Acts 25 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00Acts chapter [music] 25:1
2. 0:03Festus then having arrived in the
3. 0:05province 3 days later went up to
4. 0:08Jerusalem [music]
5. 0:09from Caesarea.
6. 0:11And the chief priest and the leading men
7. 0:13of the Jews brought charges against Paul
8. 0:16and they [music] were urging him
9. 0:18requesting a concession against Paul
10. 0:21that he might have him brought to
11. 0:22Jerusalem at the same time setting an
12. 0:25ambush to kill [music] him on the way.
13. 0:28Festus then answered that Paul was being
14. 0:31kept in custody at Caesarea and that he
15. 0:34himself was about [music] to leave
16. 0:35shortly.
17. 0:37Therefore he said, "Let the influential
18. 0:40men among you go there [music] with me
19. 0:42and if there is anything wrong about the
20. 0:44man, let them prosecute him."
21. 0:48After he had spent not more than eight
22. 0:51or 10 days among them, he went down to
23. 0:53Caesarea
24. 0:54>> [music]
25. 0:54>> and on the next day he took his seat on
26. 0:57the tribunal and ordered Paul to be
27. 1:00brought.
28. 1:02So again, you feel the politics. This
29. 1:05man is going to have to rule over the
30. 1:07Jewish community. He does not care about
31. 1:10their religious practices. He does not
32. 1:12care about what bends them out of shape.
33. 1:15But there's a lot of politicking going
34. 1:17on. They're basically saying, "Give us a
35. 1:19concession. Do us a favor." And he has
36. 1:23pressure to humor the crowd, to humor
37. 1:26the mob because he wants to keep peace.
38. 1:28[music]
39. 1:29Um but he goes down, sits in the
40. 1:31tribunal and orders Paul to be brought.
41. 1:34After Paul arrived, the Jews who had
42. 1:37come down from Jerusalem stood around
43. 1:39him bringing many and serious charges
44. 1:42[music] against him
45. 1:44which they could not prove.
46. 1:46While Paul said in his own defense, "I
47. 1:50have committed no offense either against
48. 1:53the law of the Jews or against the
49. 1:55temple or against Caesar."
50. 1:58But Festus wishing to do the Jews a
51. 2:00favor answered Paul and said, "Are you
52. 2:03willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand
53. 2:06trial before me on these charges?"
54. 2:10But Paul said, "I am standing before
55. 2:12Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be
56. 2:15tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews
57. 2:18as you also very well know."
58. 2:21So Festus is a man pleaser and Paul
59. 2:25knows that there is another plot to kill
60. 2:27him on the way to Jerusalem.
61. 2:30And so when Festus says, "Are you
62. 2:32willing to go up to Jerusalem and be
63. 2:34tried?"
64. 2:36Paul says,
65. 2:37"I want to stand trial before Caesar's
66. 2:41tribunal. Take me to the Supreme Court
67. 2:43of Caesar." Is what he's basically
68. 2:45saying.
69. 2:46And he makes this statement, "Where I
70. 2:49ought to be tried."
71. 2:52This is a religious conflict.
72. 2:55But it is passed out of the realm of a
73. 2:58civil discourse between men of faith.
74. 3:03And Paul is acknowledging that this evil
75. 3:08ought to be adjudicated in the
76. 3:11high courts of the Roman state.
77. 3:15He's acknowledging the role that God's
78. 3:18servant, the state, plays.
79. 3:20Some things shouldn't be tried in
80. 3:23Jerusalem. Some things should be tried
81. 3:26in Caesar's court where I ought to be
82. 3:28tried.
83. 3:31"For I have done no wrong to the Jews as
84. 3:33you also well know.
85. 3:35If then I am a wrongdoer and have
86. 3:38committed anything worthy of death, I do
87. 3:41not refuse to die.
88. 3:43But if none of those things is true of
89. 3:45which these men accuse me, no one can
90. 3:47hand me over to them. I appeal to
91. 3:51Caesar."
92. 3:53Then when Festus conferred with his
93. 3:55council, he answered, "You have appealed
94. 3:58to Caesar. To Caesar you shall go."
95. 4:03Now when several days had elapsed, King
96. 4:06Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea
97. 4:10and paid their respects to Festus.
98. 4:13While they were spending many days
99. 4:15there, Festus laid Paul's case before
100. 4:17the king saying,
101. 4:20"There is a man who was left as a
102. 4:22prisoner by Felix
103. 4:24and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief
104. 4:27priests and the elders of the Jews
105. 4:28brought charges against him asking for a
106. 4:32sentence of condemnation against him.
107. 4:36I answered them that it is not the
108. 4:38custom of the Romans to hand over any
109. 4:40man before the accused meets his
110. 4:43accusers face to face and has
111. 4:45opportunity [clears throat] to make his
112. 4:47defense against the charges.
113. 4:49So after they had assembled here, I did
114. 4:52not delay but on the next day took my
115. 4:54seat on the tribunal and ordered the man
116. 4:57to be brought before me.
117. 4:59When the accusers stood up, they began
118. 5:02bringing charges against him not of such
119. 5:05crimes as I was expecting.
120. 5:07But they simply had some points of
121. 5:10disagreement with him about their own
122. 5:12religion and about a dead man, Jesus,
123. 5:15whom Paul asserted to be alive.
124. 5:18You can see that there is not a whole
125. 5:21lot of religious understanding of the
126. 5:24religious conflict.
127. 5:26And you say, "Well, this ought to be
128. 5:27judged in the religious setting." No,
129. 5:30not when it crosses certain lines of
130. 5:33illegality.
131. 5:34No, it ought to be judged in Caesar's
132. 5:36courts. Paul said, "I ought to be judged
133. 5:40in Caesar's court."
134. 5:44"Being at loss how to investigate such
135. 5:48matters, I asked whether he was willing
136. 5:50to go to Jerusalem and there stand trial
137. 5:53on these matters.
138. 5:55But when Paul appealed to be held in
139. 5:57custody for the emperor's decision,
140. 6:01I ordered him to be kept in custody
141. 6:03until I sent him to Caesar."
142. 6:06Then Agrippa said to Festus,
143. 6:08"I also would like to hear the man
144. 6:10myself."
145. 6:11"Tomorrow," he said, "you shall hear
146. 6:13him."
147. 6:16So on the next day when Agrippa came
148. 6:18together with Bernice amid great pomp
149. 6:22and entered the auditorium accompanied
150. 6:25by the commanders and the prominent men
151. 6:27of the city at the command of Festus,
152. 6:30Paul was brought in.
153. 6:32It's a spectacle.
154. 6:34Right? This heathen court, these heathen
155. 6:37kings,
156. 6:38but they're intrigued.
157. 6:40Festus said, "King Agrippa and all you
158. 6:45gentlemen here present with us,
159. 6:47you see this man about whom all the
160. 6:50people of the Jews appealed to me
161. 6:54both at Jerusalem and here loudly
162. 6:58declaring that he ought not to live any
163. 7:01longer.
164. 7:02But I found that he had committed
165. 7:04nothing worthy of death
166. 7:06and since he himself appealed to the
167. 7:08emperor, I decided to send him.
168. 7:12Yet I have nothing definite about him to
169. 7:15write to my lord,
170. 7:17the emperor.
171. 7:18Therefore I have brought him before you
172. 7:21all and especially before you, King
173. 7:24Agrippa, so that after the investigation
174. 7:26has taken [music] place, I may have
175. 7:28something to write.
176. 7:31For it seems absurd to me
177. 7:34in sending a prisoner not to indicate
178. 7:37also the charges against him. So these
179. 7:40[music] Gentile commanders, governors,
180. 7:42kings, they don't know what to do
181. 7:46with Paul. They don't know what to do
182. 7:48with the Jews.
183. 7:49And they don't even know how to describe
184. 7:52the charges that are supposedly brought
185. 7:54against him [music] because
186. 7:56they're all debates about what the
187. 7:58scripture means and they can't relate.
188. 8:01They don't get that.
189. 8:02And they don't want to just face
190. 8:05that
191. 8:07those who seek to murder Paul are the
192. 8:10problem
193. 8:11because they're in the majority.
194. 8:14They're the mob
195. 8:16and they have to govern this mob.
196. 8:19And the simple answer is he did nothing
197. 8:21criminal.
198. 8:22You're in the wrong for wanting to kill
199. 8:24him.
200. 8:25But that's not a simple [music] answer
201. 8:27because of the politics of appeasement,
202. 8:30because of the politics [music] of
203. 8:31control. So they've got to
204. 8:35they're they're befuddled. How do we How
205. 8:37do we handle this conflict?
206. 8:40Um you simply say, "You're a bunch of
207. 8:42bigots." And let the guy go. He doesn't
208. 8:44believe the scriptures like you do. He's
209. 8:46entitled to his difference of opinion.
210. 8:49He's entitled to preach what he wants to
211. 8:51preach.
212. 8:53Live with it.
213. 8:54But that's complicated
214. 8:57in the politics [music] of appeasement.
215. 9:12>> [music]