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 24, verses one through nine.

Tony Clark: This ministry is based upon the simple teaching of the Word of God. As Pastor Chuck, the founder of Calvary Chapels, taught us: simply teach the word simply. That's just what we do to make it plain for you. One pastor who had been in ministry over 60 years told me when I first moved here, he said, "Always put the cookies on the bottom shelf where the kids can get it." That's what we seek to do.

Father, thank you so much for this glorious occasion that we can open up this word. Lord, we just pray that you would open up our hearts to the truths that are in it. Speak into our hearts, we pray, by the power of your Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Amen.

Acts chapter 24, looking at verses one through nine. The title of this message is "The Danger of Flattery." Why is flattery considered dangerous? Because the definition is excessive and insincere praise given especially to further one's own interest. Let me say that again: excessive and insincere praise given especially to further one's own interest.

This is why it is dangerous. In this chapter, we will see flattery used to try to gain an advantage by a lawyer against the great Apostle Paul. So here in chapter 24, Paul is standing before the Roman Governor Felix on trial, and let's see what happens.

Look what he says there in verse one: "Now after five days, Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul." Paul was in the city of Caesarea waiting for his accusers to arrive according to Acts 23 and verse 35.

So, verse one says, "Now after five days," which is the time it took for Ananias the high priest, the elders, and their top attorney named Tertullus to travel approximately 65 to 70 miles. They were not content with just running Paul out of Jerusalem; they wanted his life. They wanted to see him dead.

Ananias, who was approximately 80 years old at the time, was willing to make this long trip. Five days says a lot. What it says is that animosity will drive a person a long way. Are you being driven by animosity? Animosity will take you on long journeys to see what you call justice take place.

Just know when you're filled with animosity, anger, and vengeance, Satan will set a day and open up a door for you to get revenge or to get even. Do you remember what happened to Herodias in Mark chapter 6, verses 19 to 21? When John the Baptist told her that it was not right for her to be married to Herod because she was legally still married to Herod's brother Philip, the Bible says in Mark 6:19 that she held this against him. She held a grudge. She had animosity towards John the Baptist.

Then Mark 6:21 says, "Then an opportune day came." Satan will always open up a door, an opportune day for revenge for you to vent your animosity, and it will drive you a great distance to see it happen, like it did Ananias.

Are you waiting for your opportune day to open up for you to get even? When it comes, don't walk through it because it will harden your heart. It will turn you into an ugly person. It will not give you the satisfaction that you're longing for. What drives us to go long distances to get even is because we've been hurt, and we think that when we see them hurt back, it will give us a sense of satisfaction. It won't give you that. It will leave you empty, hardened, and angrier because you didn't get the satisfaction you were longing for.

If you're waiting for your opportune day to come, don't walk through the door. It's going to open up. Satan will open up the door for you to get that person back, but don't do it. You'll even deceive yourself into thinking it's God, like "God opened up the door for me to get this person back."

It reminds me of David when Saul was chasing after him. He was in the cave "handling his business," the Bible says. David and his men were hiding in the darkness of the cave. His men said, "Look, the Lord has opened up a door for you to get your enemy back." He said, "No, how am I going to strike God's anointed and not be guilty of it?"

He didn't do it. He said, "But okay, look, if you won't do it, then let me do it. I will go and strike him down, and he'll just never know what happened to him." He said, "Do you think you can strike God's anointed and get away with it?"

Don't go through the door when it opens because Satan will open up the door for you to get that person back. Don't do it. Listen to someone who's walked through such doors: the satisfaction wasn't there. The sense of "yeah!" was not there. Some of you are waiting for it, and it just won't be there.

Ananias and these guys brought with them a man named Tertullus, who is described as a "certain orator." The Greek word for orator is *rhetoros*, where we get rhetoric from. It means a public speaker. It's only used here in the entire New Testament, but other Greek sources at the time used this term in a courtroom setting, so it came to have the more specialized meaning of an attorney or an advocate.

It is believed that he was one of the top lawyers available. He was like the Johnny Cochran of the day. He spoke on behalf of Ananias and the elders who were members of the Sanhedrin, or the Jewish Supreme Court. He gave evidence to the governor against Paul.

Let's see what happens in verses two and three: "And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying: 'Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.'"

Tertullus started off like all good lawyers do, with flattery. Why? Because before he could win his case, he must first win the judge. Proverbs 26:28 says, "A flattering mouth works ruin." The reason why flattery is not good is because it's a form of deception. It's a lie. You're using it to gain an advantage with the person you are trying to flatter.

Let me show you why the Bible says flattery is so dangerous. Romans 16:18 says, "For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple."

Let me just speak to our singles here. Beware of those who are willing to come to church with you at the beginning and they don't serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, which is a reference to their own fleshly desires. They will use smooth words and flattering speech to deceive you and take advantage of you sexually, emotionally, and monetarily.

Beware of flattery, especially ladies. You love to hear how you look. Looks are something to everyone, but especially for you. That means you can easily be deceived by smooth words and flattering speech. This is where men come with slick talk. They can come with smooth words and flattering speech, deceiving the hearts of the simple.

You could just be on the job and all of a sudden, he can make one little comment about how you look in that outfit. Now you're taking extra care the next day of how you look because you want to hear that comment again. Be very mindful; men can pick up on that. Especially when you've got a slick-talking brother that knows how to use words and the smile. He can deceive you with flattering words because maybe you're not getting those flattering words at home, and he can use them to deceive the hearts of the simple.

Proverbs 20:19 says, "He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with one who flatters with his lips." This is saying beware; don't make a flatterer your close friend because they will only tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear.

Psalm 78:36 says that there are those who will try to flatter God. It says, "Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue." How in the world can we deceive ourselves into thinking we can flatter God, the God who knows all things? But we do.

Here is how it is done: when we give God insincere worship and praise, it is flattery, and God doesn't want it and He sees through it. Jesus confirmed this in Matthew 15:8-9: "These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."

Powerful words by Jesus himself. He sees through our flattery. We try to come to church and flatter God through worship because we're going to hit Him up sometime this week. We've got a job interview. We haven't been to church in who knows when, but we're going to come because we want to get our praise and worship on because we're going to hit God up this week, hoping that He blesses us on the interview.

God sees through that. We're going to butter God up. Then when we go to Him in prayer, we say, "God, I'm about to go to this interview. You remember I was in church Sunday now. I did my part, now you do yours." He sees through our flattery and our insincerity.

How did Tertullus try to flatter the Governor Felix? He said, "Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace." There had not been great peace under Felix, but violence. Then he said, "and prosperity is being brought to this nation." This is a reference to his reforms, and he praised him for his foresight.

Felix's methods were so brutal that the Jews hated him and called for there to be unrest in the land because of his violence. The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that Felix was the only one who was a slave who became governor. Even though he had the position of a governor, he had the mentality of a slave, and he wanted to get everybody back for the cruelty he received as a slave.

He was very cruel. His methods were cruel, and there was such unrest. But Tertullus was trying to butter him up, flatter him by speaking lies to him. Like I said, Felix had a reputation for corruption, violence, and self-promotion. So despite Tertullus's flattering words, his flattery was called in Roman terminology *captatio benevolentiae*.

The Jewish people would not have felt much thankfulness towards Felix like verse three says. So the next time you're attempting to praise people—and there's nothing wrong with thanking someone for what they've done—ask yourself: why am I doing this? Is it for them, or is it really for me?

This is getting to the heart of our motives. I believe that we will truly stop in our tracks after asking ourselves this question because we're really trying to flatter that person for our own personal gain. This is why we must cry out to God like David did in Psalm 141:3. He said, "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips."

I wonder what would or would not come out of our mouths if we prayed such a prayer. Couples, I guarantee you, if we prayed such a prayer, how many arguments would not be had? I wonder before we talk to our teens, if we prayed such a prayer, I wonder how the conversation would go with them. I wonder with that coworker that we're overseeing, that brother or that sister that we call ourselves confronting, I wonder how that conversation would go if we prayed before we opened our lips. "Oh God, set a watch over my lips, the door of my mouth."

Governor Felix was so inept at his position that Caesar Nero removed him from office two years after this hearing that Acts 24:27 mentions. Look at verses four through six: "Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us. For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him, and wanted to judge him according to our law."

In verse four, Tertullus closed his opening remarks with the customary promise to be brief. He said, "not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear by your courtesy a few words from us, just a few words." So often these words are often broken, but Tertullus was forced to keep his word because there was not much more he could say about Felix or about the Apostle Paul.

So he was going to be brief this time because he had not much more to say about Felix as well as about the Apostle Paul, but he's going to attempt to bring up some bogus charges on the Apostle Paul. Now Tertullus turns his attention against Paul. He brings three charges against him.

Number one, he was a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world. Number two, he was a ringleader of an unrecognized sect called the Nazarenes, which is against Roman law. And number three, he tried to profane the temple.

These religious leaders were hoping that these charges would stick and persuade Felix to execute Paul in order to keep the peace in Jerusalem. "Felix, this is all so we can keep peace. You don't want any more mess in Jerusalem, so hearing this will keep the peace."

The first charge said that Paul was a plague. The Greek word for plague is *loimos*, and it means a disease, a pestilence, or a plague. They were hoping that this charge would persuade Felix to think that Paul was trying to stir up trouble against Rome.

What a label to put on someone. To call someone a plague. "You are a plague." Just like in the Christmas movie *Home Alone*, they told Kevin, "You're such a disease. You're what the French call *les incompetents*." Just think about it. He called Paul a plague, a disease.

I just wonder how our families or how our jobs look at us when they see us coming. "Look, he's such a disease. He just infects the whole job. Look who's coming to the party. Oh, they're such a plague to this family." I just wonder do they see us that way?

This is how the religious leaders saw Paul. Wherever he goes, he just spreads like the Rona. Everywhere he goes, it just spreads. When he comes around, we've got to put our mask on. I'm just tired of this guy.

The second charge was that Paul was the ringleader of the Nazarene sect. Ringleader—*protostates*—it was a military word that meant one who stands on the front rank. For those of you with your military background, you remember there was a point person. The point person was out front and other folks were behind him. This is the Greek word that is used here: the one who's in the front.

They said he's the ringleader, Paul was the ringleader of this sect called the Nazarenes. Of course, this is referring to the Christians, named after the hometown of Jesus, and He was from Nazareth. The Greek word for sect is *hairesis*, and it means a faction, a party, and it is where we get our word heresy from.

What Tertullus was trying to do was to show Felix that Christianity was rejected by Judaism as heretical. So he's saying don't get it mixed up, Felix, that Christianity and Judaism are the same. No, we here, the religious leaders, we look at Christianity as this heretical group of people, a dangerous group that needed to be eradicated from the earth.

Whether you believe it or not, there are people alive and well today who feel the same way about Christianity and the church. That Christianity and the church need to be eradicated. It needs to be removed from the face of the earth. Especially during this pandemic time. "These Christians, they want to get together. All they're doing is spreading this thing."

This is why the narrative is being spun that you can only get the Rona when you come to church. Because they have spun that narrative, people are staying away from church because the Rona is waiting for you in the parking lot of the church. He's waiting on you to get out of your car. But he doesn't go to Walmart or Sam's Club. He doesn't go to family functions and get-togethers. He only comes to church.

This is why Christianity needs to be eradicated from the earth because Christianity is the spread of this thing. That's the narrative being spun, and many people are still believing it to this day. "I'm not ready to come out to church. I may get that Rona." The Rona's an usher. He's a parking lot attendant.

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