The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): 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 Bible to Acts chapter 23, verses 15 through 25.

Tony Clark: We will become religious hitmen and women, out seeking to destroy people's lives who don't see things the way we or our group sees them. We need to be aware of what Jeremiah 17:9 says. It says that the heart is desperately wicked; who can know it? It can be wicked to the point where we will stoop to start doing wicked things.

I'm talking about church folks, folks who call themselves Christians. These were religious leaders, people supposed to represent God, but they are religious hitmen now. They're part of the cartel, they're part of the mob or something. Don't think that you're beneath this. We're not beneath this at all. We're not beneath having this sort of wickedness in our hearts.

The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I have seen through your writings on social media and things being said about folks the wicked stuff that folks are saying. You're supposed to be Christians, like Christ, people of God, but the wickedness is coming out—the plotting that's being done, these ideas and things. We look more like the world. It’s like the church has become the religious cartel or the religious mob or some gang affiliation that we're out here trying to take people out.

Don't think you're beyond that. The Bible says our hearts are desperately wicked. I've seen and heard the wicked things that you’ve said about our president. I heard it, and I've seen it, and I know it. So don't tell me that you're beyond the stuff that's going on here. For many folks, if they could, they'd take him out, and wish somebody would.

You're no different than these chief priests and religious leaders here. You can easily sit there all pious and say, "How could they do this and plan to kill this man?" when you, if you had the chance and knew you'd get away with it, you'd be guilty of the same type of stuff. This is the kind of stuff that's in our hearts that we need to be mindful of. Because we are people of God or church folks, we are not exempt from this kind of attitude.

I've seen it—the ugly stuff you say about folks in leadership, folks in leadership in our nation. I've seen that. You're no different than here. The only difference between these folks and you is your story isn't being told in the pages of Scripture. But you're guilty of the same kind of stuff. I see this all the time, plastered on social media and plastered all over the news.

I was talking to our leadership this morning about the things that I have posted. I said look at these folks out in the world that are looting and cutting up and doing all kind of craziness. I said they're lost; they're people of the world. I said they need Jesus. We need to see them through the eyes of Jesus as weary and bruised like sheep without a shepherd.

We need to introduce them to the Savior, Jesus Christ. But instead of Christians saying, "Yes, Pastor Tony, that's right," guess what? They're trying to kill me, kill my good name. Instead of me going out and the enemy shooting at me, I'm being shot by friendly fire from behind from Christians around the world because we are wicked folks. We're wicked, and don't think we're pious and oh-so-holy and sanctimonious. No, we're guilty of the same kind of stuff that they're doing here. We just need to be mindful of that and just look ourselves in the mirror and say, "Yeah, I'm capable because of the wickedness in my heart. I'm capable of doing the same kind of thing that they're doing here."

Now, we all know that there are no coincidences with God, or just by chance, or "I was pretty lucky." Here, Paul's sister's son was there and heard what they were planning to do. It wasn't a coincidence or Paul's nephew happened to be there. No, God had this little boy there. The question is, what was he doing in Jerusalem when the family of Paul lived in the city of Tarsus, which was approximately 400 miles away?

Was he studying to become a rabbi like his uncle? It’s very unlikely because they wouldn't care what happened to him seeing that he converted to Christianity. Seeing that a Jewish family would disown any family member who converted to Christianity, many scholars believe—and I tend to side with them—that Paul's sister and her son converted to Christianity when he spent approximately 10 years back in Tarsus before Barnabas came and got him in Acts 11 and verse 25.

So when Paul's nephew heard about the plot—we aren't told how he heard that—he went into the barracks, which was the Antonia Fortress, and told Paul. Seeing that Paul wasn't formally charged with a crime, he was just in protective custody and was able to receive visitors. This teaches us a valuable lesson: God can use children or teenagers to do a work for Him if they're willing.

This young man or child was the human instrument God used to protect Paul's life. My point is clear: don't write off your children as being too young to be used by God because we have a beautiful example here in our story. Let's look at what else happened. Look at verses 17 and 18. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, "Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him."

So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you." Now, when Paul heard about this plot from his nephew, he called one of the centurions. A centurion is a captain over 100 soldiers. Paul, respecting the ranking system of the Roman military, communicated to the commander Claudius Lysias through one of his captains.

Paul commanded this centurion to take his nephew to the commander. And guess what? He did it, which shows the respect the centurion had for Paul's Roman citizenship. God told Paul in verse 11 of this chapter that he would bear witness for Him in Rome, and Paul believed God's word. God told him in Acts 18 and verse 10, "For I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you."

I bring this up because I want to show you how God works supernaturally in a very natural way. Look at the natural ways by which God protected Paul. God protected Paul from being beaten by using his Roman citizenship in Acts 22 in verses 22 to 29. God protected him again by using the Roman army to rescue him in Acts 21 in verse 32 to 34. God protected him by being in protective custody in a Roman prison in Acts 23 and verse 10. And finally, God protected Paul by allowing his nephew to hear a plot to kill him.

God has us in His hands, but so often we miss seeing that it is Him because we chalk it up as a coincidence. "Oh, it was just luck. I was just lucky that time," or "just by chance." Or like Mary did in John 20 and verse 15 when she thought that Jesus was just the gardener. Mary missed Jesus or mistook Him for the gardener because it was still dark when Jesus appeared to her, according to John 20 and verse one, and because she had tears in her eyes, according to verse 11.

We're no different. We can miss seeing that we are in God's hands when it is still dark in our lives or we're going through a dark period. When we have tears in our eyes or sorrow of heart, it can cause us to miss Jesus coming to us or recognizing Him having us in His hands. So often we can easily miss this. I want for you to notice that even though it was dark outside in Mary's life and she had tears in her eyes, Jesus still came to her.

The same is true in our lives. Jesus will still come to us when things are dark and unfortunate things are taking place in our lives. So the centurion brought Paul's nephew to the commander in verse 18 and says, "He has something to say to you." Did the commander listen to Paul's nephew? Look at verses 19 to 22. Then the commander took him by the hand, went aside, and asked him privately, "What is it that you have to tell me?"

He said, "The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow as though they were going to inquire more fully about him. But do not yield to them, for more than 40 of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you."

So the commander let the young man depart and commanded him, "Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me." Now, here we see the commander, desperate to get any information that will help him know what to do with Paul, took Paul's nephew by the hand. Perhaps showing us that Paul's nephew was fairly young, that he took him by the hand.

Maybe the Roman military scene in the Antonia Fortress was a bit intimidating for the boy, and this is another reason why he took the little boy by the hand and took him aside. They went aside in a private place, according to verse 19, and he asked him, "What do you have to tell me?" The gentleness by which both the centurion and the commander treated Paul and his nephew shows that they were either finally treating Paul like a Roman citizen or they were starting to believe that Paul was really innocent.

The nephew in verse 20 tells the commander in great detail the plot to kill Paul. We aren't told how he knew these details, but he tells how they have agreed to ask that Paul is brought down to the council the next day as if they were going to inquire more fully about him. But the nephew said in verse 21, "Do not yield to them, for more than 40 of them lie in wait for him."

I am amazed at the details the nephew knew. He even knew about the oath made by them. They would neither eat nor drink until they have killed Paul. And so he said, "Now, commander, they're waiting on the promise from you. The ball is in your court now." I love this story because God will always raise up a "nephew" to show us that we're in His hands—a nephew that will clear up the rumors and fake news about you by giving the details and the true story about us.

I love that because I've had it happen to me so many times. The stuff that's been going on lately, I've been pretty vocal, at least in the past. I was pretty vocal about it on social media. And of course, being full of bullet holes from friendly fire from other Christians shooting at me, I've had God raise up a big-time mega-church pastor who's a friend of mine to chime in. Several of them chimed in, and when these Christians saw these folks taking up for what I was saying, they all just cowed down.

God will always raise up a nephew, someone to give details about you and put to silence the fake news that's going on around you. God will always do that. He's so gracious to do that for us. And so the commander let the young man depart in verse 22 and told him not to tell anyone that he revealed these things to him. What else happened? Look at verses 23 to 25.

He called for two centurions, saying, "Prepare 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night. And provide mounts to set Paul on and bring him safely to Felix the governor." And he wrote a letter in the following manner. Now, the commander didn't waste any time, and so he called two centurions in verse 23, saying, "Prepare 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen from the Roman cavalry, and 200 spearmen who were javelin throwers, experts in throwing the javelin, to go to Caesarea," which was approximately 60 miles northeast of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was the center of Jewish government, and Caesarea was the Roman headquarters for the area where the Governor Felix lived. Claudius Lysias had Paul escorted by 470 soldiers, making sure that a Roman citizen, Paul, wasn't killed under his custody. Also knowing that if these 40 Jews were anything like the ones who tried to kill Paul in Acts 21, verse 31, he knew that they would fight to the death.

And so he had these 470 soldiers escort Paul. I don't know about you, but if I was part of that 40 that said we wouldn't eat nor drink until we have killed Paul, if I saw 470 soldiers pass by me, I would have been like, "Let's go get some ribs and some wings. I think Denny's is open or IHOP is open." I'm not fooling with 470 of them and we're not going to eat nor drink until we kill Paul? I would have been gone. I don't know about you, but I would have been gone.

According to verse 23, they took Paul at the third hour of the night, which was around 9:00 PM. Seeing that speed was important, they put Paul on mounts according to verse 24. Their mission was to bring Paul safely to Felix the governor, who was the commander Claudius Lysias' immediate supervisor. Now, just a bit of history of Felix the governor: Felix is the only slave in Roman history who became a governor.

Felix was very, very cruel according to history. He became governor because his brother Pallas was a friend of Caesar Nero. The Roman historian Tacitus said this about Felix: he said he executes the prerogatives of a king with the spirit of a slave. And for although he was in power as a governor, Felix retained a slave's mentality of getting back at the world for all of the abuses it had heaped upon him, according to the Roman historian.

And as was required for a Roman officer bringing a prisoner to his supervisor, he had to write a letter stating why he was bringing this particular person. And so Luke, the author of Acts, summarizes this letter in the following verses that we will read about God's will next time. Now, I wanted to end a little bit early because we have some things to consider.

As I conclude, we're going to consider some things because in this study we saw how we are in God's hands and He works supernaturally in a very natural way. God used Paul's nephew to spoil a plot of 40 Jews to kill him. God will always raise up a nephew or a Roman soldier, or in our case, it may be someone from the military, to protect us or speak up for us, giving details on us and our situation if we are innocent.

No matter what, we're in God's hands, and no one can pluck us out. And so take heart and open up your eyes for a nephew or someone very common to protect us or comfort us through a difficulty we're going through. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 7:6 that it is God who comforts the downcast, and He comforted us by the coming of Titus. Who comforts the downcast? God. Who did He use? Titus.

God will always raise up a Titus or a nephew or a Roman soldier. I'm reminded of what God told Moses in Exodus 3. He says, "You go and tell my people that I have seen what they're going through. I've heard their cries. I know their sorrows." And then He says, "And I will come down and deliver them." And then the verse after that He says, "Now Moses, I'm sending you."

God said, "I heard, I've seen, I know, and I will deliver them, but I'm going to use you, Moses." God uses people. So often when we're in the darkness of our situation, we want God to do something supernatural in a supernatural way. We want God to part the clouds and physically get involved in our situation. And that's not how God works. God uses people.

This is so easy for us to miss because God works supernaturally in a natural way. He uses people. And most of our hurt comes from people. And therefore, if we hear God uses people, then when someone comes to us, we're like, "Oh God, help me." And God sends you a Titus. "God, comfort me. God, deliver me." He sends you a Moses.

We so often write it off. "Oh, that's just my nephew. That's just my neighbor. He's in the military, but what does he know?" God will send a Roman soldier, He will send a nephew, He will send a Moses, He will send a Titus. God uses people. My prayer is that God will open our eyes to see Him coming to us with common, ordinary people to help us.

A lady was telling me after the first service that she came here and didn't have much of anything, and a stranger just offered to help her and help her—she had two kids at the time, little kids—and God used that stranger. She didn't know him from Adam, and he used him to help her get on her feet. God uses people, but so often we can miss them because we chalk them up as just the gardener.

"Oh, that's just my landscape guy. He don't know me, but he came over to cut my grass and he just said this thing to me." And I was like, "Wow, he don't normally say anything." But God uses ordinary people, which shows that we're in His hands. God takes care of us. My insurance used to have a commercial years ago, Allstate: "You're in good hands with Allstate." No, no, you're in good hands with God.

God has you in His hands. For many of you, you didn't know how you were going to—I didn't either. I didn't know how we were going to make it through the pandemic. And here we are six months into it, and you're here. God got you through. He's getting you through. And He's using all kinds—He may use just something as ordinary as, "Hey man, I heard that your job stopped. I heard that you do this. Can you help me with this project here?"

Oh yeah, that's God providing, using ordinary people, common people. So my prayer is that we would just pray, "God, keep our eyes open. Keep them open so we can see. So we can see You working, so we can see that we are truly in Your hands and no one, not even old slewfoot Satan himself, can pluck us out of His hands." Oh, may this word bring comfort to you. No matter what, we're in His hands and He uses ordinary people. Let's pray.

Father, thank You. Thank You so much, Lord, that You love us. Thank You so much that You, oh God, use ordinary people, ordinary situations, Lord, to bring us to You, to show us that we're in Your hands. So Lord, I pray that You would comfort, You would take this word and comfort Your people with it. I pray that Your Spirit would take it and engrave it upon all of our hearts so we can know that, Lord, we're in Your hands.

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