The Word Made Plain

Tony Clark: Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 21, verses 33 through 40.

And the Jewish mob seeing their enemy just taken away by the soldiers, oh, they grew even more enraged and followed after them. They became so violent that the 200 soldiers had to carry Paul over their heads to keep the mob from getting to him in verse 35.

And as they were going up the stairs of the Antonia fortress, the mob shouted, "Away with him!" Which was a term, which meant, "Kill him, kill him." I just have to pause right here and just ask us, have you been so angry with someone that you wanted blood?

That the very sight of them easily caused you to gnash your teeth at them? And in your heart, maybe you didn't say it aloud, but in your heart, you said, "Kill him, kill her." This was the scene of this angry mob. And Paul endured all of this in order to make peace.

Now, the question is, did it work? No, not really. But that doesn't mean that he didn't try. He had to try. Paul knew that he had to try. And because Paul would later write in Romans 12 and verse 18, he says, "If it is possible, as much as depends upon you, live peaceably with all men."

And Paul, who wrote Romans, lived out these, lived this out in these particular verses. He was only trying to make peace, but it didn't work. Sometimes our efforts of making peace with people may not work, but we must try. This verse says, "If it is possible."

Sometimes like here, it won't be possible, but Paul had to try to make peace with them. They still wanted him dead. However, we must try because Jesus will say in Matthew 5 and verse 9, it says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God."

And so one of the characteristics of being children of God is that we will seek to make peace with people. And sometimes it is possible and sometimes like here, that it is not possible. So what happened next? Look at verses 37 and 38.

Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, "May I speak to you?" He replied, "Can you speak Greek?" He said, "Are not you the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the 4,000 assassins out into the wilderness?"

Now, the Apostle Paul had been silent up until this point. And when he reached the top of the stairs of the Antonia fortress, he politely asked Claudius Lysias, in verse 37, he says, "May I speak to you?" Shocked that Paul spoke Greek, because those who spoke Greek were considered cultured and educated and not the common criminal they assumed he was.

Claudius Lysias's next question in verse 38, shows their wrong assumption of Paul. He said, "Are you the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led 4,000 assassins out into the wilderness?"

Now, Josephus, a first century Jewish historian living at this particular time, he wrote about an Egyptian who led a revolt of 30,000 Jews in Jerusalem in the year AD 54, which happened to have been just three years prior to this incident here with Paul.

His fanatical followers accompanied him to the Mount of Olives. And he told them that at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would collapse and this miraculous event would bring the destruction of the Roman Empire. The Governor Felix at the time, dispatched troops to deal with this insurrection.

Hundreds of Jews were killed or captured and the Egyptian ringleader disappeared into the desert with approximately 4,000 followers, just like these verses are talking about. Claudius Lysias was assuming that Paul was this Egyptian leader coming back to stir up more trouble.

And Paul cleared up the confusion in verses 39 and 40. Look what he says there. But Paul says, "I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city. And I implore you, permit me to speak to the people." So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people.

And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language saying, "Now, Paul answered Lysias in verse 39, and said, 'No, I am not this Egyptian.' He said, 'I'm a Jew from Tarsus.'" In other words, Paul was showing Lysias that he had every right to be at the temple being a Jew, where the people were beating him.

Then he showed this commander that he was also a Roman citizen. He was from Tarsus of Cilicia. And Paul describes that Tarsus was not an insignificant city. It was a cultured center as well as with a university that rivaled the one in the city of Athens and Alexandria.

And being from Tarsus showed the commander how Paul knew Greek. And after this, Paul begged Lysias to permit him to speak to the people. I say begged because of the Greek word for implore is deomai and it means to petition, to make a request, to actually beg.

And so Claudius gave him permission because I believe that he was convinced that Paul was innocent and if the people only heard his story, they would be at peace and go home quietly. At least that's what he was hoping. And so being at the top of the stairs of the fortress of Antonia, it created an amphitheater effect with the people down below in the open market atmosphere.

Paul motioned with his hands in verse 40. I can see him saying, "Shh," and motioned with his hands to quiet the crowd. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, or it was actually in Aramaic, which was a kind of slang of Hebrew, or Aramaic falls under the category of the Hebrew language.

And I believe that Paul teaches us a powerful principle here. He spoke Hebrew to the Jewish leaders, he spoke Greek to the commander Claudius Lysias, and he spoke Aramaic to the common people. He understood to have an effective ministry required that we speak the language of those who we're trying to reach.

Now we may not know another language, but it is wise to stay abreast on popular terms and phrases because so often we use phrases that only Christians and church people know inside of the church. And those outside of the church are clueless. They don't have a clue of what we're talking about.

So effective communication will require that we seek to bridge the gap with those we're trying to reach. This doesn't mean that we need to talk like them, using profanity and vulgar language and telling bad jokes and stuff. No, to try to relate to them. We don't have to do that.

And I bring that up because I've had people that I know that when they got around their unsaved Christian, they curse like them and all that kind. You don't have to do that in order to relate to them. Just using phrases and terms that build a bridge to them in order to share the gospel with them.

I'm amazed at how Paul looked out at this mob who just tried to kill him. Gave him a few knuckle sandwiches and beat him up pretty good, and his heart broke for them. He saw them as lost and confused and I'm sure that he saw a mob of people just like himself.

He used to be just like them. In Acts chapter 8 and verses 1-3, it talks about how he had Stephen stoned to death and how he made the church and Christians his number one object of persecution. Oh, he went crazy, imprisoning Christians and putting them to death.

In Acts 9 and verse 1, it says, "Then Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord." And so he could relate to their madness, and his heart broke for them. But where did he get this kind of heart that he would have compassion for those trying to kill him?

Well, I believe he got it in prayer. You remember in Romans chapter 10 and verse 1, it says, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved." Notice how he said his heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel.

I believe that his heart, his heart's desire was birth in prayer. It is in prayer that God gives us his heart for lost people. In Luke 19 and verse 10, it says that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. So as we spend time with him in prayer, he gives us his heart for lost people. His heart.

He prayed for his people, the Jews, Paul did, and his heart broke for them. He looked out at them as he was at the top of the stairs of the fortress of Antonia and all those Jews, that angry mob, giving him the eye and looking at him and some of them, you know, turned in their face gritting their teeth, and his heart broke for them.

He was, he was just living out what Jesus taught us in Matthew 5 and verse 44, which says, "Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you." And here it is. Here it is. "Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."

See, when we pray for those who are persecuting and trying to kill us, either on the job or social media, it keeps bitterness and anger from entering, and watch this, and dwelling in our hearts. It is hard to be angry and bitter towards those we are praying for God to save and for God to bless.

Prayer is the key to us having compassion and love towards those crucifying us. Oh, isn't this what Jesus did on the cross? He said in Luke 23 and verse 34, he says, "Father, forgive them." He said, "For they do not know what they do." This is the heart God wants us to have towards those crucifying us.

Oh, Stephen, that Paul was very instrumental in in in putting to death before he became a Christian. He said in Acts chapter 7 and verse 60, he says, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And so without prayer, we will be angry, bitter, and even harbor hatred towards the very people God wants us to reach for his kingdom.

We can't do this on our own. We can't. We need God's help because the natural reaction towards those persecuting or crucifying us is anger, bitterness, revenge. And and and this what ends up happening, we end up murdering these people in our hearts.

Or or we, we wish that they were dead. We see them or hear their name mentioned, and we wish that they were dead. This person is dead to me. Well, hey, what about this person? You remember this person? That person is dead to me. And there are a lot of people who have not pulled a physical trigger, but spiritually in their heart, they pull the trigger and killed these people in their hearts.

And I know that you're out there right now because this, the very thought of this has brought back memories of that particular person. And and the Lord wants to set you free from that, because you have murdered them in your heart. And to the Lord, you are a murderer at heart.

Oh, you didn't pull the trigger. No. But you've wished they were dead for the last 5 or 10 years. And the Lord wants to heal that. He wants to heal that in your particular heart that you've been harboring there and you think you've gone on. It's just like it's been rightfully said, you know, unforgiveness is is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

And all the time, you know, they've gone on with their life and you have drunk that bitterness. You've drunk that poison. And and you're the one that's actually dying and that person is going on, but in your heart, you've murdered that person. You wish that they were dead. To you, they are dead.

And this is the kind of stuff that the Lord wants to deal with our hearts about. And this is why the Christian life is a supernatural life, to be lived out through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit empowers us to do the impossible, which is to forgive the very people we have murdered in our hearts, who have crucified us, who have done us wrong.

This is this is key here. This is a key. Hey, let me tell you something, I'm living this out with you right now. I don't like mess with people. I don't like mess. I try to make, you know, wrongs right. Someone has something against me, I'm going to try to get it right. You know, if it is possible to live peaceably with all men, I try to do that because I don't want to hinder what God wants to do in our church.

I don't want to hinder what God wants to do in my own life. And so when there's mess, I try to get it right. I don't care whether they were the ones who did. I try to get it right. So I'm living this out right now. I'm living this out right now. I'm praying for that person.

Praying for them, constantly praying, because I don't want bitterness and anger and resentment to be in my heart. I don't want to wish them dead in my heart. And there are a lot of people that this has happened to and and the Lord wants to deal with that. He wants to deal with that sort of stuff.

Now, this is where I believe those who came up with the chapter and verse division in the 11th and 13th century made a little boo-boo. Why would they end chapter 21 with, "He spoke to them in the Hebrew language saying"? Chapter 22 should have started, should not have started, should I say until we heard what Paul had to say in verses 1 to 21.

So really, chapter 22 should have started in verse 22. Now, this is only my humble opinion that many others have shared as well. Now, chapters and verse division were not inspired by God. They were only added to help us find passages easily. And I'm so very thankful for them for what they did.

There's only a few places that I think and some others think as well, where they cut off the chapter too soon or too late or whatever. Now, it's a minor technicality, but food for thought. So the question is, what did Paul say? Well, you know you're going to have to wait until next time to find out what he said, because we want to take our time and listen to what Paul said to show his heart.

How his heart had been touched by God and that God can can use him to speak to the multitudes of people. There are multitudes of people that God wants to use you to speak to, but he cannot use you if you got anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, and resentment in your heart.

There are multitudes. Nowadays, with social media, nowadays with online stuff, you can speak to multitudes of people. Hundreds and thousands, and even millions of people through social media, but God will not use you. He will not use me if we got that stuff in our heart.

You know why? Because when we speak, we will speak and it'll be filtered through anger, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, and it will pepper our speech and what we say and God can't use that. He can't use that kind of speech. He cannot use that that that kind of even though you may be trying to give the word, trying to give encouragement, he can't use that.

Because it will end up poisoning the people that you're trying to minister to. And I'm telling you, I remember a time. I remember a time. It was about a decade ago where I was dealing with a whole bunch of this stuff. And if you heard the messages I gave during that time, you can hear the anger, the resentment, the unforgiveness, the anger towards God, the anger towards these people.

You can hear it in the messages. You can hear it. That's why, you know, when we put messages on the radio and on social media from years ago, those are messages that I'm glad are not on there. Because they were they they were peppered with unforgiveness and peppered with anger and resentment and and and then when I really thought a point was hitting them, oh, I really give it some great emphasis and it was just and I'm glad we don't use those messages because the those messages are are are not good because they were they were given with anger and resentment.

So let me let me just conclude with this. In part three of this message, these messages called Making Peace. We saw how Paul was willing to be beaten and arrested in order to make peace with the Jewish people. We also saw how Paul's background as a Jewish man and his education as a Pharisee or one of the conservative religious leaders, and in Greek culture was used to give him a huge audience with a Jewish crowd.

And so too, God will use our education, he will use our background to give us an audience with the people he wants us to reach. So familiarize yourself with terms and phrases that will give you a a a silent audience to speak to like Paul did. Because many Christians are using too many Christian phrases and terms that are only relatable to the church community, but are are are like a foreign language to the world we're called to reach.

For example, we use phrases like all the time and we understand what we're saying. We're church folks, Christians, you've been around a while. You know, I'm just covered and washed by the blood of the lamb. The world looks at us say, "Excuse me? You are covered and washed with the blood of the lamb." That doesn't make sense to them.

Oh, you know, I'm saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized with the mighty fire. Filled with the Holy Ghost. I've seen a few ghost movies and ghosts ain't been holy. What are you talking? The the world knows nothing about what we're talking about.

And we're so christianized that we we we just talk with Christianese. Even when we're just talking normal stuff. Yeah, you know, I went to the store. Amen. And I just went and got some keys. Oh, praise God. I actually saw some toilet tissue. Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't know what they're like, why are you talking like that?

We these are terms we know and we talk this way. But when we're trying to reach the very people that God has called us to reach, we got to we can't use those terms. We we can talk about social media. We can talk about downloading and we need to erase the memory of our mind.

You know, we can talk that kind of talk because they understand that. But when we mix in all of our Christianese and phrases and things, they're looking at us like, what's up? Paul was a model of this. Paul when he spoke to the religious leaders, he spoke in the Hebrew language. He spoke to the common people, he spoke Aramaic.

Here to this commander, he spoke Greek. Paul understood effective ministry means be familiar with the language and phrases and terms that the people you call to reach can relate to. And may God use us. And may God use us because he does want to use us. Now, finally, let me just say this.

We need to pray for the people we consider our enemies. This is big right here. See, those persecuting, harassing, or even crucifying you. And watch and see when you begin to pray for them. Watch and see how your heart and your attitude will start to change towards them.

This can only happen through the power of God's Holy Spirit. You've heard me mention many times, Luke 11:13, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And let me just say this in closing, are you harboring anger, hatred, and vengeance towards those who have crucified you or are crucifying you?

And maybe like Paul, they beat you. Maybe it was a parent. Maybe it was a false parent. Maybe it was a step parent because you were not his biologically his or hers. And you're still hurt about it. And you still have anger and resentment towards them because of it.

You need God's help. You need God's help and you need to pray that God will empower you to forgive them because it's not natural to forgive folks who have hurt us. The natural reaction, you hurt me, I'm going to hurt you back. But if I can't hurt you back, I'm going to kill you in my heart.

And to me, you're dead. And there are many of you out there that's in this position. And God wants to use you in a powerful way, but he can't use you with that stuff in your heart. And you got to pray that God will forgive you for having it in your heart and give you the strength and the power to be able to start praying for those who've hurt you, those who've crucified you, those who are crucifying you.

You need to pray that God will get that stuff out of your heart. Because God wants to use you, but he can't use you with that stuff in your heart. So let's pray. Father, I pray for us that you would supernaturally come upon us with the power of your spirit. Lord, clean out our hearts from anger and bitterness and resentment.

Clean our hearts, Lord, from those things that keep us far from you. Oh God, we know that you're near to us, but Lord, you want us to deal with that stuff in our hearts. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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