As it may please God to bless
us this evening, we'll conclude our meditation in the 22nd chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles, and commencing at verse 22 down
to the end. At verse 21, we concluded the
defense that Paul had given as he was taken by the chief captain,
in towards the castle, and then he was able to give a testimony
of how the Lord had converted him. And then we finish with
this verse. And he said unto me, depart,
for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. Now that was, appears to be the
catalyst that really upset these people who were listening. and
they listened quietly until that time. And we read, and they gave
him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices
and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not
fit that he should live. And the apostle had just been
a faithful witness. just telling those of the way
that the Lord had changed his life from being a aggressive
Pharisee to one who was brought to preach everlasting gospel
of Jesus Christ. And also that clear word that
God had given to him to go to the Gentiles. As we mentioned,
on a number of occasions. The Apostle Paul was very straightforward
in the way that he answered and the statements that he gave.
He didn't try and just favor those that he was speaking to.
He gave the whole truth. And the whole truth was that
God had appointed the Apostle to go far hence to the Gentiles. Well, this was that which so
upset these Jews who were in Jerusalem. And they spoke in
that very aggressive way. And they said that he should
not live, not fit, that he should live. And as they cried out and
cast off their clothes and threw dust into the air, they were
clearly getting very worked up about this situation. And so
we find that the chief captain now intervenes. The chief captain
commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he
should be examined by scourging, that he might know whereof they
cried so against him." Well, it was apparent why they cried
so against him. But here, the chief captain,
obviously desiring to hear it from Paul's own lips, thought
that by bringing him into the castle and by beating him, that
he might get some omission from him. Well, how unfair that was
and how unjust it was. But we have these positions and
we see people today are unjust in our lives sometimes. And they
say things which are not warranted. But we should always remember
the examples we have in the Word of God, which temper our thoughts
and our actions and our reactions to difficulties when they arise. And the Apostle Paul's example
here is very wonderful, because as we read, and as they bound
him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by,
is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman and uncondemned? So here was the apostle being
bound with thongs, bound so that he wouldn't be able to escape
and ready to receive that scourging for which he did not deserve. And we see the demeanor that
he has. There's no aggression. with the
words that he speaks. He speaks very calmly and he
addresses the centurion and asks him very simply if it was lawful
for them to scourge a man that is a Roman. Now they would not
have been probably aware that he was a Roman. He told them
that he was a Jew, he told them he was born in Tartus, but he
didn't tell them that in actual fact he was a Roman. and therefore
he was under some protection. Indeed in these days Romans were
really protected by their laws that It was not allowed that
other people should attack them or scourge them or beat them
unless there was some really good justification. And quite
clearly here, there was no justification that Paul should be scourged
in this situation. Therefore, he asks this question
very calmly and really waits for the answer. Well, it obviously
struck a chord immediately And the centurion realized that if
he was a Roman, they shouldn't be carrying out such a treatment
of him. And so he comes and he goes and
tells the chief captain saying, take heed what thou doest for
this man is a Roman. And clearly that had an effect
upon the chief captain. And so it should have done. And
the chief captain then immediately comes to Paul and asks him, art
thou a Roman? He says, yes. And the chief captain
answered, with a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said,
but I was free born. What a difference, wasn't there?
There was Paul, Paul the captive, Paul being accused, Paul being
so despised, so hated. And yet you see, he was able
to declare that he was free-born. And the captain, eminent as he
probably was, had to admit that he hadn't been favoured like
the Apostle. In fact, he had to purchase his
freedom with a great sum of money. And so we see then there was
the coming together, as it were. The Lord had appeared in quite
an amazing way, just a few simple words. A few words had changed
the captain and the centurion's view. And it's good, isn't it,
for us to notice that sometimes it's not a great long statement
or a great long trying to persuade people that in actual fact they're
wrong and they shouldn't be operating this way, just a very clear and
simple statement questioning whether they had a right to do
something. and this had the effect. We read
so often, don't we, in the Word of God, the examples of the Lord's
gracious work, how he influences his people to walk humbly before
their God, to not be aggressive, but to be very calm and to accept
those things which the Lord sees fit to lay upon them. Paul just made a statement here. He didn't say, well, look here,
I'm not going to be bound and I'm not going to receive this.
He just made a simple statement. And that statement had a very
deep effect. The chief captain answered, with
a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, but I was free
born. and what occurred, then straightway,
straightway. You see how the Lord can change
things around in a moment. There was Paul being bound, being
tied up, ready to receive this beating, this scourging. But
when this news had filtered through and the chief captain realized
what it meant, then straightway they departed from him, which
should have examined him. And the chief captain also was
afraid after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had
bound him. Well, there was a complete change
in those circumstances that were surrounding the apostle. And
quite clearly, the Lord had appeared for him. The Lord had appeared
by those, that simple statement, which he was able to make to
the centurion who passed it on to the captain. And so we should
remember in the day and age in which we live to just be able
to be found calm in difficult situations and not to get worked
up because we should realise the Lord is control. Now, it
doesn't mean to say that we won't have to suffer because as we
know, Paul and Silas Philippi did suffer very greatly and the
Lord blessed that suffering very greatly to the jailer and to
all his family in their conversion. So we see the Lord works in different
ways and sometimes the Lord permits that we should suffer for his
sake and sometimes the Lord comes and delivers us. There have been
Many occasions in God's Word where deliverances have occurred. Deliverances when the way seemed
almost impossible, but the great God appeared. And we should be
thankful today that we come to that great God who can deliver
and who does deliver. Indeed, David said with that
confidence when he was about to fight Goliath, he, speaking
about the Lord, he will, deliver me." There was that confidence
in his God. And so we have, we can see here
perhaps the confidence that the Apostle had in being able to
speak the simple words and to tell them that he was a Roman
and that had the effect of really delivering him from this excruciating
torment which he would have had to have borne otherwise. And so we read this, and on the
morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherewith
he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands and
commanded the chief priests and all the council to appear and
brought down Paul and set him before them. Well, you see, the
apostles' ordeal was not over. But here was another opportunity
presented to Paul, where he was able to speak forth the truth
of God. Indeed, God does move in mysterious
ways, his wonders to perform. And we should realize that God
used Paul in amazing ways. And it wasn't a smooth path.
What a blessing it is when God uses us for his honour and for
his glory, not by a smooth path. But nonetheless, the Apostle
Paul knew that the Lord stood with him, and he declares that,
doesn't he, later on in this same Acts of the Apostles, he
tells the people, God stood by me. My friends, what a blessing
it is to know in our lives today that God still stands by his
people. God was with Paul here. God delivered
Paul on this occasion for his honor and for his glory. And may we be thankful tonight
that we have such a God who is still alive today and is the
same yesterday and today and forever. Amen.