Open your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter 25. We're gonna start a new chapter this week. Acts chapter 25. New chapter, which we'll read the first four verses together. Let's stand up together and read the first four verses of this wonderful chapter. Declares the glory of God. Acts 25, verses one to four. Now when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him, and desired favor against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, lying in the way to kill him. But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither. Now last week we finished chapter 25 where we saw the sobering reality of spiritual procrastination and where it will eventually end in the doom of the sinner who procrastinates. My oh my. And we were all there. We were all there. Felix, he said, well, I'll see you, Paul, in a convenient time. We were all there at one time in our lives before the Lord saved us, before he made us willing in the day of his power. As I was telling you about Crystal, we're reading that, and she goes, that was me just a few years ago with you, Dad. I'm too young right now. I got life to live. And you got to show them grace, don't you? You have to. but you keep praying for him. Lord, please save them. Please protect them. My, oh my. Bethesda, he grew impatient with the teaching of Paul. When Paul was talking about righteousness, well, when we speak about the righteousness of Christ, it offends man, doesn't it? You know what it offends? our pride, because it tells us we can't do anything to save ourselves. And that's offensive to natural men. Now, to we who are believers, we rejoice that Christ did it all, don't we? Because now that God's made us to differ now, we're born again by the Holy Spirit of God. Now we finally understand what we are, sinners, without hope, unless Christ saves us. And now we're rejoicing because we know that our righteousness was nothing in front of the Lord. We couldn't do anything to gain favor with God, but in Christ, in Christ, God accepts us. We're accepted in the Beloved. We're accepted in Christ. So what's the opposite of that? Well, those outside of Christ are not accepted by God, right? Oh, my. And unless the grace of God made us to differ, we would just be like Felix saying, I'll wait and I'll wait here at another time. But praise God, by the grace of God, we heard and believed. We were born again by the Holy Spirit and given faith to trust Christ with our souls, trust Christ with our lives, trust Christ for everything. Do you know there's nothing too small to take to our King? I mean, the smallest thing you think insignificant in your life, take it to Christ. Take it to Christ, beloved. The biggest thing, the mountain you think, well, I can never move that mountain and no one can. God can if it pleases him. God takes mountains and makes them mohills, doesn't he? Now, sometimes he says no, right? And I don't know about you, but I found when the times he said no, I can look back and go, thank you, Lord, for saying no. Because that would have probably destroyed me. My. So we learn to wait on the Lord, don't we? We learn to rest in the Lord. We learn to repose in the Lord. And Paul, He reposed in Christ. He rested in Christ. He counted Christ as so dear that anything he faced in this life, he could face it with Christ. Because he knew just as the... Remember when the Israelites were going through the wilderness and a cloud went before them? You know who goes before us and we don't even see it? Christ. every day of our life, every second. He's ever before us. We're before him. He's guiding us and directing us. My, oh my.

So Paul comes and preaches the gospel of Christ's blood and righteousness to Felix, and then he starts to speak about the certainty of divine judgment, that God will judge sin. He will. It's a reality. People say, well, I don't believe in hell. Well, it doesn't change the fact that it's real. I don't believe in a judgment to come. It doesn't change the fact that you're going to face them. Right? I didn't believe that stuff until the Lord saved me. And now I wholeheartedly believe it. Matter of fact, I know it's certain because God says it's so, not just because I believe it, right? because God says it. That's why we need to be born again. That's why we need to be given faith and repentance before God, because by nature, we will never repent before God.

But isn't that marvelous? He's made us well in the day of His power, and now we come to Him. We carry our sin to Him and say, Oh, Lord, I know You paid for it, but oh, I'm such a... Please forgive me. The way I'm thinking, the way I'm acting, forgive me. My, God's so gracious, isn't he?

And then, remember what I said about Sunday school? I was talking to Crystal about Colossians chapter 2? Colossians chapter 2. Now, this is amazing. I was talking to my daughter about Colossians chapter 2, and we opened it up. And the scripture says, in Colossians 2, I believe it's 14, heaven forgiven you, and I said, take this little word and write it down, sweetie. She goes, what's that? I said, all. All trespasses, all sins. I said, pumpkin, that's what my nickname for it, All means all. All means all. All. The very worst one you could think of. The very least one you could think of. And all in between. All. Forgiven. Washed under the blood. Gone. Cast into the sea of forgetfulness by God. So much so that he says, and I told her this, so much so that he says, well, your sins and iniquities I remember no more. And she said, I was told by people certain things I said and certain things I did could never be forgiven. I said, all, all trespasses and sins, glory be to God.

And so Paul's preaching the Festus, or to Felix, and he wants nothing of this. And that's us in our natural state. But afterwards, we love to hear this proclaimed, don't we? That all my sins are washed in the blood of Christ. I told a fellow this week, I said, I'll never be judged. And he goes, well, what about the judgment seat of Christ? I said, I'll never be judged. What about for things you do as a Christian? I'll never be judged. Do you know that? How do we know that? There's therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. This is it in the Greek. There's therefore now no condemnation, no judgment for those in Christ Jesus.

Who's our reward? Christ is our reward, right? Is there any greater reward than Christ? Why do we serve the Lord? Why do we do things for the Lord? Because we love Him. We're not looking to get no rewards, are we? No. If one's looking to get rewards for things they're doing, one's looking in the wrong place. Because Christ is our reward, beloved. And the believer will never be judged again. Because all our sins, where were they judged? At Calvary. Do you remember Moses struck the rock once? And it was fine. But do you remember he struck the rock the second time? And the Lord said, you're not gonna go into the promised land. You know why? Because that rock pictured Christ, right? Brother Tom, Christ could only be smitten for our sins once. Once. So that we'd never be smitten for our sins. Heaven forgiven us all trespasses, all sins. Isn't that amazing? The worst sin we can ever think of that only God in us knows. Totally forgiven. Washed in the blood of Christ. Oh my! Is it wonder we praise Him? Is it wonder we proclaim Him?

I'll tell you what. There was a fellow who used to attend Norm's church. He was a soldier in World War II. He was a flamethrower guy. Carried these tubes of tanks around on his back. And they'd go up to a machine gun nest and he'd spray that fire in there. And those guys would come screaming out of there. And it haunted him. He never forgot that. until they heard the gospel. Heaven forgiven you all trespasses, all sins, everything beloved. Isn't that glorious? That's so glorious, isn't it? My, oh, my.

So Felix, he trembled, but he postponed repentance with the excuse of, I'll call for you when it's convenient. That's what we do by nature, beloved. But praise God, aren't you thankful God doesn't leave us there? That he seeks us out? He seeks us out? So it revealed that Felix had a non-regenerate and and that he was resistant to God's grace, and he ultimately perished in his sins.

Now, think of this. We resist as believers in our natural state, but the invincible grace of God draws us to Christ, so that we no longer resist, do we? What's the opposite of made willing? digging my heels in. Resistant. Made willing in the day of God's power. Praise God, salvations of the Lord. What does God have to do for a man to go to hell? Just like Felix, leave him where he is. What does God have to do for you and I to be saved? everything he's the alpha and the omega of our salvation and it's wondrous that's why we give him all the glory that's why we give him all the praise

so the message that Paul preached underscored that while God's sovereignty orchestrates even the imprisonment of Paul for the spread of the gospel which he's he's in prison for the spread of the gospel we see man's human responsibility still there don't we because the gospel was preached to Felix. Man's fully responsible for their sins. My, praise God, for the believer, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. It's bought and paid for. It's not set aside. It's purchased. It's paid for. It's redeemed by the blood of Christ.

See, God's justice will either When we stand before God in our substitute as the sheep of God, and we don't know who they are, so we preach the gospel to everyone, right? But we know there's sheep and goats. We know the scripture talks about that. The goats will stand in their own righteousness. They stand in themselves. The believers stand in Christ. And the only one who made the two groups to differ is God and God alone. That's why glorious things are spoken about the church. Glorious things. The Lord saved us. The Lord regenerated us. The Lord redeemed us. The Lord sanctified us. It's glorious. He did it all. He did it all. Salvation is not earned. It's received, isn't it? It's received through faith in Christ alone by the power of God and the Holy Spirit. So the believer is being transformed. It's a work of God in our heart, making the sinner willing in the day of God's power to flee to Christ, giving faith to believe on Christ. And remember, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

My, let's read verses one and two now of Acts 25. Now when Thessalus was coming to the province after three days, he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul and besought him.

So here comes the new governor. It's like being a state governor. If someone's from Canada, it's like being a premier in a province. One in charge, the representative of the leader. The representative of the leader.

Now, all our studies through this holy inspired epistle about the book and acts of the apostles, the church, the New Testament church, we've seen very clearly through the study of this book, the glorious God-honored truth that God our Father has exalted his dear son His dear son, the God-man, to govern this whole universe. As Brother Tom prayed, God is in full control. We can pillow our head at night, not worrying about who's running this world. Right? He's God. And that has been so clearly brought forth in our study through this book.

As we look at the church and how it's being sent, Paul and Barnabas being sent to different places, even the Lord saying, no, you can't go into Asia yet, the Holy Spirit restraining Paul. My. God does everything according to his will and purpose. for our good and for his glory.

Now, Paul was with Felix for two years. And Festus comes along and he's finally going to get to be able to talk to someone again. And we're going to see here today that Paul appeals to Caesar, which was a right for every Roman to do. was to appeal to Caesar.

So our God, though he governs the whole world, he does what he pleases, he works all things out according to his will and counsel, according to his predetermined will, so Paul is in prison still according to the will of God. He's allowed to roam around, though. He's allowed to have his companions come to him, but he's not allowed to leave the premises. And he's got guards with him all the time.

Remember last week we saw the centurion was assigned? That's a man over 100. He was assigned to Paul and he said, but Felix said, well, you could still let his friends come and talk to him, but he's under guard. He's under your watch.

Now, again, here we're gonna see Paul, who once was known as Solitaris, and at one time hated Jesus Christ, and hated his gospel, and hated his people. He's gonna testify about Christ. That's a miracle in itself, isn't it? And we're all cut from the same cloth as Paul was. Never forget the rock you were hewn from. Never forget the pit we were in that God pulled us out of.

Paul was called out of darkness at the appointed time of God. We were called out of darkness at the appointed time of God. Through the preaching of the word, right? Through the hearing of the gospel. By the power of God and the Holy Spirit. And all that happened according to the predetermined will of God, right? People say, well, I don't like that fact. Well, it's too bad because it's true. Whether you like it or not, God does whatever he's pleased to do.

I had a fellow today, or this week he's talking, I'm talking with him, he says, well, God will never force anyone to come to him. And I said, if he doesn't make us willing, we never will come to him. You better pray that God intervenes in our family's lives who don't know Christ, right? Because if He doesn't intervene, they'll never come to Him. Because we never would. See? We're all the same, aren't we?

Here we are, a bunch of sinners saved by grace, praying to a God who we never prayed to before, loving God who we never loved before, getting excited about his gospel when we never got excited about it before, we'd say, I don't wanna hear that right now. Isn't God amazing? Isn't he glorious?

My. And Saul of Tartarus was ordained by God to be Paul the apostle and sent by God, the Holy Spirit, why? To preach Christ. I was talking to Eric, remember Eric who comes with us in the summertime? I was talking to him and he says, it's sure hard to find a church out here in Oregon that's preaching the gospel. I said, yeah, there's not many, is there? So he let us know one him and his wife, him and Sandy been going to, and I said, well, now when Vicki and I go out there, we got a place to go to now, because they're preaching the gospel.

But he said, he looked around and looked around. It was just not a lot. My. He's got his churches here and there, doesn't he? Preaching the gospel of God's grace. He does. And if the preacher gets up and he's preaching about Christ, he won't be telling you what you got to do. He'll be telling you about what Christ done. Right? My.

So Paul, here he is. He's ordained to preach the very one who he hated. Now he loves him, the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed redeemer of his chosen people. He preaches Christ and him crucified. He preaches that Christ be raised from the dead for our justification. He died, shed his blood to save us from all our sins. And we preach now, where is he right now? On the sovereign throne of power. Is he up there wringing his hands going, oh, I wish these people would come to me? Nope. Remember, just like the wind, can we control the wind? Can't control the Holy Spirit, can you? And he moves John 3 wherever he wills and saves the lost sheep of God. when it pleases Him to do so. It's wonderful. God is sovereign.

And like Solitaris in his unregenerate state, the unbelieving Jews hated Jesus. We see that right here. They're already coming right away, and they're bringing accusations against Paul right away in verse 2. Then the high priest and the chief Jews informed him against Paul. This man's preaching heresy. This man's broken Jewish laws and Roman laws. All he's doing is preaching Christ. He hasn't broke no laws at all, has he? None. And we're going to see Paul later say, if I've done that, I'd willingly go with you. If I broke the law, I'd willingly go with you. But he hasn't, has he?

And remember this too, okay? This is something I really want us to pick up from this message. Festus and Phil, Phil is an unsaved man, Festus is an unsaved man, right? But watch how God uses these unsaved men to protect our dear brother, Paul. Because we saw in our reading that the Jews wanted to lure Paul up to Jerusalem To what? Kill him. To kill him. They wanted Paul dead. But our God is sovereign, isn't he? He's in full control. My, and these Jews, they hated Jesus, they hated the gospel, they hated Paul, just like all unsaved men do. They might not verbally say it, but they do. They do. And they persecute. They persecute God's people. And they're persecuting Paul with an incessant evil. A desire to kill. So much so they desire to kill Paul. Simply for preaching the gospel.

In verse one of this chapter, we see that Festus was the new governor, who by the decree of Nero had replaced Felix, this is all by the sovereignty of God, over the province of Judea. And after three days, he came into that position as governor.

Festus went up to Caesarea to Jerusalem. Now he didn't bring Paul with him. He went up there to introduce himself as the new governor. And with that in their minds, The Jews thought, maybe we can persuade Festus to bring that Paul fellow up here and we can kill him. We'll have to do some smooth talking to get him on our side.

Oh, they're trying to persuade, in verse two, they're trying to persuade Festus against Paul with them. And look in verse three, and they desired favor against him, that's against Paul, that he would send for him so that Thessalonians would send for Paul, who's still in Caesarea, okay, and say, come on up here. And then what did they want to do? They were lying in wait in the way to kill him. They're like, okay, we'll get him up here. Let's say it's from here to Emily City. We'll get him up here. We'll have Festus call him and as he's on his way, when he's at Dryden Road, we're going to kill him. Or when he's at the factory up there, we're going to kill him. Lying in wait, planning, plotting against God's servant, right?

Paul didn't know what was going on, right? He's over in Caesarea. And here these Jews, they're plotting to kill him. They want him dead for preaching the gospel. We see the natural man's hatred for Christ and for God and for his gospel. And we were all there. That's what God saved us out of, beloved. We might not have outwardly said that, but that was in our hearts. My, look, isn't it a glorious thing that God, look at the glorious things God did within the church, as our sister sang about. He saved us. He regenerated us. He redeemed us. My.

So these wicked deceivers, they had no intention of allowing Paul to make it up to Jerusalem to speak the truth. No, they just wanted to kill him. They had a wicked plot to place certain men in the way or on the way to kill Paul. Now, the king of kings and the Lord and Lord knows what's in every man's heart, right? Scripture says he sees what people do in deceiving and plotting against his people. He knows about that. But he says vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay, right? We're not to strike out at people. Sometimes it's hard, isn't it, verbally, and sometimes it's hard, but we're not to do that. My.

Look at verse 4 and 5, and look at this. Look at how God uses an unsaved man to protect Paul. Why? Because the heart of the king is in the Lord's hands, right? And he moves it whatever way he wants. See, we have it right here before us. Look at this, verse 4 and 5. But Thessalonians answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea. And that he himself would depart shortly there. He said, okay, no, I don't think we'll do that. I'm going to go down to Caesarea myself. I'm going to go down a little bit. I'm not going to bring Paul up here. That's God protecting Paul with an unsaved man.

Remember, we saw it before too. We've seen that through the book of Acts. We've seen it multiple times. Remember, Remember they wanted to kill Paul in Jerusalem. And then Lysistos, the tribune, had Paul sent by night with a small army safely to Caesarea. That's all according to God's will and purpose. Because remember what Paul had, remember what the Lord had said to Paul? You're going to go and testify of me in Rome. Well, if they kill him on the way, that's not going to happen, right? If they had to kill him on the way to Caesarea, that's not going to happen. But when God says something, what's going to happen? It's going to happen, isn't it, Brother Tom? It's going to happen. It may take a little time, but it's going to happen according to his will and purpose.

And remember, we are seeing the unfolding will and purpose of God in Paul's life here. Now, do you think Paul understands all the circumstances going on? Nope. Do we understand all the circumstances going on in our lives? Nope. But God promises us that it's for our good and for His glory, all things. Oh, my. So we, like Paul, we just live through this life resting in Christ, don't we? And knowing that whatever comes, it's by the decree and will of God in our lives.

Look at this again, but Thessalonians answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither. Let them, therefore, said he, which are among you, are able, go down with me and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him. So now he's turned the tables on these Jews. He said, okay, if you want to bring accusations against Paul, I'm going to Caesarea, come on down. Instead of Festus bringing Paul up and according to their plan, he wouldn't have made it because they wanted to kill him. He's now turned the tables and he didn't even know it. So who turned the tables on him? God did, didn't he? See his sovereign hand at work? Festus doesn't know. He's just like, okay, well, I'm gonna do this. The heart of the king is in the Lord's hands, and he turns it whether he wills. Whoo! Right before our eyes, beloved. That's the hand we're in. We're in the sovereign hand of Christ, aren't we? Oh, my. My.

So this brings before us the glorious truth that God rules and overrules in every situation. We see his providential hand at work here in this matter. making sure that his will would be accomplished.

Now let's read verses 6 and 7 of Acts chapter 25. And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down into Caesarea. The next day, sitting on the judgment seat, commanded Paul to be bought. And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem, so some of them did come, stood around about and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, look at this, which they could not prove. They were saying the lastest things about Paul, and none of it held water. Isn't that amazing? They were bringing false accusations against Paul, and none of it was true, and it came out that none of it, they couldn't prove a thing. They couldn't prove he was breaking any Jewish laws. They couldn't prove that he was breaking any Roman laws. And I'll tell you what, Festus is only concerned about the Roman laws. That's what he's concerned about.

So we see in verse 6, the very next day after Festus returned to Caesarea, He seated himself on the judgment seat. That's like a seat where he would sit and people would be bought before him. And he's like a judge. And commanded Paul to be bought before him. And we see now some Jews come down from Jerusalem too. They were also before Festus. And they bought many grievous complaints against Paul. Many. But verse seven again brings forth, that they couldn't produce any proof of what they accused him of.

Now, look at verse 8. Now Paul gets to answer. Paul's going to stand up. The one they're complaining about, now he's going to stand up. It says, well, he answered for himself, neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar have I offended anything at all. He's saying, I didn't speak against their temple. I didn't speak against Caesar. I didn't speak against their laws. I haven't offended anybody in any way. The only way that they were offended was the pride. Because he preached Christ as the only way. He preached Christ as the Messiah. He preached Christ being bought to the Gentiles. Oh, they just, they did not agree with that at all. That's what made their heads spin like tops was the fact that the Gentiles were now getting to hear the gospel. My, but that was always God's plan, wasn't it? His elect are made up of Jews and Gentiles. And it says in Colossians that the Jew and the Gentile who are saved are one in Christ. That's amazing. That's absolutely incredible. And Paul plainly stated the truth we see here, and he answered the false charges that were laid against him. But all Paul was doing, he was just preaching the gospel. And by doing so, the wicked Jewish leaders were trying to ensnare him. And the way Paul, by the wisdom of God and the grace of God, spoke to them is a good example for us. Right? If accusations are brought against us and they're not true, we just stand in Christ, don't we? We stand in the King. And Paul understood that nothing could happen to him, right? This is one thing, too, we need to remember, too, that nothing can happen to us outside the permissive will of God. It's amazing. Absolutely incredible. And he knew that. He believed that. He rested in that. He had no reason to fear man, did he? Because he knows that God is in control. He's placed his complete trust in Christ. Now, did he get nervous and tremble sometimes? Yeah, we've seen that a couple times in the book of Acts, haven't we? He's human, isn't he? He's not superhuman. He's a sinner just like us. Remember the Lord came to him and said, you're going to go to Rome? And when we looked at that portion, some of the commentators said, we don't know, he may have been discouraged thinking, what's going on here? God comforts his people, doesn't he? Knowing that we're in his will. People always say, I want to know the will of God. I remember hearing this when I was in religion. Oh my gosh. I used to hear this all the time. I want to know what the will of God is for my life so I can do it. You know what the will of God is for a believer? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And keep looking to him your whole life. Because it's the will of God to save us, right? We're saved according to his purpose, according to his will. So what's the will of God in my life? Well, he willed to save me. And now I want to serve him for all my days. I want to pour my life out for him. That's how we are. We want to serve him, don't we? We want to use our giftings to worship him, to praise him. Because they're all from him anyways, aren't they? We don't have nothing to boast in. Isn't God good to us? Isn't he glorious? Well, and the Lord said this to his disciples. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That's in Matthew 10, 28. So that's a reminder for us, because we can get fearful, can't we? Let us not be afraid of what man can do to us. All they can do is, what's the very worst a man can do? Kill us. That just sends us to glory, doesn't it? Oh my, can't destroy the soul though, can they? Oh no. They can kill the body, that's what the Lord even said. Fear not them which can kill the body. but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body and hell. Fear God. The fear of the Lord is what? The beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And that fear is a reverent fear, beloved, and awe of who God is.

Our master's telling us to blow the trumpet of the everlasting gospel loudly. and publicly proclaim the truth of how he saved sinners through his blood and righteousness, beloved, according to the everlasting grace of God, his free grace, which he has made known now to us who are believers. Paul was sent by God to preach Christ, and he was sent to preach it on the housetops, to proclaim it, wasn't he? You know what a preacher's like? A town crier. Remember the old town criers? What was that, Paul Revere, the British are coming, the British are coming? Christ is coming! He's coming. Christ is the only savior of sinners. Yeah. My. My oh my.

We're to sound out the gospel. We have a responsibility to preach the gospel. Do you know that the gospel's being entrusted to us as a body? Do you know that? You and I, this body of believers, the church, the church isn't building, right? It's the people. We've been entrusted with the gospel of God's grace. That's incredible. And that's why we desire to see it the furtherance of the gospel, don't we? To go out into the world. And this is the only gospel that will save sinners. The gospel of that man has no part in the salvation. that salvation's all of the Lord, according to His will and purpose. And we say, praise His mighty name. This is wonderful.

So Paul's doing this when he's arrested. He's preaching the gospel. And these Jews are bringing accusations against him that aren't true. It finds no fertile ground, does it? Because there's no soil for these lies to grow in. just fallen on rocky ground. Lies. Deceit. Paul's innocent of the charges that are being brought up against him. But what do we see here? We see our sovereign God protecting him. Protecting him the whole time. See, the Lord's never left him, has he? He goes before him. Just like he does goes before us, beloved.

Look at verse 9. But Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul and said, Will thou go up to Jerusalem and there be judged of these things before me? Now there's a politician. Right? There's the politician in Festus. Oh, he wants to make the Jews happy. Because he's the governor now over that province, and their country is part of that province. He want to keep them happy. He want to pacify them a little bit. My. We see that in our world all the time, don't we? My, oh my. He's willing to do the Jews a pleasure. I want to make them happy. So he asked Paul, will you go up to Jerusalem? And that's probably with them. And be judged of these things before me. So he says, I'm going to go too. And will you go up and be judged of these things?

Well, he's wanting to please the Jews. He's wanting to yield to their requests, Festus is. He's not wanting to start any trouble in the new province that he's taking over. But Paul is going to remind Festus that he's standing at Caesar's judgment seat because Festus is a representative of Caesar. And what's Paul? Paul's a Roman. Paul's a Roman. He's a Jew and a Roman. Oh my. And Paul's going to remind him that you, Festus, is a representative of Caesar. We're going to see that. We're going to see Paul being a Roman. He boldly states to Festus, He knew that these accusations were false. Paul was telling Festus that it was his responsibility to declare him innocent, to declare Paul innocent, because Paul's a Roman. Roman citizenship carried a ton of weight. Do you know that a Roman citizen couldn't be crucified? Criminals could be crucified. Oh, my. Our king was crucified. Hmm.

Look at verse 10. Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat. He's saying, I'm right here. Here's Caesar's representative. I'm standing. Hephaestus is sitting on the judgment seat. He says, I'm standing at Caesar's judgment seat. Where I ought to be judged. Look at that. Now, do you see how the Lord gave him fortitude and gave him the words to speak even? It's amazing. To the Jews have I done no wrong. Look at this. As thou very well knowest. He's saying, and he's not saying it in a rude way. He's saying, Festus, you know I'm innocent. You've heard these accusations and none of them have any base. They can't find fertile ground because there's no truth to them.

Then look at verse 11. He says, for if I be an offender or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die. He'd willingly go up. If he was an offender, he'd willingly die. But if none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar." Look at those words. I appeal unto Caesar. Only Roman citizens could appeal to Caesar. That was a right they had. If they were being accused of something, they had a right to appeal to Caesar.

Paul's saying, if I've been an offender, if I've committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die. But if I've done none of these things where these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them, I appeal unto Caesar. Paul's telling Festus he wasn't afraid to die. He's not afraid to die. It's not that, it's not the fear of death that moved him to refuse to go to Jerusalem. No, it's the fact that the charges brought against him were false. They're false. And we see then that Paul reminds Festus the charges that were laid against him were false. And then that the Roman, and also the Roman law prohibited any man, including Festus, to deliver Paul, who's a Roman, to any judgment seat other than that of the official Roman government. So it was actually, Festus would have been breaking the law, the Roman law, by delivering him to the Jews.

Well, Again, Paul, he's a Jew and a Roman by God's sovereign will and purpose, isn't he? He's both. And he says, I appeal unto Caesar. Again, all this was arranged by the providential hand of God.

Go back over to Acts chapter 23. Acts chapter 23. Why is this all happening like this? The providential hand of God is protecting Paul, right? Look in Acts 23, verse 11. Here's why Paul has to go to Rome. In the night, Acts 23, 11. In the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer. It's a lot of commentators think that Paul was a little down. And the Lord's here to, you know, Cheer him, cheer him. I'm with you, Paul. Look at this, Paul. For as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so as you preached of me in Jerusalem, so, look at this little word again, must. So must thou bear witness also at Rome. Paul must go to Rome. It's a necessity in the Greek. because God said he was going to go there. Same word used when it says, you must be born again. It's a necessity. Isn't that wonderful? And if God says it again, whether someone believes it or not, it shall come to pass. So God's revealing to Paul that it's his will that he would go to Rome and testify.

Turn, if you would, to Philippians chapter one. Now, we look at the big picture and we think, oh, wow, okay. So Paul, he's got to go to Rome. He's gotta go, and he's gonna go there and he's gonna testify of Christ, right? He's gonna go to Rome and he's gonna testify of Christ. But again, all this is according to God's will and purpose, right? It's all being worked out, okay? You know why? Well, there's some lost sheep in Rome that must hear the gospel. Because they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And because Christ redeemed them on Calvary's cross, just like he redeemed every one of us who are born again.

Look at this. Philippians 1, starting in verse 12. "'But I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me,' he's talking about what's going on right now as we're going through Acts, "'have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.'" He's saying, I'm now in Rome under house arrest for the furtherance of the gospel, okay? "'So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places, And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Now in Rome, the only legionaries that were allowed to be in Rome, the legions themselves couldn't enter Rome unless they didn't have the weapons. Because Caesars, all the Caesars feared that a general would get so much power that he'd come in and take over Rome. Because the legions were very loyal to their generals, which makes a lot of sense. They fought with them. So the only Romans that bore swords and everything were the Praetorians. Very large group of Roman soldiers, the elite ones. It was a great honor to be part of the Praetorians. Kind of like the tip of the spear, what you were doing, Tom. It's an elite force. It's rapid deployment within the city at any time, anywhere. These Praetorian guards, since Paul's under house arrest, there would be four different guards with Paul every single day. They would rotate and watch us. Okay? See verse 12 there? Or verse 13? So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the Pretorians. The gospel's spreading among the Pretorian guards now. Paul was sent there for the furtherance of the gospel, and some of God's lost sheep, not all of them, but some of them, are Pretorian guards. Could you imagine? Paul was still allowed to have people come visit him. Paul's got four different guys to preach to every day. Isn't that wonderful? And by the grace of God, some of them believed.

Now here's something else too. Why else was Paul in Rome? Well, we see that many brethren of the Lord waxing confident in verse 14, but my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Well, Paul's here, we preach the gospel. Then go over to chapter four. Now here's something really knock your socks off. Nero was one of the worst emperors that ever lived. He would take Christians and tie them to stakes and turn them into human candles. He would take them and throw them into the arena and have them tore up by animals. He absolutely hated the gospel. Because according to Romans, The Romans themselves, the emperor was like a god. Well, we know he's just a man, isn't he? He's just a man. But look at this over in Philippians chapter 4. Look at verse 22 here. All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar's household. Oh my goodness. We looked at what that word saints means. It means holy ones, right? Oh, so Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, is telling us here that the gospel has even reached Nero's household. And that some of them have been saved by the grace and mercy of God. Where sin abounded, he's a great, this guy was one of the most wicked emperors, grace did much more bound. My! Isn't it wonderful? Oh my, those of Caesar's households, there's some who are beloved of God. The most wicked Roman emperor in some of his own household, the Lord saved. Oh, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. They're called saints. They're born again by the Holy Spirit of God, beloved, just like we are. How shall they hear without a preacher? God sends a preacher. Do you know who guarded Nero's family? Praetorian guards. Oh, yep, it's true. All the guards of all the Senate and all the people in Rome, anyone who had guards, now they could hire their own private guards, but they had Praetorians protecting them. especially the emperor's family. Oh my. What does that tell us? Well, that tells us someone heard the gospel, doesn't it? And someone went and talked to Nero's family about it, probably when Nero wasn't around. And what happened? by the grace and mercy of God, they were born again by the Holy Spirit of God and given faith to believe on Christ just as we were.

Paul, all this is happening according to the will and purpose of God. So when Paul says, I appealed the Caesar, look at verse 12. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, now that's not the Jews. He's conferring with his own council. He's conferring with his own people. And they're probably saying, this fellow's a Roman. He just asked to see Caesar. We have to let him. We don't got any choice in the matter. I know you want to make the Jews happy, but we can't go against Caesar's, the law where it says if someone, a Roman citizen appeals to Caesar, they go with Caesar. So look what happens. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Unto Caesar thou shalt go. Yeah, you know, he's probably happy now. His hands are clean in his eyes. He doesn't have to deal with the Jews griping about Paul anymore. He says, well, he appealed to Caesar. If you've got an argument, you've got to go talk to Caesar about it. My, oh, my. Do you see God's protecting hand? He doesn't have to go up to Jerusalem. He appealed, he appealed to the Roman authority. And that man Festus was in power because God put him there. And Felix wouldn't let him go because he was waiting for someone to give him money. So God had Nero replaced Felix with Festus. And now Paul's going off to Rome. Oh my.

This statement is a very interesting statement, again, because Caesar, the Roman emperor, was at Rome, exactly where the Lord Jesus had told Paul he had to go. That's where Nero was. So we're seeing, you must go to Rome. In Philippians, we saw some of the results of that, didn't we? Isn't it glorious? So we're reminded once again that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the exalted risen God, man. He controls all events that occur in time to accomplish His purpose and His will. Aren't you thankful? The world looks at this world and says, what's going on? We look at this world and says, God's in full control. And His will and purpose is being accomplished. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Brother Brian, you want to close us in prayer?