jeremiah Johnston is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
