Paul's Journey leads to Rome

What do we do on the Detours of Life (Trip to Louisiana with our youth)

Luke now offers a travelogue, much like a first hand account of Paul’s return to Jerusalem and events there. Luke makes the trip sound much like that of Jesus’ last trip to Jerusalem, going up to die because of a plot by Jews and a sentence carried out by Gentiles. At the time of the writing, Luke knew Paul did not die at Jerusalem, but he reflects Paul’s mindset as he describes this trip.

Acts 21:10–14 ESV

10 While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” 12 When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.”

Acts I. Introduction: Leonides the Spartan

Leonides the Spartan

In 480 B.C., Leonides the First, king of ancient Sparta, met his death at Thermopylae only eight years after he became king. When Xerxes’ Persian armies invaded Greece, Leonides met them with an army of only six thousand at a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea. They held their ground for two days before the Persians found another route over the mountains and attacked the Greeks from the rear. At that point Leonides sent most of his men to safety in southern Greece and fought at Thermopylae with 300 Spartans and 1,100 other Greeks. Most of them died in that battle.

The Council of Amphityony offered this epitaph to Leonides for the Battle of Thermopylae: “Stranger, report thy word we pray to the Spartan, that lying here on this spot we remain, faithfully keeping their laws.”

Following hard on the heels of Paul’s poignant farewell to the Ephesian elders, Luke will now show us several portraits of a faithful Christian leader keeping God’s laws and God’s Word to the end. Like Leonides, Paul fought his battles with just a few companions and could very well be described as living a Spartan lifestyle. In the final chapters of Acts, we will see him at that narrow pass, before kings and governors, not only battling for his life, but also continuing to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

Such courage and resolve seem difficult to find in our day. Too often “churchianity” replaces Christianity. The Lord’s people seem more interested in saving their lives than laying them down for his sake.

At the National Religious Broadcasters’ Convention in Washington, D.C. in 1985, someone asked Billy Graham what he wanted as his epitaph. Graham responded, “He never lost his integrity.” That could very well be said of Paul, as Luke takes us with him back to Jerusalem, where the rabbi from Tarsus never quite felt comfortable, but where he must now defend himself against the charges of his enemies.

God’s Evangelistic Strategy

When Jesus looked into the future and predicted what would happen to his disciples, he said something very sobering, but also very encouraging.

Luke 21:12–13 ESV

12 But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13 This will be your opportunity to bear witness.

The sobering thing is the fact that even though the cause of Christ will eventually end in triumph in the whole universe because he is alive and sovereign over all of creation, in the short term following Jesus will definitely mean arrest and persecution for some of his disciples.

The encouraging thing that we will see in our text today is that God intends the persecution and imprisonment to be a strategic opportunity for witness to the truth of the Gospel. “This will be a time for you to bear your testimony.” imprisonment will interrupt your evangelistic strategy, but it will not interrupt God’s evangelistic strategy.

NOTE: Have you ever stopped to consider how much of Paul’s witness to Christ was given in circumstances he did not plan?

God ordains the steps of man Psalm 37

Once you are moving with a heart for lost people, trust me there will will be many interruptions and surprises in your life, but none of them without an evangelistic purpose.

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 ESV

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

NOTE: Many have heard that Christ has died for their sins but they have no idea what that means. A person does not believe that he is a sinner will see no need for a Savior.

Big Idea: When Christ is at the Center of our life we gain a gospel centered perspective.

Perspective: the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.

How are you showing the height, width, depth, and position of the gospel in relation to the other views of the world.

The Gospel: In the Greek New Testament the noun gospel (evangelion) appears just over seventy times. The word Gospel simply means Good News.

Colossians 1:17 ESV

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

3 Things that every Christian should have at the Center of their life

1. Courage is at the center of the Christian life.

..... but never more important than when one thinks his loyalty to the faith might lead to his death.

Note: A Disciple has to go and do what God commands, no matter the danger involved.

Joshua 1:9 ESV

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Christ's Courageous Example

During World War I, a British commander was preparing to lead his soldiers back to battle. They'd been on furlough, and it was a cold, rainy, muddy day. Their shoulders sagged because they knew what lay ahead of them: mud, blood, possible death. Nobody talked, nobody sang. It was a heavy time.

As they marched along, the commander looked into a bombed-out church. Back in the church he saw the figure of Christ on the cross. At that moment, something happened to the commander. He remembered the One who suffered, died, and rose again. There was victory, and there was triumph.

As the troops marched along, he shouted out, "Eyes right, march!" Every eye turned to the right, and as the soldiers marched by, they saw Christ on the cross. Something happened to that company of men. Suddenly they saw triumph after suffering, and they took courage. With shoulders straightened, they began to smile as they went. You see, anything worthwhile in life will be a risk that demands courage

Philips House in Caesarea

A Prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

Have you ever had someone try to persuade you not to do something that you knew the spirit was telling you to do?

Courageous faith leads us to press on when others say pull back.

By this time many thousands of Jews had come to faith in Christ. Various experts believe that the number of Jewish Christians in Judea between 24,000 and 50,000. The year was probably A.D. 56 or 57, a time of great Jewish nationalism and anti-Gentile attitudes. Many of the new converts were zealous for the law having been influenced by the Judaizers, the same group that challenged Peter upon his return from Caesarea.

So, word went out all over the city that Paul had been turning Gentiles away from Moses, Circumcision, and other Jewish customs.

Paul had become somewhat of an embarrassment to the Church of Jerusalem. The Church leaders ask Paul to join four other men in a purification ritual or ceremony. Perhaps this is another example of Paul being all things to all people. This had no barring on the Gentile converts in Asia Minor an Greece.

21:27-29

The Public relations backfired backfired on Paul. Asian Jews (most likely from Ephesus) saw another chance to get at Paul in an environment more conducive to their criticism. They are accusing Paul of taking Trophimus a hometown Gentile convert into the temple Court which is punishable by death. This was reserved only for the Jews by order to the Roman government. Paul entered the Temple in connection with his vow, they assumed that Trophimus was with him and thereby defiled this holy place.

21:30-32

Secretly a majority of the Jews in the city wanted some of this action, what follows after Paul’s preaching and behavior leads to a sixth riot. The mob physically dragged Paul from the temple and closed the gates to prevent any other violence or destruction of the temple grounds. The closing of the gates leads to the last mention of the Temple in Acts.

Roman troops were stationed at the Tower of Antonia on the northwest corner of the wall. Quiet possibly a century saw what was developing and sent word to his commander. Before the officers arrived Luke tells us that they were trying to kill Paul.

How long would it take scores of adversaries to kill one unarmed man?

The swift action of the Roman commander Chiliarch (leader of 1,000 men) whom Luke names in 23:26 as Claudius Lysias. He had been told that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. Look at the ugliness of the words used here stirred up, aroused, dragged; kill; beating; uproar; and mob. The Romans new full well that any disturbance among the Jews would likely be religious in nature therefore, would probably take place at the temple; the urban SWAT team was always on alert.

REMEMBER: Government is God-ordained; and although its excesses and evils frustrate us, Scripture clearly states that it exists for protection and peace and by God’s design.

Claudius Lysias was a law enforcement officer not a judge. His duty was simply to stop the riot - and restore the Pax Romana, Roman peace. He chose to arrest the obvious person at the center of the problem. He had not concern for Paul’s guilt or innocence, only keeping the peace. Just at Agabus had predicted Paul is now in chains.

NOTE: The rioters pressed the Roman soldiers so violently and closely that they had to literally be carried. Perhaps the same steps that Christ stood on twenty seven years earlier now the crowd is screaming away with him! Which indicates kill Him.

Acts 21:39–22:2 ESV

39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying: 1 “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.” 2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said:

Acts E. Arrest by the Troops (vv. 33–40)

They seem as surprised to hear their victim speak fluent Aramaic as the commander was to hear him speak Greek. We need not see a miracle in the silence of the crowd, just the overall hand of God controlling events in Paul’s life and ministry as he has from that day on the Damascus Road.

MAIN IDEA REVIEW: Courage is always important in the Christian life, but never more so than when one thinks loyalty to the faith might lead to death.

Courageous faith leads us to press on to the true value of life

We can now see clearly what Paul valued and what he did not.

He obviously did not value his own life

a fact he made clear to the Ephesian elders in 20:24 and in his letter to the Church at Philippi where he proclaims, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

He did not value freedom

At least not so much that he would not visit Jerusalem when others tried to persuade him not to go.

So, What did Paul Value

He Valued not missing an opportunity to proclaim the gospel

By this point in Paul’s life he was damaged and broken, physically and emotionally, yet he grasped the opportunity that God had given him to speak truth to his tormentors.

2. The way is at the center of the Christian life.

Acts 22:4 ESV

4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,

A key concept that now runs throughout this section is that of “the Way”.

It is a section that describes Christianity not as a separate entity but as a group, the “way,” Paul would say that the only true way within Judaism.

Remember Jesus declared in John 14:6 “I am the way the truth and the life.

Paul now answers the charges against him by casting his life in a completely Jewish context with a special emphasis on God’s direct revelation.

Remember the charge against Paul is being a Jewish apostate, or pretender.

Notice that Paul begins his introduction with “brothers and fathers which appears in Stephen’s sermon. Paul is always very calculated in what he say’s. Luke now devotes the remainder of his book to Paul’s witness for the Gospel of Christ.

There are 97 verses of defense, which Paul represents 39 percent of the prison-defense section. This compares to 47 verses of Paul’s missionary speech, there are 239 prison verses and 226 mission verses. What does this tell us, it tells us that Paul as a defender of the faith is as important, if not more important, than Paul as preacher of the Faith. Paul is going to continually come back the roots of his faith. The Way is rooted in God’s promise and is moved by God’s direction. Paul’s defense speeches are not only his defense, but that of the Way, is a call to take the message to all people everywhere.

Note: Every time that Paul gives his testimony he reminds people that religion does not bring salvation. Only faith in Jesus Christ can produce new life.

The way gives us a story worth telling

NOTE: When someone has something to tell you that they just can’t wait. My son and computer technology, he cannot wait to impart his knowledge. Troy working at the camp.

Note: The most powerfully convicting thing that you have in your spiritual arsenal is your own spiritual testimony.

The way knows how our story will be used

Supporting Idea: When God brings a person to faith, he already knows how he will use that person in his service, through sometimes we are slow to understand that plan and perhaps may even resist it.

How Paul got before King Agrippa?

King Agrippa is the Great grandson of Herod the Great and son of Herod Agrippa I. So, how did it come about that an obscure, Jewish Christian missionary has an audience with the king of all Palestine?

So, this was not Paul’s plan! Two years earlier he had been arrested on false charges in Jerusalem. At the time he got to give his testimony to the whole Jewish Sanhedrin, just like Jesus said he would - they will arrest you and this will be a time for testimony. Then there was a plot on his life so he was moved to Caesarea on the coast. This time he gave his testimony to Felix the Roman governor. After two years in prison in Caesarea, the new Roman governor Festus puts Paul before king Agrippa so they can hear what he has to say.

So now the whole Jewish Counsel is assembled and three of it’s highest political officials in Palestine (Felix, Festus, Agrippa) all hear the gospel because Paul was arrested and imprisoned on false charges. Perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn from all of this is that God has gospel purposes in all of the setbacks of our lives.

3. The shoes of readiness are at the Center of the Christian life.

Ephesians 6:15 ESV

15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Do you have the right shoes (illustration of having the right shoes for the job)

Are any of you right now in a 2 year set back? Anybody on a two year detour in your life’s plans? Don’t be discouraged or afraid as though God has not gospel purpose in the setbacks of your life.

Shoes of readiness are ready to move on the gospel detours

Trust His wisdom to allow what has happened. And put on those shoes of readiness to move with the gospel ON THE DETOUR of your life.

Don’t take off the shoes of readiness thinking that detours don’t have any gospel purpose. Jesus said, “This will be a time for testimony!”

Luke 21:31 ESV

31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

The Gospel Detour of life

John Piper (Bethlehem Baptist)

You get up in the morning and you pray and make your plan for the day. But then you pray again and say, “Lord, I know that I do not control this day - what will happen to my car, who will call me at work, whom I will see at lunch, and a hundred other unexpected details of life. Would you govern my day so that all its unplanned detours are spiritually valuable? Help me to see divine appointments where Satan may only want me to see interruptions and irritations.

So, after a 2 year detour in a Caesarean prison Paul is finally standing before King Agrippa giving his defense. Jesus say’s that the reason these things happen in life are to give the opportunity for testimony.

NOTE: Our text today frames itself in two ways: its existence is a testimony to God’s amazing providence and Paul’s readiness with the gospel; and its content is a testimony to what Christ aims to accomplish in the landscape of evangelism.

5 Ways Christ uses our witness when we have ready shoes

Acts 26:16–18 ESV

16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

Here is what Christ aims to accomplish through ready shoes

1) Shoes that Go and Tell

The first thing we need to see is that Christ aims for us to go and tell, not just wait for others to come and see. “This comes from verse 17b … to whom I send you.”

NOTE: We have built a culture of come and see Christians.

From the first coming of Christ to the second coming the strategy of our mission rests in the incarnation. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He lift his kingly throne in Heaven and went to another place. He gave up the glories of the kingdom of heaven in order to go where people are and tell them about the Father. “AS the Father has sent me so send I you.”

The Journey Churches mission must never mainly be about come and see. It must always be a go and tell mission.

What if all of you here this morning had just arrived in Killeen Texas and had no jobs and no place to live. What should we do to reach the greater Killeen area for Christ. It think the answer is that we would all go out and get jobs, all kinds of jobs all over the city. Let’s pray and let the spirit guide us to the homes and neighborhoods all over the city where he wants us to shine the light of the gospel. Let’s live among the native people of our community, work where they work, live where they live. In other words let’s develop a go and tell model as our purpose in our community.

This is what God has always done. He has always been strategically about placing people in the homes, jobs, and communities that they live to further spread the gospel message of the kingdom of God.

2) Shoes that Open the eyes of the Unbelievers

Verse 18, “to whom I send you to open their eyes.”

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4:4 that the god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.”

Christ’s aim is to give sight to the blind. That is the goal of evangelism.

NOTE: How can we bring sight to the Blind?

The answer is in

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

NOTE: It is God who created light in the beginning now it is God who opens the eyes of the blind.

Don’t take on far more than is humanly possible to handle in the process. But far more urgent is not to take on less!

3) Shoes that lead unbelievers to turn from darkness to light

They must turn from darkness to light and the power of Satan to God.

* Darkness isn’t strange until you eyes are opened.

Have you ever met someone who is blind before? If it is dark in a room someone who is blind has not need to turn on the light because would be pointless. This person is accustomed to the dark, to walking in darkness. A blind person will never treat darkness as something strange until their eyes are opened. Darkness to a blind person is a native land. If a blind persons eyes were opened to see the light, they would turn from darkness to light. And so it is in the spiritual realm. Where there is spiritual blindness, people are at home in the darkness of sin. If you say, “Hey, turn on the light, you are going to hurt yourself,” they won’t know what you are talking about. First the eyes must be opened. Then they will turn and walk in the light.

* Satan’s power over us is through deception

Paul says, I want you to open their eyes that they might turn from the power of Satan. It implies that the only power Satan has over men and women is through deception - through making things look like something that they are not.

When our eyes are opened we see Christ as He really is, and to see God and the world and sin and righteousness and heaven and hell the way that they really are, then the power of Satan is broken.

The Power of Satan is Broken by the Spirit of Truth

What are the first and last pieces of the armor of God that Paul lists in Ephesians 6 to protect you from the principalities and powers and make you effective in fighting them?

ANSWER: the belt of TRUTH and the SWORD of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

NOTE: The only way that Satan can hold you is by deceiving you about what is really desirable.

NOTE: Is Satan’s authority, power, and relationship to unbelievers the same or different from Christians?

We should not take Satan too lightly. He is not to be trifled with nor buffooned, but in Christ his back was utterly broken on Calvary’s hill.

Colossians 2:14–15 ESV

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Jesus disarmed Satan at the Cross

Satan and his rebels have been put to open shame

Satan was triumphed over in Jesus Christ

Jesus appeared to be at His weakest, however, 3 days later Jesus kicked the hinges off the door of the enclosed tomb outside Jerusalem. On Friday Satan surely heckled, and hissed, and laughed while hovering over the blood-spattered carcass of Jesus. He never saw it coming. On Sunday, Jesus arose with an indestructible life.

Satan is not omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, nor eternal

NOTE: Satan is created and contingent just as humans are.

Satan is more skilled at deception than any other created being.

John 8:44 ESV

44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Satan is the Lords Lackey for the Christians holiness

2 Corinthians 12:7 ESV

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

NOTE: Satan Plays the pawn in God’s economy. Satan is ever-regulated by Romans 8 and, therefore, is providentially powerless to would Christians in any resurrected or eternal sens. Neither Satan, nor death, nor angels or rulers, nor powers, will be able to separate us from the love of God.

Satan will be throne into hell in the end.

Matthew 25:41 ESV

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

He lies and accuses believers, but he cannot succeed in bringing a guilty sentence upon the Christian anymore.

4) Shoes that lead others to receive forgiveness of Sins

How are we Forgiven

We are forgiven based on the redeeming work of Christ on the Cross.

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

The spirit makes the first move for us to receive forgiveness

John 3:5 ESV

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

NOTE: The spirit enables us to see our need to be forgiven.

Forgiveness happens through God’s pardon

Micah 7:18 ESV

18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

We are forgiven in Christ Jesus

Romans 3:21–26 ESV

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We now have the promise that he will cast our sins into the depths of the sea when He forgive us. He puts them as far out of His sight that He never sees them again.

Micah 7:19 ESV

19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

5) That they will have a place at the table of the redeemed

Acts 26:27–29 ESV

27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” 28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” 29 And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

Closing

THE ALMOST CHRISTIAN

Heart-Touching Sermon Outlines 2. If You Are Not a Christian (Acts 26:28)

Being a Christian is a wonderful experience. A Christian is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is one who has received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. The most important thing that can happen to you is to become a Christian. Let us consider the subject, “If You Are Not a Christian.”

On (Acts 26:28)--Almost persuaded to be a Christian is like the man who was almost pardoned, but he was hanged, like the man who was almost rescued, but he was burned in the house. A man that is almost saved is LOST.

if you are not a Christian is it because you are afraid of what people will say about you?

If you are not a Christian, is it because of the inconsistencies of those who claim to be Christians?

If you are not a Christian is it because you are not willing to give up all to follow Christ?

If you are not a Christian is it because you are afraid you will not be accepted?

If you are not a Christian do you think it is because satisfied with your good works?

If you are not a Christian is it because you think there is plenty of time?

The almost Christian hovers between Christ and the world; light and darkness.

Quit Talking and Go!

In my opinion, the greatest enemy of world evangelization is Christian rhetoric--the continual talking about going (playing the orator), discussing, arguing, the endless talking and preaching about evangelizing the world, without any of the crucial implementation

Messy World, Messy Mission

I am sometimes asked by people my age and younger how in this world I can still be committed to something as messy as mission. I believe it is time we ask how in a place as messy as this world we can legitimately be committed to anything but mission Where is Christ and his mission in your daily life and priorities this today, where will He be next week, or 10 years from now, or will you still be sitting on your hands waiting for an epiphany to happen. Guess what? It already has, it’s called the resurrection.