The Word Made Plain

Narrator: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 23, verses 1 through 5.

Tony Clark: Now, the Greek verb translated "to strike" is "tuptō," and it depicts more than just a slap on the mouth. This same Greek word is used in Acts 21:32 to speak of the crowd's beating of Paul, and of the Roman soldiers' beating of Jesus in Matthew 27:30. Ananias couldn't believe that someone accused of such serious charges as Paul was could have the nerve to declare having a good conscience.

I just have to pause here. I have to just pause here, and I'm going to look at you here, and I'm going to look at you on the camera. I have to pause right here because if there is an Ananias that's slapping you in the mouth and beating you down, you don't have to stand for that. The Lord loves you. He never meant for you to be a punching bag to anybody.

Whoever's hitting on whoever, they got issues. There's some counseling that's needed, and I would never tell anyone to stay in a situation where they're getting the beat down like this, where there's an Ananias in your life that is slapping you in the mouth, that's hitting you. You never stay in a situation like that.

That person needs some help. That person has problems and issues. They've been doing that for a long time. Maybe it was done to them, I don't know. But that's still no justification to mean that now I got beat down so I'm going to beat you down. I know that's what the world says, but it doesn't have to be that way. And if you're the Ananias, you need to get some help. You need to get some counseling. You need to remove yourself from that situation.

I just had to pause there to say that the Lord loves you. But you don't have to stand for having an Ananias do this to you. Now, how did Paul respond to this slap beat down that they gave him? I love Paul. One of the guys that I need to sit down with for a few thousand years and just talk with is Paul. I love this dude. This dude was my type of dude.

How did he respond to this beat down, this slap down? In today's standard, they would have been like, "Oh, Paul, just take it. He didn't mean it. You’ve got to love and you've got to turn the other cheek and you’ve just got to be..." Listen to what Paul said in verse 3: "Then Paul said to him, 'God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?'"

I just love Paul. You've got to love this dude. This dude was not just going to sit back and just let you give him the slap beat down. We've got to dig a little bit deeper into this reaction. Why would Paul react this way? Because of the illegal command that Ananias had given to strike him by assuming that he was guilty without a trial and by ordering his punishment by striking him on the face, something Deuteronomy 19:15 forbids.

Now, Jesus reacted in a similar way, probably not like Paul, but in a similar way to how He was treated before this same council in John 18:20-23. When He was questioned about His teaching, Jesus responded, "I spoke openly in the synagogues and the temple. I said nothing in secret. Why are you asking? Ask those who heard me." And one of the officers struck Jesus—same Greek word—struck Jesus and said, "Do you answer the high priest like that?" And Jesus said, "If I spoke evil, bear witness of the evil. But if I spoke well, why do you strike me?"

I'm sure it wasn't with the same bite as Paul. I relate more to Paul. But Jesus responded in a very similar way. No doubt it was very loving. I don't want to get any letters and say, "Oh, you're saying Jesus wasn't..." I'm not going to read it anyway. He probably responded very lovingly, very kindly. But Paul was my dude.

Now, how did Paul react to being hit in the mouth? He said, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall." I just love this dude. Whether you believe it or not, these were some harsh, fighting words. The background to this statement is this: if you were traveling to Israel to celebrate Passover, it was very important that you didn't accidentally become ceremonially unclean by stepping on or brushing up against a grave or tomb that was called a sepulcher.

So what they would do so that this didn't happen, they would paint these graves white to warn you of the dead bones within. When Paul called Ananias a whitewashed wall, he was saying, "You look white and good on the outside, but you are dead like bones on the inside."

I can't tell you how many times I felt like a whitewashed wall, looking good and pastorally on the outside, but dead like bones on the inside. But it is so good to be able to go to the Lord during times like this and have Him say, "Son, don't forget that I am the resurrection and the life. Though you feel dead, I can make you alive again." And just like when Jesus spoke this to Martha in John 11:25 and 26, He said, "Martha, do you believe this?"

I'm just here to ask you that same question: Do you believe that Jesus can make you alive on the inside again? I ask because maybe your desire for church and your desire for prayer, your desire for Bible reading has died, especially during this pandemic. I've talked to and seen a lot of people who have died during the pandemic. Spiritually, they have died.

The longer they stay away, the longer they stay from church... because it is in the sanctuary that we see from God's perspective. The Psalmist said, "My foot almost slipped when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." He said, "But when I went into the sanctuary." That's where I saw their end. It's here in the sanctuary that we see things from God's perspective.

The longer we're away from the sanctuary, the longer we get wrapped up, our foot will slip when we see the prosperity of the wicked. There are many people who have died spiritually during this pandemic, and Jesus is the resurrection. He can bring back to life those things that have died or are dying on the inside of our hearts.

I have to say, during the early times of the pandemic, I was dying on the inside. I was dying. There was no church, there was no fellowship, there were no hugs and high fives, and there was no smiling and encouragement. There was just nothing, and I started to die on the inside. I mentioned it maybe about two Wednesdays ago how I felt myself slipping into a depression.

I had to speak to my soul like David did. David said, "Hey, soul, why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God." I had to encourage myself in the Lord because I was slipping into a depression because I know people. I know how people are. People will give any excuse for why they can't come to church. "My fingernail was broken, I stubbed my toe, my kid sneezed this morning so we need to stay home."

Now they’ve got a legitimate reason not to come. A legitimate one. I said, "God, I know people. People are a trip. Now the world has a legitimate reason not to come to Your house." And I slipped into a depression because I know people. I just know people. I felt myself dying on the inside. I felt myself slipping into a depression because I said, "Lord, I don't know when this is going to end."

Satan is the most crafty creature ever made. Satan is like this: "I will sacrifice America's or the world's god, which is sports. I will sacrifice the world's gods—sports—if I can get the church to die in the midst of it. I will sacrifice sports. That's the world's god—sports—if I can kill the church in the midst of that, I will do it."

Look at what he's done. Satan is a crafty dude. This dude didn't just get created yesterday. He's been around a good 6,000 or more years, and he knows what he's doing. He's good at it. And I just needed the Lord to resurrect me because I felt myself slipping. It was a good month before I would leave the house. I just stayed in the house. I was reading, I was praying. I just stayed in the house and wasn't really binge-watching TV. It was more watching me. I was just in a fog because I said, "I know what this means."

I needed the Lord to be the resurrection and the life to me because I struggled and still struggle. I'm just glad that we have a Savior that is the resurrection and the life. So here is Paul getting uptight. But what else did he say? The second part of verse 3, notice: "For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?"

Paul was saying, "How dare you judge me by saying I'm breaking the law when you're violating the law yourself?" In Deuteronomy 25:1-3, it says that it was absolutely forbidden for a man to be hit without following the proper legal procedures. And if he was hit, it was on the back and not on the mouth.

Let me pause right here and talk to us parents and grandparents, especially if you're in my age group. It is never right to be slapping our children on the mouth. I know my generation and above, that's how we did it. We smarted off, and our parents backhanded us and popped us in the mouth. Please understand that wrong discipline is just as bad as no discipline. This is wrong discipline.

We can't be hitting and backhanding and popping and busting lips because something smart came out. Just realize, nine out of ten they got it from you anyway as the parent. The fruit don’t fall far from the tree. That's never a good thing. I had to pause and say that because there are many carryovers of my generation and above. They're carryovers today, and they’re still using that method of discipline.

That method of discipline is not biblical, it's not godly, and it's not right. If you're doing that kind of stuff, you need to repent, you need to get you some help. Get you some help in some kind of way because that's not the way to do it.

We live in a time where people don't want to get involved when they see injustice taking place. There are a lot of people today who are afraid. They're afraid to get involved, afraid of the retaliation of the abuser. I understand because sometimes the very people being abused or being taken advantage of turn on you and rebuke you for getting in their business.

We need to be in prayer and in tune with God so we can know when to be quiet and when to speak up when injustice is either done to us or to someone else. Look at verses 4 and 5. "And those who stood by said, 'Do you revile God's high priest?' Then Paul said, 'I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, "You shall not speak evil of the ruler of your people."'"

When Paul was given the information, he did not know that the one he had reviled was the high priest. Watch this, people: he apologized. He apologized. They said in verse 4, "Do you revile God's high priest?" Now, the Greek word for "revile" is "loidoréō," which means to reproach, to insult, or to abuse. The use of this word shows an expression of anger.

It was something that even Paul acknowledged in verse 5 that violated God's law. Although Ananias was an evil man and a disgrace to his office, the high priest still occupied a God-ordained position of authority. He was not to be reviled but respected. You already know where I'm about to go with this.

The President, according to Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17, is placed there in the White House by God, and to revile him is wrong. When we speak against those in authority, we are, in so many words, complaining against God for allowing him to be in office. We are called to pray for those in authority, according to 1 Timothy 2:1-2, not revile them.

If he makes a decision we don't like, then pray for him and his counselors, not revile him. Titus 3:2 says speak evil of no one. Paul reviled the high priest and realized he was wrong and apologized in verse 5. Maybe there is someone that has some sort of authority over you that you need to apologize to. I don't know whether it's a boss on the job you went off on, but only you know who that person is.

Why didn't Paul recognize Ananias as the high priest? Three possible reasons. Number one, maybe it was an oversight. He may not have been wearing his high priestly robes. Remember from Acts 22:30, the commander had called this meeting at the last minute, and maybe he didn't have time to put on his official robes and stuff.

Number two, maybe Paul was out of sight. He had been gone for over 20 years ministering to the Gentiles that he might not have been aware that Ananias had ascended to the office of high priest. The third reason, maybe because of bad eyesight. Many scholars suggest that Paul's eyesight was impaired at this time because of the many times he had been beaten or stoned with rocks.

When Paul realized that he had reviled God's high priest, he quickly apologized, quoting Exodus 22:28. I was thinking about this this morning: how quick are you to apologize? Sometimes I can be quick to apologize, but sometimes it takes a minute for me to say I'm sorry. That takes some humility.

Paul didn't try to rationalize, justify, blame, or complain. His attitude can be summed up by one word: submission. He submitted to the Word of God no matter how unjust he felt he was being treated. The Word of God meant more to him than how he felt he was treated. So the question is how do you respond to the Word of God?

Do you place God's Word above your feelings or how you think that you're being treated? Paul was used in a powerful way because he submitted to God's Word over how he felt. He felt that he was being unjustly treated, and he had the biblical verses to back it up. But when he realized who he was addressing, he quickly in verse 5 apologized. May we learn to do the same.

How is your conscience? In this message, we saw how Paul said that he lived in all good conscience before God. May this be a goal of ours as children of God. We can by constantly and continuously exposing our lives to God's Word. When we do, we will train our conscience how to convict us.

When God's Word tells us something, let us seek to obey, because this is how our conscience will be strengthened and keep us sensitive to God speaking to us. Is your conscience convicting you to get right with God in some area? Don't ignore what your conscience is telling you to do. Each time our conscience convicts us and we put it off, our conscience gets a little hardened in that particular area.

The voice of God gets a little more dimmer in that particular area to the point we keep putting scar tissue in that area, and we won't hear God speak to us in that particular area anymore. We'll wonder why we're doing a certain thing and we feel no kind of way about doing it. It violates God's Word, but we don't feel a kind of way because we kept shutting up the voice of God, the voice of the conscience in that particular area. Now it has developed scar tissue.

Our conscience can be seared totally, but it can be seared especially in that particular area. That's why you see Christians doing a certain thing and they feel no kind of way about it. The conviction is gone. I don't know who it is God is speaking to about this, but this is true. Every time we shut the voice of God, the conscience, from convicting us in a certain area, the voice of God gets a little more quiet.

Everybody's telling us, "What are you doing that for?" "Oh, it's nothing wrong with that. The reason why is because a long time ago..." we justify. "That's for you, you can't live my Christian life," and we say crazy stuff like that when all the time we've gotten a little hard in that area because we have shut the voice of God and the conscience from speaking to us.

This is a serious thing. So if your conscience is still convicting you about something, then obey it. Obey it because you don't want what it said in Genesis 6:3: "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." God will strive with us in a certain area. "Come on, come on." It comes a point where we keep telling the Lord, "No, no, I want to do this." And God says... He would do this, write this up under your life: hashtag you do you.

It won't go well with you. God speaks to me like that. You don't want that to happen. If He's convicting you about something, do business with the Lord. Let's pray.

Father, thank You for this time You've given us in Your Word. Lord, we humble ourselves before You. We come before You now, Lord, asking that You forgive us. Forgive us for our fear. Forgive us of our lack of trust. Forgive us for our lack of faith. Forgive us, Lord, for not listening to the voice of the conscience in our hearts.

Have mercy upon us. And if there's anyone out there who has not repented of their sin and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, just pray this simple prayer. Just say, "Lord Jesus, forgive me. I believe You died on the cross and was buried and rose again. Come into my heart. I make You my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for You from this moment forward. In Jesus' name, Amen."