Welcome back to
Books of the Book.
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Just before the break we were
looking here at Paul before the
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Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 23 and
Mark, we were talking about this
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response of Paul when he had
made a very plain statement to
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the high priest calling him you
whitewashed wall or a hypocrite
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because he was charging
Paul according to law but he was
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actually going to contrary to
Jewish law by having him struck
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without a trial. Then he says,
once he finds out he's the high
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priest, well you shall not speak
evil of a ruler of your people.
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I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done
that. But you know as I look at
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this, we need to also recognize
that this high priest was about
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seven or eight years later
we understand assassinated.
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So what the Apostle Paul
said here in one sense could be
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perceived to be a prophetic
utterance of sorts because he
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was very clear, God will strike
you and exactly seven or eight
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years later he did find himself
in a death that he didn't plan.
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That's right. Another thing that
strikes me about that is, and I
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think back for whatever reason
to the book of Daniel where the
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Lord told Daniel in a dream in
Daniel 2 that it's God who sets
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up kings and takes down kings.
God has control over things that
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go on in this world. Everybody
has their day of opportunity
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and God is long suffering and
we've seen that in the history
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of Israel and other places. The
Lord says vengeance is mine, I
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will repay. I don't think Paul
is feigning his respect here.
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He's not saying oh wink, wink,
if I would have known you were
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the high priest I wouldn't have
said it and I think some people
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get that from Paul. He was so
bold and so they say well yeah
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well Paul really... They read
into him some of this heroism
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that we have. I think Paul
really meant he really didn't
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realize it was the high priest.
The reason I say that is you
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know the same apostle...
it actually makes me think of
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Romans chapter 13 and
the Apostle Paul tells us in
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Romans 13 and I'm looking at
verse 1: He says, And let every
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soul be subject to the governing
authorities for there is no
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authority except from God and
the authorities that exist are
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appointed by God. Therefore
whoever resists the authority
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resists the ordinance of God
and those who resist will bring
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judgment on themselves, for
rulers are not a terror to good
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works but to evil. Do you want
to be unafraid of the authority?
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Do what is good and you
will have praise from the same.
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Now it's interesting. In other
words Paul's saying God sets up
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these authorities for our
protection and he says if you
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don't want trouble from the
authorities do what's right.
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Well that didn't always work
even for Paul but it doesn't
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deter him from being respectful
to authority. He goes on to talk
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about how the authority is God's
minister for our good, but if
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you do evil, be afraid. He says
he's God's minister and avenger
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to execute wrath on him
who practices evil. He says he
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doesn't bear the sword in vain.
He talks about rendering taxes
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to whom taxes are due, rendering
honor to whom honor is due and
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customs to whom customs are due
and this kind of thing. So we
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know that when he speaks this
phrase to the high priest, I
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didn't realize it, he meant
it and it should speak something
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to us about the need for being
respectful of authority whether
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it be in the church or whether
it be in community. Vengeance
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is mine, I will repay. God took
care of matters with that high
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priest and he also will help
Paul through this situation as
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we're going to find out. But the
Lord is in charge of all things.
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Now in verse 7 it says when he
had said this, I'm sorry verse
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6. It says that when Paul
perceived that one part were
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Sadducees and the other part
Pharisees, he cried out in the
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council, Men and brethren,
I am a Pharisee, the son of a
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Pharisee; concerning the hope
and resurrection of the dead I
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am being judged. And when he
had said this a dissension arose
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between the
Pharisees and the Sadducees and
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the assembly was divided.
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Of course, the Sadducees
say there is no resurrection and
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it's interesting here that Paul
took his knowledge first of all
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of the fact that these
guys weren't here for truth and
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justice. They were here
to further their own means.
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So he picks an issue that
is an issue that is a personal
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contention between them. Knowing
that because they're only there
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for contention's sake it
may take the heat off of him and
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certainly what we find happening
is it does. They get into a
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fight with each other and it
says in verse 10, Now when there
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arose a great dissension,
the commander fearing lest Paul
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might be pulled in pieces by
them, not because they are going
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at Paul necessarily, well the
Sadducees were but the Pharisees
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defend him. They say well
we don't find a fault in him
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because now he's on our side
in this issue. But this tumult
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arises and they command the
soldiers to go down and take him
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by force from among them and
bring him back to the barracks
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again for his safety. So
it's interesting that this is
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happening among this religious
group. You're almost thinking
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you're in a mob somewhere of
totally irreligious people. But
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these are the
leaders of the Jewish church.
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When you just read in Romans
that the Apostle Paul said that
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the authorities are there
to be our protection. They were
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certainly the protection for the
Apostle Paul here protecting him
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from his own people. You'll
notice in verse 11 something
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happens here that I think is
very important. Because you can
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imagine the Apostle Paul, yeah
he had high hopes for when he
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went to Jerusalem and the
leading brethren they were
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trying to do what was right.
We believe that James and the
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counsel given there was not
the best and it caused Paul to
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perhaps be bound a little bit
earlier than he would have been
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so that didn't work out as
planned and now we see that
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he's not getting very much
traction here either and the
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Apostle Paul has got to be
starting to become discouraged.
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He's been so excited. He's got
such a burden. We read in the
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epistles about his burden
for his countrymen and it's just
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not working out. But in verse
11 it says, But the following
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night the Lord stood by him and
said, Be of good cheer Paul, for
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as you have testified for me in
Jerusalem so you must also bear
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witness at Rome. You know,
there are certain passages that
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we have read where it talks
about these warnings, the Spirit
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warning different believers
in different cities about what's
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going to happen to him in
Jerusalem. I can only imagine
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he was starting to think, I
wonder if I should not have come
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if that wasn't the right thing
to do? Here we find that the
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Lord affirms what he did. He
says, As you have testified for
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me. He doesn't chastise him for
coming in disobedience to him,
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but this makes it clear that it
was perfectly allowable in the
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will of God to come to
Jerusalem and he affirms him for
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testifying for him.
That's right. And as much as he
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has been beaten and his life has
been threatened, he will make it
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to Rome. So I'm going to
make it out of this place alive.
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He's going to Rome and he
knows that now. So this is an
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opportunity for encouragement
and the Apostle Paul is
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encouraged but we find that the
hatred of his opposition has not
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gone away. In verse 12 it says,
And when it was day, some of the
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Jews banded together and bound
themselves under an oath saying
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that they would neither eat nor
drink till they had killed Paul.
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Now there were more than 40
who had formed this conspiracy.
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That's a lot of people. If you
think about it, he's really in
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danger now. They took a vow.
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They took a vow, yeah, exactly.
I'm going to talk about that in
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a minute. It says, They came to
the chief priests and elders and
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said, We have bound ourselves
under a great oath that we will
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eat nothing until we have
killed Paul. Now you, therefore,
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together with the council
suggest to the commander that
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he be brought down to you
tomorrow as though you were
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going to make further inquiries
concerning him. So use some
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deception here. But we are ready
to kill him before he comes near
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So think about this for a moment
Is this really happening. These
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40 Jews, church members,
religious. I mean they're
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obviously religious because
they are taking an oath, an oath
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before God, right? Let the
divine punishment come upon me
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if I do not kill Paul. Okay,
so they're taking an oath before
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God and then they're encouraging
the leaders to be deceptive and
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lie so that they can kill the
Apostle Paul and commit murder.
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I mean, the blindness that is
happening here in this passage
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is absolutely amazing and you
see now that it really is the
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officers of Rome now who are the
ones who are protecting Paul.
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Paul is having to hide behind
his own imprisonment to keep
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from being hurt
here by these Jews.
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You know there's a lesson that
could be learned that we won't
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look at as much right now,
but here... There's a lot of
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discussion today in Christianity
about church and state and the
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state is generally the enemy.
But here we don't see the state
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that is doing the persecuting.
We see the church doing the
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persecuting. The state
is defending, which is very
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interesting.
Now we pick up in...
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You know, Mark, before you do
that, it just made me think when
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I was looking back at this. This
oath, you know, I'm not going to
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eat or drink until I kill Paul.
Well we keep reading and we find
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out that Paul spent a couple
years in prison. In fact, the
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very last couple verses of the
book tell us he was two years in
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one place. Obviously they broke
their oath or there were 40 dead
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men. This is quite an amazing
thing. As we're looking at this,
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we just need to remember that
God would not have us believe
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that the end justifies the means
and that's what we really see
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happening here. Sometimes
we think well if I'm not fully
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honest it's okay if it's in
order to make things work out
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for this cause that I believe
is right. There is a variety of
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things that we could do.
Slandering someone's character
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in order to promote something
that we think is right; tearing
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them down. In reality what
you are seeing here amongst the
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church is politics. They're
being political. They are
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putting their goals above their
integrity in how they go about
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doing things. The Apostle Paul,
he didn't know how things were
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going to work out. He trusted
that to God but he made sure
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that he always maintained his
integrity. That wasn't the case
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for his opposition.
Absolutely Jim. And as we go on
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here in verse 16 we find an
interesting intervention here.
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It says, So when Paul's sister's
son heard of their ambush, he
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went and entered the barracks
and told Paul and Paul called
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one of the centurions to him and
said, Take this young man to the
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commander for he has something
to tell him. And of course then
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the young man was taken before
Claudius Lysius and he hears
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about this plot and prepares to
thwart it. Now it's interesting
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in mentions Paul's sister's
son here and we don't hear a lot
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about Paul's family members and
there's a good likelihood that
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they had not converted to
Christianity but evidently the
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young man had in his heart some
affection for his uncle and he
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heard about this plot and I
believe the Lord was in that.
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The Lord used that and Claudius
Lysius to bring protection to
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Paul and it says that Claudius,
in verse 23, called for two
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centurions saying, Prepare 200
soldiers, 70 horsemen, 200 spear
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men and go to Caesarea the third
hour of the night and take Paul
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and they brought protection. So
once again we see that the Lord
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is able to thwart the plan
of Paul's enemies and bring
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deliverance. And it's important
for us to know that the same
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God seeks to preserve us
and bring our deliverance.
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Well that's all the time
we have for Books of the Book.
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See you next time.
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