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 Bibles to Acts chapter 25 verses 1 through 12.

Tony Clark: We're going to give an account of our lives, and whether good or bad. It’s all going to be judged. I put it on social media and folks just weirded out. They were all looking crazy. You know why? Because it's true. I said folks are preparing more for retirement than for eternity.

You are like, "Yeah, get my 401k. Yeah, put some dollars in and you know, I'm good, so when I get in my older years, I'm going to be good." Okay, but are you good for all eternity? We're not saying you can't have a 401k. You’d better. You’d better have something. A few pennies put aside when you just got a few marbles left in your head. You’ve got to have something going on.

But are you equally preparing for eternity? Rona has just been so funny to me. If I don't laugh, I'll cry. And I've said many times that the narrative that's being painted is that the church is the most dangerous place in the world to come to. That's where Rona lives. Lives here. Rona is the usher, greeter in the parking lot waiting for you. So when you get out of your car, Rona is like this: "There you are. I see you."

But Sam's Club, Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot—Rona don't go there. Rona's smart. Watch this. There was a lady after the first service. After the first service she said, "Pastor Tony, I thought about you yesterday." I said, "What were you talking about?" She said, "I was at Sam's Club yesterday. I saw someone from the church, and she recognized me. I recognized her. She said, 'Hey girl, how you doing?'"

She said, "Have you been to church lately?" She said, "No, I'm afraid to go to church." But she's in Sam's Club where there's like 500 people. In Sam's Club, but she's afraid. That's the narrative. And the thing about it is, we know what the enemy's job is. He's just doing his job. We've got to do ours. He's doing his.

But see, here's the thing. We're going to stand before a holy God one day. We've got to get that in our heads. So here it is. He is letting them know this whole concept of the Bema Seat, the judgment seat of Christ. Paul borrowed from being a Roman citizen. He used that to describe how the people will stand before a holy God.

So the Jews took Festus up on his offer to try Paul as a Roman citizen in Caesarea. And they came down from Jerusalem, according to verse seven, and stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul. No doubt they were the same complaints they laid against Paul when they brought them to Felix in Acts 24, which they couldn't prove. Now they brought the same complaints against Paul to Festus, and according to the end of verse seven, they could not prove them.

We may not ever be in an intense situation like Paul was in, but the devil will always stir up enemies against us as well. Please understand, don't say, "If I just live a good Christian life, I won't have any enemies." No. Jesus had enemies. Jesus said, "If they hated me, they’re going to hate you."

And so we're going to have enemies. But remember Isaiah 54:17 says, "No weapon formed against us shall prosper." And just like God protected Paul, He will protect us as well. Watch this. This is how God protects us. Proverbs 16:7 says, "When a man's ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." What a great verse that is. This is how God protects us when our ways please the Lord, when we're living in such a way that it's pleasing God.

Look at your life right now. Can you evaluate your life and say, "Yeah, my life is pleasing to God"? Can you say that? Listen to what Colossians 1:10 says. It says, "That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in your knowledge of God." Now the Greek word for worthy is axios, and it means to match. It means to be of equal weight.

It was described at that time the weighing of the scales. It means equal weight, which means that our walk and our talk are of equal weight. That our walk and our talk match. It means what I say about God is equal to how I live for God. It's matching. If our walk and talk were on a scale, it would just even out.

This is the same Greek word that's used in Ephesians 4:1, which says, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called." When we walk worthy of the call of God, we will live lives fully pleasing Him, and we will desire to increase in our knowledge of the one who loves us so much.

So God protected Paul against another round of accusations against him. However, keep in mind that untrue words and false accusations have the power—don't miss this—to damage reputations, wound our spirits, keep ugly feelings stirred up. So with this in mind, don't be involved in such things because you don't want this to happen to you. It hurts.

I've been there. I've been at the end of a poisonous tongue and it hurts. It crushes you. Slander and backbiting and your name being slandered around the country. You all just look at it, "Oh, they just slander me at the job." When you're in a position like mine, it gets slandered around the country and, because of the internet, around the world. That stuff hurts.

It hurts not only you, but it can hurt your family as well as they see you go through that or they hear that. I still, to this day, have to talk my children from jumping off the deep end when they hear a certain name or a certain person. They’re like, "Who? You're getting together with who? You don't get together with them. They betrayed us. They betrayed our family." I say, "Whoa, everything's good now."

And I have to talk them off the edge because they don't want anybody talking about their dad. See, I'm pastor here. I'm their dad and they see that, hear that. They don't want that. They’re going to take up for me. And they hear that stuff, they see those people and they’re looking at them sideways. And I'm like, "No, it's good. Come on. No, it's good. Yeah, everything's made up."

See, that stuff lingers. That stuff hurts. It lingers. So if you've had that happen to you, that ought to show you you don't want to be involved in this kind of stuff because you know the hurt that it can cause. So we just want to be mindful of that. Look at verse eight. It says, "While he answered for himself, 'Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I offended in anything at all.'"

Once again, Paul, being confident that he could disprove their false claims against him, he answered for himself. He said, "I don't need a defense attorney." And sure enough, just like clockwork, they brought to Festus the same false claims they did to Felix. False claims about the law of Moses and the temple, but this time Paul puts a twist on it.

And he said that he had not done anything against Caesar. He probably knew that he had to go in this direction and keep the focus on Roman law, which he was innocent of as well. And Paul was right, because look at verses nine through 12. It says, "But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, 'Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged before me concerning these things?'"

So Paul said, "I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I've done nothing wrong, as you very well know. For if I am an offender or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying. If there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar." And Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, "You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go."

Now in these verses we see that Festus wanted to get off on the right foot with the Jews he was governing over. And according to verse nine, wanting to do the Jews a favor. See, the Jewish people were known to be a difficult people to rule over, and many Roman officials have ruined their careers after being assigned to Judea, including Pilate. You remember Pilate was the governor at the time that had the trial that condemned Jesus to death.

So it didn't go well for Pilate because history tells us Tacitus, the Roman historian, writes that right after the trial of Jesus, Pilate was shipped to Cicero where he ended up committing suicide. It’s like a death sentence to be assigned to Judea. So they were considered difficult people to deal with. Even Felix had to leave. That's why Festus was there.

Now what I find shameful is when we, as God's people, have a bad reputation of being hard or difficult to deal with. That it is rumored that we are a difficult person to be around on the job. That when you go around and you've got to tiptoe, you’ve got to walk on eggshells because Volcano, whatever your name is, might erupt. That shouldn't be. Where we are considered difficult to deal with, difficult to be around.

Mark 12:37 says of Jesus, "The common people heard him gladly." Crowds wanted to be around Him. Just wanted to touch the hem of His robe. This is how people should feel when they are around us. We should not have a reputation of being difficult or hard to deal with like these religious leaders. People should just want to be around us. We should all of a sudden look up and see people doing this.

Just want to be why? Because they know when they’re around us, they’re going to get encouraged. They’re going to get a smile. They’re going to hear something that's going to be a lifter of their heads. They just want to be around us because even if we have to speak the truth to them, we're going to speak it in love. And they should just want to be around us. Do people want to be around you? Or are they kind of saying, "Oh no, they’re doing that because they know I'm with the Lord and I'm holy"? No, you're a jerk.

And no one wants to be around a jerk and a nasty attitude person. No one wants to be around that. And so these people wanted to be around Jesus. The crowds always—even the little babies, kids wanted to jump around and one time the disciples tried to rebuke the kids and "Get out of here!" And Jesus said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa." He said, "Suffer the little children and forbid them not, for such is the kingdom. Let the kids come." And I could just see Jesus, kids climbing all over His head, He's laughing and He's just blessing them.

They wanted to be around Him. I'm telling you, kids—kids will tell it. If you're nasty, those kids will be... now some kids, some of your kids are bratty. They’re just brats and they do that to everybody. I see all you little brats. That's what I say in my head, you know. But for the most part, kids can discern that stuff.

And so we ought to have so much of Jesus in us that they just want to be around us, just want to hop in our laps. And kids can discern that stuff, you know. So this is the thing that we need to see. So Festus, he asks Paul, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judged concerning these things?" He said this because, remember, in verse nine, he wanted to do the Jews a favor.

Paul answered in verse 10, "I stand at Caesar's judgment seat where I ought to be judged," as a Roman citizen. Then he says, "I have done nothing wrong as you very well know." The end of verse 10 says Festus knew that Paul was innocent. Paul continues in verse 11, says, "If I am an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I do not object to dying." He said, "No one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar."

See, every Roman citizen had a right to appeal to Caesar if he felt that he wasn't getting a fair trial. This shows us that there are times that we must exercise our rights as American citizens if we feel our constitutional rights are being violated. Governors telling churches that they can no longer meet. That is a violation of our First Amendment right of freedom of religion.

We played fair at the beginning. Everybody stayed in. Big bad Rona's in the area, so everybody stayed in. We played nice. But then after a while they said, "Essential places are essential. Liquor places are essential. Walmart, Sam’s Club, Lowe’s, Home Depot, so you're not too bummed out being in the house build something. So go to Home Depot or Lowe’s. That's essential. But church? No, that's not essential."

That is a violation of our First Amendment right, freedom of religion. The whole reason our founding fathers came here. Do not say because of persecution. No, when they were being persecuted they fled to Scotland. They came over here to establish a nation upon the Word of God. That's why. And they put it in the Constitution that they didn't want government fooling around, interfering in church business.

That's what they left over in England. The Church of England, the Anglican church, it was the state church. The government can tell the church what to do. They said, "We don't want that." So we're going to put it at the very base of it that you cannot interfere with the business of a church. That's in our Constitution.

Now, what has happened is this. Since Rona, I know about maybe 15 cases where churches took their governments to court. Took them to court. 13 out of the 15 won. It was like about 10 straight before there was a loss in the court. It happened in Nevada and there was another one somewhere in Virginia, whatever. The court says, "State, you cannot interfere with a church and tell them that they cannot meet. You can't do that. That's what the Constitution is for."

And therefore there are times by which the church and Christians need to exercise their constitutional rights as Americans and go—this is what Paul is doing. Paul says, "You can't deliver me. I appeal to Caesar." He said, "You appeal to Caesar? You're going to Caesar." He said, "I'm good with that." And that's how it happened. There are times by which we have to go to court, and they have gone to court and for the most part have won.

They said, "State, you can't tell these folks—do you remember the Constitution?" And then there are some courts that said, "What Constitution? The Constitution you're supposed to uphold? No, they’re not violating y'all's rights. Pandemic has precedence over the Constitution." Oh, that's a new precedence being set.

So Satan said, "Ah man, doggone it, I thought I could get them." So what I would do—this is Satan talking—"What I would do, little snake, what I'd do, I will paint the narrative that the church is the most dangerous place in the world to go." And that's the narrative. And that's why that woman in Sam's Club said, "I'm afraid to go back to church." But she's not afraid to go to Sam's Club. That's the narrative.

So sometimes we have to exercise our rights as Americans, just like Paul is exercising his right as a Roman citizen. And he appealed to Caesar Nero, who was the Caesar around AD 60. Now Festus probably, he was relieved when he had a way out of this difficult situation. So after he conferred with his legal advisors, they answered, "You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go."

And I believe that it was good that Festus didn't rule on Paul's case because Festus knew that Paul was innocent. Remember, he just wanted to do the Jews a favor. He knew that Paul was innocent. He knew it all along. Paul was innocent. And if he had ruled and let Paul go, remember they already said in verse three that they wanted to ambush him. They wanted to ambush him and kill him. And I believe Paul would have been killed prematurely.

So therefore he appealed to Caesar and he's going to Caesar. So this is another case of God protecting Paul in a beautiful way, and we will see what happens when we pick up the story God's will next week in verse 13. Let me conclude with this. In this message we looked at the root of bitterness. We saw how we must deal with our anger, which is at the root of bitterness.

If we don't, we will be waiting on our opportune day to take someone's head off, or we will be waiting on a Festus, a supervisor, a new boss to take someone out that we're angry with like these religious leaders. My point is this: Don't underestimate how wicked our hearts can be because we will look up and we will be wishing that someone is dead. Or—don't miss this point—or we start to treat someone as if they are dead.

You may not physically do this when they come around, but in your heart you're like, "You're not even worthy for me to look upon. I want you to talk to this side of my head because really you're dead to me." And there are a lot of people who have done that in their hearts towards someone. Here's my solution. I used to tell people, "Go in the back of your Bible and look up in your little concordance in the back all the verses that deal with anger and bitterness."

But most people are now using their phones as their Bibles. So now I or I used to say, "Hey, there's a great resource called the Strong's Concordance, big thick book about this big, weigh about 20 pounds." And it has every word, you can look up every verse, every word, you know. But no one's doing that anymore. So now I can say, "Just open up your Bible and go to Google and look up every verse that deals with anger and bitterness."

Or if you have a problem with unforgiveness, no matter what the problem is, look up every verse on that subject. And when you see and read all the verses, you're getting God's perspective on that subject. Then when you're tempted to be angry or to be bitter or to hold unforgiveness towards someone, then God's Word will tap, tap, tap, tap on the heart and say, "Don't forget," and start bringing up verses to you because you read them.

And start bringing those verses up. And you can do that with any subject. Just Google all the verses in the Bible that... and you read all those verses. God's Word is going to change you. God's Word won't leave you the same. God's Word will change you. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for Your Word. Lord, we're so grateful that You love us to share these things with us.

And dear God, I just pray for those who are struggling with bitterness, struggling with anger. Lord, I pray that they would confess it here, Lord, as sin. That they would confess that sin, leave it here at the foot of the cross. That they would ask for forgiveness for holding that anger and bitterness and unforgiveness towards someone.

And Lord, if there's anyone here who has not repented of their sin and asked Jesus Christ to come into their hearts—if there's anyone here today, I just want you to just repeat this prayer after me. Just say: "Lord Jesus, forgive me. I believe You died on a cross and was buried and rose again just for me. Come into my heart. I make You my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for You from this moment forward. In Jesus' name, Amen."

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