Acts 23 - Part B

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That's connectwithskip.com. Now, let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. that governed right and wrong, how that was being tuned up, and how he lived in a good conscience before God.

But it's quite a statement to be able to say that in public. I've lived in all good conscience before God until this day. The high priest, Ananias the creep, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. And then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall.

Now, a couple other details before we get into this fun retort. Notice how Paul addresses the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, along with the high priest. He says men and brethren. That was not the typical way to begin a convened meeting with the Sanhedrin.

Usually, there was an address that you had to give. In fact, Peter, who stands before the Sanhedrin in chapter four, and Stephen in chapter seven, referred to the Sanhedrin as elders and fathers. Leaders, elders, fathers.

That's the address. That's what they call them. It's interesting that Paul doesn't say elders, fathers. He says men and brethren.

Why? Because what was Paul? A Pharisee. He is addressing mostly Pharisees. There's some sad, you see, the high priest happened to be one of them. But he was one among peers. And it is believed from chapter 26 of Acts that Paul himself may at one time have been on the Sanhedrin. He was looking around a room of Jewish leaders that knew him and that he knew, even though it had been years since he stood with them.

It could be that some were his classmates when he was mentored, tutored by Gamaliel. So he says men, brothers, he approaches them with respect but as peers. Okay, so he gets hit. Then he says, verse three, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. I have to admit to you, I like this. That's the flesh in me.

That's the perverse nature in me. I'm going, yes, I would have said that. For you sit to judge me according to the law and do not command, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law? And those who stood by said, do you revile God's high priest?

Now watch this. Then Paul said, I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest. For it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Why was Paul so rude? Why did Paul say this? You know, Jesus said, you know, if somebody slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek to him. Jesus was reviled and he didn't revile.

True. But this is Paul, not Jesus. Paul has an old nature. Paul has the flesh, just like you have.

I get it. If you get slapped upside the face, you tend to react to that pretty immediately and pretty dramatic. This shows the human side of Paul. In fact, I think he's lashing out in the flesh. He admits that.

But it's interesting, and I just want to bring it up. I'm just sort of accentuating this. Paul had written 1 Corinthians, or Paul had written 1 Corinthians chapter one, and we labor, working with our hands, being reviled, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. Being defamed, we entreat. Really?

Do you really? Because he lashes out and says to them similar words to what Jesus said. Jesus said to the Pharisees, you are like whitewashed sepulchers, or tombs. And so maybe he's recalling the words of Jesus.

However, I don't know that Paul was around at the time of Jesus, though he certainly knew Gospel stories, and he knew the story. But I think what Paul said is more similar to what the prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament said. Ezekiel spoke of the false prophets as being walls that were whitewashed with plaster. And so he says, God's going to beat you up and hit you, you whitewashed sepulchers. And so he says, God's going to beat you up and hit you, you whitewashed wall.

But it raises some questions. Because he said, I didn't know this was the high priest. Once he said, this is the high priest.

If it was me, I would have lashed out like this, first of all. And if it was me and somebody said, Skip, didn't you know that's God's high priest? I don't care. He's not God's high priest.

He's a creep. Let me tell you what he did, what Josephus said about him. But Paul didn't do that. But what's interesting is Paul didn't recognize him. I didn't know.

Why? Well, there's a few reasons why he may not have known. And number one, this was an informal, not a formal meeting. There's just a group of men, 71 of them. The Sanhedrin was a group of 70 elders plus a high priest, so 71 of them. They used to try to their heritage back to the time of Moses, the 70 elders that he had in the wilderness. But really, the Jewish Sanhedrin came after the captivity. After the 70 years of captivity, once they came back, a Sanhedrin developed in post-exilic Judaism.

And they remained to that day. So in this convening, in this courtroom, it's at the Antonia Fortress, the high priest would not have worn his robes like he would in the Great Hall of the Sanhedrin under normal circumstances where he would call the meeting to order. So there's just a group of people gathered around him. And so he wouldn't have known that was a high priest by his robe. He said what he said. He goes, well, I didn't recognize him.

That's possibility number one. Number two, he did recognize him, but he was speaking sarcastically. It's like, oh, really? That's a high priest? I didn't know somebody like you could be the high priest.

I don't think it's sarcasm. A third possibility that I lean to is that Paul had eye problems. How do we know he had eye problems? When he writes to Galatians, he said, you know, you guys have loved me so much when I came to you the first time I preached to you because I had a physical infirmity, for you would have plucked out your own eyes if you could and given them to me.

Which leads us to think, huh, did Paul suffer with an eye problem? That's in chapter four of Galatians. In chapter six of Galatians, Paul says, see what large letters I write to you. Now, the old translation is see what a large letter I write to you. The Greek is see what large letters I'm writing to you. Because Galatians isn't a large letter. It's a small letter in length. But the letters, the characters that he used were large in his writing, probably because he had difficult focusing. He couldn't see. Some of you go, I can relate.

I need big letters too. But we believe Paul had some kind of an eye disease, perhaps because he was stoned at Lystra and Derby. Maybe that was a direct result.

We're not sure. But I'm sure he looked at that hazy group of people. His eyes, he didn't know who he was looking at.

He just knew antagonists were in front of him. So I think that's the reason, combined with this fact, it had been 20 years since Paul had been in Jerusalem for any length of time. This is after his third missionary journey. It had been a long time. People become, as they age, less recognizable if you haven't seen them in a long time. In fact, you see me go, that's the high priest?

Man, that guy looks old. Some of you said that to me if you haven't been around here for a while. So back to Acts 23. They say that he's the high priest, and Paul said, I didn't know, brethren, that he was the high priest, for it is written you shall not speak evil against the ruler of your people. What's fascinating about that is Paul publicly is apologizing. He's saying, you're right. He didn't say, well, I didn't know. It's not my fault.

He goes, I didn't know, but it's still my fault. I don't respect the person because I told you he's a creep, right? He stole money. He's vicious. He killed people.

He hurt people. At the same time, Paul is respecting the office and the Scripture that speaks to honoring the office. And he quotes the Scripture and saying, I am under the authority of the Scripture. Thus, I must respect that office. Now, if Paul thought that about a very, very corrupt high priest who is supposed to be in charge of the religious affairs of his nation, how much more should we today respect any office of a mayor, of a governor, of a president, whether you like that person or not, respect the office enough to submit to the biblical laws that bind you and I together? And that is to submit and pray for leadership. So I just find it fascinating that Paul admits it, and he admits it publicly.

The next best thing to not sinning at all, which ain't going to happen, is to confess your sin as soon as you do it. And he did it immediately, and he did it publicly. So you've got to hand it to Paul for that. But when Paul perceived, now this is the best part of the chapter, because Paul is standing there. He's just got his face hit.

He recognizes the high priest, Ananias, now who it is. But he knows he's not going to get a fair trial. It's impossible. The makeup of this group, I'll show you in a minute. You'll see why in a minute.

It's impossible. So Paul employs a very interesting tactic, wisdom. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, God desires to work in and through your life as a believer, and he does this through the Holy Spirit who lives in everyone who places their trust in Jesus. We want to help you better understand the Holy Spirit by sending you The Holy Spirit Then and Now, a resource featuring two books by Chuck Smith. The book of Acts commentary, Empower, a biblical balance on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, with an introduction by Skip Heitzig. This resource is our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share 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 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. When Paul perceived that one part of this Sanhedrin group were Sadducees and the other part Pharisees, he cried out in the council. He got their attention. Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, which would make all the Pharisees go, all right, and make all the Sadducees fold their arms and frown.

He's doing this on purpose. I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. Concerning the hope and the resurrection of the dead, I am being judged. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, no angel, no spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were two of the three main groups within Judaism in the New Testament. I said there were three groups. Who was the third group? The Essenes. The Essenes were a little desert community down by the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found by them.

They wrote them. The Essenes were ascetics. They were bookworms. They kind of hid away in the desert and did their little deal apart from everybody else, and the whole world was bad, and they were the only right ones in their little monastery hideaway. But in Jerusalem, in mainstream Judaism, were Pharisees and Sadducees. Now, these groups developed not in the Old Testament, but between the Testaments and after the exile. I keep mentioning the exile, the 70 years.

Let me tell you why that was important. When Israel was taken captive in to Babylon for 70 years, they left Jerusalem. They're in a foreign soil. But meanwhile, back in Jerusalem, what has just been destroyed and burned? The temple, which means no sacrifices can ever be made in that temple as long as there is no temple. The priest cannot function. The kohanim, the priest, cannot perform sacrifices.

So now you have Jews in exile who wonder, what do we do as Jews in honoring God if we can't make animal sacrifices to atone for sin? So they resorted to studying the law in little groups, and the little groups were called synagogues, suna goge, the gathering together of people into groups to study and apply the law of Moses. That's where it developed because they couldn't practice ceremonial law any longer. Well, as they got back into the land, these three groups developed these scenes. The purushim, and the purushim, we say Pharisees.

Purushim or Pharisee means separated ones. The guys are saying, we got spanked in the captivity. We never want that to happen again. We're going to start obeying God in every single aspect of life. So they made it their aim to practice every bit of law, even ceremonial law. At the same time, it always happens, another group called the Sadducees developed. These were the liberals. These were the rationalists. They didn't believe in miracles. Pharisees did. They didn't believe in resurrection. Pharisees did.

They didn't believe in angels or spirits. Pharisees did. They did not believe in the Old Testament. The Pharisees did. They didn't believe in the Old Testament. They only believed in the first five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, or the Torah. It's the only thing the Sadducees believed in.

They were rationalists. Paul says, I'm a Pharisee. The Pharisee says, yes, I believe in the resurrection. Yes. So now the Pharisees and the Sadducees are fighting each other.

Paul's standing there unharmed, untouched. They just hit him. Now they're at each other's throat. Meanwhile, Claudius Lysias, the commander, must be throwing his arms up. Oh my goodness, I still can't get a reason what this guy has done. I can't get any charges against this guy. He's probably exasperated at this point. Then there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees party arose and protested, saying, we find no evil in this man.

Really? You just had him hit. You want to kill him. There were two riots in the Temple Mount, and now the Pharisees and the scribes are sticking up for Paul. They're siding with him, and that's because they're at odds with the Sadducees. We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Isn't it interesting in saying that they're affirming that they're not affirming that the vision that he said he had in that speech he gave before the riot, he said, I'm going along the Damascus road, and the Lord Jesus appeared to me and said. Now if the Lord Jesus spoke to Paul from heaven, it must mean the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead, and that's what Paul is affirming. And so the Pharisees who believe in resurrection and believe that spirits can exist and can talk, he said, well, if a spirit talked to him, like he said on the Damascus road, who are we to fight against God? Now when there arose a great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them again, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks.

But the following night, let's slow down here, he's put in the barracks, put in prison, put in jail, locked up, goes through that night, goes through the next day, now it's the next night, and by this time Paul is getting very discouraged. I'm sure he's having second thoughts. I'm sure all of those voices of Agabus at Caesarea and those Christians up in Tyre who said, don't go to Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem, you'd be a fool to go to Jerusalem, all that's coming back to him. He's thinking, I should have listened to them. I'm so stubborn, I'm so hard-hearted, you know, I just said I'm going to Jerusalem and I'm going to Rome.

Who am I? I'm sure he's feeling all that. The following night, it's nighttime, it's dark, the Lord stood by him.

You don't need anything but that, that's all you need. The Lord stood by him and said, cheer up Paul. Isn't that cool? I'm sure it cheered him up. The Lord spoke to him, cheer up Paul, be of good cheer Paul, for as you have testified for me, and that word testify means make a complete testimony. Paul, you did a good job. You gave the full meal deal in Jerusalem. You gave a complete and honorable testimony.

You fully testify. As you have testified of me in Jerusalem, you must also bear witness of me in Rome. Now I'm sure when the Lord told him that, when he mentioned Rome, Paul was slumped on the floor, he stood right up. And he got all excited, because what's the one place he said he wanted to go? Rome.

And what was the one place he kept saying, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going? Rome. And what's the one place he wrote to that church and said, I'm coming, Lord willing.

Then Spain, Rome. Now the Lord says, you're going to Rome. And that's the theme of the book of Acts, and that's why Luke concludes the story. The Lord promised Paul, you're going to Rome.

So whatever misgivings we might have, maybe Paul shouldn't have gone to Jerusalem because he got arrested. The Lord says, this is providence, Paul. I have woven these events together so that you could give a full and complete testimony of me in Jerusalem. And now you're going to give one in Rome.

It is my will and my plan to get you there. And now the providence of God kicks in as Paul makes it from Jerusalem all the way to Rome. The Lord promises him that. And Paul says, five times in Paul's life, it is recorded that Jesus appeared to him. Every time he did, it was a time of crisis.

First time, Acts chapter 9, the Damascus road. Knocked him off his horse. The Lord spoke. It was a crisis. He was fuming. He was wanting to kill those Christians in Damascus.

The Lord appeared to him. Later on, Acts chapter 16, he doesn't know which way to go. All the doors are closing.

All the doors are shut. He doesn't know what the way forward is. He's at Troas. That night, he gets a vision of a man from Macedonia. And he concludes, the Lord has spoken to me. The Lord has allowed this vision. This is what the Lord wants us to do. And it encouraged Paul when he went to Macedonia. The third time, Paul is in Corinth in Acts chapter 18. Also very discouraged. Things aren't going well in Corinth.

But the Lord Jesus appears to him and says, Cheer up, Paul. And speak up. Don't keep silent. I want you to go back out and speak. For I have many people in this city. There's still many people who need to hear the message.

You're going to bring it. The fourth time is this time. And the fifth time is when he is on a boat in Acts chapter 27. The boat goes through a few different storms. The Lord appears to him in the storm. And he says, Nobody's going to die on the ship. Be of good cheer.

You're all going to survive. And that's why Paul said, Do what I say, because the Lord appeared to me, and nobody here will die. All of them were times of crisis. All of them times were Paul was somehow discouraged or slowed down. Each time the Lord picked him back up and he said, You're going to Rome.

Now pause again for a moment. Where is Paul? He's in Jerusalem. He is locked up in a prison cell. He happens to be in the very prison cell that Peter was locked up in in that same city.

The Antonia fortress. What happened to Peter in that prison cell? He got released. An angel opened the door. The chains fell off of his wrist. The angel said, Get up and go.

He thought he was dreaming. Until he's outside. The gate closed behind him. He's outside. He's at the door.

He knocks at the door. You know the story, right? The chains fell off him from that very prison. Okay, I'm having you pause on that because that isn't going to happen to Paul. Sometimes the Lord delivers, and that's awesome. Sometimes the Lord gives you the power to endure as a prisoner, and that's awesome. You say, Oh no, God's will would be that Paul is free like Peter.

No, it's not. God's will for Paul is that he stays a prisoner the rest of his life till he's dead. And what's interesting about that, and Paul, you're going to see that title in a minute, Paul the prisoner.

Paul never saw himself as a prisoner of any government. He said, Though I'm in chains, I'm free. And he said, I am a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

And he said concerning his incarceration in chains, I want you to know, brethren, that the things that have happened to me, these chains have happened for the furtherance of the gospel, not the hindrance of the gospel. 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 understand the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

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