We're back looking at the life of the Apostle Paul and his journey through the book of Acts. Last week I talked about the fact that Paul lived a life that was very well spent, but it wasn't always exciting. You all can identify with that? Your life isn't always exciting, is it? As a matter of fact, we're told that Paul spent two years in solitary confinement. did very little of anything, but as Paul reminded us in 1 Corinthians, everything we do we can do for the glory of God. It's not the big things. Matter of fact, it can be the smallest things in life that we can bring glory to God. We as humans, especially in this day and age, we're so motivated by big things or exciting things. And Oswald Chambers was talking about this passage this week as I was reading it, which was interesting. He was talking about this very scripture about eating and drinking, whatever you do, do for the glory of God. He says, be aware of allowing yourself, be aware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow aspects of God are not ordained by God. They are ordained by him equally as much as the profound. We sometimes refuse to be shallow, not out of our deep devotion to God, but because we wish to impress other people with the fact that we're not shallow. He says, this is a sign of spiritual pride. We must be careful, for this is how contempt for others is produced in our lives. It is caused by us becoming a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than we are. posing yourself as a profound person, God becomes a baby. You all identify with that at some point? We're all kind of trying to impress other people by our wisdom and our understanding in life. And we have to learn that there is profoundness in smallness and insignificance. I'm kind of glad that it's a light crowd today. This is sort of a visual illustration of this. It doesn't matter how big something is or how important it may seem. God is always in small and insignificant things. Remember the psalmist, this is David, writing, oh Lord, my heart is not, I have not lifted up my eyes, nor have they raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great or things too marvelous for me. I have quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child my soul. is within me. In other words, Paul says the only thing that really matters in life is not great things. It's like I'm just going to be with God and God's going to minister to me like a weaned child. And that's what Paul was feeling here in prison. He's going to speak truth to power. And the reason why we're gonna cover these stories, and it's very easy to read over these portions and these chapters and acts because they seem so repetition, but this is our story. Do you know who you are? Do you understand who you are? You are the chosen race. You are the royal priesthood. You are the holy nation. You are a people for God's own possession. That's us. Do you understand who you are? God is looking down from heaven and says, I chose you. You're my priest. You're my nation. You're my people. And then he says, you better proclaim this. We proclaim the excellence of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And who do we proclaim this to? Better proclaim it to everybody. My God had called me out of darkness and brought me into light. Do you all know there's another kingdom out there? It's a kingdom of darkness. We exist between two thrones. There is God's holy, righteous throne, and then there is the throne of man. There are only two kingdoms in this world. There are only two thrones. One has eternal power and will last forever. Guess what you have? You have the eternal kingdom. You have the power that lasts forever. The road has a temporal power and a temporal authority, and it has temporal truth. We will see this clearly. We walk in an apostolic prophetic calling. They walk in a sovereign calling because there is no authority but God's, but they're blinded. And so for two years Paul sat in a prison cell and occasionally he would be brought out to the king. This apostolic prophetic person would stand before the throne of a sovereign blinded leader. And we're told that he often called for Paul for one reason and one reason only. Remember what it was? He wanted some money. Can you imagine Paul? This is the apostle Paul. You have two ears to a mind that has been to the third heaven. And all you care about is some money? You are blind. Do you all know the world is blind? So we're told that For two years, Paul was in prison until there was somebody who was a successor to Felix, the name by Porteus Festus. And it says that he let Paul stay in prison, but he is a brand new governor with a brand new set of agendas. And it says that the first thing he did when he came to power after three days, he went someplace. He went down to Jerusalem. Why would this king go to Jerusalem? If you were paying attention from last week, I said that there are two seats of power. There's the one in Caesarea, which is the governor of the entire Palestinian region, which includes all these Jewish people. But where do the Jews see the seat of power? Jerusalem. So he will go down to Jerusalem and meet with the high priest. And he'll meet with the principal leaders of the Jews. And you know what they care about? This has been two years since they met the governor. It was the old governor. Two years. And you know the other thing they care about? It's Paul. That's crazy. It says when he came, the Jews laid out a case against Paul. And all governors would give favors to their people that they were reigning over, in this case, the Jews. And they knew that, so it says that they asked for a favor. And what was the favor they asked for? They asked for Paul. They asked that Paul would be given to them that he would return to Jerusalem. And what was their intention? Remember those 40 guys? The idea was that they would ambush and kill Paul as he was traveling to them. So what do you think the governor is going to say? That's the request. That's the favor. Well, thank God that Festus saw right through it. And here's what he says. And it's an interesting reply. As all good diplomats do, he ignores the request. Festus replied that Paul was being kept in Caesarea and that he himself had intentions to go there shortly. What does he say? I'm not going to grant this request. Matter of fact, Paul's under my care. He's in Caesarea. I'm going to go there. But, but, here's what I'm willing to do as a compromise. Here's my favor to you. Let the men of authority among you go down with me. And if there is anything wrong with this man, let them bring the charges against Now, if you were here last week, you realize that this has already happened. It happened before the other governor. And so I imagine, as they hear this request, they're like, what? We want to kill him. We don't want another trial. But here we go again. Another trial before the governor. And the only thing that has changed is that there's a new governor, like I said, Festus, and there's a new high priest. Some quick things about the governor that are important. Obviously, he's Roman. Again, he's under this whole region of Palestine where all the Jews are. He is serving under Nero. Do you all know who Nero is? He's a lunatic emperor who eventually burned Christians at the stake. But right now, he's on his best behavior. I don't want to get into this, but he's under Seneca, who is the founder of Stoic philosophy. And so he's well behaved at this point. He's new in his administration. This governor will reign for two years. He will bring law and order back. Remember, Felix was a guy who took bribes. All right, he's very conscientious. We know that he is also a servant of the people. He will die in office after two years, and he has a wonderful reputation. He's a good guy. And we're going to see that as he listens to this hearing. So the text tells us that he stays there in Jerusalem for 8 or 10 days and then he goes back to Caesarea and on the next day he has his tribunal and he orders Paul to be brought before them. And so here they go again. So when these guys arrived from Jerusalem, it says, when they arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and they were bringing many serious charges against him. Many serious charges are being brought against him that they could not prove. Now, anybody in here a lawyer? Okay, I'm no lawyer. But do you understand the most important thing in a case? What is it? Proof! at least have some eyewitnesses, have some, they have nothing. And I imagine this king who was so familiar with how courts operate, when he hears there's no proof, he does this. This is the typical eye roll of a judge. Oh, goodness gracious. What am I going to do here? No evidence. No eyewitnesses. You're just spouting out serious random charges. Yeah. We've all seen this, right? So Paul's given a little opportunity to speak here, and here's what Paul says. He doesn't have to prove anything, because there's no proof against him. So here's his defense. He says, neither against the Jews have I done anything, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense. I haven't done anything wrong. take my word for it. Because why? It's their word against my word. It's all there is in this case. But here's the caveat that Paul has that they don't have. He's a Roman citizen. They're not. So who is this Fessus going to side on? Listen to the favor that he grants the Jews. Ready for the favor? It's a wonderful favor. It's an amazing favor. He wants to please these Jews that have traveled from Jerusalem. So here's their big favor. Ready? He says to Paul, Paul, do you wish to go up to Jerusalem with these men to be tried? Can you imagine the high priest, what are you asking him for? You're the governor, order him. What are you asking him for? What is this? You're asking him whether he wants to be on trial? What? And the king would simply say, listen, as a Roman citizen, he's got to decide whether he wants to go with you. You can't demand him to go. It's his choice. He's the Roman citizen. He gets to choose whether he wants to be on trial by you or not. Wow. So what do you think Paul says to this? Do you want to go to be tried by these men? If he was sarcastic, he would be like, what? So he simply says, I'm standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried. If there is anything against me, this is the court, this is the time, try me right now. To the Jews, I've done no wrong, as you yourself know. But then he says this, and this is where he gets really brilliant, and you see the brilliant mind of the Apostle Paul, the great theologian, and I imagine the Lord gave this to him, because what he does here is very, very interesting. He says, if I'm a wrongdoer, and if I've committed anything for which I, here he goes, that I deserve death, and nobody up to this point has brought up the death penalty. Why do you think Paul's bringing up the death penalty? He's got a plan here. He's gonna appeal to Caesar, And Caesar will only hear things that involve a death penalty. This is clever. If you don't catch it right away, you won't even know what he's doing. That's why he says, if I deserve death, I do not seek to escape death. If I've done something worthy of death, I would like to be put to death, he says. Wow. But then he says, but there's nothing to these charges against me. And he says, no one, and this is scary, this is a bold statement, no one can give me up to them. He's looking at the governor and says, you know the law, you can't give me to them. Think about what he said there. No one can give me to them. So Paul obviously knows Roman law. And by the way, he's right, because in Roman history, governors have given Roman citizens up to lesser people, to people that were under them, and those governors were immediately executed. Because Roman law for a Roman citizen trumps anything, right? So here's the interesting difference. You remember Pilate having the trial of Jesus, right? Why did Pilate give Jesus back to the Jews that were calling for his life? Why? Only one reason. What is it? He's a Jew. He's not a Roman citizen. So if you remember what Pilate had to say, he took water, he washed his hands, and he said this before the crowd. He says, I'm innocent. Listen, I tried him. I didn't find anything wrong. He's yours. See to him yourself. But had Jesus been a Roman citizen, Pilate couldn't even turn him over. Again, I'm not trying to make any theological point there. I'm just saying that's the primary difference. No one could give Paul up to them. And then he says, I appeal to Caesar. And so quickly, the king refers to his council. They say, yeah, OK, get a pill to Caesar, because there's a capital punishment here. And so finally, he says, well, to Caesar, you have appealed. To Caesar, you shall go. So let me ask you a question. What's going on here? This is all about the fulfillment of prophecy. You remember, Paul, from the time he was saved, was told he would have to go to the Gentiles, to the children of Israel, but he would obviously have to stand before kings. In the latter part of his life, he will fulfill this part of speaking to kings. He will speak to two different kings, one Jewish and one Gentile. If you remember, Paul said even in Ephesus, I have to go to Rome. If you remember when he was in Jerusalem, the Lord appeared to him and says, listen, you've testified here in Jerusalem, you must testify in Rome. Remember when he was on a boat, the ship was about ready to go down, God came to him and says, listen, you must stand before Caesar. What is Paul saying here? He is saying, my destiny, like Jesus going to Jerusalem, my destiny is to go to Rome and die. He is fulfilling all of those prophecies. He will soon end up here. It is only a matter of time. But before he goes, he'll speak real quickly to King Agrippa, and this is providential. Before he speaks to the king of the Gentiles, it's like the Lord providentially says, well, before you speak to that king, let me have you speak to my king, supposedly my king. He's the king of the Jewish people. Agrippa, the king, and his wife, Bernice, arrive in Caesarea. Now, just some real quick history on this guy. This is Herod Agrippa. He is the last king for the Jews. He is a Roman citizen. He is totally behind Rome. He was appointed by Nero. His sister is Bernice, but she is also his queen. What does that tell you? Yeah, he married his sister. What a despot. Apparently has never read the scriptures in his life, and he's the king of the Jewish people. He tried to stop the Jewish revolt that would happen in 70 A.D. He wasn't able to. But the reason why he's the last king for the Jews is because the temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. And from 70 A.D. till now, they've not had a temple and they've not had a king. You notice that Israel doesn't have a king, right? This was their last king right here. And so providentially, God said, my apostle here in the New Testament will speak to the Jews' last king. It's almost prophetically ordained that Paul would have to speak to the last earthly king of Israel. And again, the Romans allowed Jews to have king for some crazy reasons, because most of the people they conquered, they did not allow them to have a king. But Herod was the first, and then here is Herod Agrippa II. He will be the last of the kings. Here's the way the story goes. King Agrippa has visited the governor. That's what you do when a governor comes to town. If you're the king of the Jews, you're gonna visit. And so Festus says this. They've been there a couple of days, and so he says, listen, Agrippa, I'm gonna talk to you about a case that I have, a guy by the name of Paul. And I'd like you to give me some input on this. Remember, this is the last king of, the Jewish people. So I actually have a little video. This is an actual video that was shot there by the way. But this is a little reenactment of what this would have looked like where this governor encounters this particular king of the Jews and talks about Paul. He said, there is a man here whom Felix left as prisoner. When I went to Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against him and asked that he be condemned. I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand over any man before he has faced his accusers and has had an opportunity to defend himself against their charges. When they came here with me, I did not delay the case, but convened the court the next day and ordered the man to be brought in. When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion, and about a dead man named Jesus, whom Paul claimed was alive. I was at a loss how to investigate such matters, so I asked if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges. When Paul made his appeal to be held over for the emperor's decision, I ordered him held until I could send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I would like to hear this man myself. He replied, tomorrow you will hear him. Great. King Agrippa, who speaks on the behalf of the Jewish people, the Jewish king. is now going to talk with the Apostle Paul. Providentially, prophetically, this passage of scripture that Paul must speak to kings is going to be fulfilled. He had to speak to kings, be plural, before he died. There's great pomp, there's great attention the auditorium is filled, there's a military procession. This is the next day in which the king and his court and the governor and his, this is a big, elaborate affair. Imagine, by the way, it's not a trial, it's just an investigation. Imagine being called down to the capital of Harrisburg and there you're in front of this big, huge area in which all these men of power are all gathered together and you're standing right there in the middle and you have to give a testimony. Paul is preparing. The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room of the high-ranking officers and the leading men of the city. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Festus said, King Agrippa, and all who are present with us. You see this man? The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him in Jerusalem and here in Caesarea, shouting that he ought not to live any longer. I found he had done nothing deserving of death. But because he made his appeal to the emperor, I decided to send him to Rome. But I have nothing definite to write to his majesty about him. Therefore, I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that as a result of this investigation, I may have something to write, for I think it is unreasonable to send on a prisoner without specifying the charges against him. Then Agrippa said to Paul, You have permission to speak for yourself. We've got to get into this area. But where I want to close, Sam, I wanted to get you to come back to the here, the now, the close of this. But what I want to talk about just real quickly in closing is you all know there's two parallel tracks going on through human history. There's the human track and then there's the divine track. God is working out his plans in human history and the world is working on its plans. The human plan here is simply to have this hearing so that Festus could have something to write to the emperor and he thought he'd get some insight from King Agrippa on where Paul has violated the law or whatever. That's the human track. What is the divine track? What is going on here? This is a fulfillment to Jesus' prophecies. He said this, when you are dragged before governors and kings, who is Paul being dragged before? Governors and kings. Is it for his sake? Yes, it is for the sake of the gospel. To bear witness before them? Yes, that's what Paul's doing. He's going to bear witness before the governor and before the king. Here's what the Lord says at that time when this happens. He says, when you're delivered over, do not be anxious on what you are to say. What does he say here? For what you are to say will be given to you at that hour. I set it up. Governors, kings. When you're there, Paul, listen to me. I will tell you exactly what to say to them. Now here's my question to you. Why does God want governors and kings to hear the gospel? What's the point? Most of them aren't even interested as we find out. Why does God want governors and kings and people in authority to hear the gospel? Does anyone know the answer to this question? Okay, they want them to rule righteously. That's exactly right. Do most of them rule righteously? Let's put it this way. Has any of them ever ruled righteously? No. But there is a purpose for kings to hear the gospel and there is a purpose for nations. We are told to make disciples of what? All people groups? It actually literally says to make disciples of what? Nations. The call is to make, as a matter of fact, Jesus is not going to return, we're told, until the gospel of the kingdom is proclaimed throughout the whole world, right? And testimony is made to what? All nations. Every nation has to hear the gospel. Every king, every authority has to hear the gospel. And what do you think God's purpose is in this? Receive it or reject it. But the entire world is going to hear about my kingdom. The entire world is going to get an opportunity to receive my kingdom or to reject my kingdom. Remember Daniel, he prophesied. It says, the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to who? To the people of the saints of the Most High. Jesus said, the meek shall inherit the earth. There's a day coming where every nation will be under the church. It sounds radical. But that's biblical. Listen. It says his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall be given to him. These two kingdoms are on a collision course. The kingdom of man and the kingdom of God. But one day, what kingdom is left standing? God's kingdom. As a matter of fact, let me ask you this question. Where is the Roman Empire? Let me ask you another question. Where is the church? 2,000 years and still growing. Rome is in ashes. The church is expanding and growing even more powerful. As a matter of fact, the church took down the Roman Empire in just three short centuries. Go and make disciples of all nations. How much of this has been accomplished? It's interesting, right? Does anybody know? There are 232 nations and territories in the world. Most all of them heard the gospel. How many of them have submitted and bowed their knee and said, we are under the authority of God's kingdom? There's actually an answer to this question. There are 157 Christian minority, in other words, Christianity has spread to the world. It is everywhere. But there are only 15 official nations that are under the banner of Christianity. You know who they are? Costa Rica, one of them. So if you go to Costa Rica, enjoy Costa Rica. It's under the government of heaven. Denmark, no, not really. But yes, they are. They declare that. Greece. So do you see, just by declaring it doesn't make you that. What's the classic case in point of this? Do you all know that the king that sits on the throne of the UK King, he claims his entire kingdom is under God. As a matter of fact, he takes an oath, the king takes an oath to swear by the laws of God and the true profession of the gospel. He is to defend the Christian gospel. Does he? No. But I got good news for you. According to the scriptures, we are to speak truth eternal truth and eternal power to man's temporal power and temporal truth. Thanks for listening to this message from River Mountain Church. If you'd like some more information, visit our website, rivermountainchurch.org.