The Judge Facing Judgment (Part 2 of 2)

MUSIC PLAYING Because Jewish leaders had leveled false charges against him. Today on Truth for Life, we'll hear Paul's response to these untrue accusations, and learn what was foremost on his mind, even above his own freedom. Alistair Begg is teaching from the book of Acts, chapter 24. MUSIC PLAYING Number one, that he was a troublemaker. Verse 12.

My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. In other words, there is no basis for charge number one. Now, let me go to charge number two, he says.

Verse 14. Now, what is charge number two? Charge number two is that he's not mainstream, that he's the ringleader of a sect—namely, the sect of the Nazarenes.

Now, what he does here is very skillful. You will notice his opening gambit—"however I admit." Now, this is what the prosecution wants. The prosecution wants the accused to admit things. So the very phraseology I admit or I confess would be enough to get the journalists in the court dashing out into the street to say, We have a headline for this evening's newspaper. Put in the evening newspaper, Prisoner admits, or Prisoner confesses. But, says the editor back in the office, confesses what? Don't worry about that, says the journalist. We have the headline.

We can fill in the details later. If you want to sell the newspaper, put, Prisoner confesses. It makes for good press. Now, what is Paul doing here? Well, he is confessing to an offense that wasn't a crime under Roman law, which allowed him to be transparent without risking any kind of legal liability. He says, I'm prepared to admit to certain things. Well, the judge and everyone else in the courtroom would say, Well, this is the kind of thing we've been looking for.

This is why we're having this case. He says, Let me just tell you what I am prepared to confess to. Now, in this, he is answering charge number two.

So what does he say? Number one, I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the way which they call a sect. Secondly—and this drives it home—I believe what accords with the law and the prophets. Now, again, you see, his accusers were saying, We believe the law and the prophets, you believe in this Jesus business, and the two things are totally in opposition to one another. Paul, perhaps in the wider context, perhaps tangentially to this, may have had occasion to reference Luke's first volume, where Luke provides for us the picture of the two disconsolate disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus draws near to them. They say, Apparently all that the prophets had said and all that we'd hoped for in the Messiah, Jesus, has come to a grinding halt, Jesus of Nazareth has been nailed to a cross, therefore salvation history is over. And of course, it's Jesus who's there with them, they don't realize this, and he says, Aren't you very slow to believe all that the prophets have said? And then beginning with Moses and the prophets, he taught them all the things in the Bible concerning himself. In other words, Jesus said, If you read the Old Testament properly, you will discover that the Old Testament just leads, like, you know, five roads leading into a roundabout, that it all leads to the person of Jesus of Nazareth—that he is prophet, priest, and king. That all of what we have in the New Testament is built on the foundation of the unfolding story of the old. Thirdly, he says, And I share the same hope in the resurrection.

Now, this is a masterful piece of work. Don't you get it? I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection. Who are these men? Well, presumably the folks in verse 9. The Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true. And in the context, he would have turned and said, And I just want you to know that I share the same hope in the resurrection as these men, bringing them into the proceedings again, and putting the cat among the pigeons.

Why? Well, because the Pharisees believed in the resurrection. Remember from last time, the Sadducees didn't. The Sadducees had to swallow something in order to join their compatriots in crime in this prosecution case. And they must have had to sit on their hands when they found themselves included in the included in this broad sweep. But they couldn't jump up and say, Oh no, we don't believe in the resurrection. It wasn't time for that. They had to unite in their antagonism against Paul.

And, he says in verse 16, if you want to understand the practical import of this, that I worship the God of our fathers, that I believe what is in accord with the law and the prophets, that I share the same hope in the resurrection, the implication of this in my life on a practical day-to-day basis, he says, is that I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man. Wow! This is a real zinger. This is like somebody fired a bullet in a steel shelter.

It's ricocheting off the walls. Conscience? Tertullus, the flattering nonsense box. Conscience? The Jews and their trumped-up charges. Conscience?

Felix and his messed-up life. And as Felix sits in the position of apparent authority and looks down on this man presenting his case, he probably could hear it reverberating in his mind, a clear conscience, a clear conscience, a clear conscience. Do you have a clear conscience? If you were to stand before the bar of God's judgment today, before lunch, have you come so to trust in the provision of the cross that with all that has been represented in your past and in your present, you know that on account of not something done by you, not something experienced in you, but on account of something done for you, that before the bar of God's judgment, you may appear with a clear conscience? And he said, as far as desecrating the temple is concerned, let me give you the facts. And he gives the facts, beginning in verse 17. I came to Jerusalem not to evangelize or cause trouble.

I came to bring gifts. Verse 18, I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts. Thirdly, there wasn't a crowd with me.

I wasn't involved in a disturbance. In other words, all of this stuff that is being said, Judge, cannot be substantiated. However, he says, if you want to think in terms of crowds and disturbance, perhaps we ought to think of the Jews from the province of Asia.

Remember? Those were the boys that had showed up from Ephesus in the first instance, come up to Jerusalem for the feasts, stirred up the animosity against Paul, trumped up the charges, said that he was opposed to the people of God, opposed to the temple of God, opposed to the law of God. Now, this is also very skillful on Paul's part, because it was a crime against Roman law for somebody to initiate a case in a court and not to appear themselves to substantiate the charges. And so he says, there are some Asian Jews who should be here today in order to underscore the charges.

Where are they? And the judge would have said, yeah, exactly, where are they? They're opposed to the very processes of law that I represent. And when he mentions the issue of the resurrection once again, in verse 21, unless it was this one thing, he says, there's really no charge at all, unless, of course, when I shout it out in their presence—what did he shout in their presence? Well, we know, because we've been reading it, haven't we? He shouted out in their presence, he said, you know, I know you're here telling me that I oppose the law, that I oppose you, the people, that I'm not a good Jew, that I don't observe the sacrifices, that I'm opposed to the temple and everything else. He says, but let me tell you what it is. It is on account of the resurrection that I stand before you today.

It is because I say Jesus is alive, and you say he isn't alive. That's why we have this falderal going on. That's what he said, and that's what brought out the animosity again. So he says, let's be honest.

Now, how skillful is this? Because he steers the issue back to where he wants it. Paul is more concerned that Felix becomes a Christian than that he gets released. Paul is more concerned that Felix is saved than he is freed.

Paul already knows that his life is over. He's heading for Rome. He's in the final stages.

He's running the last hundred and fifty meters at this point. But he is filled with a solid longing to see unbelieving people become the committed followers of Jesus Christ. So he combines skill in tackling the prosecution case with the very drive of the gospel, which brings it home to Felix himself. And so, as he wraps his case, he could legitimately have said, and because the issue is the resurrection, therefore it is a theological issue, therefore it is a matter of Jewish teaching or not, it is not in the realm of Roman civil jurisdiction, therefore Felix dismissed the case.

Could have said that, couldn't he? I mean, he has all the grounds for a dismissal. But he doesn't ask for a dismissal. Well, you might argue that he didn't have the chance to ask for a dismissal, because Felix jumped the gun and said, Okay, we're stopping this now.

We're stopping it now. Felix is well acquainted with the way, verse 22 says. He uses Lysias the commander as an excuse. When Lysias comes, he says, Then I will decide your case.

Oh, you will, will you? Verse 23, he ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but treat him nicely within the framework of the privileges of Rome. He is a Roman citizen after all.

And let his friends come and take care of his needs. Now, we're told that the reason he operated in this way was because he was in a pickle. He knew the charges were baseless. Therefore, Paul ought to be released on account of his innocence. However, he knew that he was up against it in relationship to the Jews because of the way he'd been treating them.

So if he kept him in custody, it was a way of currying favor with the Jews. At the same time, he liked a little cash, and he thought there might be a possibility that Paul would be prepared to grease his palm and give him a little bride money so as to secure his release. And I think it is also possible that he was struck by Paul's affirmations, that he was struck by the clarity and forcefulness of Paul's case, and that he perhaps had begun to wonder about what Paul was saying, that he had an inkling that Paul knew something that he didn't, that Paul knew someone that he hadn't met, that Paul had a relationship with this Jesus of Nazareth—a life-changing, life-satisfying relationship. And after all, he'd been looking for love in all the wrong places. His whole life as it came to relationships was not solid.

If he could find a love relationship that was transforming and life-consuming, it would be something that he would be very interested in. So maybe in the back of his mind he said, I'll just keep him here for a wee while, and that'll give me a chance—not in my official capacity here as the judge—that will give me a chance to have a chat with him when we're on our own. And that's exactly how the story ends. We go behind the scenes, verse 24. Behind the scenes.

Behind the scenes. You come home from work, your wife says, How was it? You come home from the law court, your wife says, Was anything interesting today? He says, Well, I had Saul of Tarsus. He's now called Paul up today.

How did that go? Well, and he would have told them. They had their meal together, and so life would have continued. And Drusilla apparently had some particular interest in this. Maybe she had a friend who'd been talking to her about Jesus of Nazareth. Maybe she herself was looking for the end of the story as she read her Old Testament Scriptures. Maybe she was looking for a consuming love relationship that would grant to her a free conscience and a transformed life. But whatever reason, she apparently is the catalyst for them going to the place where Paul is held and summoning Paul into their hearing, and for Paul to speak to them personally. Now, I preached this sermon some time ago, not as I'm about to preach it to you now, but I have a complete sermon on these final verses.

You may remember it, and you can get it at the tape table. Let me go at it in just a slightly different way to finish things this morning. A little background. She was on her second marriage. He was on his third. She was a ravishing beauty.

Secular history records it. She was, if you like, for him, just a prize. She was still very young.

He was not. He had seduced her, snared her by the use of a Cyprian magician called Simon in a strange and bizarre series of events, and secured her for himself. And so the two of them, as they come before Paul now, are there, at least in terms of their emotional, physical, relational, sexual experience, a complete royal mess.

They are, if you like, emblematic of the average twenty-first century magazine story on the checkout counters of our supermarkets. It's everywhere. Jennifer likes him. He likes her. She went with him. She's sleeping with him. He's the friend of so-and-so. There's the thing.

Buy all this and fill your mind with garbage. Well, they would have been right on the front pages. The paparazzi would have followed Drusilla everywhere she went. Just a good story. Just a good picture. One more picture and so on.

And here they come of an evening. And Paul says, Well, let me just speak to you about faith in Christ Jesus. What is the story of the gospel?

Faith in Christ Jesus. Let me tell you about who Jesus is. Let me show you that the Messiah had to suffer. And then let me show you that the Jesus who has walked the earth is none other than the suffering Messiah.

And let me tell you that he died in order that our sins might be forgiven. And he said, I want to talk to you about righteousness. I want to talk to you about right and wrong.

What a risk! I want to talk to you about the righteousness which God supplies, which doesn't come as a result of keeping the law but which comes as a gift of his grace to all who believe. And I want to urge upon the two of you that you would believe in this Jesus. Can I talk to you, he says, secondly, about self-control?

Can you see them just moving ever so slightly in their seats, looking at one another? Self-control. Their whole lives have been marked by unbridled lust. Did he tell them about the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and so on, and self-control? Did he tell them that in Jesus there was a way to bring all of these passions and things under his jurisdiction and live within the joyful liberty of all that he intends in terms of interpersonal relationships? I don't know, but he spoke about self-control, and he capped it off by speaking concerning the coming judgment. Was he as bold enough as to say, You know, Felix, I stood before you, and you haven't even decided my case. But Felix Drusilla, you will stand before God, and he will decide your case. And the case, Felix and Drusilla, against you is solid and strong and undeniable. And that is the significance of Jesus of Nazareth, that he comes and bears our punishment dies in our place, secures the pardon from the Father, the Father and Son together, paying the price for all of our sin and all of our rebellion. And I urge you, I urge the two of you to come to faith in Christ Jesus. And Felix was afraid, alarmed. And he said, That's enough for now. You can leave now.

When I find it convenient, I'll send for you. Interestingly, there is no indication, certainly in the biblical record and not in the secular history, that Felix ever found a convenient time to settle the issue of faith in Jesus. We do know from secular history that Drusilla and her son died in Pompeii. What was it? AD 76, you know, from history, the eruption of Vesuvius. I can't remember which one it was.

It was sometime around then. They were at a gala event. They were in the magazines. They were in the press. The flashbulbs would have been popping on the red carpet as Drusilla, in all of her beauty, still as she's grown older, with her son beside her, attended the great gala. And somewhere as the dancing and the evening went on, they hear the sound of rumbling such as they have never heard. And before they have an opportunity to go anywhere, they are swallowed up by Vesuvius.

There was no convenient time for them. Some who come consistently here, whose presence I love, whose companionship I embrace, whose questions I tackle—some of you know, and you know who you are. You are Felix. You get alarmed. But your alarm has not brought you to repentance.

Because fear itself will not. You need to be wooed by the sacrifice of Jesus. You need to be won by the love of Jesus. And so I beseech you, on behalf of Christ, why not today be reconciled to God? Stirred by fear, wooed by compassion, and won by love.

If it's not convenient now, when do you reckon it will be? Father, thank you for the Bible. Thank you that we can go out of this room and take Luke 24 and search and see whether what has been said is actually in the passage.

I speak, Lord, to sensible people. I pray that as they use their minds to think, that you will stir their hearts by way of repentance and faith, and that those who have been constantly putting things off like Felix waiting for a more convenient time may today, as they walk out of here, as they sit in the silence of their car, as they pause for a moment in the afternoon, as they lie to sleep this evening, that they may cry out to you for mercy and for grace, and that they might join Paul and countless others, worshiping the God of our fathers, walking on the way and living in accord with all that the law teaches and all that the prophets affirm, rejoicing in the resurrection and striving for a clear conscience before God and man. May the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God, our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.

Amen. You're listening to Truth for Life. That is Alistair Begg echoing Paul's urgent call to unbelievers to be reconciled to God this very day. Here at Truth for Life, we're praying that you will hear God's voice and turn to him in faith if you're not yet a follower of Jesus.

We never know how God will use this program, but we trust that by the Spirit's empowering, God will use the preaching of his word to save and transform lives. If you have questions about the gospel, if you'd like to hear more about Jesus or the Bible, the Christian faith, visit truthforlife.org slash learn more. Well, today's message wraps up our study in the book of Acts. You can re-listen to any of the sermons in this series or share Alistair's teaching with a friend.

You'll find the second volume of this study available online at truthforlife.org slash acts. The full series is called For the Sake of the Gospel. And if you'd like to use any of this series as part of your next small group Bible study, you'll find a supplemental study guide that can be downloaded for free from Truth for Life. The study guide offers 22 lessons, one for each of Alistair's sermons in this series. As you go through this study, you'll find encouragement in Paul's fortitude, his endurance, and his faith as you trace his journey from Corinth to Rome. Again, the series and the study guide can be streamed and downloaded for free at truthforlife.org slash acts. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow we begin a study in Second Samuel by focusing on a passage that opens the door to the meaning of everything. I hope you can join us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.