From
Acts to Revelation
Part
65 – The Sanhedrin
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
House
of Faith Church | www.PS127.org
| www.TruthDigest.org
INTRODUCTION
Last week we looked at how Paul addresses
the Jews in the Temple, while surrounded by armed guards, protected from their
fury.
They actually listened intently to Paul as
he spoke to the in Aramaic.
However, they became angry once again when
he said God had sent him to the Gentiles.
The Roman guards had to remove Paul from
the scene, and the Captain of the guard ordered him scourged.
Paul informs them he is a Roman Citizen,
and that it is unlawful to arrest a citizen without a trial.
The Captain un-binds Paul, but keeps him
overnight to take him before the Sanhedrin in an attempt to discover why the
Jews hate him so, and why there is such an uproar wherever he goes.
Today, we will see Paul stand before the
Sanhedrin, and testify his faith once again, and how we will often be persecuted
for breaking God's laws, by law-breakers, and how their fear of Truth can cause
them to lash-out at us.
However, the Lord has a message for Paul,
as well as us.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCE
Acts 23:1-11
Paul looked straight at the
Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in
all good conscience to this day.” 2 At this the high priest
Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. 3 Then
Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit
there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by
commanding that I be struck!”
5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not realize
that he was the high priest; for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the
ruler of your people.’”
6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were
Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My
brothers, I am a Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial
because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he
said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the
assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,and that
there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these
things.)
9 There was a great uproar, and some of the
teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We
find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel
has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid
Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take
him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
11 The following night the Lord stood near
Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in
Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
I.
JUDGED BY MAN
a. Paul
stood before the Sanhedrin (the religious rulers of the Jews), and testified
that he had fulfilled his duty to God in good conscience.
i.
From the sounds of it, all 71 members were
present, with Ananias serving as its President.
ii.
Meaning, although he was not perfect, and
made mistakes, he had always confessed and repented, and therefore was
forgiving. Also, every choice he had made was for serving God.
iii. Remember,
not too long before this, Paul was seeking out followers of Christ, and having
them imprisoned and put to death...yet, his conscience is still clear, because
at that time, although he was wrong in his actions, his heart intent was to
serve God fully...even though he was doing so in ignorance.
iv.
Sometimes we make mistakes, terrible ones,
but we can have consciences that are clear if we simply confess, and repent.
v.
Whatever Paul was doing, he had thought it
was right at the time, whether true or not.
b. Paul's
statement brought out anger in the High Priest, and he ordered Paul be struck
in the mouth.
i.
We can attract the striking out of others
simply by being faithful.
ii.
Most strike out because of fear.
iii. Ananias
the High Priest hated Paul, being that he was a Zealot. History records that he
was appointed 9 years before-hand through political influence, and he ruled
like a tyrant in Jerusalem. The Zealots later assassinated Ananias in 66 AD for
his pro-Roman sympathies.
iv.
Though scripture does not reveal the reason
the high Priest had Paul struck, there was much fear in the Sanhedrin when it
came to issues of Christ.
a.
If Christ is real, the Messiah DID come as
God said, and the Sanhedrin missed Him.
b.
If Christ is real, the Messiah DID come as
God said, and the Sanhedrin took part in His crucifixion.
c.
If Christ is real, then He spoke for God,
and all of His followers whom the Sanhedrin hunted down, imprisoned and put to
death were all innocent!
d.
If Christ is real, then there is such a
thing as angels, life after death, and as God had said, being raised again!
e.
There were many reasons for the High Priest
to be fearful of Paul's words, and have him struck. Perhaps the biggest fear,
if Christ is real, the Messiah has come, and the High Priest no longer has all
authority over the Jews, and all of the priests are no longer needed for man to
have a relationship with God, and they would lose their position of power and
authority.
c. Fear
will cause others to strike out at us about our faith.
II.
DEFENSE AGAINST JUDGMENT
a. Paul
says to the High Priest, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You
sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by
commanding that I be struck!”
i.
God will strike you,
a.
in other words, He will be my Defender!
ii.
You whitewashed wall!
a.
Remember Jesus told them they were like the
whitewashed walls of tombs, beautiful on the outside, but full of dead man's
bones.
iii. You sit
there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by
commanding that I be struck!
a.
Contradiction, hypocrisy, those who judge
our faith and obedience, are most times, just as guilty, if not more so because
of their unwillingness to recognize it.
b.
Truth, the Word of God is a double-edged
sword, and one must be skilled when handling it.
1. The
Word of God can be used to defend yourself against attacks, and it can be used
to rebuke those who wish to harm you, however, if you do not have a full grasp
of the Word, you may cause more harm to yourself than good.
b. Paul
was corrected, and accepted his correction!
i.
Right is right, and wrong is wrong.
ii.
Paul was told he just spoke harshly to the
High Priest, which is against the Word.
iii. Paul
recognized this, and wanting to keep God's Word to the best of his ability, apologizes,
saying he did not know he was speaking to the High Priest.
iv.
Paul understands that, although the High
Priest is in the wrong, it does not give Paul the right to do wrong as well.
III. REVEALING
TRUTH
a. Paul
speaks a truth that ends this interrogation
i.
Knowing the Sanhedrin was made up of both
Sadducees and Pharisees, Paul knows that Sadducees do not believe in angels,
spirits, and to them there is no resurrection, even though God's Word speaks of
it many times, even about king David!
ii.
“My brothers, I am a
Pharisee, descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope
of the resurrection of the dead.”
b.
This puts the court into an uproar, as the
two sides begin to argue about angels, spirits and the resurrection.
c.
The court becomes violent, to the point the
Captain of the guard had to have Paul removed from the court by force, before
he was tore to pieces.
d.
Paul was returned to the barracks.
CONCLUSION
That night, the Lord stood by
Paul, and said, “Take courage! As you have testified
about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”
1)
Take Courage
2)
Why? Because you
have testified about me!
3)
You must continue
to testify about me!
Like
Paul, we will be attacked for our faith, accused of breaking God's laws by law
breakers. However, we need to rightly represent the Lord, even when it is to
those who are dishonoring Him.
We
are not to take the low road, doing wrong simply because the ones we are
dealing with are doing wrong.
Right
is right, and wrong is wrong.
We
need to live our lives serving God to the best of our understanding and
ability.
And
when we do fail, we need to confess, and repent, so that we too can look back
on our lives without regret, and have a clear conscience.
As
the Lord said to Paul, Take courage because you have testified about me!
NOT
because they listened!
And
continue to testify about me, regardless of is they listened!
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