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 26 through 35.

Tony Clark: Good morning, welcome to Calvary Chapel, and we're thrilled to have you here to worship with us and to study the word of God together. All right, let's dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 23.

We're going to be looking at verses 26 to 35 as we continue our verse-by-verse study of the book of Acts, going through the New Testament on Sunday mornings. And as you know, Wednesday, we will continue to go through the Old Testament, verse by verse and chapter by chapter. And we were in the book of 1 Samuel, if any of y'all remember back that far.

All right, Father, thank you so much, again, for this word you've given us. Speak into our heart in a way that only you can. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. All right, Acts 23, looking at verses 26 to 35. The title of this message is "Pass the Buck."

Pass the buck. Now, this saying is used to describe someone who is trying to evade responsibility by passing it off onto someone else. It is also used to describe someone who is trying to shift responsibility or blame to another person. And this is what we will see take place in these verses. Now, I'm going to spend just a little time on the background here, and there's going to be a reason for it.

This saying, "pass the buck," fits perfectly to describe the actions of the Roman commander, Claudius Lysias, as he was in charge of about 1,000 Roman soldiers at the Antonia Fortress in Jerusalem. He was dispatched when he heard that there was a riot at the Jewish temple, which was right next door or adjacent to it.

A mob was trying to beat Paul to death in Acts 21 and verse 31. After rescuing him, the commander wanted to know why they were beating him. So, on their way back to the Antonia Fortress to examine Paul, when they got to the top of the stairs, he asked if he could address the crowd. After getting permission, he speaks to them in the Hebrew language.

They listen as Paul gave them his testimony of how Jesus Christ saved him. Then he told them that God was sending him to the Gentiles to tell his testimony and the story of how Jesus Christ saved him to them. And when he said this one word, "Gentiles," you've got to understand, you think that the racial tension in our country is something, it is nothing in comparison with the racial tension between Jew and Gentile.

When he just said this one word, God was sending him to the Gentiles, another riot broke out. And they brought Paul into the barracks and was about to examine him under scourging. Scourging was a cruel method by which Romans would get information out of people. They would use an instrument called a flagellum, which was a wooden handle with 12 leather straps at the end of this wooden handle.

At the end of each leather strap was a round object of crushed bone and sharp objects. It was used to whip the individual. A scribe would be next to the victim, so when he confessed the crime, he could write it down. Each whip on the back would get harder and harder to get the individual to confess their crime.

And when they found out that Paul was a Roman citizen because he told them in Acts 22 and verse 25, they withdrew from scourging him or even attempt to scourge him. And because Roman citizens were never scourged, scourging was only meant for non-Roman citizens. The commander still doesn't know why the crowd reacted to Paul the way they did because Paul spoke to them in the Hebrew language and the commander spoke Greek.

So, he decided to have the religious leaders examine Paul. Another riot broke out in Acts 23 in verses 9 and 10. So, as he was trying to find out what is going on, Paul's nephew heard about a plot of about 40 Jews that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. So, Claudius Lysias took 470 soldiers by night and brought him to his supervisor, who was the governor Felix.

So, he wrote a letter to him, and this is where we pick up the story. Look at verse 26. "Claudius Lysias to the most excellent governor Felix, greetings." Now, in this verse is where we learn the commander's full name. His name was Claudius Lysias. Claudius was a Roman name he took, perhaps in honor of the Roman Emperor Claudius when he purchased his Roman citizenship that he mentions in Acts 22 and verse 28.

The name Lysias is Greek. It's a Greek name, showing that he was a born citizen of Greece. Now, notice how he diplomatically addressed the letter to the most excellent governor Felix. Felix was the Roman governor or the procurator of Judea from AD 52 to AD 59. And this was the same position that Pontius Pilate had held in the days of Jesus Christ.

See, they pretty much allowed the Jews to govern themselves, and the governor was in charge of the army to make sure that peace was kept and gathered the taxes from the people. Now, here we have the classic example of passing the buck. I took the time to give you the detailed history of Paul's encounter with Claudius Lysias for a reason, because I wanted to show you how he had chance after chance to deal with Paul properly, but each time, it ended in a riot.

So, what did he do? He passed the buck to his supervisor, the governor Felix. I have seen this time and time again with the broken homes across this country because of divorce and the devastating effects this has upon children. They get older and start to act out, and the classic "pass the buck" takes place. Go live with your daddy, or go live with your mother or your grandmother.

The passing of the buck happens all of the time because of difficulty. The buck gets passed all the time on jobs, in homes, and in almost every area of life. The buck gets passed because no one wants to deal with the difficult child, the difficult job, the difficult position, or the difficult parent who has gotten older and a sibling doesn't want to deal with them anymore.

Yes, I've learned that long-term care takes its toll on people. This is what we're looking at here in the case with Paul. Paul was most definitely a difficult case to deal with. So, Claudius Lysias is now passing Paul off to the governor Felix. This letter that is written is called an elogium, which was a formal letter that was written to describe the case against a prisoner.

The root of this word is where we get our word "eulogy," which means to speak well of. And this explains why the commander started this letter by speaking well of the governor, calling him "the most excellent Felix." Now, there are some things written in this letter by Claudius Lysias. He's going to write some things in this letter that's going to seem innocent on the surface, but we're going to see there are some things he does in this letter that we can find in our own lives ourselves, if we aren't careful.

Look what it says there in verses 27 and 28. It says, "This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. And when I wanted to know the reason they accused him, I brought him before their council." Now, Claudius Lysias started off this letter embellishing things to, no doubt, put himself in a better light to his supervisor.

Yes, it was true that Paul was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, like verse 27 says. But he tells Felix that they came with troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. Come on, Claudius Lysias, you didn't find out that Paul was a Roman citizen until later on. But he is making it sound like he came and rescued him because he was a Roman citizen. Not true.

Let us be careful as believers that we aren't embellishing stories to try to make ourselves look good to our supervisors. Embellishing resumes or embellishing stories on interviews in order to put ourselves in a better light to get a job. If all you did was you were a janitor, don't put on your resume that you were a sanitation engineer. You were a janitor. Don't try to embellish the story to make yourself look good.

Especially today, jobs are all over the place. Folks just don't want work today. Jobs are all over the place. But the thing that I'm looking at is, let us not embellish stories on resumes or in interviews to try to make ourselves look good. Why? Because it is a form of lying. We're doing it for selfish reasons to make ourselves look better, like Claudius Lysias is doing here.

Notice how Claudius left out the part that he was about to have Paul scourged. He left that out because his military career would have been over for scourging a Roman citizen. Yes, he did bring Paul before the Jewish council, like the end of verse 28 says, but he left out how they first thought Paul was an Egyptian assassin, which was not true.

I was thinking about this this morning. Let us be careful that we aren't making false assumptions about people before we have all the facts about them. There's an old saying about judging a book by its cover, and we do it all the time. We see folks, maybe down on their luck, and we see folks that maybe holding up a sign or something like that, and we just start saying things about them.

Hey, we've got to be careful. I've said it many times before, all of us are just one paycheck away from holding up our own sign. Let us not make false assumptions about people before we get all the facts. They thought that Paul was an Egyptian assassin that a few years earlier had led 4,000 assassins into the desert. They thought that he was coming back to do some more damage, and they thought Paul was that leader of that 4,000 assassin, and it wasn't true.

And we can easily make false assumptions about people, and we need to be careful that we aren't doing the same thing. Now, let me get back to this issue of exaggerating, embellishing stories. We fail to realize because another category, another form of lying, is leaving out important facts in order to give someone a false impression. This is key here.

If we leave out certain events in our story to make us look innocent to someone, but if those events were put back into the story, we would be guilty. That's a form of lying because you're leaving out important facts to give a false impression. For example, "Where you been?" "Oh, you know I told you I had to go to the store." "Well, what took you so long?" "Oh, you know, you've got to practice that six-feet social distancing. You know, folks were in there, line was out the door..."

But you left out that you saw an old girlfriend there, and y'all got into a conversation and exchanged some pleasantries. You left that out. But you told the person—you left out key information to give a false impression, that it was just a long line and the line was out the door. But you left out the part as the line was out the door, you were in line talking to an old girlfriend.

You see, by leaving out those events, it gave a false impression to the person you told the story to. That's a form of lying because if those events were put back in there, you know you'd get called on the carpet and there'd be a lot of yelling going on. But you left that part out. We've got to be careful of this sort of stuff. This is what Claudius Lysias was doing to his supervisor, leaving out certain events.

He failed to tell his supervisor, "Yeah, I was about to scourge old boy, he was about to get a good beatdown." He left that part out because he knew his military career would have been in jeopardy had he gone through with it. Look at verses 29 and 30. "I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him. Farewell."

Now, Claudius Lysias says something very important in verse 29. Notice. He says, "I found out that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains." He was saying that Paul was innocent. We cannot stop people from accusing us of things, but the real question is, are they true?

For Paul, Claudius Lysias said that he had nothing charged against him deserving of death or chains. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 2, in the qualifications of being a pastor, is that he must be blameless. It doesn't say sinless, and blameless doesn't mean sinless. The Greek word for blameless is *anepileptos*, and it means not able to be held.

It means to live in such a way that you cannot be arrested and held as a criminal. There is nothing to accuse or point the finger at you. Yes, this is one of the qualifications of a pastor, but as you all know, this is addressed to all Christians because the Bible is to all Christians, and those who are called like myself to be a pastor, we are to be the example of this qualification.

Claudius Lysias said this about Paul. I just wonder what are those around us saying about us? I pray that a Claudius Lysias can say this about us as Christians, that there is nothing able to point the finger. "Hey, did you know they were a Christian over there? Oh, they always work hard, they just do a great thing." And they have nothing evil to say of us.

Now, I'm sure that the Governor Felix, reading that Paul was innocent or not deserving of chains, was probably wondering—because if I was Felix, I would have been wondering the same thing. If this man is innocent, then why is this man being sent to me? Claudius continues to explain in verse 30 that he was told, and we know by Paul's nephew, that the Jews lay in wait for this man. "And I sent him immediately to you."

He was saying that Paul's safety meant that he had to leave the city of Jerusalem. Now, hold up. If I was the governor reading this, I would have been like, "Okay, if he's innocent, then why are you sending him to me? That's number one. Number two, Claudius, you're in charge and the commander of 1,000 Roman soldiers. Why was his life in danger then? If you're in charge of 1,000 Roman soldiers, and you said that 40 Jews lying in wait, then why are you sending him to me?"

That would have been me. You and 1,000 soldiers couldn't keep this one man safe? I would have been questioning his leadership and his military ability. Then he ended by saying that he commanded his accusers to state before Felix the charges against him. Let's see what else happens. Look at verses 31 and 32.

"Then the soldiers, as they were commanded, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. The next day they left the horsemen to go on with him and returned to the barracks." Now, with this letter in their hand, the soldiers, as they were commanded in verse 31, went on a forced march and took Paul and brought him by night to the city of Antipatris, which was 35 to 40 miles from Jerusalem.

It was a Roman military post often used as a rest stop for travelers between the cities of Jerusalem and Caesarea. It was the halfway point. Herod the Great built it in honor of his father, Antipater. And to reach this distance in one night required a serious forced march. We know from last week that they left at 9:00 PM and they marched 35 to 40 miles in one night.

How do I know this? Because it says the next day they were there. And they left the 70 horsemen to go on the rest of the way with Paul because the danger was now behind them. The 200 foot soldiers and the 200 spearmen returned to the Antonia Fortress, back to the barracks in Jerusalem, according to verse 32. Look at verses 33 to 35.

"When they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. And when the governor had read it, he asked what province he was from. And when he understood that he was from Cilicia, he said, 'I will hear you when your accusers have also come.' And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's Praetorium."

Now, when Paul came to Caesarea in verse 33, which was about 35 to 40 miles from Antipatris, they delivered the letter to the governor and they presented Paul to him. The governor read it in verse 34, and Felix asked Paul what province he was from because he wanted to know whether he had jurisdiction to hear this case.

When he understood that he was from the area of Cilicia, he said in verse 35, "I will hear you when your accusers also have come." And he commanded him to be kept in Herod's Praetorium. Now, some extensive excavations were done in this particular area between the years of 1993 and 1998 and they uncovered Herod's Praetorium, and it confirmed the things that we are talking about in these verses.

Now, we see the faithfulness of God to Paul. God told Paul in Acts 23 and verse 11 that he would be a witness for him in Rome. So, God protected him from the ambush along the road by the 40 Jews, brought him safely to Caesarea. Now he is being kept in Herod's Praetorium, which was the headquarters of the governor.

It was a place on the Mediterranean Sea, a beautiful place. It was on the beach, and Paul was on the beach for two years as he goes through a series of trials that he was found innocent of them. Why? Because God told him that he was going to bear witness for him in Rome. And so God protected him.

Please understand that God is faithful. In 1 Corinthians 1:9, it talks about God being faithful. 2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, "But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one." We see God's faithfulness to Paul, and God will be faithful to us because he has a work for us to do for him, and he will be faithful to protect us until this work is accomplished.

I mean, we have to understand this. I remember hearing one pastor say this 30 years ago. He said that we, as believers, we are invincible until God is finished using us. That is true. Nothing can happen to us until God is done using us. And then he'll just take us home to be with him. He has a work for all of us to do and he will guard us and protect us until we accomplish that work.

God said, "Paul, you're going to testify, give your testimony of the work I've done in your life, you're going to give that testimony in Rome." So, it doesn't matter what happens to you, you're getting to Rome. I'm going to protect you until you get there and do the work that I've called you to do.

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