WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:28.399 There are three chapters in the book of Acts that cover the same topic. 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:42.000 Acts 24, Acts 25, and Acts 26 all describe the historical accounts of the Apostle Paul's trials before Roman officials. 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:48.719 They're slightly different as the officials change from scene to scene. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:54.399 The most detailed account is in chapter 24, which we looked at last Sunday. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:06.000 So the two chapters before us this morning, 25 and 26, repeat the same topic, just with different characters and a few different minor details. 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:10.959 There's nothing really new in chapter 25 and chapter 26. 00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:13.840 So I'm going to preach the same sermon from last Sunday. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.760 No, not going to do that. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:20.400 Thankfully, Scripture is living and active, right? 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:28.000 There's always something new to challenge us, even if we are familiar with the material. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:47.359 In this case, when we're dealing with similar trials, just with different people hearing the arguments, we should start by asking, why would Luke, the author of Acts, why would he put three different trials back to back to back? 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:56.239 One with Felix in chapter 24, one with Festus in 25, and then another with Festus in Agrippa in 26. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:01.920 Why would he do that back to back to back with very little difference between them? 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.519 Is it just to show us the progression of events? 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:12.800 And if so, what's the spiritual significance of a progression of events? 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:19.039 We might find some answers, I think, by asking another question. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:28.639 What is Luke doing by including repetitive trials in the story of Christ's work in his world? 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:31.280 What is Luke doing? 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:44.719 So asking, why would Luke put these accounts here is an attempt to understand Luke's mind, to understand his thought process, to get into his head and think, what was he thinking and doing this? 00:02:46.000 --> 00:03:00.319 But asking, what is he doing encourages us to step back and to look at the whole picture of Acts and its historical context to make sense of the final result. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:07.840 What part do these trials play in Luke's account? 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:14.719 We don't know because we can't talk to Luke. 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:19.039 So we're left to try to determine what are the possible answers. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.879 There are many, many possible answers. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.639 I think we can summarize them maybe in three different ways. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:32.240 The first is by looking and thinking at this in a very simple way. 00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:36.479 Guys in the booth up there, my remote is not working. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:37.919 So I don't, there we go. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:39.039 Here's a simple way. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:40.080 Thank you. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:42.240 What is Luke doing? 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:50.479 Maybe he's just showing us how Paul gets from Jerusalem to Caesarea to Rome. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:54.319 Just wants us to know, yeah, he's gonna end up in Rome at the end. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:56.240 Here's how that happens. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:01.039 That's a very simplistic way of looking at what Luke is doing. 00:04:01.360 --> 00:04:10.479 There's a more complex way, and that is that he might be showing us the struggle that the early church had in contending for the faith. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:20.000 I mean, we would think since our faith began in Jerusalem, that might be the best place for us, but that's where Paul got arrested. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:20.720 Right? 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:26.160 That's where he had to be rescued by the Romans because they were afraid he was going to be torn to pieces. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:35.600 So maybe what Luke is doing is showing us that the early church had a struggle in its early decades. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.600 That's possible. 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:42.160 We go from simple to complex to, I don't know what the next word is. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:44.079 Maybe we can use the word intricate. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:57.519 And that is that Luke is showing us the power dynamics between the scenes, behind the scenes, not between, behind the scenes of the history of the early church. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:10.160 It's this last intricate aspect, I believe, that is the most subtle yet intriguing element of these two chapters, Acts 25 and 26. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:36.639 Around the world, at every moment, complex webs of relationships and interactions between individuals, between groups, even between nations and empires exist where one or more entities try to exert power or control. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:43.519 We hear this in the news almost every single day in our country. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:58.800 Whether it's through monetary means, economic means, whether it's through military means, there are activities going on day after day where one nation attempts to control or exert power over another. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.959 Luke integrates these power dynamics into these two chapters. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:17.279 I think he does that to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ and to show us what he's doing. 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:22.399 But let's get a sense of who Luke writes about in this chapter. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:26.639 There are four or five primary individuals. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:30.639 We might say there are three primary individuals and then two secondary individuals. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:38.000 So we have Felix in chapter 24, we have Festus in 25, and we have Agrippa in 26. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:40.000 Here's what that looks like. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:51.600 Felix on the left-hand side of this image was the individual in power in the Judean area when Paul was arrested. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:55.519 He was not a very nice guy. 00:06:55.759 --> 00:07:08.800 The Roman historian Tacitus describes his rule as cruel, and that with lust he wielded the power of a king, but he did so with the mentality of a slave. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:17.600 Now, I don't know, I don't really know what Tacitus meant by the mentality of a slave, but I think we get the picture that he's kind of putting him down really harshly. 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:22.240 Tacitus does not think well of Felix. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:35.360 In fact, Felix was partly responsible for the eventual revolt of the Jewish populace against Rome that began in AD 66 and ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:38.639 Kind of all started with Felix's rule. 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:54.480 When Nero succeeded Claudius as the Roman Emperor, Felix was recalled to Rome because Nero thought that Felix had reacted too violently to a Jewish uprising. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.759 So he replaced him with a man named Festus. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:06.720 But before we go on from Felix, you might remember from last week that Felix was married to a woman named Drusilla. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.360 Except that wasn't just a simple, ordinary marriage. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.879 Drusilla was Felix's third wife. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:17.120 He'd gotten rid of the first two. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:28.560 And Drusilla was a famously beautiful woman who was married to another man, a different man named Herod, not of the Herodian family. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:37.440 And Felix wanted her as his wife, so she convinced him to divorce her husband and marry him when she was 19 years old. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:44.639 That woman, Drusilla, had a sister named Bernice and a brother named Agrippa. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:50.960 In between Felix and Agrippa, we have Festus. 00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:53.039 He's just the transition. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:55.840 Felix is just there for a little bit of time. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:57.360 He has to replace Felix. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:09:02.080 Felix is recalled because of the Roman Emperor's lack of trust in him. 00:09:02.480 --> 00:09:04.480 He's brought back to Rome. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:09.679 He's replaced with this man named Festus, who we don't know exactly how long he ruled. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:12.240 It was probably anywhere between two and five years. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:17.039 We do know that Festus died unexpectedly in about AD 62. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:22.399 And he was then replaced by Agrippa II. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:27.519 Agrippa is the grandson of Herod the Great. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:34.960 You know Herod the Great because he's the one who ordered the killing of all of the infants in Bethlehem. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:44.639 Herod the Great had a son named Herod Agrippa, and you know Herod Agrippa from the book of Acts in chapter 12. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:50.480 Herod Agrippa was the one who ordered the beheading of the Apostle James to please the Jews. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:59.600 Agrippa I then had children by the name of Drusilla, Bernice, and Agrippa II. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:07.600 Agrippa II was 17 years old when his father died, and maybe you remember how his father died. 00:10:07.759 --> 00:10:19.279 He was giving a speech before the populace, before all of his subjects, and they were adoring him, and they shouted out in his speech, This is the voice of a god, not a man. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:22.720 And that made it feel pretty good. 00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:29.679 And so God struck him with worms, Luke says, and he died. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:43.279 When Agrippa II was only 17 years old, and Agrippa II was good friends with Emperor Claudius in Rome, but he was too young to really rule well. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:58.720 So a few years later, when he was about 21 years old, Claudius gave him the authority to rule over a small territory, and gradually that expanded to where he ruled over the same general territory as his father, Agrippa I. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:09.279 Bernice, who's mentioned here in chapter 26, was married to a different Herod. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:22.159 And when her husband died, she went to live with her brother, Herod Agrippa II, and it was widely believed that they lived together in an incestuous relationship the rest of their lives. 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:42.399 But it's important to note that Herod Agrippa II held authority over Jerusalem. 00:11:43.519 --> 00:12:01.360 He was the one that controlled Jerusalem, he was the one that controlled the Temple Mount, and he was a shrewd politician who somehow convinced the Jews that he supported them and their religion while also being a strong supporter of Imperial Rome. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:09.440 So he was playing both sides at the same time and doing it very well for quite a long time. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:28.799 I bring all of this to bear in our minds because these individuals and the and the circumstances surrounding them would have been fairly common knowledge to many Christians of Luke's era, especially those with any sense of Judean or Syrian history. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:35.519 So that all adds intrigue to the question: what is Luke doing? 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:46.240 I suggest he's guiding us to understand the unseen power dynamics at work for Christians in an evil world. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:53.360 So as we think about that, let's start with how the world thinks of Christians. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:12:59.200 To do that, I think it's important to begin at the end of Acts 25. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:00.559 Acts 24, I'm sorry. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:02.799 Acts 24, verse 27. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:05.679 How does the world view Christians? 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:19.120 Well, since Felix left Paul in prison for two years, I think that suggests that Christians are generally viewed as relatively unimportant. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:28.639 He can just leave him there, sitting there for two years doing nothing. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:42.559 That says, at the very least, that Paul, as an apostle, as a Christian who follows Jesus, is not that significant to the Roman governor. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:45.840 That's where we start. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:54.080 And hopefully that sets our attitude and our perspective in the right place, in a place of humility. 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:01.919 Jesus said, if they don't accept me, they're not going to readily accept you. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:05.759 That's where things start. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:12.960 From there, as we get into chapter 25, we begin to see that the world views Christians as political pawns. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:32.559 It says here that after Felix was replaced by Festus, the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged Festus, asking as a favor in verse 3 of chapter 25, that he summoned him to Jerusalem. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.679 The favor here is literally a grace. 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:45.120 Something that is not deserved, but they're hoping that Festus is going to look favorably on them and do them a favor. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:59.759 The chief priests and the important men asked Festus to establish this new governmental relationship between the Roman governor and the Jewish people on a solid foundation by granting them a gracious request. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:03.279 What is that gracious request? 00:15:04.159 --> 00:15:05.600 We want to kill him. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:10.639 But that's what they want to do. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:23.600 They want him to bring Paul down to Jerusalem for another trial, but they have a notion that they're going to ambush them on the way so that Paul can be killed. 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:32.960 Within the first couple of weeks on the job, Festus is presented with Paul, a Christian, as a political pawn. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:36.960 He wasn't willing to grant their request. 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:39.840 And Luke doesn't tell us why. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:43.679 However, Luke does describe the situation fairly well. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:46.559 Paul has been imprisoned in Caesarea for two years. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:49.519 The Jewish leaders still haven't gotten over him. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.879 He really is stuck in their craw, hasn't he? 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:58.559 Whatever Paul did, they can't forget him and they want him dead still two years later. 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:04.320 Felix didn't do anything for them, so now they turn to Festus. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:13.279 And they use political tactics to influence him to act in a way that eliminates Paul. 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:17.440 A week and a half later, everyone is back in Caesarea. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:22.639 And a proper hearing can begin in verse 7 and verse 8. 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:30.080 Luke merely summarizes the arguments since everything has already been laid out in chapter 24. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:36.799 What's interesting here is that Paul refuses to be a political pawn. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:37.759 Look at verse 9. 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:43.360 But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, he wasn't wishing to do them a favor first. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:48.240 But now, about 10 days later, he is wishing to do them a favor. 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:55.919 He wants to grant the Jews a favor, so he asks Paul where he wants to have his trial. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:01.039 But Paul knows he won't receive a fair trial in Jerusalem. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:04.559 And he also knows his rights as a Roman citizen. 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:13.519 So if their charges, if the Jews' charges can't be sustained against him, then the Jews have no legal right to demand a trial in Jerusalem. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:17.839 So Paul refuses to give in to Jewish demands. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:27.359 The conflict between Paul and the Jewish leaders was theological, not legal. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:34.240 Remember, Paul said, I'm on trial for the hope of the resurrection of the dead. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:36.079 So he refused. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.640 He declined to be transferred to Jerusalem. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:46.000 His case was brought before the highest courts in the Judean province of the empire, and he believed that's the right place to be tried. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:49.279 So he refused to be a political pawn of the Jews. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:54.880 But he also refused to be a political pawn in the hands of the new governor. 00:17:55.839 --> 00:18:00.640 He insisted and was certain of his own innocence. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:02.559 He'd done nothing wrong. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:06.400 And his innocence, he believed, could be proven in any court. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:18.559 So Festus, as the Roman governor, should have shown the courage, the strength, the leadership to determine innocence in this case. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:28.960 But he either couldn't see that innocence, or he refused to carry out justice in Paul's case. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:36.559 And so Paul asked to have his case heard by the emperor. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:19:01.839 The fact that the world views Christians as political pawns as nothing new in Acts, I've already mentioned that Agrippa's father had James beheaded, Luke says specifically to plead, repeatedly, opposed or recruited Christians ever since then. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.279 But notice that the Apostle Paul would have nothing to do with that kind of treatment. 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:13.039 He refused to be a political pawn because he served Christ alone. 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:23.920 There's another way here in this chapter that we begin to see how the world views Christians, and that is as citizens who are innocent. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:26.079 They've done nothing wrong. 00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:27.920 Paul's done nothing wrong. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:33.839 He hasn't committed treason against the empire as they as they claimed in chapter 24. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:40.480 But there's still something wrong because Paul isn't let go. 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:50.799 It's not until the end of chapter 26 that we hear for the first time from King Agrippa that Paul could have been set free. 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:54.000 But he's been jailed for two years. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:20:06.079 And he will continue to be incarcerated, at the very least, under house arrest until the end of his life, when he's beheaded by the Emperor Nero in Rome. 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:10.480 An innocent man charged with guilt for being a Christian. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:22.799 Friends, we can be completely innocent of wrongdoing, obeying the laws of the land that govern us, yet still face the same kind of treatment as those who do wrong. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:25.920 Why is that? 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.640 It's because of the power dynamics at work in the world. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:41.200 As citizens of heaven living in a fallen world, we are seen as strangers, as aliens, as threats to a world system. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:48.799 Luke repeatedly demonstrates that Paul and his companions are innocent. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:21:00.000 They're Christians who are innocent of upsetting the Roman Empire because they're not political threats, but they are unexpected threats. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:14.559 They threaten to undo the Roman system through allegiance to another Lord, through other sets of standards, of character, of living, of working, and of relationships with other people. 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:29.519 That term meant something utterly different to first century Christians than it often does to us. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:36.480 For first century Christians, Caesar was Lord of the Empire. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.319 The emperor was considered a son of the gods. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:44.240 And he demanded compliance and subservience. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:49.519 So refusal to submit to Caesar's lordship was treason against the empire. 00:21:49.599 --> 00:21:51.680 It was punishable by death. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:58.240 Christians weren't seen as threats to Caesar's rule over his political empire. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.440 They weren't planning to overthrow. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.440 Government because Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.240 Jesus said to Pilate, If my kingdom was of this world, my servants would be fighting. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.200 They're not fighting, so my kingdom is not of this world. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.279 They're obedient citizens, innocent of any wrongdoing. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:17.279 That's the Apostle Paul. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:23.920 But becoming a Christian in the first century meant that you were declaring that Jesus is Lord. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.640 He is the Christ, the Messiah. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:29.359 He is Lord, not Caesar. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:33.680 Yes, they obeyed the emperor whenever possible. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:39.680 But Christ was Lord, and he received the ultimate allegiance and the ultimate obedience. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:43.680 These Christians bowed to Jesus, not to Caesar. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:51.039 And so the threat that Christians posed to the Roman Empire was one of ultimate allegiance. 00:22:51.920 --> 00:22:56.079 It said to Caesar, you are not the son of the gods. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:57.920 You are not Lord. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.240 Jesus is the Son of God. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.000 Jesus is Lord. 00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:07.279 And so our hearts and our minds are directed and commanded by him, not Caesar. 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:13.200 Hearts, minds, lives, convictions were submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:27.119 And so for a first century Christian, becoming a Christian meant shifting allegiance from Caesar, the supposed son of the gods, to Jesus, the true Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.920 That is how Christians posed a threat to the Empire. 00:23:34.400 --> 00:23:37.039 My friends, it should be no different today. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:52.720 We are not a threat to political systems under the influence of the Prince of Darkness, except that our ultimate allegiance and submission is to Christ the Lord and how we live our lives under his guidance. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:02.319 But that means we will always be seen with a hint of suspicion by the world. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:09.839 Because that's part of being in the world, but not of the world. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:15.039 That's what comes with being citizens of heaven, where our true home is. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:18.960 That's what comes with proclaiming Christ as Lord of all. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:28.319 So that leads us to another perspective that the world has towards Christians that we're nuts. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:32.000 Crazy. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.400 We're out of our minds. 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:44.160 This is shown in Acts chapter 26 when Paul is turned from making his defense to preaching the gospel. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:51.279 And Festus shouts out, Paul, you're nuts. 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:53.759 You're out of your mind. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:56.720 Your great learning has driven you mad. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:05.200 Festus can't imagine a crucified Messiah or a man risen from the dead. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:16.640 The world doesn't know how to handle us because it senses a tension between innocence and this feeling of threat. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.000 And often it's the feeling of threat that prevails. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:27.839 Because the powers of darkness ruling this world know that the message of Christ as Lord will put an end to their reign of terror. 00:25:29.039 --> 00:25:34.880 Notice how the Apostle Paul defends himself in each trial, beginning in chapter 24. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:37.839 He says in chapter 24, verse 1. 00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:41.200 Not 24, 1. 00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:46.079 I wrote down the wrong verse. 00:25:51.200 --> 00:26:00.160 He has a hope in God, verse 15, which these men themselves accept that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:07.759 And you remember it's that judgment between the just and the unjust that began to make Felix a little a little uneasy, a little uncomfortable. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:15.039 Then in chapter 25, we see in verse 19 that the message is the same. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:21.119 Certain disputes about a certain Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul regarded to be alive. 00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:24.160 In chapter 26, it's the same thing. 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:28.720 Verse 6, Paul is on trial because of the hope in the promise made by God. 00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:30.480 What promise is that? 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:33.839 Verse 8, that God raises the dead. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:39.119 Paul asserts his hope in the resurrection before King Agrippa. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:43.440 And it's then that Festus shouts out that Paul is out of his mind. 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:51.519 Paul may be crazy in the minds of the Roman authorities. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:56.559 But he had done nothing wrong that was deserving of death. 00:26:57.119 --> 00:26:58.319 Or in prison. 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:14.000 Do those who know us well know that we proclaim the message of Christ, crucified, buried, and risen again, and yet see us as innocent of any wrongdoing? 00:27:17.119 --> 00:27:25.119 We should expect that our message sounds strange because it truly is from another world. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:26.400 Is it not? 00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.160 It must be because there's no hope in this world. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:35.920 Hope must come from outside of this world. 00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:38.240 And so it did. 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:21.359 And this resurrected Lord is Jesus the Messiah, in whom we must believe to be saved. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:32.400 But in a world under the power and the authority of the evil one, everyone will see that message as ridiculous unless God Himself has started to move them to believe. 00:28:32.559 --> 00:28:35.440 That is the power dynamic in which we exist. 00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:39.920 It's the same power dynamic that Paul and the early Christians experienced. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:50.960 God is doing something, God is working, but everything here is in a different system opposing that, and they are going back and forth trying to see who can exercise power, who can exercise control. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:29:03.359 And we are seen as pawns then in the middle of that spiritual and political struggle for power, regarded as relatively insignificant and innocent. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:19.279 At the same time, we are often viewed with a strange suspicion and threat because of our innocence and God's indwelling presence in the Holy Spirit, because God's holiness in us speaks out, shouts out against the evil in our world. 00:29:20.240 --> 00:29:30.880 It sees us as a threat because of our allegiance wholeheartedly to Christ, and meanwhile, we proclaim a message that is otherworldly, leaving unbelievers to think that we are out of our minds. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:43.200 Notice that during these early years of the church, the believing community did not challenge the political authority of the Roman Empire. 00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:50.720 They didn't try to overthrow the ruling powers, they did not attempt to Christianize the pagan empire, they did not seek a higher status. 00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:54.799 Instead, they proclaimed Christ and him crucified, buried, and risen. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:29:58.480 The power of God for salvation to those who are believing. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:07.759 And that idea brings us to the counter power dynamic that we need to consider for a few moments. 00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.319 And that is how God views the world. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:19.440 How does God look at this world? 00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:21.680 I think we can summarize it. 00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:30.400 God sees this world as an evil system ruled by the Prince of Darkness, opposed to God. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:40.319 In and through that evil empire, that evil system. 00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:49.599 Said more simply, Satan is the evil yet powerful bully running the world. 00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.319 The bully thinks he's in charge. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:31:02.400 The bully exercises all the power that he can, but unbeknownst to him, God is using his bullying to bring about God's purpose, not the bully's purpose. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:06.160 And in the end, God's going to deal with the bully. 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:13.440 Satan's evil plans feel and may appear to succeed. 00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:19.680 Paul's kept in prison for years, but they will ultimately fail. 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:30.240 Martin Luther was right to compose the lyrics, for still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. 00:31:30.640 --> 00:31:39.359 His craft and his power are great, and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. 00:31:41.519 --> 00:31:44.160 But God is not on earth, is he? 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:47.200 See the power dynamics? 00:31:48.400 --> 00:32:01.839 And so Luther went on to say, and though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:08.880 For God has willed his truth to triumph through us. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:17.680 What a picturesque description of the power dynamics at work. 00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:22.240 That's what Luke is showing us in these trials. 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:31.759 From the human perspective, the governments, the political system, the world is in control, it is thriving, it is succeeding. 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:36.720 But Luke wants us to know, yeah, God's just using it. 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:39.200 Not really that powerful. 00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:40.640 I love the way that J.C. 00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:42.400 Ryle said it. 00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:48.079 The wickedest enemies of God are only axes and saws and hammers in his hands. 00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:53.920 And they are ignorantly instruments for doing his work in the world. 00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:58.799 Notice chapter 27, verse 1. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:11.359 And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. 00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:18.880 They're headed to Italy because they're going to have their cases appealed to Caesar. 00:33:19.119 --> 00:33:21.680 That was Paul's right as a Roman citizen. 00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:29.119 But he appealed in chapter 25 because Festus was inclined to take him back to Jerusalem, where he would not receive a fair trial. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:43.359 So Paul's in a situation where crooked attorneys were twisting the truth, wicked accusers were making side deals with other people to kill Paul, and corrupt governors are seeking bribes. 00:33:44.960 --> 00:33:49.279 That feels like Paul is on the bad end of the deal. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:59.759 He's caught in the middle, relatively insignificant, but being used as a political pawn, innocent of wrongdoing, but still a threat, and believed by his judges to be out of his mind. 00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:04.400 The other apostles are strangely absent. 00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:07.759 We don't hear from them. 00:34:09.199 --> 00:34:22.639 Because the focus is on the apostle Paul, who is imprisoned without proper hearings, without justice, and in this power struggle, the evil one appears to be winning if he can just keep Paul in prison. 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:27.599 But God has other plans. 00:34:32.960 --> 00:34:35.039 We tremble not for him. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.719 His rage we can endure. 00:34:39.119 --> 00:34:42.320 For lo, his doom is sure. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:46.800 One little word shall fell him. 00:34:47.920 --> 00:34:53.360 If you know Luther's hymn, that one little word is not a spoken word, but a person. 00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:55.920 The Lord Jesus Christ. 00:34:56.960 --> 00:34:59.679 And Luke has already shown us God's plans. 00:34:59.840 --> 00:35:05.360 The evil world system is throwing its weight around as if it holds Paul's life in its hands. 00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:12.400 And these trial scenes, if they were all we had, it would feel as though Christianity hung in the balance of Paul's imprisonment. 00:35:12.559 --> 00:35:19.039 But we know otherwise because Jesus has already told Paul what would happen in chapter 23, verse 11. 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:25.039 He said to Paul, as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify about me in Rome. 00:35:25.440 --> 00:35:28.079 Look how creative the Lord Jesus is. 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:32.880 He gets his enemies and unbelievers to send Paul to Rome for him. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:41.920 But even more significant is that Jesus has risen from the dead. 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:46.400 And he has declared that Caesar is not Lord. 00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:53.920 But he is Lord, and he is building his church, which requires spreading the good news of his resurrection to the ends of the earth. 00:35:54.239 --> 00:36:00.159 Pentecost foreshadowed it, Paul's imprisonment continues it, and we carry it on today. 00:36:00.559 --> 00:36:03.519 Friends, nothing surprises God. 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:09.280 In the power dynamics that exist in this universe, he rules. 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:15.920 Nothing overcomes his purposes, not even when it seems all hope is lost. 00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:32.000 And so when it does feel, when we do think that hope appears to be lost, we must learn to think properly about how God works, about how he functions in relation to the power dynamics of our world. 00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:33.840 I love this way of looking at it. 00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:48.079 John Blanchard said, we don't get at a proper understanding of God by reasoning or by arguing, thinking from the events of our world, the events that happen in nature, and then go to God. 00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:49.599 No, no, no, no. 00:36:49.840 --> 00:36:51.599 That gets you twisted up. 00:36:51.920 --> 00:37:05.599 Whenever you think about the realm of this world, you need to start with God, with theology proper, with who God is and how God works, and then you need to work from Him out to the rest of the world and his circumstances. 00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:13.440 Because then you will see the true power at work. 00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:27.440 You begin to see that it's not about wicked feelings and his cruelty. 00:37:28.559 --> 00:37:35.280 You begin to see that it's not about Festus and his twisted desiring of bribes. 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:42.079 You begin to see that it's not about Agrippa and his immoral lifestyle. 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:49.280 But you begin to see that God uses those whom the world considers unimportant. 00:37:51.039 --> 00:37:56.880 In fact, God uses the evil people to serve his purposes. 00:37:57.840 --> 00:38:05.360 The Roman authorities served Paul's purpose of proclaiming the gospel ultimately to those in Caesar's household. 00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:16.320 So while it may seem like we are just pawns manipulated by the latest politicians, they are actually in God's hands, meant to fulfill his purpose. 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:27.840 And in God's great irony, those who seem to be most out of their minds for trusting in a crucified, buried, and risen Lord become the privileged vessels for God's great work. 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.079 So how does this impact Luke's readers? 00:38:43.920 --> 00:38:51.280 If Luke is showing us these power dynamics going on behind the scenes, how should it impact us? 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:54.960 To paraphrase G. 00:38:55.119 --> 00:39:02.480 Campbell Morgan, the Christian who measures things by the circumstances of the hour is filled with fear. 00:39:03.119 --> 00:39:07.679 But the one who sees Christ enthroned and governing has no panic. 00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:15.039 Paul has no panic about it being in prison. 00:39:16.320 --> 00:39:20.800 In the next few chapters, we'll see that he has no panic about being in a shipwreck. 00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:33.840 The world tussles with God to be in control, and Satan uses the world and everything in it to attempt to dethrone Christ as Lord. 00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:42.800 But as William Cooper so wisely said, events of all sorts creep and fly exactly as God pleases. 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:47.599 Because he's the one who directs all things. 00:39:48.639 --> 00:39:56.079 So, fellow Christian, lift up your head from your circumstances and see Christ your King. 00:39:56.320 --> 00:40:02.000 Trust in Him as the one who directs all things and rest your hope in Him. 00:40:03.679 --> 00:40:04.320 Let's pray together. 00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:09.679 Lord Jesus, we confess that we too often look around us. 00:40:09.760 --> 00:40:11.920 And like Peter, we begin to sink. 00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:40.480 Fill us with your spirit to remind us that you are directing all things and that you are moving everything, including us in our lives, to the end which you have already determined, in which the Lord Jesus will return as a mighty warrior to make all things right. 00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:46.000 Lord Jesus, strengthen us for the weary days. 00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:48.960 Strengthen us for the frightening days. 00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:57.039 And enable us to present everything to you in prayer and supplication and thanksgiving. 00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:02.719 Trusting that you will do all things right. 00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:07.360 Lord, work in our world. 00:41:09.360 --> 00:41:12.480 Use even evil and corrupt people. 00:41:13.280 --> 00:41:16.639 Use your unimportant people to accomplish your end. 00:41:18.639 --> 00:41:22.480 Enable us to praise you each step of the way. 00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:23.440 Amen. 00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:29.199 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:36.239 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:40.559 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.