We left the Apostle Paul when
we last met for prayer, and he was about to give his testimony. The last verse of the 21st chapter
was, and when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs
and beckoned with a hand unto the people And when there was
made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue,
saying, well, he began by saying, men, brethren, and fathers. And that's a wonderful statement. If you consider what the apostle
Paul had just been involved in, he'd been taken physically from
the temple, because he'd been preaching Christ there and he'd
been taken outside and he'd been beaten. And if it hadn't been
for the chief captain to have come down and to have rescued
him, no doubt he would have lost his life. But here you see, he
is now on these stairs and he's addressing this multitude in
this very gracious way. And it's a good example for us
today. You know, he didn't He could
have addressed them, couldn't he, in a very angry form. He
had all much justification for doing that. But it wasn't like
that at all. He really had in his heart that
desire that they might be blessed with the knowledge of Christ.
And therefore, in order to produce that, in order to be able to
freely declare the truth of God, he needed to address them in
a right way, in a kind way, and in a gracious way. And so we
see these words here, men, brethren, and fellows. We must conclude,
must we not, it was a Christ-like spirit. There was no retaliation. There was no malice. There was
no hatred. And he was living out the words
that he preached, the words that we can read as he wrote the various
epistles, and instructed especially Timothy in the way that he should
live his life. The apostle was able to give
a gracious and blessed example. And so here we have this statement,
men, brethren and fellows, let us always remember how important
it is not to retaliate, but to take every opportunity presented
to us to declare the great truth of the gospel. And then he says,
very simply, Hear ye my defence, which I make now unto you. He wanted to be able to defend
why he had spoken as he had in the temple. He didn't want people
to have a wrong impression. He didn't want them to think,
well, this is just your thoughts, Paul, this is just your scheme.
He wanted them to very clearly understand why it was that he
was preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. And therefore,
he comes in this way and he asks them that they would hear, they
would listen to his defense, which I make now unto you. And remember, here he is, he's
speaking in the Hebrew tongue, as we read in the previous chapter.
And when they heard, that he speak in the Hebrew tongue to
them, they kept the more silence. And he said, now, of course,
the Hebrew tongue was the tongue of the Jewish nation. And that
was really the people that he was principally addressing at
this time, the Jewish nation. There were, of course, the Gentiles
there as well. But he elected to speak in the
Hebrew tongue. He was a linguist. We know he
knew Greek. and we would assume he knew Arabic
and probably Latin as well. No doubt he was a very able linguist,
and therefore he was able to change his language to suit the
situation, which quite clearly he did here. And then he describes
to them who he was, and what he was, and how he'd been brought
up. He didn't just jump in if you
like, on that Damascus Road scene, but he gave a gracious introduction
to it so that people might understand. It's good, you know, when we're
concerned that people understand where we're coming from. And
here the Apostle was therefore keen to be able to demonstrate
to these people that he really was one of them. He'd really
been brought up in that way. And so he comes and he says,
I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia,
yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and
was zealous toward God as ye all are this day." The apostle
here is really demonstrating that he understands where these
people are coming from. It's good, you know, that when
we perhaps speak to people that we understand where they're coming
from. Paul understood. He'd been many
years before he was converted. He'd been very satisfied with
the way that he was living. He was living, he believed in
a right way, a godly way. that way which his fathers and
all the fathers had been directed in brought up in Jerusalem with
all those ceremonies and all those laws and very keen to keep
them very accurately and so therefore now he's able to come and say
well I was just like you were there was no difference I was
like you and he says how zealous he was and he was zealous toward
God as ye all are this day." Well, it was a good thing to
be able to speak, wasn't it? And to tell them how zealous
he'd been. And then he was, although he
was born in Tarsus, yet he was brought up in this city at the
feet of Gamaliel. Now that was an important and
necessary statement because Gamaliel of course was a great teacher,
and in those days when the teachers taught, the young people came
and they sat at their feet while the teacher would no doubt sit
on a bench. And therefore the people knew who Gamaliel was,
they knew what his position was, and therefore he was able to
come and say that he had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. up in this city at the feet of
Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the
law of the fathers." He wasn't ignorant, therefore, of the things
that they believed in. And he wanted to show to them
that he understood where they were coming from. He understood
that they were zealous themselves for the law. But what he wanted
to come onto was to show to them their ignorance. because in actual
fact, all the law had been kept by the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so he gives this gracious
and interesting and informative introduction as he addresses
the multitude. And he says, and I persecuted
this way unto the death. Now, he was, as I've often said,
Paul was an honest man. And he didn't hide his things
that he'd done wrongly. And he was able to confess here,
in very clear words, and I, having set forth where he'd come from,
set forth his background, his wonderful teaching, and now he
says, and I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering
into prison both men and women." And so true it was. The apostle
had been as zealous in this as he had been in learning the law
and keeping the law. He was zealous now in persecuting
this way and unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons
both men and women. Well, it was a pretty a pretty
sad situation, wasn't it? A really quite a condemning position,
but nonetheless one which would have been approved by those people
that were listening to him, because they would have been against
all those who professed the name of Christ. And therefore the
Apostle was able to tell them in his introduction his position. He'd been like that. He understood
what they were trying to do now. And with this introduction you
see, surely it would have made them more attentive, as they
would have appreciated how he'd operated and what he'd been through.
And sometimes it is good when you and I in our lives face perhaps
difficult situations to just give a short testimony of our
position. and not to therefore belittle
other people, and not to kind of speak down to them, but nonetheless
to let them know that we were no different. We were just like
that. And, you know, the Apostle Paul,
he didn't say, well, I was just like you. He just laid down his
life, he laid down his position, and it was very clear that it
was like those people. It's teaching, isn't it? As we
read such an account like this. And so he said, and I persecuted
this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both
men and women. And then he says for a testimony
as also the high priest doth bear me witness and all the estate
of the elders. from whom also I had received
letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring them
which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished." He was quite
clear what his position was and therefore he tells them what
his desire was and how he was operating. And he speaks in this
way, that therefore it wasn't something which was unknown,
he was well known. No doubt he was well known because
of his linguistic ability and his natural understanding of
all the law and the ceremonies. And so he set out really his
defence, the beginning of his defence, to show the people what
his position was. He laid it down quite clearly
so they weren't under any misapprehension. And it was then, we won't go
through it this evening, but it was then that he was able
to then move on to that amazing time when the Lord Jesus came
to him on that Damascus road. Now, let us note that he didn't
start at that point. He could have started at that
point. He could have said, I was on the Damascus road, but he
didn't. He started really way back to
demonstrate his position and how he'd been no different to
those people there. He didn't elevate himself at
all. He came alongside them. And so then he was able to declare
and it came to pass. and it came to pass that as I
made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus, about noon
suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
Now you see that all this was a preparation to bring this great
truth to them of God's converting him on that Damascus road and
how it came to pass. I believe it's good, isn't it,
to understand that we have such words of introduction to direct
us today in how we should speak and how needful it is in the
day and age in which we speak, we live. It's a very dark age,
isn't it? And perhaps we might be tempted
to put ourselves on a pedestal sometimes when we speak to people
to think, well, of course, they're ignorant and I know this and
I know that. But it's good to come down. to show them, in actual
fact, we were just the same, without being scornful at them,
without pointing fingers at them, just stating the very simple
facts, and then to move on to the great work of God in our
hearts and in our souls, so that his name might be honoured and
glorified, and these words might be truly effective in the people
that we speak to. had an effect upon some that
Paul spoke to, many rejected him, but nonetheless there were
some we know who were indeed taught by the Spirit of God.
So this evening let's just remember this little introduction of his
defence on this occasion, having been beaten and delivered from
that beating and now the opportunity given to him to speak And this
was the gracious way in which he spoke to the multitude. Amen.