The Word Made Plain

Announcer: 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 25, verses 13 through 27.

Tony Clark: All right, let's dive into the Word of God. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 25.

We're going to be looking at verses 13 to 27. And Father, we pray that your Spirit would teach us this morning. Teach us your truth. Teach us your word. Lord, we need to hear from you in times like this. And so, God, speak to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

Acts 25, looking at verses 13 to 27. The title of this message is "The Little Things In Life". The little things in life. Now, why are the little things in life so important? Because they have a way of helping us cope with the tragedies of life. During this pandemic, we have learned to appreciate the little things like spending time together as a family. Because no one could really go places, we have learned to enjoy playing together at home. Cooking together, making projects, and watching movies. Enjoying the little things in life.

Now, in these verses, we will see what God can do when we give the little we have to Him. Now, by way of background, the last time we were together, we saw in verses 1 through 12 that a man named Porcius Festus had become the new governor over Jerusalem. And so he goes up in verse 1 to Jerusalem to introduce himself to the high priest and the chief men there. As soon as they saw him, they asked for a favor from him to finally deal with their enemy, Paul, verse 3 says. So Festus asked them to come down to Caesarea where Paul was being held, and he would hear their case.

Now, just like in the previous cases against Paul, these religious leaders brought up the same false claims that they brought to Felix, who was the previous governor. When Paul saw that the new governor, Festus, was going to try to gain the favor of the Jews by having him go back to Jerusalem for another trial, he had had enough and said, "I appeal to Caesar," in verse 11.

Festus knowing that Paul was innocent and didn't want to upset the Jewish leaders, was happy to be let off the hook and said in verse 12, "You appeal to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go." Now, we pick it up in verses 13 through 15.

"And after some days, King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus. And when they had been there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, 'There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix, about whom the chief priests and elders of the Jews informed me when I was in Jerusalem, asking for a judgment against him.'"

Now, as we can see from verse 13, some days have passed from the time that Paul had appealed to Caesar and the time he actually went. And we see that he had no charges against Paul. So as he is wondering what to do, King Agrippa and Bernice came to the city of Caesarea to greet the new governor and to try to strengthen their political ties in the northern part of Palestine where he ruled.

Now, King Agrippa is Herod Agrippa II. He had jurisdiction over the temple and the temple treasury. He was the son of Herod Agrippa I. Herod Agrippa I had the Apostle James beheaded and Peter arrested in Acts 12 and verses 1 to 23. Herod Antipas, who was his great uncle, was the one who executed John the Baptist in Mark 6 verses 14 to 29. You remember I talked about Herod was the one who, you know, Herodias' daughter danced, and he said, I'll give you up to half my kingdom. Okay, that, that particular Herod.

Herod Agrippa's great-grandfather was Herod the Great, the one who ruled during the birth of Jesus and tried to kill baby Jesus, but instead executed all of the two-year-olds and under because he was trying to get to and kill baby Jesus, that Matthew 2, verses 1 through 19, that one of the Christmas stories that we talk about.

Now, King Agrippa was a mess himself. Bernice, who is listed here in these verses, was his sister. Drusilla, who was the wife of the previous governor, Felix, was their other sister. History, Tacitus, the Roman historian, he tells us that she was very beautiful. And at the age of 13, she married her uncle, Herod Chalcias, but he died in AD 48. After a failed marriage to Polemon of Cilicia, this relationship with her brother developed. And Bernice would occasionally leave her brother and become the mistress of the Emperor Vespasian and later his son, Titus, but she would always return to her brother, Agrippa.

Now, why did I take up so much time giving you the scandalous family history of King Agrippa and Bernice? Because I want you to ask yourself, what scandalous history are you leaving behind for your children?

Now, I'm not talking about the false teaching, and I put emphasis on false teaching, of generational curses. However, there are patterns and behaviors that our sin leaves behind for our children to walk in. Watch this. Herod the Great was a murderer, and all of his boys grew up to kill someone when they came to power. Oh, just take the time to look at the history you are leaving behind.

Being an angry person, your children will struggle with anger. In Mark chapter 3 and verse 17, James and John were called Sons of Thunder because of their explosive tempers, they displayed when a city didn't want to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. They wanted to call down fire on those who didn't want to receive Jesus and destroy them. Jesus said in Luke 9 verse 55, He said, "You don't know what kind of spirit you are of." He said, "I didn't come to destroy people's lives, but to save them." So if they were Sons of Thunder, then there was a father or mother of Thunder that they learned it from. Well, I suggest to you that it was their father, because history tells us, according to Josephus, that first-century Jewish historian, he tells us that when James and John left their father's fishing business to follow Jesus, it is said that Zebedee, their father, blew their, blew his stack with anger.

So what scandalous history are you passing on to your children and my children? Having several babies out of wedlock, are we leaving behind a drinking problem or drug addiction for our children to pick up and carry on? A bad history of walking out on a bunch of women you got pregnant? We don't realize how much we are passing down. In our story, it started with Herod the Great. And he left a murderous spirit and left a murderous spirit down to all of his boys. And history tells us that Herod the Great had many women in his life. And look at Bernice with a bunch of men in her life, even her own brother.

Oh, David, David had six wives. When God created Adam, he only created Eve, not Eve and Ethel and Sally and Jane. It was just Adam and Eve. One man for one woman. It's very simple. But David had six wives because he had a problem with women. And what happened? His son, Solomon, has 700 wives and 300 concubines. He had 1,000 women.

Just keep in mind, whatever it is we are passing down, our children will always take it a step further. And here it is. We see this here in this particular story. So here is King Agrippa and his sister Bernice coming into town and seeing that he would have a better understanding of Jewish law. Festus in verse 14 laid Paul's case before him. He throws Felix, the previous governor, under the bus a little by saying that he left Paul's case for him to deal with.

Then he said in verse 15, how the chief priests and the elders wanted a judgment against him. Let's see what happens in verses 16 to 22. "To them I answered, 'It is not the custom of Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accusers meet their accusers face to face and has opportunity to answer for himself concerning the charge against him. Therefore, when they had come together, without any delay, the next day I sat on the judgment seat and commanded the man to be brought in. When the accusers stood up and they brought no accusations against him of such things I supposed, but had some questions against him about their own religion, about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I was uncertain of such questions, I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these matters. But when Paul appealed to be reserved for the decision of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept until I could send him to Caesar.' Then Agrippa said to Festus, 'I also would like to hear the man myself.' 'Tomorrow,' he said, 'you shall hear him.'"

Now, in these verses, we see Festus laid Paul's case out to King Agrippa because he knew that he would be in trouble had he sent Paul to Caesar without a valid accusation or charge. Caesar would have looked down upon Festus and thought that he was incompetent to do his job. In other words, Festus was asking King Agrippa to bail him out of this mess. Because when he saw that Paul's case had nothing to do with charges against Rome, but they were Jewish disputes, then King Agrippa agreed to hear Paul in verse 22.

Festus said, "Tomorrow you shall hear him." King Agrippa was actually eager to hear Paul because the Greek word used for the phrase, "I would like" is boulomai, and it means to will, to desire, or to wish. And it suggests that Agrippa had been wanting to hear Paul for a long time.

Surely Festus was relieved because he was at a loss on how to investigate such matters. And Paul saying that a man named Jesus was dead but is alive, Festus was like, "I don't know nothing about that stuff." In other words, Festus was saying, "I'm over my head with this kind of mess. Can you help me?"

Let this be a reminder of how the world views Christianity today. They're clueless of our terminology and phrases. We can't assume anything anymore. I remember one time that I was teaching through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And I was talking about the Pharisees. You know, the Pharisees this and the Pharisees that. And I remember a couple, you know, this is when we're down at the Dembe campus. And I remember a couple going out the door and they said, "Hey, this is our first time here." So, I said, "Oh, do you have any questions about anything?" She said, she said, "Yes." She said, "What's a Pharisee?"

And I said, "Ah, we're not living in a society that understands biblical terminology and things anymore." So, this is why you always hear me say, "And the Pharisees," who were the conservative religious leaders of the day. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. "And the Sadducees," who were the liberal religious leaders of the day. I have to explain these things because it's not common anymore. A run-of-the-mill kind of knowledge and understanding of Christianity doesn't exist today. It doesn't exist.

We in here, those who have been with me long enough to have gone through books of the Bible with me, you understand such things, but there are most folks who are clueless about these things. This is why I say the things that I say now. I always will say something, hit a comma, and define it because I can no longer assume that people understand biblical terminology and words any longer. We can't assume this.

We so often think that people understand our songs and phrases, but they don't. And this is why I believe more than ever that the teaching of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is so important because of the illiteracy of the Bible in today's world, just like we're seeing with Festus. The Bible says in Amos 8:11 says that there's going to be a famine in the last days. Not of food or drink, but a famine for the Word of God. And there's a famine today that things that when I got saved over 35 years ago, the things that were very common in the church, phrases and very common even in society, they're no longer common now. And this is why I define. This is why I go in depth. This is why I explain words and phrases and things because I can no longer assume that everyone understands what I'm talking about. And watch this, this is most important. Watch this. Because the Bible says when someone doesn't understand the Word of God, Satan comes and takes the seed out of their heart lest they should believe and be saved.

This is why when people come to a church and they don't understand what was said because God's word doesn't return void, that seed was planted, then you go out and Satan comes and snatches it away lest you believe and be saved. You can't believe it because you don't understand it. You didn't understand what was said. So this is why when you leave here, I'm going to make sure that I define every word, phrase, issue for you. So this is why the ministry across the world is called The Word Made Plain. We want to make it plain to you, one verse at a time, so you can understand so the seed of the word can be planted, and so you can believe and be saved, and Satan cannot take that seed out because you understood what I said. And this is why I want to teach the Bible so plain and so simplistic to the point where you can leave here and practically teach this to somebody you come in contact with. "Hey, what was church about?" "Oh, he talked about this, and he explained this. I didn't know that before."

That's when I know I've done my job. That's when I know I've done my job. So, we have to understand. There are people out there like Festus looking to us, King Agrippa, so to speak, for answers about these things. People like Festus are all around us. They don't know about the things we hold true like Jesus and His resurrection, His death and burial, His death on the cross. They, they don't understand why that is important to us.

Why is it that we view marriage between one man and one woman? Why is it that we view these things? Why is that important to us? They don't understand. And unfortunately, the church looks more like King Agrippa and Bernice with mess and scandals and drama in our lives that the people like Festus in this world are looking to us for help. Help them understand the things of God, and we got more mess and drama and junk in our own lives. Well, I just say, "May God have mercy on us. May God help us."

Look at verse 23. It says, "So the next day, when Agrippa and Bernice had come with great pomp and had entered the auditorium with the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at Festus' command, Paul was brought out."

Now, Festus kept his word to hear to hear Paul's case, so King Agrippa came in with great pomp. Now, the Greek word for pomp is phantasia, and it means a grand or showy pageant. I mean, the place of this hearing was an amphitheater on the beach of Caesarea. It would have been packed out. People would have been dressed up with gold crowns and rings and scepters, and soldiers standing guard, or a parade rest, and dignitaries would have been escorted in, and here is Paul.

Paul whose name means little. Here we go, folks, was true to his name. History tells us that Paul was short, hunchbacked, bowlegged, a hook nose with a high, squeaky voice. 2 Corinthians 10:10 gives us a biblical example of this historical record. It says, "For his letters they say are weighty and powerful, but his bodily appearance is weak and his speech is contemptible." So there's a biblical account of this historical record of Paul.

So, in the midst of all of this pomp and pageantry and outward showing and display, little old Paul is brought in, and he's about to spellbound them. It's amazing how God delights to use little things and little people. James 4:6 says, "God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble." God uses little things and does great things with them. In John 6 and verses 1 through 14, Jesus took a little boy's lunch that consisted of five loaves and two little fish, and He fed 5,000 men. Counting women and children that would have been 15 to 20,000 people.

The city of Bethlehem, a very small city, I've been there, very small, has become the most famous city in history. Why? Because Jesus was born there. Jesus loves to take small things and do great things through them. David, the youngest of all of his brothers, is used to kill the giant Goliath who came against the nation of Israel and became Israel's greatest king. That's amazing to me. Moses, the youngest in his family, was used to lead 2 million Jews out of slavery in Egypt.

As I was going over my notes before service, the Lord brought this to my mind. What about Harriet Tubman? Little bitty woman was called the Moses of her time. Led so many out of slavery to the north, never got caught, never lost a person.

See, if you will pay attention and just kind of walk down memory lane, and pay attention to the people who have done great things in history are so often the youngest in their families. The ones no one expected to do anything. And God takes them and does a miraculous work through them. See, this is why humility is the key to being used by God. Because when we are little or small, God can do big things in and through us.

Do you remember what God told the prophet Samuel to say to King Saul when he sinned? He said in 1 Samuel 15:17, watch this, He says, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?" When did God anoint him king over Israel? When he was little in his own eyes. God anointed King Saul, and the Bible talks about it, I think it's 1 Samuel 10, that they went to look for him because he said, "Oh," you know, Samuel said, "You got a king." Everybody said, "Oh, all right, oh, okay, where is he?" He was hiding among the stuff. He was a bunch of equipment he was hiding behind. You know, he was little in his own eyes. God made him king.

See, the implication is that King Saul was no longer little in his own eyes. We know this to be true because in 1 Samuel verse 15, uh 1 Samuel 15:12, it said that King Saul has set up a monument for himself. He thought more highly of himself to the point where he built a statue for himself. And whether you believe it or not, this can happen to any of us. God begins to exalt us on a job through a promotion. He begins to exalt us in the eyes of the people. People are looking to us for help and for how to do this or how to do that. And we begin to become prideful. The way to be exalted is by allowing God to do it. James 4:10 says, "Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." And when He does, get on your face in prayer and thanksgiving to God for exalting you to such a position.

And so here is little Paul in the midst of this amphitheater, packed out, on trial again. Look at verses 24 to 27. "And Festus said, 'King Agrippa and all men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer.'"

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