Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: Now Paul it sounds like he's starting to preach here and he kind of is. And Paul says, number one, I declare myself a Christian. Paul is not ashamed to be associated with believers in Christ. That's important.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Menner and Paul's steadfast testimony to the truth of scripture.

Brett Meador: Number two, he said, I believe in the whole Bible in so many words. He said believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets, which was the written word at that time. And that too. Don't be afraid to knowledge that I'm a Christian, but I believe the whole Bible.

Guest (Male): In Acts chapter 24, we find Paul falsely accused, put on trial, and passed from one ruler to another. Yet through it all, God is still working. And though he may look trapped by circumstances, Pastor Brett Menner notes the example of Paul for us in today's word, maintaining a strong witness, resting in the assurance that the Lord is in control and his purposes will prevail.

Brett Meador: Acts chapter 24. One of the things the book of Acts does, you know, at times there's some, you know, deep theology and stopping and slowing down for some of the heavier topics and what have you, but there's also a big picture being painted. Part of that, if you remember, Paul stirred some things up. Well, it really wasn't his fault. He really didn't do anything. You might say a little bit when he said, I believe in the resurrection. Remember that? And everybody flipped out because remember the Sadducees, they don't believe in the resurrection and the Pharisees who do believe in the resurrection, they're all like, oh yeah, we like Paul.

He's cool. Once he said, I believe in the resurrection. But the Sadducees and some of the other Jews really flipped out. But largely the Jews in Jerusalem for the most part were the religious leaders were very much against Paul. If you remember, the Roman chief captain Claudius Lysias takes Paul into custody for his own protection because the Jews were going to tear him apart. Remember the 40 guys that vowed to kill Paul and not drink or eat until he was dead? Well, I wonder if they're still alive. Like cuz we're going to see two years go by before anything really is going to happen about this, at least.

But those guys failed in their vow to kill Paul. But if you remember, it got so hot therefore Paul in Jerusalem that Claudius Lysias took 470 soldiers and escorted Paul to Caesarea by night, undercover by night, you know, and brings them and drops them off and really puts them before the top chief Roman official Felix. You know, the Jews are accusing him, Paul, and Felix kind of wants to know what the story is. And so Paul's been there for several days now in Caesarea, waiting for a sort of a pre-trial, and we pick it up in verse one of chapter 24.

And after five days, Ananias, the high priest, descended with the elders and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. Couple things. Notice that Ananias, he was the high priest. He was the guy that had Paul punched in the face, if you remember him. He's a nasty high priest, not a good guy at all, bad dude in a holy role, but not fulfilling that role, Ananias. He was a bad guy. And notice it says he descended with the elders. That's because they were coming from Jerusalem, which is up, you know, 3,000 feet above sea level.

To this day, if you go to Jerusalem, whether you're north, south, east, or west, you say we're going up to Jerusalem. So the high priest is descending from the top of Jerusalem down to Caesarea, which goes all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. And they bring along with them a guy named Tertullus, who is basically an orator. Some would call him an attorney or a lawyer. He's a silver-tongued guy that is a fanciful speaker, and we're going to meet this guy. He's kind of a character, this Tertullus. But it says in verse two, and when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, that is Paul, saying, seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness and that worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy province.

We accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness, notwithstanding that I be not further tedious unto thee. I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. I think he's already said enough, don't you think? Enough words of this flowery petunia guy, whatever. No, think about what this guy's saying, Tertullus. He's a Jewish guy saying, Felix, you're awesome and we love you. You're amazing and we're so thankful for you. Like this is what we like to call flattery. And this guy, this orator, he's saying, oh, I'm going to really lay it on thick and maybe we can win over Felix by speaking, you know, about him.

We already learned about Felix. Nobody liked him. He was a horrible leader. He would eventually be taken out of that region cuz he was so bad at leading and did some horrible things. He was a greedy, hateful guy really, really bad dude. So, you know, he says in verse two, you know, by thee, Felix, we enjoy great quietness. It's funny because if you know Felix's rule during that period, there was no period of quietness. It was all turmoil and riots. So this Tertullus is just trying to flatter. You know, flattery is an often neglected sin that we pastors don't talk about as much, but it's a big sin in the Bible.

In fact, the Bible speaks more about the evils of flattery than a lot of other things that we maybe think of as a bigger problem. Romans 16:18 speaks of how we do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but our own belly. And by smooth words and flattering speech, it deceives the hearts of the simple. When you read the word simple in the King James Bible, it's stupid. The stupid person is deceived by flattery. Now, by the way, I believe Felix is a lot of things, but one thing I don't think he is is stupid. And I think he 's going to see right through as as we read the story, Felix is going to smell flattery, attempt at, you know, wooing him to get what they want.

Jude chapter one, or only one chapter in Jude, but Jude verse 16 speaks of those who mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. I like the old saying, flattery looks like friends as wolves look like dogs. Flattery looks like friends as wolves look like dogs. You know, the tongue that praises too much may also deceive just as well. That's something that you have to watch out for. If people are coming up, oh, you're just the best, you're amazing, oh, I love everything you do, and often times there's a ulterior motive and you should be aware of that.

It's it's a sin of the Bible. Proverbs 20:19 it says, therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. In other words, have nothing to do with people that flatter. So that's something to kind of think about both if you're one who uses the technique of flattery, you should probably not do that. We're supposed to be given to speaking true things, not exaggeratory things that are just to get our way or whatever. Well, that's the way he starts this. He says, you know, these flowery flattering words to Felix. And then in verse five it says, for we have found this man a pestilent fellow and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

Okay. Now, if you know the story so far, Paul was not doing any of these things. In fact, everything that this Tertullus guy says is really false and it's a mischaracterization of everything. But notice this idea that he's a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. That's kind of the first time we hear this sort of delineation of Christians. You know, they start calling them Christians by the Romans and the enemies of Jesus's church. But really the way that the Christians refer to themselves is the way at this time. They called it the way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

And that's what the church was referred to. But this guy calls it a sect of the Nazarenes. Now, you say, well, whatever, why did he call it that? Well, most believe it was because Jesus was from Nazareth and Jesus's enemies loved so much to remind everybody, oh yeah, Jesus was from Nazareth. Do you remember John 1:46 when Nathanael said, can there be any good thing come out of Nazareth? So Jesus of Nazareth. So the enemies of the church, that was one of the delineations. They'd call it the idea of this ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

And it was meant to be insulting. So the accusation, Paul is the ringleader of the Christians. And then in verse six, who also hath gone about to profane the temple, whom we look and would have judged according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias came upon us and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things whereof we accuse him. Verse nine, and the Jews also assented saying that these things were so. So they're like, yeah, what that guy said, yeah.

Can I just point out everything he says is misrepresentation, not really what happened. It's funny how that, you know, they they take bits and pieces of truth. This is as true today where, you know, people will in the news will say things that are related to truth or or maybe, you know, seemingly the truth, but man, it's so this is the way of the world. This guy Tertullus is so much like modern days today, the way people try to explain news or what's going on or so many lies. Boy, be so skeptical of everything you hear nowadays except for the word of God.

I love the Bible because it's the one thing we can put our trust in. There's no misrepresentation, there's no contradictions, there's no problems with the Bible. But there sure are with a lot of things today. But let's just do the three big lies of Tertullus. Number one, he said in verse six, Paul went about to profane the temple. Do you remember what Paul was actually doing at the temple? Remember the vow? Yeah, he was going to shave his head with the young men and and do the he was going perfectly by the letter of the law, how you're supposed to, you know, do this whole thing.

And he was practicing Judaism to its nth degree in the temple. There was no profaning of the temple. He was fulfilling the vow where they cut the hair and make sacrifice. That was back earlier in our story. Paul was proving, if you remember, that he was still a Jew and was still practicing those kinds of things. He brought Gentiles into the temple, they said, but he really didn't. That's all part of the lies. So this idea of profaning the temple, Paul didn't do that, not even close. The second lie of Tertullus was it says, we took him and we were going to judge him according to our law.

That's the mosaic Jewish law. Remember Ananias when he punched him in the face? Was that according to the law? No, that was the breaking of the Jewish law. So rather than, you know, they didn't judge Paul according to the law, they were judging Paul according to their own flesh to punch him in the face. And Paul mentioned, remember to them, that they broke the law by punching him in the mouth before having a trial. Paul mentioned that to them. So that was the second lie that he was, you know, they were going to judge him according to our laws.

So that's the second one. Number three, they said Claudius Lysias came upon us with great violence. Is that what happened? No, the Jews were committing great violence against Paul. They were going to tear his arms out. Remember that? Tearing him limb to limb. And Claudius Lysias came to Paul's rescue and pulled him out of the mob of Jews ready to kill him and took him into protective custody. So this is really something that they're lying about Claudius. He was rescuing from their violence that they were committing against Paul. Have you ever noticed that people can lie better than Tertullus?

Like these lies are so painfully bad. But I've noticed in modern times, our court systems, our lawyers, they can play games and and deal with technicalities. And the longer you draw out a case, the more money you make and the more foggy the issue gets, you know. But all that to say, Paul is going to use the court system to do what is righteous and good. And I want to say that because I think there's this thing where Christians are like, well, you can't fight. You're supposed to go with the laws of the land. But one thing you you need to remember is don't let people mistake your love and your kindness as a Christian for stupidity.

I think we are as Christians were within our rights to defend ourselves, especially with our constitution and our laws. And that's really what Paul is going to do. He's going to use the system to defend his own situation and ultimately with the ultimate purpose to preach the gospel. So Paul had been in the temple to show that he was still holding the custom of the Jews. None of this was true that that this guy was saying. And so now we pick it up in verse 10. Then Paul, after the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, for as much as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself.

Isn't that funny? Paul's been in custody and he's been beaten and almost torn limb to limb. He says, I'm really happy to answer your question. That's what he says. I'm I'm happy. I'm cheerfully answering this, he says. By the way, before we read on, is Paul really trying to defend himself? It might sound like that a little bit, but I think Paul knew that all this was going to happen. It seems to me like this is all very calculated. That Paul knows this is happening. It's exactly where he knew he would be and eventually he knows he's headed to Rome.

So I think he's way ahead of everybody in this courtroom scene. Paul is more about getting the gospel out that everyone would hear. And notice Paul doesn't start with flattery. You know, this is funny to me cuz the other guy said, you know, oh, wonderful Felix, you know, you Mr. Peace and Quiet and Great, you know, that was the flattery. But you see what Paul says here in verse 10. He says, I know that thou hast been for many years a judge under this nation. That's like maybe like maybe your mom said, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Paul says, it's true, you have been a leader here. That's pretty funny. Um but Paul goes cheerfully and goes on verse 11, because that thou mayest understand that there are yet but 12 days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues nor in the city. Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. He's saying, man, I was there peacefully and there's no evidence to say otherwise. That's what he's saying, verse 14.

But this I confess unto thee that after the way, that's the Christians according to Paul's way of after the way, which they call heresy, they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets and have hope toward God which they themselves also allow that there shall be both a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. Now Paul it sounds like he starting to preach here and he kind of is, but there's a bunch of really cool things that he's talking about here.

He's basically saying none of that is true, but here's what is true. And Paul says, number one, I declare myself a Christian. We would say that today. But he says, I I declare myself part of the way after which they, the Jews, call heresy. But that's who I worship. I worship the God of the way. Now one of the things that you should note here because so many churches, so many denominations have taken the position that Christianity has canceled Judaism. And there's this replacement theology that we've talked about a lot that, you know, much of Christianity says, yeah, God's done with the Jews.

Judaism's old, Old Testament, old things, old law, and we're the new. We're the the new and improved better than Judaism. That's really a wrong worldview. And it's part of what I think that turns Jews off to Christianity so much because, you know, a lot of hostilities against the Jews throughout the ages has been because of that very thing. Even Hitler used replacement theology sort of kind of a worldview to say, you know, the Jews crucified Jesus. So they deserved to die for that. And even Martin Luther wrote some horrible things. He did the reformation, which was great, but he wrote some horrible things cuz he hated the Jews and thought they were worthy of death, all the Jews.

Like that's Hitler used Martin Luther's writings to bolster his whole you know, elimination of the Jew plan. But what we see here is Paul is handing us a little secret that is so important. He says, I confess to thee that after the way, that's Christianity, which they call heresy, so I worship the God of my fathers believing in all things that were written in the law and the prophets. So when Andy Stanley says we need to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament, Paul didn't unhitch himself from the Old Testament. He hung on to that with dear life and he says, I am a Christian and I I believe in the law and the prophets, which guess what?

So should we. Now we know what the law and the prophets are therefore. We we're no longer under the law, but you might recognize that Paul is saying, it's not the canceling of Judaism. Christianity is the fulfillment of Judaism. Without the Jewish history, we would not have Christianity. Jesus was a Jew. He was the Jew that was the Messiah for the Jewish people. And God promised through the Jews, Genesis chapter 12, all the nations of the world will be blessed because of you. Why? There's a lot of reasons we could renumerate, but the biggest one is Jesus was born.

And because of that, the sins of the whole world, we can repent and confess our sins and be saved because of Jesus the Jew who fulfilled the Jewish law. It wasn't a canceling. One of the worst things out there, I think, that really misleads a lot of people. And once you have this theology of replacement theology, it derails all kinds of other doctrines that are start to get kind of dangerous and sketchy. So really watch out for that. Very very dangerous. Well, anyway, Paul connects some dots here in kind of a cool way in verse 14.

He's declaring himself a Christian. By the way, are you afraid to be called a Christian? Like when I read this, I go, Paul, man, you're bold. He says, I am a follower of the way. And they think it's heresy, but it's what I am. I'm a Christian. Would you declare yourself a Christian boldly at work or school or in your neighborhood? Or would you kind of say, boy, I don't know, man, I'm a little nervous. Like what happens if they know I'm a Christian or whatever? Paul is not ashamed to be associated with believers in Christ.

That's important. So number one, follower of the way declared himself a Christian. Number two, he said, I believe in the whole Bible in so many words. He said believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets, which was the written word at that time. And that too. Don't be afraid to knowledge that I am a Christian, but I believe the whole Bible. But Brett, I I'll say I'm a Christian, but man, I don't know. The Bible's got some weird stuff in it. That's why we're here. That's why we go through the Bible because the Bible is not hard to defend.

If you just carefully read it, you start to see the whole picture and there's no oh but Brett, there's horrible things. Even President Barack Hussein Obama, he said that what are we going to do? Follow the Bible and take our children outside of the city and kill them if they're misbehaving? Do you remember that when when he said that? I think it was back in 2008 or something like that. But like we've had people say, what are you going to do? Kill like ethnically cleanse people like the Amalekites when God had the Jews kill all the men, women, children, animals, everything that was living and then among the Amalekites, what are you going to do, Brett?

You believe that crazy book? Oh, that's what they love to talk about. But they haven't really read it carefully. First of all, we're no longer under the law of the Old Testament. And by the way, historically, that was the law and the point of the law was nobody ever kept it. In fact, we don't have any real example in the Bible of parents doing what the law said. If your child is, you know, disobedient, take him outside of the city and stone him to death. Nobody ever really did that cuz nobody ever kept the law.

That was the whole point. And praise the Lord, we're not under the law cuz how many of us would have survived that? I would have been dead at like two uh by that. But that's the point. That's the point of the Bible. And then the Amalekite problem, that's the cleansing as people love to try to say. That's not what happened. No, it was an evil, horrible people that were constantly trying to kill Jewish people and women and children. And for centuries, the Amalekites were just constantly attacking the Jews unprovoked. And the Amalekites were a wicked wicked people.

Not only were they attacking the Jews, but they started burning their children on altars in their paganism. And God gave the Amalekites 500 years to repent. All the Canaanites, by the way, the Jebusites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Philistines, the Gigabytes, all those people, God gave them 500 years to repent. But the more pagan and ugly and worldly and godless they were, God finally said, times up. That's when God's judgment. By the way, there's so many times in the Bible when God said times up. Would you say he said times up during the flood? You better believe it.

Times up except for Noah and his family. Uh what about Sodom and Gomorrah? Times up, fire and brimstone. What about even the Jews themselves? Jeremiah the prophet saying, you guys repent from your sins, you're going to be destroyed. And the Jews said, yeah, whatever. And God said, times up. All the Jews were ultimately taken to Babylon in captivity. God said to even his own people, times up because of rebellion. Now the reason I point that out is because I can see why somebody might say, well, that's unrighteous for God to judge people. Well, you can say that if you want to, but he's God and you're not.

Let me just remind you of that. He's righteous and he knows what's fair. When it's all said and done, the Bible says we'll all stand before him and say righteous and true are his judgments. He's righteous and you need to know him as that.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Menner pausing for today with a reminder of how God's righteousness is a reflection of his holiness. And our verse by verse study of Acts chapter 24 will continue next time on Today's Word. Also, I hope you'll stick around as Pastor Brett will be back to give you a chance to share a prayer request. But first, Brett Menner is the senior pastor of Athei Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Each episode of Today's Word serves to enrich your understanding of God's word and support your ongoing spiritual journey. If you missed any portion of our study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com.

That's todayswordradio.com. Well, Pastor Brett is with me now. You know, we've been on the air for over a year and a half and I know there are people listening that may have need for prayer. Brett, is there a place on the Today's Word website that offers help? Yes, one of the greatest privileges we have here at Today's Word Radio is praying for the people who listen to this program. Uh we know that many people tuning in today are carrying very real burdens and might be a health issue or a struggling marriage, financial pressure or loneliness.

Whatever the needs are, we'd love to stand with you. You don't have to carry those things alone. That's what the church gets to do. And so you can visit todayswordradio.com, leave us a a prayer request, a simple request. Our team would love to pray along with you, stand with you. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:6, be careful or literally anxious for nothing. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Prayer doesn't mean that every problem instantly disappears, but it does mean that we bring our burdens to the one who's greater than every problem. That's why Peter said in 1 Peter 5:7, casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. I love that verse. God doesn't merely know what you're going through. He cares about what you're going through. So go to todayswordradio.com, send us your request. If you don't want to, don't share anything that's uncomfortable, but make sure just let us know how we can pray for you. We'd be honored to stand with you.

Brett Meador: Yeah, we sure would. And that web address again, if you'd like to share a prayer request is todayswordradio.com. Just click on the link that says share a prayer request. Again, todayswordradio.com. Well, next time Pastor Brett will continue in the book of Acts and we'll see what happens to the apostle Paul as he goes through some difficult trials as he stands before governors and rulers. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Menner is an outreach of Athei Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.