Acts 25:1-12

Acts 25:1-12

Sermon preached on November 5, 2006 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.


Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (April 25, 1900 – December 15, 1958) was a brilliant Austrian physicist noted for his work on the theory of spin, and in particular the discovery of the Exclusion principle, which, according to Wikipedia, underpins the whole of chemistry. Pauli had some rough edges to him and he could be hard on students and colleagues at times. One of the things he's famous for is an expression that he used to describe theories that were total nonsense. He would say about such a theory,

"It's not even wrong."

By that he meant that the theory wasn't just a little off; it was so far off the mark that it was utter foolishness. A wrong answer can sometimes be close to the right answer. If an answer is supposed to be -5 and someone leaves out the minus sign and puts 5 for the answer, you could say that it was close. That's the way it is with some wrong answers, they're close, they're in the right ball park. But other theories are so far from the truth that Pauli referred them as being, "not even wrong." They weren't even close enough to the truth to be referred to as being wrong.

Some of the ideas that human beings have about sin are like that. They're so far from the truth that they're not even wrong—they're utter nonsense. For example, people sometimes think that a little sin is not that big a deal. We refer to some lies as 'white lies' – as if a lie could be 'white' or good, as if it didn't put one in danger of hell's fires. But that's not even wrong. As James tells us in James 2:10,

"For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles at just one point
is guilty of breaking all of it."

People also think that it's sometimes better to sin than not to sin. They think that they'll be better off by sinning. They think that it's sometimes better to tell a little lie to save themselves some embarrassment. But it's never better to sin. As we read in Romans 6:23, (REB)

"For sin pays a wage,
and the wage is death,"

People also think that you can sin just a little bit and it'll be okay, that you can pull back later and get yourself out of it. In 2 Timothy 2:25f the apostle Paul wrote that God's servant must gently instruct those who oppose him,

"in the hope that
God will grant them repentance
leading them to a knowledge of the truth,
and that they will come to their senses
and escape from the trap of the devil,
who has taken them captive to do his will."

You can't just sin a little and then easily pull back.

Those things are so far from the truth that they're not even wrong. Such thoughts totally misunderstand the nature of sin. Sin in all its forms is exceedingly horrible. It deceives, it entraps, it corrupts, it destroys. Let us never forget that. Sin, in any of its forms, is exceedingly dangerous and deadly.

One of the places I'd never want to work is those labs where they work with deadly viruses and bacteria—like the Center for Disease Control. In those labs they take all kinds of precautions to protect themselves against the deadly bugs. And more or less, they are safe. But when people dabble in sin, play fast and loose with it, they think that they have all sorts of protections, like the people in those secure labs. But the reality is that they don't have any protection. When you fool around with sin you're totally exposed and you can be sure that sin is going to do its best to have and destroy you.

How horrible sin is.

It is exceedingly dangerous. Our text shows us some of the horrible effects of sin and, hopefully, will help us to hate sin and put it to death in our lives. There are three things in our text that show us something about the horrors of sin.

The first horrible thing we see about it is that

sin lasts, it grows, it spreads.

You know the old saying,

"Time heals all wounds."

As time goes by wounds heal. But that's not necessarily true with sin. Time doesn't necessarily diminish or make sin go away.

Consider the situation here. Over two years had passed since Paul had left Jerusalem. He had been in jail in Caesarea that whole time. You would think that the Jews who had hated Paul would have calmed down, that their anger would have subsided. But that's not the case. Even though a great deal of time had gone by we see that Paul's opponents hatched a plan almost exactly the same as the one that was in force two years earlier. They asked Festus to transfer Paul from Caesarea to Jerusalem so that they could ambush and kill Paul. The hatred that was in them two years earlier was still there. Time had not diminished it. As Lenski writes, (Acts, p. 989)

"their hate is as bloodthirsty as ever."

It's important that we take note of this because people often underestimate the staying power of sin. The truth that we see here is that sin, by nature, does not diminish over time. It's not the nature of sin to diminish over time and go away.

I think the reason we don't appreciate this truth as much as we should is because of the working of God's grace. Sometimes God works in people over time, works such grace in them that their sin does diminish and even disappear. For example, remember how Esau was going to kill Jacob because he stole his blessing? In Genesis 27:41 we read,

"Esau held a grudge against Jacob
because of the blessing
his father had given him.
He said to himself,
'The days of mourning for my father are near;
then I will kill my brother Jacob.'"

On the advice of his mother Jacob fled to her brother Laban in the land of Haran. Remember how Rebekah told him that she would send for him when his brother's anger had subsided? But she never did send for him. So when Jacob came back to the land of Canaan, what, after almost 20 years, he was afraid of his brother Esau. In Genesis 32 we read that he sent messengers ahead to greet Esau. When the messengers returned, they told Jacob that Esau was coming to meet Jacob with 400 men. How did Jacob react? We read, (Gen. 32:7-8)

"In great fear and distress Jacob
divided the people who were with him
into two groups,
and the flocks and herds and camels as well.
He thought,
'If Esau comes and attacks one group,
the group that is left may escape.'"

He thought that Esau was going to kill him. But we know that when Esau came near he ran to meet Jacob, embraced him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. (Genesis 33:4) Esau's anger was gone.

But what we must understand is that that's not the nature of sin. That was the result of God's grace working in Esau for Jacob's benefit. God's grace made Esau's anger go away. It was the great working of God in Esau's life that subdued and rooted out the sin that was there.

But that's not how sin itself works. Given time and left unchecked, sin will grow and abound. That's the true nature of sin. The truth about sin is shown to us in those who were opposed to Paul. Time didn't take away their anger and hatred. The true nature of sin is to endure. We see it in Paul's opponents.

We see it as well in the commander of David's army, Joab. You'll remember how Abner had killed Joab's brother Asahel in the battle of Gibeon. Remember how Asahel was a fast runner and how he pursed Abner and how Abner had urged him to turn back but Asahel refused? (2 Samuel 2:22) So Abner struck him down and killed him. Later, David made peace with Abner, and Abner was supposed to be safe. But we read, (2 Samuel 3:26f)

"Now when Abner returned to Hebron,
Joab took him aside into the gateway,
as though to speak with him privately.
And there, to avenge
the blood of his brother Asahel,
Joab stabbed him in the stomach,
and he died."

That shows the true nature of sin and what time does to it. Sin lasts and grows. Apart from the great grace of God—time does not diminish it.

Hebrews 12:15 talks about a root of bitterness, and it refers to it, not as diminishing over time, but of growing. It says,

"See to it that no one
misses the grace of God
and that no bitter root grows up
to cause trouble and defile many."

If sin is in your heart, it doesn't naturally soften over time.

There are two lessons for us here.

First, don't let any form of sin linger inside you.

Don't let anger, bitterness, envy or hatred dwell in you. If you do, time will make it grow. Once it takes root it will be very difficult to root out. Sin is like a cancer that grows and gets more ugly and deadly over time. Just like cancer in our bodies, the earlier it is detected, the earlier it is dealt with, the greater the chances for survival, the greater the chances of becoming cancer free.

So, too, with sin. It's so much easier to deal with before it takes root in your life. Don't give it a foothold.

Secondly, when you're dealing with the enemies of the gospel, don't underestimate the evil in them and think that time has made it go away.

Paul would have been foolish to consent to go to Jerusalem. His enemies would have tried to kill him. Abner was foolish to trust Joab. In Matthew 10:16 Jesus said to His disciples,

"I am sending you out
like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes
and as innocent as doves."

We are sent out among wolves. Never forget that. If you see evil in an enemy of the gospel, don't just assume that after awhile time has made it go away. No. Be as shrewd as snakes. Don't underestimate how sin can linger in men's hearts. Be on your guard against it.

The second thing in out text that shows us how horrible sin is—is the fact that

sin is corrupting.

How you need to avoid even the beginnings of sin. Sin is not something that you can dabble with immunity. Quite the contrary, sin is to be avoided because it corrupts. It corrupts us and it corrupts others.

Consider how it corrupts those who dabble in it.

Isn't it interesting that the worst people in this chapter are the Jewish religious leaders. The first thing we read about them in this chapter is that they tried to set up Festus so that he would transfer Paul so that they could set up an ambush and murder him. When that failed, they brought many serious charges against him, but couldn't prove any of them. Their charges were all lies. Lenski writes, (Acts, p. 989)

"The highest dignitaries of the Jewish Court, the supreme representatives of the Jewish religion, the greatest guardians of righteousness and law, ever stoop to the most vicious crimes. Pagans could have done no worse."

The great question is: how could religious leaders become so corrupt? The answer is sin. Sin corrupted them. That's what sin does. If you commit one little sin your conscience will bother you. But if you don't repent of it and turn from it, the next sin will be easier to commit and won't bother your conscience nearly as much. Sin corrupts.

We see this in the story of David as well. Remember when King Saul was chasing David, trying to kill him, how Saul went into a cave to rest, and David and his men were hiding farther back inside the cave? David's men urged him to kill King Saul, but David did not. Instead he went up to the sleeping king and cut off the corner of his robe. Later, however, David felt bad about it. In 1 Samuel 24:5 we read,

"Afterward, David was conscience-stricken
for having cut off a corner of his robe."

The fact that he had done it bothered David a great deal. Yet later, after David gave sin a foothold in his life, after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba—how things had changed! Then he thought nothing of murdering his faithful soldier Uriah. His conscience didn't bother him at all. He was hardened in his sin, so much so that when Nathan the prophet came and told him the story of the rich man who had many sheep and how when guest came he took the only ewe lamb that the poor man had and served it to his guest. If David had any conscience at all he would have said,

"Oh, oh. This is about me!"

But no, David didn't even see himself in the story. Instead he burned with anger toward the man and he said, (2 Samuel 12:5)

"As surely as the LORD lives,
the man who did this deserves to die!"

What a change? How could someone go from being conscience-stricken about the corner of a robe to being so callous to adultery and murder? It's because sin corrupts. It blinds, it hardens.

Sin can corrupt the most religious people and make them do horrendous things. Perhaps they have a good motive—they want to protect their religion. But sin is so corrupting that it can take the best motives and use them as an excuse for the most horrible of evils!

These religious leaders have such a hatred of Paul that they will do anything to rid the earth of him. James Montgomery Boice writes, (Acts, p. 395)

"The Jews is this setting illustrate what I would call the corrupting effects of religion when it is not actually in contact with God… religion can… be very corrupting. This is because if the life of God is not actually present in the worshipper, then his or her religion can become a mere veneer, hypocrisy, and can be used as an excuse for doing what is evil. History teaches us that some of the worst things that have ever been done have been done by people who claimed they were doing the will of God—that is, by religious persons."

Beware of sin, of dabbling in it. It is corrupting. It'll make black seem white and white black. It's so blinding that when you're doing the worst thing you can possibly, committing horrible sins against God, it can make it seem like you're doing God a favor. Sin corrupts.

The second thing we see about sin's corrupting influence is that

it corrupts others.

James Montgomery Boice says about the Jewish religious leaders, (Acts, p. 395)

"we see a growth of corruption. In Acts 23, where the plot to murder Paul was first launched, we find that it was the zealots who were responsible. Now, in Acts 25, we find that the leaders are initiating the very thing they were only tangentially involved in earlier.

This is how wickedness spreads, and it is why we always have to be on guard against it."

We know that our good behavior in Christ is something that should be an example for others to imitate. In Philippians 4:9 the apostle Paul wrote,

"Whatever you have learned
or received or heard from me,
or seen in me—
put it into practice."

We are to behave well so that others can follow our example.

But what we should realize is that if we behave badly—it's much easier for others to follow that example. A bad example is much easier to follow than a good example. We can follow a bad example so easily because it caters to our old nature.

Why did Adam eat the forbidden fruit? It was because Eve had already eaten it. If she hadn't already eaten it, it is doubtful that Adam would have eaten. He followed her in sin.

Why did both criminals who were crucified with Jesus mock Him? We don't read about them mocking each other. No. But they mocked Jesus? Why? It was because the chief priests and the elders and the Roman soldiers were doing it. The criminals mere followed their example.

Why did Ananias and Sapphira both lie to the Holy Spirit about the amount of money they received from the land they sold? We don't know which one first got the idea of lying to the church first, but whoever did corrupted the other one.

Sin is corrupting. Not only does sin corrupt those who dabble in it, but it spreads to others. Christians, don't you sin. If you do, you'll corrupt others.

The third thing we see about sin the horribleness of sin from our text is that

sin deceives.

Sin is such that it blinds you to the horror of your actions. It makes you believe you're innocent when you're not. It makes you believe that you're not guilty of sin when it fact you are incredibly guilty.

Consider the indifference of Festus.

Festus asked Paul if he was willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial there before him. What was going on? Festus must have known about the history of the case and the earlier plot to ambush and kill Paul. He must have known that the reason Paul was in Caesarea was because his life was in such great danger in Jerusalem. It seems inconceivable that he didn't know about Claudius Lysias' letter. Festus was a take charge, capable administrator, who seemed to be right on top of things. He would have known the history. So why would he ask Paul if he was willing to go to Jerusalem?

Perhaps the key lies in verse 9. From it we learn that Festus had a great character flaw. He wanted to please the people. We read,

"Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor…"

In legal matters there is no place for favoritism. James Montgomery Boice writes, (Acts, p. 396)

"Any giving of favors in this situation was in reality a perversion of justice and the abuse of an innocent man."

Festus was certainly not interested in justice. Lenski writes, (Acts, p. 995)

"All the evidence was in, no more could be hoped for. The case had been pending for two years. But instead of rendering the one and only verdict demanded by the evidence, i.e., the lack of it, Festus proposes to continue the trial by transferring it to Jerusalem."

One commentator has suggested that Festus was aiming to give the Jews what they wanted—the death of Paul. It is quite possible that Festus saw that the solution to this whole problem, and a way to gain favor from the Jews, was to give them Paul. If Festus could get Paul to agree to go to Jerusalem for trial, and then if along the way Paul was assassinated, Festus could say, (see Boice)

"Oh, my! That is too bad. But it isn't my fault. Paul agreed to go. But now there's nothing I can do. The sad affair is over."

He would have considered himself guiltless because he hadn't killed Paul with his own hands. Yet he would have been responsible for his death.

But perhaps that is being too harsh on Festus. But at the very least he was indifferent to the danger that Paul was in. He was indifferent to justice. He was indifferent to Paul's suffering and confinement.

Whichever way it was, Festus was guilty of great sin and yet he seemed oblivious to it. I'm not even sure he saw the irony in King Agrippa's statement to him at the end of Acts 26. (verse 32) After King Agrippa and Bernice and Festus heard Paul's defense and preaching, King Agrippa said to Festus,

"This man could have been set free
if he had not appealed to Caesar."

Festus probably nodded in agreement—totally oblivious to the fact that it was his indifference to justice that make Paul appeal to Caesar! It was Paul's only choice. If he had of agreed to go to Jerusalem he would have been killed.

Festus was guilty of great sin yet he was oblivious to it. Sin deceived him.

How easy it is for us to sin.

Remember how the writer to the Hebrews put it? In Hebrews 13:3 he wrote,

"Remember… those who are mistreated
as if you yourselves were suffering."

If people are mistreated and you don't have sympathy for them and seek to help them, seek to relieve their suffering and stop the mistreatment—you're guilty of sin.

Are people mistreated at your work place? Are people mistreated in organizations you belong to? Are people in your neighborhood mistreated? How easy for you to turn a blind eye to it. How easy for you to ignore it. How easy for you to sin. Sin deceives. It will make you believe you are not sinning when in fact you are sinning greatly. Festus knew that Paul was being mistreated. Yet he did not give him justice. He sinned greatly. Sin deceives.

You who are Christians must fight against temptation and sin. If you give in to it, it will be nothing but harmful to you. Sin promises pleasure and joy. People sin because they think they'll be better off by sinning. But sin doesn't deliver on the goods that it promises. It lasts. It corrupts. It deceives. It brings misery and suffering. As Proverbs 6: 27-28 says,

"Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?"

You cannot. If you give in to temptation and sin it is going to hurt you. Hate temptation. Hate sin. Recognize it for what it is. Fight against it. Beware as Hebrews 3:13 warns us, of being,

"hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

Fourthly, for Christians,

how thankful you ought to be for Jesus. He gives us the victory over sin! He saves us from sin!

Why can you have victory over sin? Because of Jesus and His power. In Jesus we have many promises. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us,

"And God is faithful;
he will not let you be tempted
beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted,
he will also provide a way out
so that you can stand up under it."

But what happens if we don't draw upon Jesus and His strength? In 1 John 2:1 the apostle John wrote,

"My dear children,
I write this to you
so that you will not sin.
But if anybody does sin,
we have one who speaks
to the Father in our defense—
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world."

In Jesus we have the forgiveness of sins. As John said in 1 John 1:9 says,

"If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness."

In Psalm 103 we read, (verses 8f)

"The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion
on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust."

What a Savior we have in Jesus. He suffered for our sins. He died for them. How we should love Him and how we should hate sin—for it was for our sins that He suffered on the cross. Let us never harbor sin or let it gain a foothold in our lives.

Lastly, for those of you who are not Christians.

You should recognize the horror of sin and see in Jesus the only way to escape its clutches.

Sin lasts. It corrupts. It deceives. But even more than that—it destroys. If your sins aren't taken care of by Jesus—you'll be lost forever. Romans 6:23 tell us that, (REB)

"For sin pays a wage,
and the wage is death,"

Sin brings death, death in all its fullness. The first death is physical death and the second death is to be cast, body and soul, into the lake of fire. That's the wages of sin.

Don't go there. To avoid it you need Jesus. Ask Him to save you. Ask Him to forgive your sins. Ask Him to rescue you from your sins. He will accept you and do it. As He said in John 6:37, (REB)

"All that the Father gives me
will come to me,
and anyone who comes to me
I will never turn away."

Go to Jesus. Find the forgiveness of sins in Him. Find eternal life and joy in Him.

• Acts 25:1-12