God at work in His Plan Pt. 2.

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

Context

          This week’s text is a continuation of what happened in last week’s. That is, Paul has began his long journey to Rome, where Christ has assured him that he will witness/share The Gospel of Jesus , just like he had in Jerusalem. This series of events that has happened to Paul, has been long in the making, and we are in another step of it. All throughout it, Paul has endured evil, death threats, murder attempts, false charges, imprisonment, and many other hardships.

          In last week’s text, Paul, having been rescued from the riled up Sanhedrin, by the Roman commander; had his life in very real danger. This danger came from the evil in men’s hearts, our love of sin, and from the great deceiver Satan, who’s lies mankind is all too likely to believe that sin is fine and believe any illusions individuals may have of power and influence are real. This motivated the Jews to form a conspiracy to murder Paul, however by providence (that is God’s sovereign rule and His action’s to direct history) Paul’s nephew learned of it, and warned the Roman commander in Jerusalem of it, who then promptly sent Paul to the Governor Felix for protection and for a trial.

          As a very quick aside, you may have noticed that we skipped verse 7. Your bible may or may not have a note on this. Just to quickly explain it’s omission, is that in the earliest ancient bible manuscripts we have, this verse is not included, but in later (more recent) manuscripts it was included. That is why it was skipped, as modern bible scholars do not have evidence that believe it was in the first written down copies but believe that it was added later. That doesn’t mean it isn’t correct or what was written didn’t happen, but at least that the oldest copies of the bible we have did not include these verses.

          Much like we saw in last week’s text the theme of Even in the fact of evil, God is at work in your life, very similar in today’s text our theme is that Even in the face of evil, God uses you. We see this time and time again in Paul, and any followers of Christ who seek to honor and glorify God, as you should be always doing in intentional and subconscious efforts, you will see it play out in your life time  and time again. So, let’s take a look at that unfold, and see it in the text where I want you to see and know these truths that lead to action as God works on His plan through you.

The first truth is that: Evil lies and attacks 1-9

24 Five days later Ananias the high priest came down with some elders and a lawyer named Tertullus. These men presented their case against Paul to the governor. 2 When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him and said, “We enjoy great peace because of you, and reforms are taking place for the benefit of this nation because of your foresight. 3 We acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with utmost gratitude. 4 But, so that I will not burden you any further, I request that you would be kind enough to give us a brief hearing. 5 For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. 6 He even tried to desecrate the temple, and so we apprehended him.[a] 8 By examining him yourself you will be able to discern the truth about these charges we are bringing against him.” 9 The Jews also joined in the attack, alleging that these things were true.

          The high priest and elders came down after 5 days time, and they brought with them a man who was a Jewish orator and lawyer named Tertullus. This Tertullus, is an interesting character, as we can see just from the very start that he had a greek name and not Hebrew name, meaning at the very least he was a hellenistic Jew, and most likely had a great knowledge in Roman Law. This is not the kind of man, that you would expect a God loving High Priest to choose to represent him, yet as you will remember the high priest Ananias was a cruel and corrupt man.

Tertullus began his address with very sugar coated words. That is, untruthful words, trying to butter up The Governor Felix. Tertullus called him many great sounding things, a peace keeper, a selfless person, an excellent ruler, and one we should all be thankful for. The truth, couldn’t be any further, as what the history books remember of Felix was that he was a cruel, greedy, lustful, and violent man who always leveraged his office for his own benefit and would be disposed of for his poor governing skills and never ever about again in history. In fact, all the Jews loathed Felix because he had made their lives miserable and his governorship knew lots of violence and civil unrest. Ananias through Tertullus made these charges against Paul before the governor Felix, 1: That he was a troublemaker everywhere he went,2 he was a ringleader in the sect of the Nazareens, and 3 he tried to desecrate the temple. So, Tertullus charged Felix to ask Paul himself if these things were true.

          Now, this isn’t in your bible, but There is an old story, of Satan (the father of lies) and he wanted to think of a new lie to tell mankind to keep them from being saved. So, he rounded up 3 of his most wicked demons to think of one. When Satan asked for an idea from the first one, the Demon said, “I know, let’s tell them that God doesn’t exist.” Satan replied, “We need to do better than that, all a human has to do is look at the world and they will know that there must be a creator.” The second one said, “Let’s tell them that you, Satan/ the father of lies doesn’t exist and so you are not a threat to them.” Satan replies, that’s a good idea, but most would refuse to believe such a lie because of all the evil in the world.” Satan looks at the third one who says, “I’ve got it! Let’s tell them that they have plenty of time. They don’t need to worry about salvation, purity, and Jesus right now, they will always have later. Satan grinned, “Yes, this is perfect, from now on you are the greatest of all the demons.

          In that story, we see a lie with the intent to attack and do harm, just as the Jewish group was doing to Paul. I bet, everyone in this room has suffered from a lie at one  point or another that was an attempt to attack you. We can be assured of that, but we can also be assured that the Father of lies Satan himself has done the same to you. He can tell you all kind of lies that are contrary to what the Word of God teaches us, and often times we fall for them not because we straight up believe them, but because the supposed, “upside” of believing those lies has upsides that we would like to benefit from. I can go on forever about what those lies could be, but here are a few that i’ve noticed come often for the believer , lies like: you aren’t smart enough or patient enough to read your bible so it doesn’t matter, don’t  do it. Lies like: it’s not important to go to church and taking a pass on it (when you are physically able to come) is ok with God. Another lie, what does it matter to pray? God doesn’t hear you or doesn’t care. Here’s another, you aren’t brave enough or smart enough to witness to people. And that big one we alluded to earlier, their is always tomorrow, you can always worry about getting right with God then. All of these are lies that are meant to do harm to you, they are an untrue evil that will come your way. But, remember this, Even in the face of evil, God uses you. So, don’t believe the attacking lies of the enemy and instead believe God, the Father of truth and light and goodness, ask Him to help you overcome the lies and attacks when they cripple you and He will see you through it.

The next truth is that: Truth will come out 10-21

10 When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I am glad to offer my defense in what concerns me. 11 You can verify for yourself that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. 12 They didn’t find me arguing with anyone or causing a disturbance among the crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or anywhere in the city. 13 Neither can they prove the charges they are now making against me. 14 But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets. 15 I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection,[b] both of the righteous and the unrighteous. 16 I always strive to have a clear conscience toward God and men. 17 After many years, I came to bring charitable gifts and offerings to my people. 18 While I was doing this, some Jews from Asia found me ritually purified in the temple, without a crowd and without any uproar. 19 It is they who ought to be here before you to bring charges, if they have anything against me. 20 Or let these men here state what wrongdoing they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin, 21 other than this one statement I shouted while standing among them, ‘Today I am on trial before you concerning the resurrection of the dead.’”

          After hearing from the Jewish delegation, instead of examining Paul personally as he was told, he motion at Paul to give his account and defense in front of everyone with a simple head nod. Paul’s defense was very thorough and hard to ignore. First, he told them he had only been in Jerusalem for a very short amount of time, much too short to cause an insurrection as they were saying, all the while I was in Jerusalem, I was there peacefully. I brought an offering to The Church in Jerusalem, and the records will show that I was purified in the temple, and even paid my fee along with others while there. While doing this, some Jews from Asia found me peacefully worshiping and grabbed me and caused an uproar. By the way, where are they?........ Shouldn’t they be here if they had real charges against me? If they aren’t here, I can’t stand trial for that occurrence. The only thing I can be charged with by these men here today, is that in front of the Sanhedrin I was on trial for my belief in the resurrection of the dead (which a great many Jews believe in). Yes, I believe in the resurrection, which of course he would 1 as a raised up Pharisee and 2 He (Paul) knew that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, which thus showed He was God the Son. The truth of what was going came out from Paul’s mouth, and soon he would get to tell Felix even more truth about Jesus and The Way.

          It’s important for us to know here, that the Jewish Christians still viewed themselves as Jews. We might say, complete Jews who knew that their messiah, their savior, Jesus had come. As such, and even from Tertullus words, calling them a “Sect of the Nazarene’s.” It’s clear that they still thought of the Jesus followers, the Nazarene’s as a sect or offshoot of Judaism. Thus, at this time in the Roman empire it was not illegal to be a Christian, as practicing Judaism was an officially known and sanctioned religion by the Roman government, and if Christianity was a sect of Judaism it was legally allowed. Remember, the book of Acts is transitional history, so the lines are a bit blurred on this issue, but we do know that it wouldn’t be long before the Christians would endure violent and murderous persecution from the Roman government.

          Even with this great evil facing Paul in this moment, and all indications pointing towards Christianity as a whole having great evil done to them soon, Paul still fearlessly told the truth. Jesus Himself taught on the truth and freedom, teaching what was  recorded in John 8 verse 31-32 which says , “31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word,[c] you really are my disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Paul knew, the only way forward for him in God’s will was to tell the truth and that’s just what he did. Yes, Even in the Face of Evil believer, God uses you. And it’s important when these moments come for you to not be tempted by evil and sin, and instead of choosing lies to self preserve, you are to be an agent of light and truth, so choose the truth, even when it isn’t convenient or easy. Choose the truth even when it is hard, because one day, one way or another, the truth will come out. Don’t wait for it to come out at the judgement time, let it come out freely and sweetly from your own mouth, because Even in the face of evil, God uses you.

Another truth is to: Share the Gospel fearlessly 22-27

22 Since Felix was well informed about the Way, he adjourned the hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” 23 He ordered that the centurion keep Paul under guard, though he could have some freedom, and that he should not prevent any of his friends from meeting[c] his needs.24 Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus. 25 Now as he spoke about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became afraid and replied, “Leave for now, but when I have an opportunity I’ll call for you.” 26 At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would offer him money.[d] So he sent for him quite often and conversed with him.27 After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.

          It seems here that Felix would have been fairly aware of “The Way” That is, what we would call Christianity. So, he was aware of the situation, and understood the idea of the resurrection, and by reaction it seemed that he believed everything Paul had said was likely. So, he adjourned the hearing, preferring to hear Lysias’s, the Jerusalem commander’s, report in person. In essence, he had put the hearing on a permanent hold. It seems from Felix’s treatment of Paul, that he believed him to be innocent, so he allowed Paul’s friends to come to him and see to his needs. Now, Felix was married at this time to a woman named Drucilla, who was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa the 1st and the sister of king Herod Agrippa the 2nd. Needless to say, their marriage was unsavory, as Felix used his power and influence to have her divorce her husband and marry him who was not a jew. So, it is likely that from his Jewish wife, Felix would have been somewhat familiar with both practices in Judaism and Christianity.

          One day, Felix does something very unexpected. He must have been very interested in Paul’s message of Jesus, as he came to him and visited him on several occasions. During them, Paul waisted on time and told Felix about the savior, and Felix was very interested in this, at least up until he learned about sin, (as he was a raving sinner), the need for self control (which he did not have) and righteousness (which no one has without Jesus as savior). What am I saying? Felix learned that he was a sinner and was alarmed by this. He probably agreed, but when he learned of the judgement that would come to him if he wasn’t saved by Jesus, he could bear no more and left. While he was learning this, part of the reason he was coming to Paul was because of his sin of greed, as he hoped to receive a bribe from Paul or his friends for his relief. Felix had salvation right before him, but never said yes to Jesus. So as far as we know, he died a condemned man by God’s judgement. After awhile, Felix lost his ability to say yes to the gospel as Paul gave it to him, as he would be ousted from his office due to his frequent ineptitude and mishandeling of huge  a Jewish and gentile conflict. So, he was replaced by Festus but left Paul in prison.

          Paul was fearless with his witness for Christ in the face of this evil man. This is  a level of braveness and devotion to Christ that all believers, all followers of Jesus should aspire to. This means a few things, one, you must be willing, two, you must prepare, three you must be both intentional in going and finding opportunities and keep your eyes open for those that come up, and 4 you must be prayed up, asking God to help you be ready for witnessing opportunities, that they would come your way, and that you would be surrendered to The Holy Spirit who will empower and use you for God’s glory in those times. This is an expectation for believers of all stages of faith and ages of life. So, practice your witness, delve into the gospels to understand it better, love God more than anything, and you will find it come much more naturally than you think. And know this, Even in the face of evil, God uses you. So, even in the face of Evil, share the gospel fearlessly.

Message

So beloved, remember these things in the face of evil as God uses you, that Evil lies and attack, Truth will come out, and Share the Gospel fearlessly. You cannot fail with God on your side, so turn to Jesus, believe in His gospel, believe in Him as savior and repent from whatever it is that you are holding onto that is keeping you from being a willing instrument of God’s.

Gospel presentation

Prayer

Lord’s Supper