Acts 22 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Acts chapter 22 [music] verse 1,
2. 0:02brethren and fathers.
3. 0:06That's the same
4. 0:08phrase
5. 0:10that the martyr Stephen started his
6. 0:12speech with.
7. 0:14The man whom Paul
8. 0:16helped kill.
9. 0:18Paul was once on the other side of the
10. 0:20mob.
11. 0:21And he remembers how to address the
12. 0:23people.
13. 0:24Brethren and [music] fathers,
14. 0:26hear my defense which I now offer to
15. 0:30you.
16. 0:31And when they heard that he was
17. 0:33addressing [music] them in the Hebrew
18. 0:34dialect, they became even more quiet.
19. 0:38And he said, I am a Jew,
20. 0:41born in Tarsus [music] of Cilicia, but
21. 0:44brought up in this city,
22. 0:46educated under Gamaliel, strictly
23. 0:50according to the law of our fathers,
24. 0:52being zealous for God, just [music] as
25. 0:55you all are today.
26. 0:58I persecuted this way to the death,
27. 1:03binding and putting both men and women
28. 1:06into prisons,
29. 1:08as also the high priest and all the
30. 1:11council of the elders can testify.
31. 1:14From them I also received letters to the
32. 1:17brethren and started off for Damascus in
33. 1:20order to bring even those who were there
34. 1:23to Jerusalem as prisoners to be
35. 1:26punished.
36. 1:28But it happened
37. 1:30that as I was on my way, approaching
38. 1:32Damascus about noon time, a very bright
39. 1:36light suddenly flashed from heaven all
40. 1:39around me.
41. 1:41And I fell to the ground and heard a
42. 1:44voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are
43. 1:49you persecuting me?
44. 1:53And I answered, who are you, Lord? And
45. 1:56he said to me,
46. 1:58I am Jesus the Nazarene whom you are
47. 2:02persecuting.
48. 2:05And those who were with me saw the light
49. 2:08to be sure, but did not understand the
50. 2:10voice of the one who was speaking to me.
51. 2:15And I said, what shall I do, Lord?
52. 2:19And the Lord said to me,
53. 2:21get up and go into Damascus,
54. 2:25and there you will be told of all that
55. 2:29has been appointed for you to do.
56. 2:33But since I could not see because of the
57. 2:36brightness of that light, I was led by
58. 2:40the hand by those who were with me and
59. 2:43came into Damascus.
60. 2:47A certain Ananias, a man who was devout
61. 2:52by the standing of the law and well
62. 2:54spoken of by the Jews who lived there,
63. 2:57came to me and standing near said to me,
64. 3:01brother Saul,
65. 3:03receive your sight. And at
66. 3:05[clears throat] that very time, I looked
67. 3:07up at him.
68. 3:11Jesus is in heaven, but Paul is
69. 3:14persecuting his church.
70. 3:16And Jesus says, why are you persecuting
71. 3:19me?
72. 3:20He says, who are you? He says, I'm Jesus
73. 3:23whom you're persecuting.
74. 3:25That's Jesus saying, I am my church.
75. 3:28And when you do it to the least of
76. 3:30these, you do it to me.
77. 3:32But Jesus doesn't give Paul the plan of
78. 3:35salvation.
79. 3:36Jesus wants to connect Paul with the
80. 3:39family of the faithful. So Jesus sends
81. 3:42Paul
82. 3:43to people
83. 3:45because he needs to submit to God's
84. 3:48grace in human form.
85. 3:50He says, you you will be told what you
86. 3:52must do.
87. 3:56So the brother from the church comes in
88. 3:59and Paul is able to see
89. 4:01because Jesus wanted Paul to see him in
90. 4:05his people.
91. 4:07He was blind until he was able to see
92. 4:10Christ coming in the form of his body.
93. 4:14And it says that the first thing Paul
94. 4:16did was he looked up to the body of
95. 4:19Christ. He looked up to Ananias.
96. 4:26And at that very time, I looked up at
97. 4:28him.
98. 4:29And he said,
99. 4:31the God of our fathers has appointed you
100. 4:35to know his will and to see the
101. 4:38righteous one and to hear an utterance
102. 4:41from his mouth.
103. 4:43For you will be a witness for him to all
104. 4:45men of what you have seen and heard.
105. 4:50Now, why do you delay?
106. 4:52Get up and be baptized and wash away
107. 4:57your sins, calling on his name.
108. 5:03Now, this is powerful because
109. 5:06it will be told Paul what he must do.
110. 5:11And the first thing he is told that he
111. 5:13must do
112. 5:15is be baptized.
113. 5:18But why is he baptized? He says, be
114. 5:22baptized and wash away your sins.
115. 5:27Baptism is not what happens because our
116. 5:31sins are remitted. Baptism is the act of
117. 5:35faith whereby our sins are remitted.
118. 5:40This is what Peter said in Acts 2:38.
119. 5:44Repent and let every one of you be
120. 5:46baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for
121. 5:48the remission of your sins.
122. 5:51So now he's told, get up and wash away
123. 5:54your sins
124. 5:57calling on his name.
125. 6:00So in this he ties the name of Jesus to
126. 6:04baptism.
127. 6:06But he doesn't generalize it. He doesn't
128. 6:08just say, be baptized in his name. He
129. 6:10says, be baptized while calling out the
130. 6:14name of Yeshua.
131. 6:17It happened when I returned to Jerusalem
132. 6:19and was praying in the temple that I
133. 6:22fell into a trance.
134. 6:24So he got up from Damascus. He was
135. 6:27baptized in Damascus and he then
136. 6:29returned to Jerusalem and was praying
137. 6:32in the temple.
138. 6:34And he fell into a trance.
139. 6:37And I saw him,
140. 6:39Jesus,
141. 6:41saying to me,
142. 6:43make haste and get out of Jerusalem
143. 6:45quickly because they will not accept
144. 6:48your testimony about me.
145. 6:50And I said, Lord, they themselves
146. 6:52understand that in one synagogue after
147. 6:55another, I used to imprison and beat
148. 6:57those who believed in you.
149. 6:59And when the blood of your witness
150. 7:01Stephen was being shed, I also was
151. 7:04standing by, approving and watching out
152. 7:07for the coats of those who were slaying
153. 7:10him.
154. 7:11And he, Jesus, said to me, go,
155. 7:15for I will send you far away to the
156. 7:18Gentiles.
157. 7:20They, the great crowd in Jerusalem,
158. 7:23listened to him, Paul, up to this
159. 7:27statement.
160. 7:29And then they raised their voices and
161. 7:31said, away with such a fellow from the
162. 7:35earth, for he should not be allowed to
163. 7:37live.
164. 7:39As soon as they hear
165. 7:42that their rebellion is causing God to
166. 7:46help the Gentiles,
167. 7:48they are infuriated
168. 7:51because they're full of racism and
169. 7:54bigotry and self-superiority
170. 7:57and self-righteousness.
171. 7:59So when they hear that God is sending
172. 8:02Paul to the Gentiles, the mob starts up
173. 8:05again.
174. 8:06Away with such a fellow.
175. 8:09Luke said they listened to this
176. 8:11statement.
177. 8:13The last word they listened to was the
178. 8:15word Gentiles.
179. 8:18And as they were crying out and throwing
180. 8:21off their cloaks and tossing dust into
181. 8:23the air, the commander ordered him to be
182. 8:26brought into the barracks, stating that
183. 8:28he should be examined by scourging so
184. 8:31that he might find out the reason why
185. 8:33they were shouting against him that way.
186. 8:36They're going to beat him 39 lashes with
187. 8:39the cat of nine tails
188. 8:41till his back is a bloody pulp. And the
189. 8:44commander thinks that then he'll be more
190. 8:46likely to tell the truth of whatever
191. 8:48crime he's committed because the
192. 8:50commander can't conceive of why the mob
193. 8:53would be behaving like this if Paul is
194. 8:56just practicing a different
195. 8:58interpretation of scripture.
196. 9:00But the commander doesn't understand the
197. 9:02Cain spirit. He doesn't understand the
198. 9:06slander, the hatred, the envy
199. 9:10that lives in the heart of the religious
200. 9:14when they refuse to walk in the way of
201. 9:16righteousness.
202. 9:20But when they stretched him out
203. 9:23with thongs,
204. 9:25so they tie you out,
205. 9:29spread eagle, that's what they did to
206. 9:31Jesus,
207. 9:32so that your legs and your hands are
208. 9:34stretched [music] out. They stretched
209. 9:36him out and they rip your clothes off
210. 9:38and they're about to beat him
211. 9:41with a whip that is nine strands long,
212. 9:44strands of
213. 9:46of leather with fragments of bone and
214. 9:49glass and pottery shards tied all in
215. 9:52those strands so that every time they
216. 9:55beat his back, those shards will cut and
217. 9:58rip and pull at the flesh.
218. 10:01But when they stretched him out with
219. 10:03thongs, Paul said to [music] the
220. 10:06centurion who was standing by,
221. 10:08"Is it lawful for you to scourge a man
222. 10:11who is a Roman and uncondemned?"
223. 10:16When the centurion heard this, he went
224. 10:19to the commander and [music] said to
225. 10:20him,
226. 10:21"What are you about to do? For this man
227. 10:24is a Roman."
228. 10:26The commander came and said to him,
229. 10:28"Tell me, are you a Roman?" [music]
230. 10:31And he said, "Yes."
231. 10:33The commander answered, "I acquired this
232. 10:37citizenship with a large sum of money."
233. 10:40And Paul said,
234. 10:41"But I
235. 10:43was actually born a citizen."
236. 10:46Therefore, those who were about to
237. 10:48examine [music]
238. 10:49him immediately let go of him. And the
239. 10:52commander also was afraid when he found
240. 10:54out that he was a Roman and because
241. 10:56[music] he had put him in chains.
242. 11:00But on the next day, wishing to know for
243. 11:03certain why he had been accused by the
244. 11:06Jews, he released him and ordered the
245. 11:08chief priests [music]
246. 11:09and all the council to assemble.
247. 11:12And he brought Paul down and set him
248. 11:16before them.
249. 11:19>> [music]