Acts chapter 23 and we're going
to read from verse 23. And we're speaking about the
captain of the guard, the chief captain in Jerusalem and we read
in verse 23 And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make
ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen
threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred at the third hour
of the night. And provide them beasts, that
they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter after this
manner. Claudius Lysaeus, unto the most excellent governor Felix
sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews
and should have been killed of them. Then came I with an army
and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when
I would have known the cause whereof they accused him, I brought
him forth into their council. whom I perceived to be accused
of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge
worthy of death or of bonds. And when it was told me how that
the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and
gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what
they had against him. Farewell. Then the soldiers,
as it was commanded them, took Paul and brought him by night
to Antipater's. On the morrow they left the horsemen
to go with him and returned to the castle, who when they came
to Caesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor, presented
Paul also before him. And when the governor had read
the letter, he asked of what province he was, and when he
understood that he was of Cilicia, I will hear thee, said he, when
thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept
in Herod's judgment hall. In some ways, today's passage
for the younger members of our congregation is a simple account
of Paul's transfer from one place of captivity into another. He is taken from Jerusalem to
Caesarea. from one Roman soldier to another,
from one Roman castle to another. And yet while the surrounding
circumstances looked the same, the Lord Jesus Christ was slowly
but surely moving Paul's destiny along step by step. Paul had no knowledge how he
should escape when both the Jew and the Gentile seized him, but
the Lord had. It would be good for me and it
would be good for you if we could always remember this. Because
there are many worries that crowd into our lives, into our thoughts,
because we keep forgetting that we have a loving Lord who is
in control of all our circumstances. And as I was thinking about this
journey that Paul made from Jerusalem to Caesarea, I thought how wonderful
it was that Paul was provided with a horse and hundreds of
armed guards when he left Jerusalem. I wonder if you've ever heard
people talking about the word mindfulness. Mindfulness, I think, means that
we are to try and forget the worries around about us and concentrate
on what is happening to us in the moment. And while Paul might
well have wondered about all the troubles he was leaving in
Jerusalem and all of the things that were going to happen to
him in Caesarea, I wonder if he had the presence of mind just
to have a little bit of a smile to himself as he was escorted
these 75 miles from Jerusalem to Caesarea. He was being escorted
like a king would be escorted or as a prince might be escorted
under protection of Rome. And I thought I would just show
you, since we have the opportunity of doing it, the journey that
he took. We can see down here just below
the centre of this little map of Judea and Samaria, Israel
if you like, where Jerusalem is. It's up in the mountains
there in that brown and yellow section. And he probably was
taken down onto that coastal plain and then up to Antipaterus,
where it appears the soldiers left them because they were out
of danger by that stage and then from Antipatris all the way up
to Caesarea. About 75 miles it would appear
the journey. It's possible that they took
another route and maybe went north immediately and then dropped
down a little bit further up. But there we can see Samaria
and Judea. And these were both areas that
were under the control of this man, Felix. So he was an important
man. So while the captain of the guard
had the responsibility in Jerusalem, Paul is being taken to the man
who has responsibility for this whole area and all the cities
that are there. So this man, Felix, to whom Paul
was being taken, was indeed an important Roman of his day. So let's go back here and just
move on a little bit. So Felix was governor of this
area and yet what we discover about Felix is that for all his
riches and his power and his policies, The man that he held
prisoner, Paul, he held him in Herod's judgment hall, was more
blessed in his prison, more happy in his chains, than Felix was
in his elevated position. We don't read it in the passage
today, but in chapter 24 and verse 27, we discover that this
man Felix didn't stay in this job. He was in here for two more
years. And then another man called Porcius
Festus took over from Felix. And we're told that Paul was
in prison in Felix's prison in this court of Herod for these
two years. So Paul was going to be in prison
under Felix for really quite a long time. And sometimes we
don't realise just what that might have meant. Certainly,
Paul seems not to have been too severely hurt in that time because
he was allowed to see his friends. But what I want to do just in
conclusion here is to draw your attention to a little bit of
the letter that the captain of the guard, Lysias, wrote to Felix. He sent a letter about Paul to
Felix, and in it we read together that he very carefully covered
his own mistakes in the matter of Paul's arrest with respect
to Paul. but it also shows us something
of the very sad outlook that this man had upon life. He had Paul, the great apostle
Paul, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ in his presence,
and yet he says to Felix that he thought no better of Paul. than that he simply was being
pursued by the Jews over mere questions of their law. When Paul himself had said that
rather he had been arrested by the Jews on the grounds of the
hope and resurrection of the dead, And you see, this man,
the captain of the guard, was blind. to the hope and resurrection
of the dead. He thought it was just a mere
question of the law or something to do with their religion or
something to do with their religious scriptures. He had no understanding
of the resurrection unto life. He had no grasp of the gospel
that Paul preached. He had this man in his charge,
in his presence, and yet he never heard the gospel from him. and many people are like him.
People in the world are blind to the Gospel, but some find
the Gospel to be true. Some hear the Gospel. Some are
given to know this hope of resurrection, hope of eternal life that is
to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's my prayer this
morning on your behalf, that the Lord Jesus Christ will open
your heart and open your eyes to the hope and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the grace which comes to those
who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because they understand
that there is life after death, there is hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ for our eternal life, our spiritual life, for the forgiveness
of our sins and for peace with God through what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for us. So let us not be like this man
who wrote the letter, this captain of the guard, but let us be as
Paul who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and who knew the
resurrection of his Saviour. Amen.