Council, Conspiracy, & Caesarea Acts 22:30-23:35

[CONTEXT] Paul arrived in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish festival of Pentecost and to deliver aid to poor Jewish Christians living in the holy city.

He was falsely accused of defiling the Jewish temple by bringing a Gentile into the temple. After being nearly killed, Paul was rescued but also arrested and nearly flogged by the Romans who wanted to understand why the Jews wanted Paul dead.

When they discovered that Paul was a Roman citizen, they regretted arresting him (which was illegal without a hearing) and were extremely grateful that they had not flogged him as they planned. There could’ve been severe consequences for these soldiers if that had happened.

Paul spent that night under Roman protection in Antonia’s Fortress, the Roman barracks located near the temple complex.

The next day he was brought out to be examined by the Jewish Council…

[READING]

Acts 22:30–23:11 NASB95

30 But on the next day, wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them. 1 Paul, looking intently at the Council, said, “Brethren, I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” 2 The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” 4 But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ” 6 But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” 7 As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 And there occurred a great uproar; and some of the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man; suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 And as a great dissension was developing, the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. 11 But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

[PRAYER]

[CIT] In this passage, the Apostle Paul gave a master class on staying faithful when persecuted.

[PROP] We would do well to learn three LESSONS from him.

[TS] The first LESSON is this…

Major Ideas

LESSON #1: Repent Quickly (Acts 23:2-5)

Acts 23:2–5 NASB95

2 The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” 4 But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” 5 And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”

[EXP] As Paul stood before the Jewish Council called the Sanhedrin, he didn’t lower his eyes as if guilty. Instead, he looked intently at the 70 Jewish religious leaders, a mix of legalistic Pharisees and aristocratic Sadducees, and declared that he had lived with a clear conscience before God up to this day.

The conscience is our own moral awareness of the right and wrong of our actions.

Because of sin, our consciences can be wrong, but a clear conscience is much to be desired.

When Paul said that his conscience was clear before God up to this day, he was likely declaring that he was innocent of the allegation made against him yesterday; he was likely saying that he was innocent of the false allegation that he had defiled the temple by bring a Gentile into it.

But before Paul could say anything else, the high priest, Ananias, ordered him struck on the mouth.

This is very reminiscent of Jesus who, before he gave his life on the cross to pay for our sins, was also struck on the mouth by order of a different high priest.

However, unlike Jesus who did not repay sin with sin, Paul verbally lashed out, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” (Acts 23:3).

Jesus had said the Pharisees were like whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones (Matt. 23:27).

Ezekiel said the false prophets of his day were like rotten whitewashed walls destined to fall under the weight of divine judgment (Ezek. 13:10-16).

Paul said the high priest was whitewashed like that.

Only Paul didn’t know that the one he spoke to was the high priest.

Paul had written in 1 Corinthians 4:12 that “when we are reviled, we bless.”

First Peter 2:23 calls us to follow the example of Jesus who "while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.”

When Paul learned that he had reviled the high priest, he was immediately repentant, confessing that he had violated Exodus 22:28 by sinfully lashing out against the high priest.

Paul’s repentance in this moment should be a lesson to us all.

He repented even though he had been falsely accused.

He repented even though he had been struck in the mouth.

He repented even though the Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us this high priest was a thoroughly wicked man.

Paul repented because he had broken God’s Law.

He had sinned and repentance was therefore necessary.

[APP] The anger of those who persecute us is no excuse for our sins. Let’s let our repentance be like Paul’s on this occasion.

His repentance was quick.

Our repentance should be quick.

As soon as we recognize the sin we’ve committed, we ought to confess it and turn away from it.

Paul’s repentance was specific.

Our repentance should be specific.

Paul literally quotes the Law of God that he broke by speaking to the high priest in this sinful manner.

It would do us well to quote the word of God as we confess to God and others that part of his word that we’ve disobeyed.

[TS] We may not always respond well when we are persecuted, but there is no anger is no excuse for our sin.

We we don’t as we should, it’s important we stay faithful by repenting quickly.

If we would stay faithful when persecuted, we must repent quickly and…

LESSON #2: See Clearly (Acts 23:6)

Acts 23:6 NASB95

6 But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

[EXP] As Paul’s examination before the council went on, he perceived that one group within the Sanhedrin might be sympathetic to the real reason Paul was on trial.

No matter what they said, Paul wasn’t really standing before this Jewish Council because he had supposedly brought a Gentile into the Temple.

He saw clearly that he was really on trial because he had been preaching that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah who had been crucified by the Jewish religious leaders and was then raised from the dead three days later.

The Pharisees believed in supernatural things like resurrection from the dead while the Sadducees did not.

So Paul appealed to the Pharisees and brought the real issue into the light for all to see; he said in v. 6, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!”

Again, the real issue wasn’t that Paul had brought a Gentile into the Temple. (That couldn’t have been the issue because Paul didn’t actually do that and Paul and his accusers knew it.)

Again, the real issue—the issue for which Paul was being persecuted—was that he was declaring Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed Savior of God’s people; and proof of Jesus’ identity is found in his resurrection from the dead.

If this was true, the these Jewish religious leaders were in real trouble, because they had rejected the Messiah and lead most of the other Jewish people to do the same.

Dissension broke out between the two sides of the council.

The Pharisees were at least willing to entertain that Paul may be right, saying, “Perhaps a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” (Acts 23:9).

It was actually Jesus, the Son of God, who had spoken to him, but at least they were willing to consider that Paul might be speaking the truth.

But when uproar between the Pharisees and Sadducees was getting out of hand and it seemed that Paul would be torn apart, the Roman commander went down, took Paul by force, and brought him back into the safe confines of the Fortress of Antonia.

[APP] When we are persecuted for following Christ, we must see clearly that our persecutors are really persecuting Jesus.

They may accuse us of practicing hate speech, being closed-minded or bigoted or backward or behind the times, but they really attack us because we say that Jesus came to offer salvation through his death and resurrection, and if you reject him, you’ll perish in your sins forever.

If we what we say about Jesus is true—that he really is the Son of God, crucified, resurrected, and coming again to rule and reign on the earth—well, unbelievers will do anything to keep from being confronted with that message.

They’ll even kill those who preach that message.

Let us never lose sight of the fact that persecution is really focused, not on the Christian, but on Christ.

[TS] For the moment, Paul’s life had been sparred once again, but for how much longer?

On two consecutive days he had nearly been killed.

What would the third day bring? Would he finally be killed then?

Do you think Paul was scared that night as he tried to sleep?

He must’ve been to some degree because in Acts 23:11 Jesus tells him to take courage.

That’s our third lesson on staying faithful in persecution: Take Courage.

Look at v. 11 again…

LESSON #3: Take Courage (Acts 23:11)

Acts 23:11 NASB95

11 But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

[EXP] Despite almost being beaten and almost flogged yesterday and being almost torn apart earlier that day, Paul could sleep soundly that night because Jesus stood by his side and comforted him.

His life wouldn’t end in Jerusalem. He still had more work to do: he had to witness for Jesus in Rome as he had in Jerusalem.

For Paul to witness in Rome as he did in Jerusalem would require him to take courage because Paul’s witness in Jerusalem is what led to his persecution.

Would Paul’s witness in Rome lead to more persecution for him?

No matter what lay ahead, Paul was to face it with the courage that Jesus supplied.

[ILLUS] When little children have colds, we sometimes have to wake them up in the night and by their bedside tell them to take their medicine.

[APP] Fear of man is like a cold that the persecuted catch from time to time and we need Jesus to come beside us telling us to take our courage.

But it’s the courage he gives to us.

It’s the courage of his presence always with us.

It’s the courage of his promise to never leave us or forsake us.

To witness for Jesus is to declare that Jesus is…

…the Son of God who lived the perfect life we should have lived,

…the Son of God who died the death we deserved because of our sins,

…the Son of God who rose from the dead and makes us right with God if we trust in him.

Are we witnessing for Jesus?

What would Jesus say about our witness for him?

Would he call us to do more of it in the future based on how we’ve done it in the past?

We must not allow fear of man to silence our witness.

[TS] If we are going to stay faithful in persecution we must take courage from Jesus and remain courageous witnesses for him.

Conclusion

The Apostle Paul told Timothy, his son in the faith, in 2 Timothy 3:12…

2 Timothy 3:12 NASB95

12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

What Paul wrote to Timothy, God says to us all.

If we are following Jesus along the path of godliness, we will be persecuted to one degree or another.

How will we stay faithful?

By staying repentant.

Their anger is no excuse for our sin.

By staying focused.

Their anger is really about Jesus.

By staying courageous.

Their anger is no reason to stop witnessing.

We must go on testifying of Jesus even when persecuted.

[PRAYER]

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