Awaiting True Justice - Pastor Tom Loghry Rockland Community Church Download

Paul’s imprisonment and trial before Felix reveals the injustice of his adversaries, the true justice which God brings, and God’s continued work and purpose even while we wait.

Transcript:

I think there are few things in life that can get under your skin like being blamed for something you didn't do. Maybe in your life someone has blamed you for something going wrong that wasn't your fault. Maybe at work, said, "Oh, this went wrong because so-and-so did this." It wasn't your fault at all. A false accusation spouted by someone who has significant influence and perhaps more power than you. It's unnerving. It's infuriating. Especially when the person knows the truth, that'll make you real mad. When they're maligning your character when it's actually their character which comes up short. We want to set the record straight, not later, right now, but sometimes justice is slow to be realized. We find ourselves in a holding pattern, stuck in the in-between. When you think of yourself in that position, you can more easily put yourself in Paul's shoes, as he too suffers the harmful effects of a false accusation.

If you were with us last week, you'll recall that Paul was transferred to, to Caesarea under the cover of night from Jerusalem, accompanied by four hundred and seventy Roman soldiers. His nephew had uncovered a plot to kill him, even while he was waiting for judgment under Claudius Lysias in the Roman fortress there in Jerusalem. A plot that was schemed by forty men who had taken vows not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. Because Paul was a Roman citizen, the Roman commander Claudius Lysias sent him to Caesarea for his case to be heard by the governor Felix. Lysias reported to Felix that he hadn't found Paul to be guilty of anything wrong, and that the dispute seemed to be a matter of difference within the Jewish religion. In keeping with Roman custom that a trial could only proceed if the accusers presented themselves with the charges that were being made against the defendant, Felix called upon Paul's accusers to make their way to Caesarea for this trial. So continuing on in Acts twenty-four, we pick up in verse one. It says, "Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix. 'We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. Everywhere and in every way, Most Excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude. But in order not to weary you further, I would request that you be kind enough to hear us briefly.

We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him, and we would have judged him in accordance with our law, but the Commander Lysias came and took him from us with much violence, ordering his accusers to come before you. By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.' The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true."

First, just to set the scene here in Caesarea. So we have Paul taken from Jerusalem up to Caesarea on the coast. You can see a little aerial shot of Caesarea, and you can see this little harbor here. In fact, it's an artificial harbor that was made because the coastline there doesn't give many places where you can safely bring a ship into port. You can see that's a picture of it today. A pretty beautiful scene as it, as it is.

Now, back in that time, it would have looked something like this. A little bit different angle, but you can see that's where, what we were just looking at there. Very impressive, and you, you would have ships lined up all on the inside there. Now, Herod's palace, which was built by Herod the Great and is now occupied by Governor Felix, is down here. You can see it jutting out into the sea. We can get a bit of a closer look there. And you can see here this open space, and that's actually a pool, it's a freshwater pool. You can see the opulence of, of these quarters for Governor Felix and just the total situation that Paul is brought into here, if you go back here, you can see it, it's, Felix has all the privilege of power. He's right next to this racing course, he's got a theater here, he has the world by a string, it seems. And now Paul is here at his mercy. We, we can actually see what it looks like today. Nothing left of it, really. You can see the square of the pool there. And so when Paul is brought before Governor Felix, he would have appeared in this room here, number five. It would have been an audience room, which now is probably in the water about there. Amazing how things change, isn't it?

So Paul is brought before Felix, and Paul's accusers are also before Felix. The high priest Ananias, who you remember had ordered that he be slapped across the face, and whom Paul had cursed as a, a whitewashed wall, he's there. Some of the elders are there. And they've also brought a lawyer with them. Now, you have all this power marshaled against just Paul. Doesn't seem like really much of a fair fight. You can also imagine that maybe Paul has some concern given the reputation that Felix has earned for himself. Felix is not actually a Roman, he is Greek, and he was formerly a slave. But his older brother became good friends with the Emperor Claudius, and when, was made his secretary of, of the treasury. And so by way of that connection, Felix himself was also freed and was raised to power. And he was serving as governor here in Judea from around fifty-two to sixty AD. Now he had a reputation for being very corrupt. In fact, he, he had a scheme to assassinate the high priest Jonathan, the former high priest Jonathan, and he succeeded in that. He had him assassinated. He just had a reputation of being a gangster. The Roman historian Tacitus says of him, "He exercised the power of a king in the spirit of a slave." So you kinda get the picture of the sort of guy that this was. He, he was not really a man of great character. And so it becomes all the more striking when this lawyer Tertullus begins it, to make his case before Felix because he, he just gives him all sorts of flattery that he doesn't really deserve, 'cause again, he's a gangster.

He says, he says to him, We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you. Not really the case. He praises him for his reforms. Felix hasn't really done that much that is good. But we see the ways of the world at work here, of getting in good with people and getting your way by telling them what they want to hear. Now, the case that Tertullus brings against Paul is one built upon a case which would greatly concern a Roman governor. We see in verses five through eight, and just as a note here, I included some verses in here that are excluded in the NIV. It's just based on different textual manuscripts that are available to us. Some of the earlier manuscripts didn't include those verses, and so for that reason, for sake of accuracy, the NIV has excluded it, but I've included it in case they're included in your Bibles.

The case that Tertullus brings against Paul here is based upon essentially causing disorder, which is a great concern to the Roman powers which are insistent upon maintaining order, maintaining peace. It paints a picture of Paul as a troublemaker, one who starts riots. He's the ringleader of this Nazarene sect, trying to make the Christians sound like this really, like, fringe group that's up to no good. And he says he desecrated the temple, which again would have been a big no-no because there is an interconnection between the civil and religious powers, and so desecrating the temple would create civil disorder. And, and so Tertullus says, "Just examine him yourself. You'll see this." And the other Jew, Jews, the high priest and these other elders in the, are in the back room saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, he definitely did these things. You'll see." And so Felix proceeds to begin his examination of Paul by giving Paul his opportunity to offer his testimony and his defense.

So we continue on in verse ten. It says, "When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied, 'I know that for a number of years you have been judge over this nation, so I gladly make my defense. You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues, or anywhere else in the city. And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me.

However, I admit that I worship the God of our a...