Acts 22:22-29
Sermon preached on October 16, 2005 by Laurence W. Veinott.
© Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be
found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.
Most of
you know the difficult time I went through two years ago.
It's not easy to have your ministry, your integrity and
your credibility attacked. It was a very rough period. But
God gave much grace and it wasn't nearly as hard as it
could have been. Part of that grace came through many of
you. God's grace through you made that time bearable. Most
of you know that.
But what most of you probably don't know was that there was
another example of God's grace that was very unusual.
Besides all the encouragement and support that you gave
me—God also sent grace from a most unexpected source.
One day, someone who had nothing to do with our church took
Marg aside and spoke words to her that were incredibly
uplifting.
Now I don't know where this person is spiritually. But
considering what the person said, we realized that there
was nothing non-Christian or off-base about the
encouragement. Indeed, what made it particularly helpful
was that it was from a different and a much broader
perspective—a perspective I had not even considered.
Often we view things in a certain context—sometimes
very narrowly. We view it in terms of how it affects us, or
in terms of how it affects a particular congregation. There
is nothing wrong with looking at things from narrow
viewpoint, as long as it's not the only viewpoint. But
often, wider viewpoints are much more valuable. For
example, it's often helpful to view thing from the
perspective of God's glory. That viewpoint is much more
valuable than looking at things from a narrow perspective
and how they affect an individual.
This person's encouragement was like that—it wasn't
from the perspective of God's glory, but it was from a
broad perspective that I hadn't considered. It was very
helpful and encouraging to look at things from that
perspective. I remember being
absolutely shocked at where that encouragement had come
from. If at
a point before that someone had told me that great
encouragement was going to come from such a source—I
would have said,
"You don't know what you're talking about. That will never happen."
But
it happened. God sent an instance of His grace through a
completely unexpected source.
That's exactly what we see in our text. The great truth we
see here is that
God
sometimes sends His grace to us in the most unexpected of
ways.
God
sometimes sends help for His people from the most
unexpected sources. His help, encouragement, comfort can
come from somewhere where we least expect it.
We have two examples of this in Acts 21 and 22.
First,
just when Paul was going to be torn apart by the angry mob,
the Roman soldiers intervened and saved Paul's life.
It's
ironic that the Romans saved Paul.
Rome was no friend of Christianity. Rome
crucified Jesus. Rome often cooperated in the persecution
of Christians.
Acts 8 tells us
that after Stephen was killed, a great persecution broke
out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the
apostles were scattered abroad throughout Judea and
Samaria. That could not happen without the cooperation of
the Romans. It was the same way with Herod's persecution
that we read about in
Acts 12. Herod
had James put to death with the sword and seized Peter as
well. Herod was not an autonomous dictator, he ruled by
Roman permission. So Rome had to cooperate in these
persecutions. Later in history Rome turned to direct
persecution. Under various emperors Christians were greatly
persecuted.
So it's ironic that here we see Roman soldiers rescuing
Paul. Of course, when they rushed to his rescue, they
didn't know he was a Christian, they were just trying to
maintain
public order.
Nevertheless, God's hand was in it and he used the soldiers
to save Paul.
But as things developed, it seemed that Paul had
gone
from the frying pan into the fire. This
happened when
the
commander ordered Paul to be flogged.
The
commander didn't understand what the uproar was about. In
order to find out the truth he orders Paul to be
flogged and interrogated.
What we should understand here was that it wasn't an
ordinary flogging that was going to take place. An ordinary
flogging was where the prisoner was given a set number of
lashes. In
2 Corinthians 11 Paul
detailed some of his sufferings for the gospel. He began
with the statement, (verse 24)
"Five
times I received from the Jews
the
forty lashes minus one."
In
Deuteronomy 25:1-3 the
Mosaic law laid down the maximum number of lashes a person
could receive. Philip E Hughes writes, (2 Corinthians)
"The typical scrupulosity of the rabbis where the letter of the law was concerned led to the custom of inflicting one less than the forty stripes to ensure that the prescribed maximum was not by miscalculation exceeded and the sacred law infringed."
But that's not what was going to take place here. It wasn't flogging with a set number of lashes. The flogging was to be part of an interrogation. In verse 24 we read that the commander ordered Paul to be,
"flogged
and questioned
in order
to find out
why the
people were shouting at him like this."
John Stott refers to it as a 'ghastly
ordeal' and F.
F. Bruce writes, (Acts, p. 445)
"The scourge (Latin flagellum) was a fearful instrument of torture, consisting of leather thongs, weighted with rough pieces of metal or bone, and attached to a stout wooden handle. If a man did not actually die under the scourge (which frequently happened) he would certainly be crippled for life. Paul had been beaten with rods on three occasions (presumably at the hands of Roman lectors), and five times he had been sentenced to the disciplinary lash inflicted by Jewish authority, but neither of these penalties had the murderous quality of the flagellum."
It is quite likely that Paul would have died or been gravely injured under this torture. Paul had already told the Romans the pertinent information that they needed to know. He had told the commander who he was, where he was born and what he believed. Under torture, Paul had nothing more to reveal. But the Roman interrogators would not know this—so as torture progressed they would have kept notching it up, looking for more information. Paul might not have survived.
But here again God had grace for Paul from another most unusual source. By birth he was a Roman citizen. John Stott tells us that citizenship in the Roman empire tended to be obtain
"either by right (for those of high status or office) or by reward (for those who had served the Empire well). It was passed on from father to son (which was the case with Paul); it could also be bought, not with a fee but with a bribe to some corrupt official…"
So Paul's birth as a Roman citizen comes to his aid. God sent him grace through Roman law and justice.
Thus the great lesson for us here is that
we have a wonderful God who never runs out of ways to help us.
Remember when David was being pursued by King Saul and Saul had him trapped and was closing in to capture and kill him. In 1 Samuel 23:26f we read,
"Saul
was going along one side of the mountain,
and
David and his men were on the other side,
hurrying
to get away from Saul.
As Saul
and his forces were closing in on David
and his
men to capture them,
a
messenger came to Saul, saying,
'Come
quickly!
The
Philistines are raiding the land.'
Then
Saul broke off his pursuit of David
and went
to meet the Philistines."
Consider how God arranged it. He used the Philistines to
protect David. Israel's enemies invaded the land at just
that time in order to save David. It was the same with the
messenger. God used him to protect David. The messenger
arrived at just the right time to enable David to be
spared. That was an unusual and unexpected way to save
David.
Consider how God protected
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Their
help came from a completely unexpected place—from
inside the fiery furnace. God didn't save them from the
furnace, He saved them within the flames. Right after they
were thrown into the furnace we read that,
"King
Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet
in
amazement and asked his advisers,
'Weren't
there three men that we tied up
and
threw into the fire?'"
They replied that there were. King Nebuchadnezzar then
said,
"Look!
I see
four men walking around in the fire,
unbound
and unharmed,
and the
fourth looks like a son of the gods."
This was deliverance in a completely unexpected
way—at least to King Nebuchadnezzar, because he had
earlier declared that if they were cast into the fiery
furnace that no god would be able to rescue them. (Daniel
3:16)
We see this time and again in Scripture. When
Joshua faced
the great walls of Jericho, God made them collapse.
When
Goliath threatened
the Israelite army, young David, armed only with a
slingshot, defeated him. David struck him with a stone and
then killed him with his own sword. The very weapon that
Goliath planned to use against David, was his undoing. When
Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrians during the reign
of King
Hezekiah, in one
night one angel put to death 185,000 of them.
Peter was in
prison, and God sent an angel to lead him out.
Paul was in
prison, and God sent an
earthquake to open
the prison doors. (Acts 16)
Now we're not sure that God will always rescue us from
death or even from lesser forms of suffering—God
willed that
Stephen enter
glory by being stoned to death. Tradition has it
that
every one of the apostles, except
John, died a martyr's death. Tradition tells us that the
apostle Paul also died for his faith. Throughout history we
have example after example of Christians suffering greatly
for their faith. 1 Peter speaks of this and tells us that
it is often God's will for His people.
But the point I'm making is that you are in God's hands and
that you are ultimately safe. Nothing
can touch you apart from His will and that if troubles
come—grace will be there too—grace to bring you
to glory or grace to help you endure.
Part of
our problem when we're in trouble is that we can't see
where help can come from.
Sometimes
when they are in trouble God's people look around them and
all they can see is danger and trouble. They're like
Elisha's servant at Dothan. When he got up in the morning
and looked out and saw the Syrian army surrounding the city
he was extremely troubled. He thought they were lost. He
said to Elisha, (2 Kings 6:15)
"Oh, my
lord, what shall we do?"
He didn't see the help that was there for them. It was only
when Elisha prayed for God to open His eyes that he saw
that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire
around Elisha.
Believers in trouble are often like the Israelites as they
began to leave Egypt. They camped by the Red Sea and then
saw the Egyptian army marching out after them with all
their horses and chariots. They looked around and thought
that their situation was hopeless. They didn't trust God.
Instead they became terrified and said to Moses,
"Was it
because there were no graves in Egypt
that you
brought us to the desert to die?
What
have you done to us
by
bringing us out of Egypt?
Didn't
we say to you in Egypt,
'Leave
us alone;
let us
serve the Egyptians'?
It would
have been better for us
to serve
the Egyptians
than to
die in the desert!"
They thought their situation was hopeless. Yet the waters
of the Red Sea, which at first seemed to many to be
something that hemmed them and kept them escaping from the
Egyptians—became the very instrument that opened up
and allowed them to pass, and then closed on the Egyptians.
God rescued His people in a most unexpected way, using a
most unusual instrument—the waters of the Red Sea.
Often grace will come from a completely unexpected
source—and that should
open your eyes so that you will give God much thanks for
His grace.
I read a story once of how a
spider saved a
Christian who was being hunted down in North Africa from
certain capture. Pursued over a hill and through a valley
with no place to hide, he fell exhausted into a cave,
expecting to be caught. Awaiting his death, he saw a spider
weaving a web. Within minutes, the spider had woven a
beautiful web across the mouth of the cave. The man's
pursuers arrived, but on seeing the unbroken web assumed it
impossible for him to have entered the cave. Later that
believer exclaimed,
"Where God is, a spider's web is like a wall. Where God is not, a wall is like a spider's web."
God used Paul's birth as a Roman citizen to be a great means of grace to him. Know assuredly that if God has determined to rescue you—nothing can stop Him and He can use the most unlikely and unexpected means to save you.
You should never doubt God's ability to help you.
He can send help from the most unexpected quarter. When He was here on earth Jesus described Himself as the, (John 10:11)
"Good
Shepherd."
And that's exactly what He is. How wonderful He is, how
great His care over his people.
If you're ever in trouble, know that you are in His hand,
that He loves you greatly—and that if it is not His
will to rescue you—that will be your entrance into
glory. Know that if He has determined to save
you—nothing can stop Him. You should have great trust
in God.
The second great lesson we learn from this incident is that
it's
proper for you to make use of the laws that protect us.
Paul was
a Roman citizen and he knew that what the Roman soldiers
were planning to do was illegal. So he spoke to the
centurion and said,
"Is it
legal for you to flog a Roman citizen
who
hasn't even been found guilty?"
Paul appealed to Roman law and justice to save him from the
flogging.
Paul could have thought,
"Well, I'm a citizen of heaven. I'm not going to claim to be a Roman citizen. That would be a cop out. I'm not going to mention it."
Paul didn't do that. He appealed to the law for protection. It completely turned the tables on the Roman commander. Once he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains without a trial, he became afraid. John Calvin writes,
"For at least a time there was no greater crime than the violation of the liberty of the Roman people. The laws of Valerius, Porcius, Sempronius, and others like them, forbade anyone to inflict punishment on the body of a Roman citizen with the command of the people. The privilege was so sacred that they considered it not only a capital, but also an inexpiable offence, for a Roman citizen to be beaten."
What we must understand is that God gives us grace through the institutions that He has set up.
I remember hearing a story that illustrates this truth. A Christian was struggling in the ocean because he had been washed overboard or because his ship sank. He cried out, "God, save me!" A few minutes later a helicopter came and dropped a life line to him. But he ignored it and cried out, "God, save me." Next a ship came and threw him a line, but he ignored it and said, "God, save me." Then he drowned. When he got to heaven and met God he asked God why He hadn't save him from drowning. God said,
"Well, I sent the helicopter and the boat."
We need to make use of the means that God gives us. God sends His grace through them. We need to recognize that.
The third great lesson we learn from our passage is that
you are to be active, in using your mind and all your resources to promote the success of the gospel.
Paul was not a fatalist. Paul did believe that God had a plan and that He controlled all things. You only need to read Romans 9 and Ephesians 1 to know that. For example, in Ephesians 1:11 Paul wrote,
"In him
we were also chosen,
having
been predestined
according
to the plan of him
who
works out everything
in
conformity with the purpose of his will."
But the fact that God had a plan
did not make Paul a fatalist. Paul did not believe that
human beings are powerless against fate. He did
not have an attitude of
resignation and
passivity as he
lived his life. Paul didn't say,
"Well,
whatever is going to happen is God's plan, I'll just go
with the flow."
Quite
the contrary, Paul worked hard at changing things.
Paul knew that God's plan worked out through our
efforts—that God uses means to accomplish His
will. He
didn't want to be scourged and interrogated so he told them
about his Roman citizenship.
We see this in other areas of his life. Paul wanted to be
holy. So what did he do? He worked hard at it. In
Philippians 3:12 he
wrote,
"I press
on to take hold of that
for
which Christ Jesus took hold of me."
Paul
wanted other Christians to be holy—so
what did he do? In
Colossians 1:28-29 he
wrote,
"We
proclaim him,
admonishing
and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
so that
we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
To this
end I labor,
struggling
with all his energy,
which so
powerfully works in me."
Paul
wanted people to do saved, so
what did he do? He preached to them. In
1 Corinthians 1:17 Paul
said that Christ sent him,
"to
preach the gospel"
Paul also prayed for those he preached to. This is evident
from
1 Timothy 2:1f where he
wrote to Timothy,
"I urge,
then, first of all,
that
requests, prayers,
intercession
and thanksgiving
be made
for everyone…
This is
good,
and
pleases God our Savior,
who
wants all men to be saved
and to
come to a knowledge of the truth."
Paul also asked that others would pray for him. In
Ephesians 6:19-20 he wrote
to the Ephesians and said,
"Pray
also for me,
that
whenever I open my mouth,
words
may be given me
so that
I will fearlessly make known
the
mystery of the gospel,
for
which I am an ambassador in chains.
Pray
that I may declare it fearlessly,
as I
should."
Paul
was not a fatalist. He worked hard. He prayed hard. He used
the gifts and abilities that God gave him because He knew
that God's perfect plan is worked out through the
activities of God's people.
Peter taught
the same thing. In
2 Peter 3:11-12 Peter
talked about God's plan for the end of the earth, how it
will be destroyed with fire. Then he wrote,
"Since
everything will be destroyed in this way,
what
kind of people ought you to be?
You
ought to live holy and godly lives
as you
look forward to the day of God
and
speed its coming."
We speed the Second Coming by being holy and doing the work
of Christ. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones says
that this means that we must not think of the coming of the
end of the world only in terms of time, rather, (Sermon on
2 Peter 3:11-14)
"it is a question of moral conditions. The end will come when the moral conditions are such as God deems to be necessary. Well, we can hasten that by preparing ourselves, by preaching the Gospel, by telling others about Him."
We are part of the means that God uses in bringing about the Day of Judgment. That Day is determined—but we can hasten its coming.
So you Christians are not to be fatalists. God works His plan through you.
What a wonderful God we have. What a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus Christ. He can send His grace to us in the most unexpected ways. He can use the enemies of the gospel to rescue His people from other enemies of the gospel—He used the Romans to rescue Paul from the Jewish mob. He can use things that happened long ago, things that we had no control over, like Paul's father becoming a Roman citizen and that being passed on to Paul, to save His people. Not only that, but He sends us grace so that we can make a difference in this world—grace so that we can carry out His gracious purposes in bring to pass His glorious plan.
Those of you who aren't Christians—you need the grace of Jesus.
Without His grace your enemies will overthrow you. Satan will arrange it so that you are cast in hell's fires. With the grace of Jesus things that happened long ago, over which you had no control—like your being born a descendant of Adam and the sin that you inherited from him—will seal your doom. Without the grace of Jesus, you will not make a difference in the world for God's glorious plan. Rather, you will be one whose life will have been totally wasted because you're not living for Jesus. One day the writing will be on the wall for you as it was for King Belshazzar, (Daniel 5:26-27)
"MENE,
MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN"
You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. God
has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an
end.
Don't let that happen to you. Go to Jesus, for protection
and safety, for life and joy, for eternal happiness.
God