May God be pleased to bless us
together as we continue our meditation in the Acts of the Apostles.
And this evening we'll think on verses 6 to 11 in chapter
23. The 23rd chapter of the Acts
of the Apostles from verse 6 to verse 11. And we'll just read
them. But when Paul perceived that
the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried
out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. And when he had so said, there
arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there
is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees
confess both. And there arose a great cry,
and the scribes that were of the Pharisees' part arose and
strove, saying, We find no evil in this man, but if a spirit
or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God.
And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain,
fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them,
commanded the soldiers to go down and to take him by force
from among them and to bring him into the castle. And the
night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer,
Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou
bear witness also at Rome. Well, we pick up the account
this evening that Paul had been speaking to the council at the
Sanhedrin and he had addressed them, men and brethren, I have
lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And
we know the result was that the high priest commanded that someone
should smite him because of that. And then Paul spoke against him
and not realizing that he was in fact the high priest. And then we come down to this
sixth verse. But when Paul perceived that
the one part was Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried
out in the council, men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a
Pharisee, of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called in question. it would seem that Paul was aware
that whatever he spoke or was able to speak that there would
be a disagreement and he recognized therefore that the company of
Jews that were there before him were in fact divided. They were
divided between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and as we read
together in that 22nd of Matthew where we are told that the Sadducees
did not believe in the resurrection. And so the Apostle Paul raises
this question and confesses that of course he was born a Pharisee
and he was a son of a Pharisee and that he was still a Pharisee
in many things. Of course we know that he was
of course a Christian nonetheless he still desired to follow the
right way. And the right way was that the
Pharisees did believe in the resurrection and the Sadducees
did not. It sounds very strange doesn't
it for us today to look back to realize that these people,
these Jewish people who had been blessed for the law and had it
before them and yet we find their these Sadducees who just did
not believe the truth of the law which no doubt they were
quite familiar with and the Apostle was therefore very much aware
of this and he was able therefore to just tell them this question
and spoke about it and this had an amazing effect upon these
two lots of people, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And when he
had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. But how we find
still today, don't we, such divisions in so many things, some things
which we might think are so, so clear in the Word of God,
so obvious, and yet, strange as it is, are those whose eyes
are blinded, or perhaps put another way, those whose eyes have never
been opened to behold and to recognise the truth that is contained
in God's Word. And of course it is so important
to the true faith to recognize that there is a resurrection.
As the apostle tells us when he wrote to the Corinthians,
if there was no resurrection, well there's no hope. There's
no point in having any religion really. We may as well just carry
on in this world and do what we want to do and satisfy everything
that we want to do, realizing that when we finished our life
on the earth, well, that's the end and there's no resurrection.
Now people today, of course, are under that spell. People
today believe that sad situation. They believe there is no hereafter. Well, the Apostle Paul knew there
was an hereafter. He'd been blessed with the glorious
revelation of the Saviour. And he knew very firmly, and
so indeed do God's people. And it's that really which keeps
the people of God pressing on, looking forward to that which
is before us, that inheritance which is incorruptible and which
is undefiled. And therefore the Apostle now
sees these Pharisees and Sadducees disagreeing among themselves.
And the reason for the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,
neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. Well, many people today are just
like the Sadducees. They just don't believe really
any true word of God. They just ignore everything that
it speaks. And therefore, we could categorize
them really as atheistic, not believing in any God at all.
Well, the result was there arose a great cry. And the scribes,
that were the Pharisees part, arose and strove saying, we find
no evil in this man. Well, how remarkable really,
what a change. The Pharisees were so against
the apostle for preaching Christ. And now you see, faced with the
Sadducees, who didn't believe what they believed in regard
to the resurrection, so you see that they strove against them
and totally disagreed with them. And amazingly, now they were
supporting the Apostle Paul. Well, we should just ponder for
a moment and realize that God can amazingly change people's
minds. can change the way they're at,
not on any good way, any right way perhaps, but the Lord can
cause people to change their mind. And so therefore, these
Pharisees, these scribes, had indeed changed their mind with
regards to their view of the apostle. And they declared, we
find no evil in this man, but if a spirit or an angel had spoken
to him, let us not fight against God. Well, that was a good statement,
wasn't it? But you see, it couldn't have
come from their heart because they were so against the apostle's
faith, so against those things which he had decreed unto them
when he had spoken so clearly about the Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so they uttered these words
and what followed was there was a great dissension. And once
again we find the chief captain intervening. Now there's no evidence
of course that the chief captain was in fact a child of God or
a believer, but we see that the Lord uses people in situations. And this was the second time
that this chief captain had come and interposed So the Apostle
Paul was delivered because we read here, this great dissension,
the chief captain fearing lest Paul should have been pulled
in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down and to
take him by force from among them and to bring him into the
castle. So you see the Lord appeared
for Paul and delivered him from that squirmish wherein he might
have been physically destroyed and God granted him the privilege
of being brought into the castle. Well, we don't expect he had
a very comfortable time there, but nonetheless, he was safe
in the castle amongst the chief captain and the soldiers. Well,
we see then, and perhaps we wonder, well, what's going to happen
now to the Apostle Paul? Because he'd been brought up
from the council, where, of course, he was declaring what God had
done for him and how God had called him. Well, we read then
a wonderful statement. The night following, the Lord
stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, For as thou
hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also
at Rome. Well, I'm sure the apostle would
have been very much encouraged, and also perhaps still he may
have been fearful, knowing that he was to go to Rome, and of
course, many, many miles away, and he was to be a witness in
Rome. Of course, Rome at that time
was the chief city in the world. and the Apostle was to be taken
there. And the Lord had told him that
he would have to bear witness also Rome, witness of what he
believed, witness the Lord Jesus Christ did come and he was the
true Messiah. And therefore the Apostle needed
encouragement. And here it is, be of good cheer,
be of good cheer. Well, number of times the apostle
needed didn't he encouragement in his pilgrimage as we've gone
through the acts we've seen a number of times when he was in great
difficulty and hardship and yet the lord was with him the lord
appeared for him and my friends i'm sure that is still the same
today god is still with his people god is still guiding them he's
still directing them and he still says to his people whatever the
situation And remember, Paul wasn't in a comfortable scene
here. And yet he said to Paul, be of good cheer. And I'm sure
to the church of God, he says today, be of good cheer. Because
we know the future for the church of God is good. We know that
we have a good inheritance to look forward to, that we are
just passing through this world, but in this world, we should
consider that we will not be exempt from that which the apostle
was able to, was commanded to do, and that was to testify of
the Lord Jesus. And he testified in Jerusalem,
in the capital of Israel, And he was to testify at Rome, the
capital, as it were, the world. And the Lord has that place,
I'm sure, for all of his people today. God's people are not silent. We are told, Isaiah tells us,
ye are my witnesses. And it's a privilege, is it not,
to be amongst those who testify of the gracious God and to bear
witness So must thou bear witness also at Rome." Well, as we know,
God was with Paul. God brought him safely to Paul,
to Rome, and God was with him. And so may you and I take courage
today in our life, in our pilgrimage. Now, we're very favored, aren't
we? We haven't been imprisoned. We
haven't been beaten. We haven't found ourselves in
very uncongenial situations. But that doesn't mean to say
that the word of God is not appropriate for us also today, that the Lord
calls us to testify of him and to bear witness of him. Now,
my friends, that is a great and glorious privilege. And let us
not therefore think, well, that doesn't apply to me. Let us not
think, well, that was all right for Paul, but I don't have to
worry about words like that. Well, these things are recorded
for our encouragement and our instruction and our blessing,
so that we may realise the favour of God being with us. And remember
what the Apostle said, if God be for us, who can be against
us? Well, may we be encouraged to
think of those things, and to bless God for such a statement,
and to realize that the same God today rules and reigns, that
God who is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, and that
God who goes before, guiding and directing his people, and
never leaving them, nor forsaking them. Amen.