God Our Defender Series

God Our Defender

Text: Acts 23:23-35

Introduction

1. “God’s protection is a covering that NO weapon can break through.” (David Webb).

2. “This I declare about the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. 3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” (Ps. 91:2-4).

3. The life of the Apostle Paul is proof that we can trust God to protect and defend us in our greatest time of need.

4. There are 30,000 of God’s promises in the Bible, and many of them have to do with God’s protection.

5. Acts 23:23-35

Transition: Let’s follow Paul on the road to Caesarea.

I. On the Road to Caesarea

A. The previous section tells us about an assassination plot against Paul. So, now the commander steps into action. Luke tells us in vv. 23-24, “Then the commander called two of his officers and ordered, “Get 200 soldiers ready to leave for Caesarea at nine o’clock tonight. Also take 200 spearmen and 70 mounted troops. 24 Provide horses for Paul to ride, and get him safely to Governor Felix.”

1. To say that the commander took matters into his own hands here is an understatement.

2. He orders two of his officers to send out 200 soldiers, two hundred spearmen, and 70 horsemen. So, a total of 470 men to protect Paul from the would-be assassins.

3. Therefore, it would 40 against 470 trained Roman soldiers. Again, it was like trying to stop a tank with a broom handle!

4. The commander wanted to make sure that Paul would not be harmed under his watch.

5. In the meantime, this must have been quite amusing to Paul. Remember he had just had a personal visit from the Lord guaranteeing that he would go and preach the gospel in Rome.

6. With the Lord on his side, Paul would have walked into an army, knowing he wouldn’t get a scratch.

7. But the commander wanted to make sure, from his point of view, that Paul made it to the governor.

8. This reminds me of the story of Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Once after a tremendous battle, one of Jackson’s officers asked how he could be so calm when things all around him were in chaos. Jackson, a strong Christian, responded, “My faith, tells me that I am as safe on the battlefield as I am in bed.”

9. If God is on our side, we have nothing to fear. It has been said that God works in mysterious ways. In this case He used the Roman army. We must always remember that God’s ways are not like our ways. He can do things in ways that we cannot.

10. We need to learn to trust God and stop trying to fix everything ourselves.

B. Now, in order to fill in the governor, the commander writes him a letter to explain the situation. We find the letter in vv. 25-30, which reads, “Then he wrote this letter to the governor: 26 “From Claudius Lysias, to his Excellency, Governor Felix: Greetings! 27 “This man was seized by some Jews, and they were about to kill him when I arrived with the troops. When I learned that he was a Roman citizen, I removed him to safety. 28 Then I took him to their high council to try to learn the basis of the accusations against him. 29 I soon discovered the charge was something regarding their religious law—certainly nothing worthy of imprisonment or death. 30 But when I was informed of a plot to kill him, I immediately sent him on to you. I have told his accusers to bring their charges before you.”

1. Now, you might me asking yourselves how Luke knew what was in the letter? Well, let me tell you, he didn’t guess. One thing we know about Luke is that his facts were impeccable. In fact, once a professor with a PhD in Roman history told me Luke’s facts were so accurate that they had to re-write history books because archeology proved Luke right and the books wrong.

2. Luke used many sources to ensure to what he was writing was accurate. First of all, this letter would have been read out loud in court when Paul appeared before Felix.

3. Furthermore, as a Roman citizen, Paul would have been given a copy of the letter as a courtesy.

4. The person to whom the letter was written was Felix, the Roman governor over Judea from A.D 52 to 59.

5. This is the same position that was held by Pontius Pilate when Jesus was crucified.