Acts 23 Paul is sent to Caesarea | Terri Brady

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WOW April 1, 2026  Terri Brady  Acts 23

1. 23:1-10 Paul is struck in front of the Jewish Council, then pulled out of the mayhem and jailed by Roman Commander.
   • Principle: Sometimes what feels like prison is truly His protection.
   • Application: Where are we looking at something as prison, but could be trusting the Lord for His protection? He could be either saving you from something or saving you for something.
2. 23:11-22 Inside jail: Jesus visits Paul and tells his future. Outside jail: A conspiracy to kill Paul is thwarted by commander.
   • Principle: Jesus still talks to His followers today. – His Word.
   • Application:  What Bible verses could you keep close at hand, for when you need to hear His voice in the midst of the mayhem?
3. 23:23-34 The commander takes Paul with escort to Governor Felix who says he will deal with the matter when Paul’s accusers arrive.
   • Principle: Kings – even unbelieving ones – are in the hands of God. They don’t have to believe in Him to be used by Him.
   • Application:  Where are WE limiting our thinking as if God only moves the hearts of believers?

Timeline of the Apostle Paul

Early Life and Education

• c. 6 AD: Born as Saul in Tarsus, Cilicia (modern-day Turkey). He was born a Roman citizen to Jewish parents.
• c. 20–30 AD: Educated as a Pharisee in Jerusalem under the prominent teacher Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).
• c. 33–34 AD: Present at the martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:58), where he approved of the execution. Shortly after, he began persecuting Christians (Acts 8), causing "havoc of the church".

Conversion and Early Ministry

• c. 34 AD: Converted on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) following a divine encounter with Jesus Christ.
• c. 34–37 AD: Spends time in Damascus and Arabia receiving revelations (Acts 9).
• c. 37 AD: First visit to Jerusalem post-conversion (Acts 9); meets Peter and James. He later escapes a plot on his life and returns to Tarsus.
• c. 43–44 AD: (Acts 11) Barnabas brings Paul to Antioch, Syria, where they minister for one year. It is here that believers are first called "Christians".
• c. 45 AD: Paul and Barnabas deliver famine relief to the Jerusalem church. (Acts 11)

The Missionary Journeys

• c. 46–48 AD (First Journey: Acts 13-14): Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark preach in Cyprus and southern Galatia. Paul survives a stoning in Lystra and appoints elders in new churches before returning to Antioch.
• c. 49 AD: Attends the Council of Jerusalem to address whether Gentile converts must follow Jewish law. The council decides they are not required to follow the Mosaic Law.
• c. 49–52 AD (Second Journey: Acts 15:36-18:22): Travels with Silas through Syria, Cilicia, and Galatia. Timothy joins in Lystra. Paul settles in Corinth for 18 months and writes 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
   
  • c. 50 AD writes Galatians likely from either Antioch or Corinth to address the issue of Judaizers during that second journey.
• c. 52–55 AD (Third Journey: Acts 18:23 – 21:16): Spends two years in Ephesus, writing 1 Corinthians (and possibly 2 Corinthians). He later writes Romans from Corinth.

Imprisonment and Later Years

• c. 57–59 AD: Arrested in Jerusalem after a temple riot. He is imprisoned in Caesarea for two years under Felix and Festus.(Acts 22 – 26)
• .c. 59–60 AD: Appeals to Caesar, travels to Rome, surviving a shipwreck en route. (Acts 27-28)
• c. 60–62 AD: Under...“For the rest of the notes
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I wanted to tell you this morning, ladies, about a story that happened uh it was almost two years ago, three years ago or so. Anyone know the singer Andrea Bocelli? Oh yeah. Yes. So we have been um to Italy several times. We got involved with a charity there called Italy for Christ, and somehow the founder of that charity is good friends with Andrea Bocelli. And so he was coming over to the States. Our friend was coming to the States, and he got tickets to go see Andrea. And so they he said, Why don't you guys come? Of course, it was about a week's notice because that's how he rolls, let me tell you. Our friend, not Andrea. And we're like, okay, it was December, which was a very busy month, right? And so we just got in the car and we went up, and this is going to be our first emptiness boondoggle, right? So Chris and I went up and we got to see Andrea Bocelli. It was a cold, you know, December day in Washington, DC. We also had tickets to go in to see the Museum of the Bible. It turned out to just be fantastic being surrounded by him. We got pictures with Andrea Bocelli, our cell standing next to him. And uh it was just phenomenal, such a magical day. Well, at the end of the day, this uh head of the Italy for Christ charity says to us, I've good news for you. It gets even better. And we're like, how can it get better than this day? And he said, Tomorrow morning is the national breakfast of prayer, and I have tickets and I have two more seats. I would love for you to come with me. And we're like, What? Are you kidding? So we left the the uh concert, the Bocelli concert in the middle of DC. We had um taken an Uber there, and so we went to get an Uber back. But I'm telling you, when a concert lets out, trying to get an Uber or a taxi is impossible because everybody else is in front of you, and even if you had one, somebody else has stolen it by the time you get to the line. So we were just waiting and waiting and waiting. It started to rain, and finally we thought, we're just walking it. So we walked, and our estimation it was about four and a half miles. Now, I don't know what you would wear to an Andre Bocelli concert, but not walking shoes. So we walked in the rain for those miles with my heels on. My calves were so sore the next day, like they were just like kept seizing on me. You know that feeling? And but we made it, we all had good attitudes. We were like cheering and singing hymns on the streets of DC when we got there. But by the time we got back, it was cold rain. Um, it was probably in the 40s, my least favorite weather. By the time we got back to the hotel, we just got under those covers, and you know that feeling like I'm gonna sleep forever. Well, the next morning, we had slept forever. And we slept straight through the breakfast with the president of the United States. Okay, April Fools. I'm just told you're like, she's coming, she's into it. But let me tell you, do you know that disappointment you just had that I slept through breakfast with the president? Do you know how many people will sleep through a breakfast with our Lord every single day and not realize they could have gotten up and had time with him before the busy day began? It's so true, isn't it? We have these people, humans, valued so high that it would be a huge disappointment to meet some, to miss something such as a breakfast. But we get that time with our Lord and Savior every day, all the way into eternity, ladies. I am so excited. So today, you know, I wanted to give a little bit of background because we did not have a lecture last week. We had uh our fellowship time, which was so great, but I wanted to go ahead and give a little bit of the background because when we just start today, it's kind of abrupt, isn't it? So, what happened last week? In Acts 21 and 22, we saw the last time that Paul would offer salvation to the Jews. Now we know in all the previous times he would go and offer uh salvation to the Jews, and what would they do? They'd kick him out or they'd beat him or they'd send him on his way, and then he'd say, Fine, I'll go to the Gentiles. We saw that over and over again this year in our study. But anyway, so here they did again. They reacted violently, and Paul ended up in custody when the commander ordered the guards to seize Paul. And then on the steps of the way out, uh, the way to his prison cell, Paul asks, Can I give one more word to the crowd? Now, can you imagine this? If we had somebody come in here and give us a different message that we didn't agree with, and we just started getting really violently upset about it, and we call the police or we call, you know, Rob Mark down there in security. He comes down and he gets the perpetrator. He's got him in his arms, he's on his way out the door, and the guy goes, Hold up, can I just say one more thing? I feel like that's what Paul did. Imagine if it were you and you are being convicted for your love of Christ, and they have you in chains and they're about to grab you and take you away, drag you away, and then they carry you out, and you say, Hold up, can I just say one more thing now that I have all their attention? But what I love about that is that Paul loved the Lord so much, he had a main thing in life, and it was to tell other people, Gentiles and Jews, about Christ. And that was true even when he was being dragged out of the room. So, what happens on the steps then? He switches to Hebrew after talking to the commander in Greek. This must have been just so impressive. He switches to Hebrew and he gives his testimony from those stairs, and he says, I'll give a shortened version. I went from Pharisee to follower, right? He says, I went from persecutor to apostle. He tries to get on their side, promote promoting Ananias, the well-known Jew who restored his sight on the road to Damascus. Remember, or in Damascus, Ananias, he met. But he gets to the point in this story about falling into a trance while being praying in the temple. And then Jesus appears to him, and Jesus says to him, Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. And it ignites the crowd, right? The commander, I'm sorry, the Gentiles go or the crowd goes crazy. They start stirring the dirt. It reminds me of how a bull. Have you ever seen a bull charge? They stir the dirt before they're going. I felt like that crowd, remember how they were throwing the dirt around and they were mad, they were angry, they were going to do something about it. So now the commander swoops back in and saves him, right? Ordering him to be examined by scourging. Wow, what a save. Here, let me get you out of there so I can beat you over here myself. It's crazy, right? But then at the last minute, while Paul is being stretched out with his back exposed for maximum damage to be done by the scourging whips that are full of nails and glass and things that are gonna shred his back, possibly leaving him permanently disabled or even to death while he's already stretched out. Paul says, Hey, uh, are you allowed to do this to a Roman citizen? Do you remember that? Like, why'd he wait so long? Does this sound familiar that Paul's announcing he's a Roman citizen to get out of something? It should sound familiar because we've already read about this where in Acts 16. Remember when he was in the jail cell and then the earthquake came and the Lord just released all the prisoners? And you might recall that the uh the guard, the prison guard came to him and said, What must I do to be saved? Remember that? And he said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. None of that would have happened had Paul not been in that situation, but he got out of that session situation because he said he was a Roman citizen. So what happens then? The magistrate says, Release those men, like get them out of here. We don't want them anymore. And um he says, You public, and Paul just looks at him and goes, uh-uh. That's my interpretation of what he said. He goes, uh-uh. You're not in releasing me after you have publicly beaten and imprisoned a uh Roman citizen, right? And here we are again in chapter 22. Did they not already know he was Roman? I think I would have been wearing my Roman driver's license around like a phylactery on my forehead. Roman, Roman, don't hit me, don't hit me, you're in trouble, you know. But uh he didn't. And so I, you know, I don't know about you, but sometimes when I read the Bible, I'm like, okay, how come they didn't know that already? Right? Well, the fact was it was at least five years before. And secondly, it was over 800 miles away. Let me show you. This map here is in your books. You might recall it. I'm sure you look at it every day when you're studying your Bible. You just get it out, you look at it. Where is Paul today on this map? It's what I try to do when I study deeply, like we are in Acts right now. But in our book, you know, we have this journeys of Paul, and you could write down, I literally wrote down each chapter of Acts as I went as to where he was in the chapter, and I marked it in my Bible. But you might recall that in that uh jail scene he was in Philippi, and Philippi to Jerusalem is over 800 miles as the crow flies. But Paul wasn't taking the crow this time, so that is a long way for them to hear about the news without the internet. So if I wanted to point out on the back of your handout today, I actually put together a timeline of the basics. Now I have a little C there, which means circa or around, and we're gonna make that a big around. Around this time, this happened. But the reason that I was trying to put that together is to get it in my mind what came first, what came next, and what came next. And so, like when I was trying to remember about him being in jail, I went back and looked at this. Like, where was this and when did that happen? But the other thing, do you guys recall a couple weeks ago when Dr. Bookman was preaching, preaching, teaching, and he said um he was talking about 2 Corinthians, like almost the whole time. And I know y'all thought he was on a rabbit trail. You were like, he's gone, wacko, he forgot we're studying Acts. No, he was talking about the Corinthians because that's where he believes Paul had written the Corinthians. So he was telling you what Paul was saying to the Corinthians based on where he was at the time in our Acts story. So if you look on that timeline, the highlighted bold words are the letters that Paul has written that have been added to our, or not added, they are part of our Bible. And you can see in there where he was at each time that he was writing those books, which was helpful for me to understand what Dr. Bookman was talking about for that matter. So all that background is really just to bring us to where we are in our study today. So Paul is in front of the Jewish council because remember, he was pulled out, preached from the steps, let go, and then we'll see you tomorrow. We want to meet with you in the Jewish council. So we're starting in chapter 23, verse 1. So you can take out your Bibles and read along with me. Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall, for you sit to judge me according to the law, 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? 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. Wow, this chapter just starts in contention. I'll tell you the whole rest of Acts starts like this. I'm having a hard time, are you guys having a hard time stopping each week? Because there's so much like, wait, we can't leave him like this. We got to go to the next chapter. It really, these last few chapters are amazing. But anyway, Paul intently looks to the council. The council we know is the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the High Priests, and they're all in there listening to him. And uh that they have gathered in front to hear him in front of Romans who were watching, right? Because they're the ones who called this meeting. So, men and brethren, he says, that's like coming alongside of them. You and I both know it's easier to influence somebody when we're beside them when we're across from them. Now he's across from them because he's kind of like on a stand, though it's not a trial, it's just a hearing. He's across from them, but he's coming alongside of them by saying, Men and brethren, like I've got this. Um, he starts out by saying, I've lived a good life. Can you imagine? Can you personally imagine standing in front of any crowd and saying, I have lived a good life before God? I'd have a hard time with it, ladies. I don't know about you, but it would, it just really struck me. This guy, the guy who persecuted Christians and drugged them to jail to be beaten and even summed to death, that guy who stood by watching Stephen being stoned to death, that guy is standing up and saying, I have lived a good life. I'd have a hard time forgetting all that. And I think it's what impressed me so much about Paul. He understood that he was white as snow. But his sins were white as snow. He understood that nothing but the blood of Jesus is what matters in these cases. Oh, if I could only live that way every day. But and Ananias commands someone to strike him, right? And now I just want to touch brief on the Ananiases. My computer didn't like it when I typed Ananiases. Has anybody ever noted also noticed that there are multiple Ananiases in our chap in our book of Acts, just this year, right? In chapter five, we had Ananias, the husband of Sapphira, and they lied about how much land they sold or how much money they got for the land, and so they were like killed right there instantly. It can't be that Ananias, can it? And then the next one was in chapter nine. Remember when Paul was blind and he went to Damascus and he got to Damascus? And who was there to tell him his calling in Christ Jesus? It was Ananias, but that wasn't this guy either. And now we have the Jewish chief priest, the highest order of Jewish citizens is Ananias, the high priest. Wow. Sometimes when the Bible just can't come up with a new name, you know. I've had this thought before, like, really marry again? Can we not go there? Like, how much time have I spent studying which James is this? Was I supposed to keep this straight? Was one of them, can you call them the blonde James and the dark-haired James? Did they all look alike? Was one with a beard? Like, I was just really, but doesn't it give you the authenticity of the Bible? Because if it were a fake story, if it were a fictional story, no one would ever use the same name three times in the same section. But it's more believable because that's believable, isn't it? How many people in the room are named? No, I'm just kidding. I was gonna say Linda. How many raise your hand if you're Linda? How about Anne's? Raise your hand if you're Anne. Now add to that the Diane's and the Dianas. It's a lot of the room, isn't it? Anyway, it's it's that's how life is. You run into people with the same name. Anyway, so Paul exclaims, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. For you sit and judge me according to the law, and do you not command me to be struck contrary to the law? Basically, he's calling him a hypocrite. You're like a wall that we've whited over all the stuff. Like Jesus called the Pharisees back in the day. Remember, he called them the whited sepulchres. You're just like something that's all doctored up, but you're not real down inside. I remember when Stephen, I heard David Stephen Davy speak on this, and um, he's got a fantastic sermon series on the chapter of Acts, very, very good, or the book of Acts, I should say. And in this chapter, he says that when Paul said, What you whitewashed walls, Stephen was like, Go get them, Paul. Get it to them, sack them. They deserve this, Paul. And I'm thinking, was that your reaction when you read it? When I read it, I was cowering, like, Paul, dude, this is your chance to like preach, and what are you doing here? But when they ask, Do you revile the high priest? Paul pipes down a bit and says he didn't know that he was the high priest. Some people think he had eye trouble because it's mentioned in other places that he couldn't see things, so maybe he had some eyesight issues and couldn't tell. Um, maybe the priest wasn't wearing his priestly robes since they were out of their chambers. We don't know where this meeting was, but it looked like it was in the barracks, not in their chambers. So it's possible he wasn't wearing all the fancy stuff. It's possible Paul had never seen this priest before because he had been gone for a while. And yet it's totally possible that maybe Paul was being a little snarky. Like, I didn't recognize you as high priest because you were breaking the law, dude, right? I'm sure he said dude, too, but it all looks like regardless. Paul's word turned out to be prophetical because God did smote Ananias a few years later by the hand of the zealots who were tired of Ananias' favor toward the Romans. Okay, moving on. We're going to continue in verse six for all of you who still have your chapter 23 open. But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am being judged. And when he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assemble was divided, assembly was divided. For Sadducees, their Sadducee, say that there is no resurrection, and the angel or spirit, but the Pharisees confessed to both. Then there arose a loud outcry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. Now, when there arose that great dissension, the commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks. So Paul did three things here, in my opinion, to maybe gain a little favor with his listeners there. First, he quotes the law, right? When they accuse him, do you strike the high priest? What does he do in return? Quotes the law that they all would have known you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Second, he calls them brethren. Hey, we're on the same side here. And third, he says, I'm a Pharisee, son of Pharisees. I'm one of you. Isn't it powerful when we give the gospel of Jesus Christ when we tell people we're one of you? Maybe you have a history of being in bars and holding your liquor down, and you say, I used to be just like you. Maybe I don't know what your story is, but doesn't it matter whenever you've been somewhere where somebody is? And I feel like Paul was trying to get them. Listen, because he was a Pharisee, he knew about the disagreement between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And I love that the author of Acts, Luke, I love that he included this in there. Because you know what? I feel like Paul is playing chess and everybody else is playing checkers, right? And so Luke is like, here, let this, I gotta include his thoughts here because I know why he said I'm on trial for the resurrection of the dead. He said that so that they'd go at each other, right? There's an old war saying that when your enemies are killing each other, pull up a chair and pop the popcorn. Okay, maybe I just made that up, but it's a good saying, isn't it? If they're killing each other, just let them have at it, right? But thanks to his resurrection comment, suddenly the Pharisees say, We find no evil in this man. And there arose a great content dissension. So the commander saved Paul by having him removed by force to the barracks. Now I want to talk for a second about the barracks themselves. Now, this is a little rendering, a very simplified drawing of the second temple complex. You remember the first one was built by Solomon, and then the next one was built by anybody? Who? People are saying Herod. Herod did fix it, but who started in the Old Testament when we studied Ezra and Nehemiah? Anybody remember? Yeah, Zerubbabel got, yes, Zerubabel and uh Ezra and Nehemiah all had big parts in getting that second temple built. But then right before the turn of the century, Herod came in and made it into a huge temple complex, trying to impress the Jews and get them all on his side. So this thing was 35 acres inside at the time of the turn of the century. So the barracks were also known as Antonia Fortress, and they were Roman-run. So this was full of Roman commanders, those centurions, all those people that we hear about later in the chapter. They all stayed in these barracks. So in the back section of this drawing, you see it's called Antonia Fortress. Now in the middle of it, you see Holy of Holies. You're familiar with that. On the outside, it's labeled Court of Gentiles, and that's where everybody was allowed to come. But then after that, on the inner side, they had the court of women, and that would be where women, Jews, and Jewish men were allowed to be. And then there was one inside of that that was the Jewish court, and that was for only Jewish men who were purified and they could get there. You remember when Paul was purified? Do you remember how they dragged him out of the inner court to the outer court? Because no blood could be shed on that inner court. They had, they were literally wanting to kill him. So they dragged him out to the court of the Gentiles to do it right there on the temple grounds, which is amazing to me that all that would occur right there. And then, of course, in the Holy of Holies, only the high priest was allowed in there. The Caesar of the time, the Roman government, right, did not look kindly upon governors who could not keep riots from rising. So the barracks were put there to make the commander able to watch over all of the Jews all of the time. Can you imagine if we had the government sitting right here? And they just wanted to watch our every word and hear our every word and see if they needed to step in and get those people under rule. It's interesting that they even needed barracks near there. Remember when Jesus cleansed the temple of the people and he quoted Isaiah 56 and said, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers. Does a house of prayer really need barracks to watch over it? It just tells you how much was going on here that wasn't truly prayer. Other things we've seen in the temple, just in this year of our study, you remember 50 days after the crucifixion, right, at Pentecost was when. Whenever Peter and the disciples led five 3,000, came to know Christ, started talking in tongues, and were filled with the Holy Spirit. Do you remember that from chapter two? And then chapter three, the uh Peter heals the layman at Nichanar Gate, which is the uh from leading from the court of Gentiles to the court of women, if you see it on there. Um, and that was Acts three. And then in 56 A.D., according to our little timeline there, Paul goes to the temple with men, completing his Nazarite vows, and is wrongly accused of defiling the temple from uh Acts 21 last week. Some of you probably recall when the temple was built, Ezra and Zerubbabel built the temple after Solomon's temple had been torn down right before the Babylonian captivity. Well, Herod the Great, trying to win over the Jews, went ahead and expanded it. It took 46 years, according to Jewish, who said it took um Jesus, who said it took you 46 years to build this temple, but I shall rise in three days, right? Destroy this temple and it shall rise in three days. Um, so this is a huge project. But I want to go just a little bit beyond it because it's amazing. How many of you have ever gone to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem up today today, present time? Is it just amazing like to look there and imagine where Satan has come in, right? Because what happened in the 600s? There's a rock there that uh they believe that the Islam believes that Muhammad was raised to their heaven from that rock. Yep, right there. Don't you think that's exactly where Satan would take it? By the way, this was all built on Mount Moriah, which is where Abraham started to sacrifice Isaac. Well, if you've ever read anything in Islam, which unfortunately I did by accident one time, I got a children's book that said spiritually leading children, and it was an Islam book. I had no idea until he killed uh, instead of sacrificing Isaac, he killed Ishmael. And that meant that, you know, that's what is what his required sacrifice was, which is in the Muslim Bible, the Quran, right? They they have they have the same spot that Mount Moriah is important to their thing. Why? Because Satan would love to lead everybody out, but I'm telling you what, they came and then they built this dome of the rock. It's this huge gold-plated nonsense thing on top of what would have been the temple, right? They have a western wall there that they claim, you know, is from this original one, but I think it was all destroyed and they built it up again. But there's plenty of archaeological evidence that it was there. They still have some of the gates. They've dug out so much stuff. We know it was there, but the Muslims believe that it's theirs. And so the Jews and the Muslims are still at war today, right on that exact same spot. I'll tell you, I can't wait for New Jerusalem when the fighting is complete, and as Tara's song today said, the victory is won with Christ. So let's go on. So now Paul's in prison, and I wonder what he was thinking in prison that night. I know what I would have been thinking. I would have been like, man, this isn't what I pictured when I said I was coming to Jerusalem. I really thought these people would listen. I know if they would just listen. Did I mess up and ruin your chance, God, to come in and touch these people? Because I had to let my mouth off? What a wretched man I am, chief among sinners. How will anyone know about Jesus if I'm stuck here in a jail cell? Why did I lose my temper over one little smack? After all I've been through, I couldn't hold it together just for that. I don't think Jesus would have done that. Now I ruined my shot. Anybody else ever felt like that? I feel like Paul in that cell didn't have those thoughts. I feel like he thought, I was here, I said I'd lay down my life, and I am still serving the God I came here to serve. But regardless of Paul's thought, we know that in verse 11 it goes on to say, The following night the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome. Be of good cheer. Aren't those just great words? Wouldn't it be awesome if we were having a bad day and Jesus just showed up right beside us, put his arm around us, said, Be of good cheer. I'm telling you, he already does. Did you know that he told you he will never leave you or forsake you? Do you really hold on to it? He tells us that those who believe in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. Are there verses that you go to that come straight from Jesus that you think I'm holding on to these words? I want him with me in those dark times. One of my favorites is a section from Matthew 6. It goes like this. Therefore I say, these are Jesus' words, by the way. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you'll eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly father feeds them. Aren't you aren't you of more value than them? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin. And yet you say to yet I say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? O you of little faith. Ladies, this time of year, when I see those flowers coming back out again after that dark winter, when I see those birds, can't you hear the birds before the sun is eaten up? They are announcing the day. Let me tell you, they are announcing that God is still in control and still feeding them and clothing them and providing for them. They're alive and so are we. Jesus said, Be of good cheer then, and he still says it today. He also said to Paul, you have testified of me in Jerusalem. In other words, Paul, you were right in coming to Jerusalem. He didn't say that was against my will. He said, You were right in coming to Jerusalem. You will testify of me in Rome. So what he was saying is, you have a future, and it's not just gonna end here in Jerusalem. He didn't say, Why'd you lose your temper, Paul? Why'd you call that high priest a name? Really? Did you have to go there? He didn't say, How come you didn't? Why didn't you just skip Jerusalem altogether? You're always messing up here, Paul. I had something planned for you, and you went the other way. He didn't say any of that, ladies. That's Satan talking inside of my head all the time. But I'm telling you, he's not saying it. Now Paul knew he wouldn't die in Jerusalem and would make it to Rome, fulfilling Acts 9.15, that he would bear Christ's name before Gentiles and kings. Even before a Caesar? Hmm, that's amazing. But outside of jail, trouble was brewing. Let's continue in chapter 23, verse 12. And when it was day, some of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. Now there were more than forty who had formed this conspiracy. They came to the chief priests and elders and said, We have bound ourselves under a great oath, that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Now you therefore, together with the council, suggested the commander they be brought brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him. But we are ready to kill him before he comes near. So forty men got together and said, We're going to kill Paul. They got together with the council, right? The Jewish council. They went to these Pharisees and Sadducees, even the Pharisees who just said he was innocent, they got them like, you know what, let's have this plot. We're going to kill him. Take it out of the Roman control. We don't need to go there. So in Acts, um, but it honestly reminded me of Paul. Or maybe I should say Saul. Remember when he banded together to go kill Christians that didn't deserve it for anything? Back at the beginning of our story, it was recounted last week in Acts 22. He said, I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the counsel of the elders from whom I received letters to the brethren. So he had the whole council on his side, you know, give me these letters and I'll go deliver them so that I can get all these people in jail. He was doing the exact thing. And he went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there in Jerusalem to be punished for believing in the way. So just like Paul had approved, approval, including letters from the council, to bind and deliver the Christians in chains so they could be punished, even leading to death in the case of Stephen. Now Paul is the target as these zealots seek to kill him with approval of the council of elders. But the nephew. Let's go on to chapter 23, verse 16. So when Paul's sister's son heard of their ambush, he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him. So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, Paul the prisoner called to me and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you. Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked him privately, What is it that you have to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they are going to inquire more fully about him, but do not yield to them. For more than forty of them lie in wait, men who have bound themselves by the oath, and they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they're ready, waiting for a promise from you. So the commander let the young man depart and commanded him, Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me. I love the significance of this nephew to me. Who is Paul? Paul's father? I am the son of Pharisees. So who is Paul's sister's father? Likely a Pharisee. We don't know how his family accepted his faith in Christ or what anything, but this is the first time we've heard about Paul even having a family. But the fact that this nephew shows up to me is huge because he could have gone against Paul with all the counsel. He could have been like, whoa, I'm not even related to that guy. Ladies, do you recognize your role and your nephews and nieces and grandchildren? It goes way beyond just their parents here. And this is evident when God would use even a small child nephew. Now I do believe it was a child, not a teen, as some of the commentary said, because why would the commander hold his hand? It seems like he's coming over here holding his hand, like, hey, little buddy, what do you have to tell me? And why would a commander in Rome, why would he have the guts to go listen to a small child tell something? Because God ordained it. Can't you see the Lord's hand all over this? I love it. Because just like that, Paul is being saved. So going on in chapter 23, verse 23, and he called to the two centurions, saying, Prepare 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night, provide mounts to set Paul on and bring him safely to Phoenix the governor.

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Wow.

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470 soldiers around Paul. Why? To beat him? No. To kill him? Nope. To put him on a horse and lead him to safety in some other town. I wonder what Paul was thinking as they gave him a prisoner, a horse to ride. I really hope he was thinking, Thank you, Jesus. I'm so glad you're here with me. It's what I hope all of us would remember to do in such a situation. Continuing on in verse 25, the commander wrote a letter in the following manner. He said, Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Phoenix. So now the commander has a name, it's Claudius Lysias. Um, he says, Greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, coming with troops. I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. And when I wanted to know the reason that they accused him, I brought him before their council. I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. And when it was told to me that the Jews lay in wait for him, I sent him immediately to you and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him. Farewell. Let's just chat about this letter for a second. He says, This man was seized by Jews. Chuck. Okay. He was about to be killed. Chuck. Yeah, that's about right. Um by them. Chuck. Yeah, I agree. Having learned he was a Roman, or no, wait, I rescued him. Kinda. I rescued him to okay, we'll just stop there. And having learned he was a Roman, um what? He's telling the C the Felix that he learned he was a Roman. He skipped that part about Lysias arresting him, stretching him out for flogging, remember? And then the middle of the public eye had all this going on, and then all of a sudden Paul says I'm a Roman because he forgot his Roman's driver's license that day. And so then letting him go and bringing him back in front of the accusing council again, he forgot all the times that he lost control because don't we want to look good in front of other people? He was just trying to look good. He just wanted to look good in front of because really he's sending his problems up the chain to the governor, Felix, right? So he's sending the problems away. So he got to look good where he is, though. My favorite story of trying to look good is so bad, but it's so funny. So we were at a soccer tournament. We have four children. They were very small at the time. The older two played tournament soccer, you know. So we'd travel and go these places. And we had at the time a one-year-old and a three-year-old in a double stroller. And then we had would have been uh six and nine-year-olds were playing on these fields. There were thousands of people. The fields went on for acres and acres, right? And we were finishing one game for, say, the six-year-old, and we had to walk two miles to the next game for the nine-year-old. And so, but they were back-to-back games, which meant that one of us had to leave early and get that one there, and the other one had to wait and all the stuff. So I stayed, I decided I would stay. And I'm helping my daughter get all their little tiny polypockets out of the grass and get all the snacks put back together. And I sent my husband with the one-year-old and the stroller and the older child to go play. And so they left. And so they went down to that field and I'm watching them to see where we go next. And I'm walking, I'm pushing the stroller and and uh because I'm leaving much later. I he's out of you now. Or no, I'm not in, he's pushing the stroller, sorry. I'm walking with the three-year-old and the polypockets and the backpack and the six-year-old or whoever just played, right? And we're walking along, and suddenly this field, there's games going on both sides. You're basically going between crowded people, and I look, and the game right next to me just stops playing. And I'm like, what's going on? Like the whistle blows, three mothers run onto the field. I'm like, what? Why are they all running onto the field in the middle of somebody must be hurt? You know, so I'm really watching what's going on, and I'm walking with my 30-year-old, like, holy cow, that looks serious over there. Suddenly they turn, they turn around, they pick up this baby from the middle of the field, and I recognize my one-year-old. When they say, Whose baby is this? I'm horrified. I had to get permission from my husband to tell this story because he was still pushing the stroller a mile away. So I walk out to the center of the field and I take my son from them and I say, I know his mother. We all want to look good. It wasn't a lie. I didn't know who she was, but I can relate a little bit to the commander. In his final part of the letter, I realized it was something to do with their law and nothing charged, deserving death or chains. I sent him to you and told his accusers to tell you what their problem was. So moving on to verse 31. Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. And the next day they left the horsemen to go on with him. So the first stop was about 35 miles. So I'm glad that Paul was on a horse. Uh, and then they returned to the barracks. But when they came to Caesarea, which was another 27 miles further, they had delivered the letter to the governor. They also presented Paul to him. And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. When he understood that he was from Cilicia, he said, I will hear you when your accusers also have come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's praetorium. The lady, I don't ladies, I don't know about you, but when I read that, it reminded me of so much of Jesus' life. Then it did you recognize words in there that were just so similar to just what we just studied last year in John, or what we're about to hear on Friday night at our Good Friday service. Now, Felix had asked what province Paul was from because he wanted to make sure that he was legitimately the authority to hear that case. But the whole sa the whole scene reminds me of the scene from 30 years prior. Both Jesus and Paul's uh hearings were happened in Jerusalem. Both of them were in front of the council, both were smote in the mouth by the high priest's order. Caiaphas was the one in Jesus' time, but Ananias was the one in Paul's time. Both were in the praetorium, it says in 23 verse 29. But this praetorium is in Caesarea, which is really where the Herod's praetorium was. But he had kind of a Maro lago down in uh Jerusalem, his second home down there. He had another praetorium, which is Latin for palace. And so he had another one down there, and that's where Jesus was held, but the same word anyway. Um, both of them, you saw the quotes, we find nothing wrong with this man not deserving death. Both threatened to be scourged, which can cause permanent disabilities or death, but Jesus was scourged in part of his crucifixion. Both had what I call teen Jews wanting to kill them and teen Rome seeing no reason, and both appeared before the Roman governor. Jesus appeared before Pilate and Paul before Felix. Paul appealed to Caesar in hopes to be saved, but the Jews appealed to Caesar in hopes to have Christ killed. Both scenes, in my opinion, happened. So that the gospel of Jesus Christ could get to you and get to me. In order to save the narrative of the story, I saved the principles for last instead of inserting them in between on the whole way. So I'll just tell you number one, in the first ten verses when we talk about Paul was being struck in front of the Jewish council and then pulled out of the mayhem and jailed by the Roman commander. The principle is that sometimes what feels like prison is truly his protection. It reminds me of the time that Corey Tenboom with her sister Betsy were in the concentration camps. Remember when Betsy prayed and said, Thank you, God, for these fleas? And it felt like prison to most people, but she recognized that that was the Lord's presence and keeping the guard away, guards away from them. Sometimes it's his protection. Have you ever had a time when it felt like prison, but later you realized the Lord was either protecting you from something or saving you for something? Personally, I had a couple miscarriages, and I've often thought how I wouldn't even know my children if those other babies had been born. I'm very thankful for God's plan, way over anything I predicted. Uh, the second section, inside of jail, Jesus visited Paul and told of his future, but outside of jail, a conspiracy to kill Paul was thwarted by the commander. The principle to me is Jesus still visits his followers even today when we read his word. Keep a list of your favorite verses close at hand for when you need to hear his voice in the midst of your mayhem. Because I can guarantee you you will have mayhem. You will have those moments when you feel alone and you feel like, How could you do this to me, God? And you'll recognize his hand when you look for it. In the third part, the commander takes Paul with his escort to Governor Felix, who says he'll deal with the matter when Paul's accusers arrive. The principle is kings are in the hands of God, even the unbelieving ones. Ladies, we've already seen it in the Bible. King of Persia, whose name was Cyrus, was the one who issued a proclamation allowing the Jews who had been in the captivity, the Babylonian captivity, to return to Jerusalem. It was all done by allowed by the king of Persia, some the guy named Cyrus, who the Lord named 500 years before he was even king. It's an amazing story. But Cyrus never came to believe in the Lord that we know of, anyway. He ordered the return of gold and silver vessels that were looted by King Nebuchadnezzar from Solomon's temple. He ordered them to be returned and he sent a letter along with Zerubbabel to protect him along his way and to have all the surrounding nations bless Zerubbabel and give him stuff to put in the new temple. Isn't it amazing what our God can do? Xerxes, another Persian king who allowed Esther to save her people, which kept the remnant alive just long enough so that we could know Jesus Christ one day. And now here in our chapter, our Roman commander, Lysias, as well as Governor Felix, are playing key roles in saving Paul. I just uh can you imagine if Paul had not been saved? How much of the Bible would be missing? Have you thought of this? I thought about the beginning of the day saying, you guys, I want you to come up with your favorite verses that Paul has written. And then I thought, no, to it would distract everybody, you know, because we'd have so much fun doing it. But I just wrote down a few of mine. And uh just for fun. These are the ones that were written after this Acts 23 stuff happened. Okay. I pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which go. God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3 14. Is that anybody's life verse? How about for grace you have been saved by faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Anybody have that one? Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. That's Titus 2.11. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept my faith, he says in 2 Timothy 4.7. Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus, he says in Philippians 1.6. Not that I have already obtained all this or have already arrived at my gold, but I press on to hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold for me in Philippians 3.12. And of course, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4.13. Where are we limiting our thinking as if God only moves in the hearts of true believers? Ladies, he's got the whole world in his hands. Are we not so grateful? Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you so much for this morning. Thank you that you are always with us, Lord, and thank you that we can always open your word and hear you say, be of good cheer. We know you are here, and we are looking forward to spending eternity with you. It's in Jesus' name we pray all things. Amen.