I. PRAYER
II. Introduction
a. A recent study revealed that non-Christians have a very tough time understanding what Christians mean when some they use some of the phrases that the church often takes for granted. 63% of non-Christians don’t know what Christians mean when they talk about the Gospel. 75% of non-Christians don’t know what John 3:16 is.
b. Add to that phrases like "I’ve been convicted", or "get into the Word, and non-Christians hear these quite differently. The problem is that many unbelievers think that since they don’t understand the christianese, then they don’t belong in the church.
c. On the flip side of this though, the same study found that we in the church don’t know how to share our faith with others. 40% of Christians don’t know what the Gospel means, and 53% don’t know John 3:16.
d. It’s been said that the average Christian is as unprepared facing an unbeliever as they are facing an armed terrorist group, and in this day and age, I tend to think that some of us would respond better to the terrorists.
e. Well, if this is you, then you might want to use the place we provided to take some notes in your handout this morning, because what we are going to cover here is Paul’s defense, Paul’s presentation of the gospel in Jerusalem.
III. Background
a. If you recall last week, when we left Paul, he was under arrest by the Roman army. He was dragged out of the temple area by an angry mob, because they made the false assumption that Paul took gentiles into the temple.
b. Paul had not taken gentiles into the forbidden areas of the temple. In fact, he was observing a Jewish ritual cleansing, and taking a Nazirite vow, per the instructions of the elders of the church at Jerusalem.
c. As a riot broke out in the temple area, and a huge mob was carrying Paul away, the Romans came to rescue him. Not so much because they wanted to save Paul or anything, they simply wanted to keep the peace in Jerusalem.
d. So, the commander orders Paul to be taken to the Roman garrison which was on the Northwest corner of the Temple Mount there, which was called the Fortress Antonia, and from here, the Romans could see everything going on in the temple, without having to actually go into the temple, which was against the law.
e. One of the other things we looked at last week was the comparisons between Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem, and Paul’s final trip to Jerusalem. Like Jesus, the Roman authorities thought that Paul was some kind of terrorist. So, the Roman commander was surprised when Paul addressed him in Greek, and asked to be able to address the raging mob, while he was going up the stairs into the fortress.
f. The commander obliged Paul, and allowed him to speak to the crowd, and that is where we left it last week. This week, we will look at all of Paul’s speech to the crowd gathered there, which is all of chapter 22.
g. **If you need a Bible**
h. Most weeks, I take the time to read through our passage entirely, before we get into our study, because I want us to look at the passage as a whole first, before we begin to break it down.
i. But, due to the length of our passage today, what I am going to do is to just dive in to our study, and read the verses as we get to them in the study.
j. I’ve broken our study down into seven parts, to make our passage a little more manageable as we look in depth at Acts chapter 22, as we finish up another chapter in our week-by-week study through Acts.
k. This morning, we are going to look at the Resume’ of Paul, The Road to Damascus, Receiving Sight and Salvation, Requirements, Reacting to the Message, In Roman Custody, and Respite for Paul. In the interests of time, let’s dive right in. Turn to Acts chapter 22, and we will pick up with verse 1, and we will finish out the chapter today.
IV. Study
a. Intro
i.
b. The Résumé of Paul (Acts 22:1 – 5)
i. So, as Paul is standing there on the wall, and quiets the crowd, he begins to speak to them. We see the introduction of Paul in the first 5 verses. Verse 1 reads -
ii. 1 "Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now."
iii. Paul starts off by addressing the Jewish people, calling them brethren, this would apply to the Jews. He also addresses the religious leaders, who were no doubt present, calling them fathers.
iv. One of the things that strikes me most about this passage as a whole is that Paul is very, very respectful to the folks there. Keep in mind, that these were the very same folks that had just dragged Paul out of the temple, and were beating him, and wanted to kill him.
v. But, Paul, the apostle, the statesman and evangelist that he is, addresses them very politely. I think I might have had something a little different to say if it had been me on those stairs, but Paul keeps his cool, and begins to speak his defense.
vi. The word we see translated as `defence’ here is the Greek word `apologia’. We get our word `apologetics’ from this. Apologetics means to defend the faith — giving reason and rationale for the things we believe. That is what Paul is doing here. He was accused of being a heretical Jewish teacher, so now he is going to defend not only himself from these charges, but he is also going to make a defense of the Christian faith as well.
vii. 2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent.
viii. Paul spoke to the Roman commander in Greek, but when he turns to address the crowd he addresses them in the Hebrew language. Most of the Jews living abroad could not speak or write Hebrew.
ix. However, the Jews in Jerusalem could, and this was the language of the priests and the original language of the Old Testament. Paul had been a member of the Sanhedrin, and a very noted Hebrew scholar. When Paul spoke to them in their language, he was speaking to their hearts. (Then) he said:
x. 3 "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.
xi. Paul’s defense is his own testimony. This is very encouraging to me, and it should be very encouraging to each of you. We may not know very much scripture, or theology, or doctrine, but what each of us does know is our own testimony.
xii. We know what Jesus has done for each of us individually, and that guys is by far the best defense that we can put forward, as we see the apostle Paul doing here.
xiii. Paul was born in Tarsus, a city in the Roman province of Asia. But he was brought up and schooled in Jerusalem. He could relate to Greek Jews and Hebrew Jews alike.
xiv. His schooling as a rabbi came from Gamaliel, who was and still is one of the most respected rabbis of all time. What Paul doesn’t say here is that he was one of Gamaliel’s best students.
xv. Tradition says that Gamaliel said of Paul that he could not find enough books for him to read, such was his appetite for learning. But, to Gamaliel, one of his best pupils would have been one of his greatest disappointments, from his perspective.
xvi. Jewish writings of the time also bear this out, by stating that in the days of Gamaliel, the number of heretics increased greatly in Israel. That’s what the Jewish religious establishment thought Christianity was – a heretical sect.
xvii. That’s because you had guys like Paul going around telling people that they are free from the law, which they were. They Jewish religious establishment hated the church, and so, the church at Jerusalem just tried to blend in. They kept following the traditions a rituals. In verse 4 Paul says -
xviii. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.
xix. Paul reminds the crowd that it was he who was charged by the Sanhedrin to prosecute the church to the fullest extent of the Jewish law, which was death.
xx. He went around Jerusalem, wreaking havoc on the church at large. We see this in Acts chapter 7. He was breaking up churcuh meetings, and went around from place to place rounding these Christians up.
xxi. He had the full commission and authority of the Jewish high preist and the Sanhedrin to do exactly what he had been doing up until that time.
xxii. He went so far as to ask permission to go to other cities, like Damascus, to round up the Christians there, and they gave him the authority to do just that.
xxiii. But God had another idea, as we see in verse 6 -
c. The Road to Damascus (Acts 22:6 – 11 )
i. 6 Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.
ii. Paul didn’t make it to Damascus before God made it to him. God stopped him in his tracks, because God was calling this man who was the chief persecutor of the church. I think that we find this here in the scripture to show us that even a man who persecuted the church could be saved. Paul goes on to say -
iii. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ’Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’
iv. That same question could be asked of the crowd that sought to kill Paul in front of him. Way were they persecuting Paul? They were persecuting Paul because they didn’t understand. Paul persecuted the church for the same reason – he didn’t understand.
v. 8 So I answered, ’Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ’I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
vi. We see here that Paul was called by Jesus personally, directly, just like the original 12 apostles. Now, there’s lots of debate about whether Paul was the replacement for Judas or not.
vii. Personally, I think not, and We covered that pretty well back in Acts chapter 1. Nevertheless, Paul was an apostle who had a very real and personal encounter with Jesus. Paul continues in verse 9 -
viii. 9 And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.
ix. Acts chapter 9, verse 7 says this - 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one.
x. This is one of those so-called contradictions in the Bible. The contradiction doesn’t come from the original language, but from translation. English is a much more clumsy language than Greek.
xi. Acts 9:7 in the original language means that the men with Paul heard a voice, but could not make out any words. They heard a loud noise.
xii. Here in chapter 22, the wording in similar in the Greek, meaning that they heard a noise, but no words. They didn’t hear, because God didn’t want them to. Paul heard though, and what Paul heard would change his life forever. So, he asks the Lord -
xiii. (10 So I said,) ’What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ’Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’
xiv. Paul was being called by God to take a step of faith. He tells him to go into the city and wait. That’s always how God calls us to step out in faith, one step at a time.
xv. While a revival was breaking out in Samaria, God told Philip to head south on the road to Gaza at noontime. This was dangerous, with the heat and conditions, but Philip obeyed. As a result, the Ethiopian was saved, and the gospel was carried to Ethiopia. We saw that in Acts chapter 8.
xvi. While Peter was praying on the rooftop, God told him to go with the men who were about to knock at the door. As a result, Peter goes to the house of Cornelius in Caesarea, and Cornelius and his whole household are saved. We saw that in Acts chapter 10.
xvii. God called Abraham out of his homeland of Ur. Abraham obeyed, stepped out in faith and the nation of Israel was born.
xviii. Whenever God calls us, He doesn’t call us to take all of the steps at once. Sometimes, or maybe I should say most of the time, the steps aren’t easy.
xix. Many times a lot of us miss out on years, or even a lifetime, of being in God’s will because we don’t act on the singular instruction He gives us. Guys, we have to obey the things the Lord has made known to us either through His Word, through times of prayer, or through the desires He has placed within our hearts.
xx. If we knew how it was going to work — it wouldn’t be faith. If we knew where the supplies would come from — it wouldn’t be faith. If we had it all mapped out — it wouldn’t be faith.
xxi. As we see in verse 11, Paul takes that step of faith. He says 11 And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
xxii. Paul’s physical eyesight was gone, and he took a step of faith. He was led by the hand to Damascus. Paul could have sat by the roadside, boo-hooing because he was blind.
xxiii. The question for us this morning is this – Are we stepping out in faith to obey what God has told us to do, or are we boo-hooing? Have we become blinded by the bad circumstances and junk that the enemy has thrown at us to stand in our path?
xxiv. If you are blinded this morning, I would encourage you to do just like Paul did, to keep stepping out. You see, even though he was blind physically, his spiritual eyesight was 20/20. He heard the Lord’s voice, and responded to the call, I encourage each of us this morning to do just that. As we see, Paul’s faith is rewarded in the next few verses. In verse 12 we read -
d. Receiving Sight and Salvation (Acts 22: 12 - 16 )
i. 12 Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, 13 came to me; and he stood and said to me, ’Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him.
ii. Keep in mind that Paul is addressing a Jewish audience. He starts off by telling them that Ananias was a devout man who lived according to the law. He also goes on to say that Ananias had a good testimony with all of the Jews that were living there in Damascus. This was a good man, according to the Jews. Paul doesn’t mention that Ananias was a Christian.
iii. Paul was blinded looking at the Person of the Lord Jesus, who is the head of the church. He was restored his sight looking at Ananias, a member of the Body of Christ. First Paul saw the head, and then the body.
iv. If you are a believer this morning, you have seen Jesus too. Scripture tells us that we see through the glass darkly though. But, you see Him through your spiritual eyesight. On the other hand though, I look out here this morning and see the body, I see it clearly. Let’s read on -
v. 14 Then he said, ’The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth.
vi. Ananias is speaking about the sovereignty of God here. He tells Paul that God has chosen Him. God chose Paul so that Paul would know His Will, so that Paul would see Jesus, and that Paul would hear His voice.
vii. In Psalm 95, verse 7, we read - 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 "Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
viii. God’s Will was that Paul would hear His voice, and Paul did. It had everything to do with God, and His grace, not Paul. In Ephesians, chapter 1, starting in verse 3, we read this –
ix. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
x. So, we know that God is the one who chose us. While God’s Soverign Election is sure. On the other side of that coin, we do have a choice.
xi. In Mark chapter 8, verse 34 we read - When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
xii. In 1st Timothy chapter 2, verses 3 and 4 we read - 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
xiii. I believe in God’s election. That He chooses us. But, as I read scripture, I find that God chooses everyone who would believe in Him. That is His desire.
xiv. I don’t know how those two dynamics work together. God chooses and we choose, but somehow, it all works out. In Joel chapter 2, verse 32 we see both at work.
xv. 32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the Lord has said, Among the remnant whom the Lord calls.
xvi. So, in salvation, not only is God calling, but we are calling too. So, is God soverign, or do we have a choice – YES! That’s one of those things that I think only God truly understands.
xvii. So, now that we have settled the whole predestination versus free will thing, let’s move on. In verse 15 we read -
xviii. 15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
xix. Ananias knew that God had something in store for Paul. God told him. Paul was to be a witness for Christ, just like each and every one of us should be.
xx. To paraphrase verse 16 – Ananias says – What are you waiting around for? Be baptized, and receive your salvation, having placed your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus.
xxi. The same question could be applied to us. What are we waiting around for? Are we waiting for God to draw us out a roadmap, lining out every step of the way? If you are, you’ll be waiting for a long time. Take that step of faith, and see where God is leading you. We see God leading Paul in the next few verses. Verse 17 says -
e. Requirements (Acts 22: 17 – 21)
i. 17 Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ’Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’
ii. Paul makes a return trip to Jerusalem after his conversion. The church avoids him like the plague, and only Barnabas would meet with him.
iii. Paul was hanging around, hoping to witness to the Jews, but the Lord had already told him that he would go to witness to the gentiles, something he was uniquely qualified to do. We saw that back in Acts chapter 9.
iv. So, when Paul keeps hanging around Jerusalem, Jesus tells him to take off! The Jews would not listen to him about Jesus. Paul argues a little bit though.
v. 19 So I said, ’Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. 20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
vi. Paul is making an argument here, to the maker of the universe, as to why he would be a good candidate to take the gospel to the Jews. Funny thing how God uses someone for whatever He wants, and not whatever they want.
vii. 21 Then He said to me, ’Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ "
viii. Jesus told Paul to take off, this wasn’t what He had planned for Paul’s life and ministry. It is an amazing story, as to how Paul was sent far away to preach the gospel to the gentile nations, but the Jews gathered there would not hear of it. Once they heard the word gentile, they had a reaction, as we read in verse 22 -
f. Reaction to the Message (Acts 22: 22 – 24 )
i. 22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!"
ii. The Jews were outraged. They cried out against Paul, saying that the Roman authorities should kill him. They were outraged at the mere idea that the gospel be offered to gentiles.
iii. Paul had his audience all up until this point. In their minds, they didn’t mind all this talk about Jesus, but they could not stand the idea that God might save Jews and Gentiles alike and in the same way.
iv. Jews did not have a problem with Gentiles becoming Jews. But they were incredibly offended at the thought of Gentiles becoming Christians just as Jews became Christians, because it implied that Jews and Gentiles were equal, having to come to God on the same terms.
v. They were so incensed that yelling wasn’t enough. We see in verse 23, (23 Then, as) they cried out and tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air,
vi. These were some angry Jews. You know, we have people like this in the church today. Today, there are some that feel like people need to clean up their act before they come to church.
vii. If someone walks in with a tattoo, or wearing board shorts, or maybe wearing a motorcycle jacket with long hair, these people tend to steer away from these folks. Not just in the church, but in their day to day lives as well.
viii. This isn’t the gospel. The gospel is for anyone who would receive it. Jew, gentile, biker, hippie, whatever, Jesus died for them. To put conditions on these folks would be just like these Jews. The mob would have killed Paul. It is fortunate for Paul that there were no rocks around, or he would have been stoned right there, but the Romans had him in their custody, we read in verse 24 -
ix. 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him.
x. It must have been a strange sight to the commander: to see Paul passionately addressing this huge crowd in a language unknown to him; to see the crowd hanging on Paul’s every word, until suddenly, they erupt into a riot.
xi. But when it was explained to him, he must have thought it absurd and offensive: all this rioting springing out of the hatred of Gentiles, people just like himself.
xii. Now, examination by scourging was a tortuous, cruel method used to extract information. The accused would be bound, and beaten with the flagellum until he either confessed or died. This is the same way that Jesus was beaten. The Jews had a custom of only 39 lashes. But the Romans didn’t have a custom like this. They beat until they got an answer.
xiii. To be examined under scourging may seem brutal, but was customary in that time - but only upon people who were not Roman citizens, as we see
g. In Roman Custody (Acts 22: 25 – 28 )
i. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?"
ii. They tied Paul down as it was customary to do, when they scourged someone. Paul was to be beaten until he confessed to a crime, or he died.
iii. But, Paul asks a question rather matter-of-factly. “Can you scourge a Roman citizen without a trial?” This was a rhetorical question, and Paul knew the answer already.
iv. The answer was no. It was a jailable offense to bind a Roman citizen without proper legal procedures, and an offense punishable by death to scourge him without doing so.
v. So the question comes, why did Paul wait until he was bound to declare his Roman citizenship? The answer is that in so doing, he had the Roman officials right where he wanted them.
vi. 26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, "Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman." 27 Then the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" He said, "Yes."
vii. The centurion says, “hey watch out! This guy is a Roman citizen!” The commander comes in and asks Paul, “are you really a citizen?” Paul says with a smile, “Yes.”
viii. 28 The commander answered, "With a large sum I obtained this citizenship." And Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."
ix. Now, the commander isn’t questioning Paul’s word. People didn’t fake it. They didn’t lie about being a Roman citizen. IT was easily documented. The penalty for falsifying citizenship was instant death. Paul didn’t look like a Roman citizen at this point, he was beaten up, and dirty from the mob.
x. The thought is that the commander was thinking at this point that the privilege must have become cheap of late if such a sorry-looking figure as Paul could claim it
xi. The commander tells him that he paid a large sum of money for his citizenship. You couldn’t buy a Roman citizenship, but you could pay a bribe for it, and this is what he did.
xii. Paul was born a citizen though. Most historians believe Paul’s father was a Jew who had been granted Roman citizenship because of some service he had given to the Empire.
xiii. Paul was a rare individual; it was fairly uncommon to find such an educated, intelligent, devout Jew who was also a Roman citizen. We will wind up today looking at what happens next.
.
h. Respite for Paul(Acts 22: 29 – 32 )
i. 29 Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
ii. The commander knew he was on thin ice at this point. He knew that he was guilty of a jailable offense, by simply having Paul bound. So, he gives Paul a break at this point.
iii. 30 The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them.
iv. The Roman commander couldn’t examine Paul by scourging him. However, he was very curious to get to the bottom of all this.
v. In this light, he summons all of the Sanhedrin to appear, and he was going to examine Paul in front of all of them. We will look at this trial next week, as we start on chapter 23.
vi. So, to sum all of this up this morning, there are a few things that we need to take away from this message. If you don’t take anything else away, take these.
vii. First, faith involves taking that first step.
viii. Second, don’t judge people by their appearance.
i. Conclusion
i. I want to leave you this morning with a short story. A university had a visiting lecturer teach a seminar at lunchtime. The lecturer got up, and spent 2 1/2 hours attempting to prove that the resurrection of Jesus was a lie. He quoted liberal books and scholars to prove his point and then asked for questions.
ii. A older man near the back of the auditorium stood to speak. He said, ’Sir, (and he took apple out and began to eat) Crunch, crunch….I have a simple question….munch munch….I haven’t read any of those books you talk about….crunch crunch….I can’t recite the Scriptures in Greek….munch munch…I don’t know anything about Neibuhr and Heidegger….crunch..crunch…(he held up the core of his eaten apple) All I want to know is, ’This apple I just ate, was it bitter or sweet?’
iii. The lecturer paused and then responded, ’I cannot possibly answer that question, I haven’t tasted your apple sir’….The old man dropped the apple core into his sack and said, ’Neither have you tasted my Jesus’. The audience of over 1,000 erupted into applause and cheers to which the lecturer left the platform.
iv. The Jews did not know Jesus, and they were so caught up in their cultural bias, that they simply would not listen to Paul. Paul had met Jesus, and he knew that the Savior was sweet.
v.
vi. **evangelistic appeal**
j. Let’s Pray.
