In defense of the gospel, Acts 22

Last time we looked at how Paul was bound for the sake of the gospel.  You will remember that he considered himself a prisoner of the Lord, first and foremost.  The chains of the Romans, being arrested by the Jews, being held in prison by the Romans, none of that superseded the fact that Paul first and foremost had given himself up to be bound by God.  He was the prisoner of the Lord.  He had renounced all that had been of benefit to him in the world, to become a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.  So his physical bonds did not really faze him.  If that was God’s plan, then Paul was just fine with physical bonds, if it produced spiritual gains. 

And so Paul was content because he had committed himself to the Lord’s will.  He trusted the Lord’s will and plan for his life.  And in that respect he is an excellent role model for us.  As I said last week, the whole Christian life can be summed up in the idea of trusting in God’s plan for our lives. All rebellion, all sin is really just an attempt on our part to try to do it ourselves, to make our own decisions, to think that we can handle life on our own and do it on our own terms. Romans 14:23 says, “whatever is not from faith is sin.”  So the Christian life is coming to the point of surrendering to God’s plan and trusting that His plan is good, and we can rest in His wisdom and His purpose.  So Paul did not worry about imprisonment because he believed that it was in God’s plan.

Now as we noted in the last chapter, Paul has been arrested by the Romans, but that arrest actually served to deliver him from being beaten to death by the Jews.  But then Paul asked the commander in the Greek language if he could address the crowd, and he was surprised to find that Paul spoke Greek, because he had thought that he was an Egyptian revolutionary.  So he gives Paul permission to speak, and Paul addresses this riotous mob of Jews from the steps of the garrison.

Paul’s address here is a recounting of the events of his conversion and commission by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.  And we looked at that conversion experience in detail in chapter 9.  So I don’t think it’s necessary to go back over all of that again.  But what I would like to point out this morning is the fact that when most people would be relieved to be delivered from the mob, even if it meant being arrested, and would have been rushing to get out of there away from the murderous intent of the crowd, Paul wants to stop and preach to them.

Paul saw this as an opportunity.  As I said last week, God often uses adversity as a ministry opportunity.  We need to recognize that in difficult times, God has a purpose for us, and often that is so that we can be a testimony to others who are watching us in that adversity to see what we will do.  Everyone goes through adversity in this life sooner or later.  But our true character is revealed in tribulations.  How we deal with adversity as Christians is often our greatest testimony.  Our greatest witness to the world is not how many blessings we can claim as Christians, but how we live out our faith in the midst of adversity.

So Paul saw this persecution as an opportunity to preach the gospel.  Now that is really amazing when you think about it.  He was close to death, close to being beaten to death by this mob and had narrowly escaped by the hands of the Roman soldiers.  And now he asks the commander to stop retreating so he can turn back and address the Jews.  He reminds me of the heroic first responders during 9-11 that were running for the burning buildings when everyone else was running from them.

And why does Paul do this?  Does he have some sort of death wish?  No, but he has a burning desire in his heart for the salvation of his people, the Israelites.  He recognizes that he is not the one who is in danger here.  These Jews are the ones on the verge of catastrophe. In just a few more years, in 70AD the Jews in Jerusalem will be massacred.  Their temple will be destroyed by fire.  Paul knows that they are the ones who have form of religion and yet are unsaved.  They are condemned to die without Christ and face eternal judgment and the wrath of God.  And Paul’s love for his people far outweighs his concern for himself.  He is willing to give up his life for his friends, his countrymen. 

Please understand this principle; Christian love is not as the world’s concept of love.  Christian love is sacrificial love.  And I think we miss that far too often.  I think far too often our so called love is only in effect as long as it doesn’t interfere with our success, as long as it doesn’t cause our discomfort, as long as it doesn’t crack our thin veneer of respectability.  And so we stop short of truly loving others as Christ loved the church, because we are not willing to lay down our lives for the sake of others.   Well, you don’t see that sort of callousness illustrated by Paul.  You see him willing to sacrifice his life if necessary for the salvation of people who hated him and who were trying to kill him.

Now this is really the whole point of my message; to use Paul’s example for our own admonition to reach the lost, to reach family members, friends, colleagues, countrymen who are dying without Christ and are one day going to face the wrath of God without hope.

I’m afraid that we have lost sight of that fact, ladies and gentlemen.  We have lost sight of the fact that our family members and friends who are lost without Christ, will one day wake up in hell, in a fire which cannot be quenched.  Jesus portrayed what that looked like in his story of Lazarus and the rich man. Luke 16:22-24 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.”

Folks, I am afraid that the church doesn’t talk about hell any more.  And consequently the world doesn’t really believe that hell is a real place.  Furthermore, even most Christians do not really think about it as a real place, where our unsaved loved ones and friends will one day find themselves in eternal agony, in eternal flames.  It seems too bizarre to be real.  And unfortunately even our theology doesn’t endorse the possibility in view of what we think must constitute a loving God.  The former mega church pastor Rob Bell recently wrote a book called, “Love Wins”, in which he says that hell does not exist, because the concept of hell cannot be reconciled to his view of a loving God.  And I’m afraid that a large part of the contemporary church agrees with him.

But Paul knew that hell is a reality for the lost.  And he knew that even the ultra religious Jews who worshipped the One True God were going to find themselves separated from God by that awful chasm between Hades and Paradise unless someone told them about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So Paul is running for the burning buildings, so to speak, in hopes that he might save some of them, even if it meant possibly losing his own life.

We need to remember the purpose of the gospel.  The purpose is not so that we can belong to a group of like minded people who share our interests, who are part of our social class, who have houses like ours in the better neighborhoods, and who share our values. But the purpose of the gospel is stated by Jesus in Luke 19:10 "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."  Not to save good people, even righteous people, or people of good social standing.  But Jesus came to seek out and save those who are lost, the drug addicts, the prostitutes, the drunkards, the sexually perverted, the God-haters, those without hope, those without prospects, without a future, those that are down and out.  And those are the ones we are told to go out into the highways and byways and compel to come in.

And yet I am afraid that often the contemporary church is at odds with Christ’s purpose.  I am afraid that we have lost sight of what it is that we are to be about.  And so we work at being successful in our jobs, we come to church for an hour or so once a week if we’re lucky, and we think that the purpose of the gospel is to benefit us, to bless us, to make our lives better, to enrich our lives and secure a better future for ourselves.  Meanwhile the world around us is dying and going to hell.  Everyday in Sussex County it seems someone is dying of a heroin overdose.  But it isn’t just drugs that are killing people.  Everyone is dying or in the process of dying, some are just on a faster track than others.  And so many do not know the Lord as their Savior.  But God has chosen you to proclaim the good news of His salvation.  God has put you in the path of hundreds of people every day who are dying without the Lord.  God has put you there to be a witness, a bold proclaimer of the good news, to run for the burning buildings and save those that are trapped there. Jude 1:22 says, “And have mercy on some, who are doubting;  save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.”

God has commissioned us to be the good Samaritans that will stop what you are doing, get down from our high horse and help the lost, the unfortunate, spending whatever time and money and resources necessary to bring them to the ultimate healing of salvation.

Now I want to look briefly at the way Paul goes about this and try to draw a couple of points out that we can apply to ourselves as we reach out to the lost.  I’m not going to exegete his testimony, per se.  As I said we have looked at his conversion experience in detail before and I think his testimony speaks for itself.  But I mainly want to focus on his introduction.  Because I think there are some principles there for us which could be helpful when we reach out to our families and friends with the gospel.

First of all, notice that when Paul addresses them, he spoke their language.  He had just finished speaking Greek with the Roman Commander, but when he turns to speak to the gathered Israelites, he spoke Hebrew.  And when he does, they grow quiet.  In verse 40 of the last chapter, it says there was a great hush on the crowd when he raised his hand to speak to them.  I think they were amazed by his courage, to turn and face his accusers, to face the mob that tried to tear him to pieces. 

I don’t know how many of you saw Netanyahu speak to the United Nations the other day.  But he accused all those nations of being silent about the atrocities perpetrated upon Israel by Iran and the fact that Iran had publicly declared it’s intention of wiping Israel from the face of the earth.  And so he stood there and stared at them in silence for about one full minute.  It was amazing.  It was uncomfortable.  And perhaps that is what it was like when Paul raised his hand and prepared to speak.  A great hush came over what had been a riotous mob.

However, I should point out the difference between animosity towards the Jewish nation and animosity towards Christianity.  In Israel’s case, their enemies are to be defended against, even to the point of war if necessary.  But in the church’s case, the enemies of the gospel are not our enemy, but our mission field.  They are who we seek and save.  And so we do not vilify the enemies of the gospel and justify or recommend harm coming to them, but if necessary we offer our own lives as a sacrifice for the sake of winning those that are lost.  That is what Jesus did, and that is what we do as His disciples.  And that is what we see Paul doing.  He is risking his life for the sake of possibly saving some Israelites.  That’s what he was saying in Romans 9:3 “For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”  That should be our attitude as well, our concern for their salvation should outweigh our sense of self preservation.  It should outweigh our desire to live a comfortable, self centered life.  Our concern for the salvation of the lost should be paramount in our lives and our primary focus.

So back to our point, Paul speaks their language.  I think that a modern day application of that is our need to speak to people in a language that they can understand, whereby we can communicate effectively the gospel of Christ.  That means we may need to rethink theological terms that perhaps aren’t part of the daily language of the people.  I’m not talking about in church necessarily. For the most part, the church is for saints, for the edification of believers.  And in the church we need to use terminology that clearly delineates certain doctrines and theology.  But when we reach out to the lost, we should make sure that we are speaking their language.  Now that doesn’t mean coarse language.  We shouldn’t let any coarse or profane words proceed out of our mouths.  But we do need to talk to people in a language that they can understand.  That’s why tongues are unprofitable for the church or for those that are unsaved.  That’s why we don’t deliver homilies in Latin.  But even more to the point, when we are witnessing, we need to make sure we are speaking in a way that people can understand what we are talking about.  That’s pretty basic, but in a day when a lot of people have been brought up with no theology at all, we have to be careful not to talk above their heads.  We just can’t refer them to John 3:16 without telling them what John 3:16 says.  I’m amazed when I see these bumper stickers or billboards that just put scripture addresses on them as if the unsaved know what it says there.

Notice next, he addresses them as men, brethren and fathers.  In other words, Paul sought to show his kinship with the crowd, even with the enemies of the gospel.  Were it not for the grace of God, we would all be enemies of the gospel. Col 1:21-22  “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.” 

The point to be made by this is not to proclaim the gospel in a condescending way, as if we are righteous and way up here, and unsaved people are despicable and way down there.  But to recognize the kinship we have to one another.  All men and women are of the same family of Adam.  Every race, every color and every creed shares with us a common ancestry.  None of us received mercy and grace because we somehow were better or more deserving than others. 

Paul didn’t see this angry, murderous crowd as his enemy, but as brothers and fathers, sharing a common ancestry. He saw them as bearing the likeness of God.  And so he loved them enough to reach out to them with the gospel, even if it meant risking his life.  Paul is looking for areas of commonality in this situation.  And he is not afraid to take advantage of it and use it to gain their attention. 

You know, I realize that speaking to family members about salvation can be very hard.  There can be years of misunderstandings, hard feelings, wounded pride and so forth to overcome.  But I would urge you that are mature to humble yourself and do what is necessary to repair that breech in your relationships with your family members so that you can witness to them about the gospel in hope that they might be saved.  I would encourage you to pray for them without ceasing in anticipation of the next time you will see them, and ask God to give you the opportunity to witness to them.  I should not have to tell you that it is a matter of eternity - of eternal life or eternal death in hell.   Your family should be your first priority in presenting the gospel.

Thirdly, Paul appealed to their common nationality.  He appealed to their common heritage as Jews, as a native of Jerusalem, of graduating from what we might consider the local university under the most well known teacher, Gamaliel.  I’m afraid that our heritage in this country is no longer popular as it once was.  There are a lot of history revisionists that want to play up our nation’s shortcomings and expound on all the supposed atrocities committed in our country.  Be that as it may, I am not advocating getting into politics here or expounding so called American values.  None of that is the gospel.  Hell doesn’t care if you are Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, or American for that matter.  Politics are not helpful in winning the lost. 

But what we can take from this is finding areas that we have in common with the lost and using that to our advantage to gain an opportunity to present the gospel.  Maybe it’s the fact that you are both from Texas and that gives you an appreciative audience.  Maybe it’s just the opportunity afforded by being your neighbor in your development. Maybe it’s your common interest in golf, or surfing or motorcycles.  But whatever opportunity you can find to gain an audience, use it to maybe see their defenses drop a little, and then from there introduce them to the gospel. 

We may not find much results today by walking up to a stranger on the sidewalk and trying to take them through the Roman’s road in the first 3 minutes of conversation.  But if we take our salvation seriously, if we take the prophecies of scripture seriously, then we will start thinking strategically about how we can open up a conversation with people we know about the gospel.  And one way to do that is use a common interest to be able to open communication with them.

Finally, Paul appeals to a common theology.  He appeals to the God of their fathers, the law of Gamaliel, which was the respected law of the land.  And he says that he was zealous for God even as they were.  If you can believe statistics out there, then a majority of people in America believe in God, or so they say.  The difficulty is what kind of God they believe in.  Paul said in Rom. 10:2 “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.”  And I’m afraid that is still true today, especially in the evangelical movement. But nevertheless, it is a point of agreement by which to start a conversation about eternity.  Most people don’t like to talk about God.  But as I pointed out last Wednesday evening, there will be some times in life when people will start talking about God, when they are more receptive to talk about matters concerning eternity. 

I think that is one of the things that happens in a national crisis.  It’s interesting that two weeks ago I said that it was unlikely that in your lifetime someone would ever point a gun at you and tell you to deny Christ or die.  I was suggesting that we often deny Christ for much less reason than that, sometimes simply because it may be uncomfortable to do so, or because of the fear of social rejection.  But just two Friday’s ago in Oregon, someone did stick a gun at people’s heads and ask them to declare if they were a Christian or not, and if they were he shot  and killed them.  So unfortunately, though I would still say that it is unlikely that you or I will have to face that question, I am afraid that it is happening with greater frequency as our society becomes ever more anti-Christ.  However, this national crisis presents an opportunity to discuss the gospel with unsaved people that we know.

Another opportunity that might present itself is the death of a friend or loved one or a serious illness.  Those are often times when people are more receptive to talk about God.  A good thing that happens as a result of such a crisis is that we often have an opportunity to talk to people about our faith in Christ, and they get a chance to see our faith lived out when we have a crisis of our own to deal with.

Paul even went so far as to identify with the crowd by saying that he also used to persecute the church, or the Way, as he refers to it.  And that simply goes back to the idea that all of us were at enmity with God before we became converted.  We all were held captive under Satan’s dominion, to do his will, to work against the gospel.  I think of some of the things I did before I got right with God.  People that I caused to go astray, people I hurt.  Things I did to promote sin and wickedness.  And I think if you were honest you would have to admit things you did as well that caused immense damage to the cause of Christ. 

I visit a man in prison every other week, and this guy is facing a life sentence in prison, but he is now a Christian.  So I try to be a light in his life in a very dark place where he has very little hope.  And he is doing pretty good.  He is growing in the Lord.  But one thing he has to live with is all the lives he helped ruin when he was a drug dealer for years in Baltimore. He knows that he caused ruin in hundreds of lives, hundreds of families.  And so he feels remorse over that.  He now knows he is forgiven, but it should serve as an impetus for him to serve Christ now with the same zeal that  he once served Satan. 

Yes, we thank God for His grace by which He saved us and forgave us.  But never forget that our sin didn’t just get blown away like some dandelion fluff in the wind.  But our horrible sins were put on Jesus’ scarred and shredded back, and he went to the cross and died a horribly painful death to pay for our sins.  And if we really are grateful for His sacrifice that we might receive eternal life, then surely we will sacrifice our temporal lives to live for Him and His glory. 

Well, let’s try to wrap this up.  The next thing Paul does is he tells the story of his conversion.  Listen, you may not know all the high doctrines of the church, you may not be a theologian, but if you are truly saved, then you have a story to tell.  You can tell how Jesus saved you and what He saved you from, and what He saved you for.   Paul was a master theologian.  He explained every doctrine of the church in His writings to the churches.  But when he speaks to this crowd, he doesn’t speak about the doctrine of predestination, or the doctrine of limited atonement.  No, he simply tells the story of how he was saved on the road to Damascus.  How God found him, and called him, and spoke to him.  And then he tells about his response to that call.  How he called upon the name of Christ for the remission of his sins, how he was baptized, and how God called him to be a witness to the Gentiles.

I would encourage you folks to do some homework this afternoon or tonight.  I would encourage you to write down your testimony, how you were saved.  When you were saved.  How you know you are saved.  I can’t help but wonder if someone might be afraid to do that because they don’t really know if they are truly saved. Perhaps you can’t really say how you were saved.  I would urge you to think carefully about your salvation.  As Paul said in 2Cor. 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?”

Hopefully, you know well how you were saved.  You will never forget when you called upon the Lord and trusted in Him for forgiveness of sins.  And you have the testimony of the Holy Spirit living in you that convicts you and teaches you and helps you as you continue to follow after Christ.  And if that is your testimony, then I would encourage you to share it with as many people as you can.  Share your common ancestry, share your commonality as a sinner, talk to your friend or loved one in a way that they can understand, and tell them how you came to know the Lord and how He changed your life. 

I’ve said it at least a dozen times lately, there is no greater testimony than the testimony of a transformed life.  The life you live now should be ample evidence of the truth of the gospel and the power of the gospel.  And if you cannot say that about your life, then you really need to get down on your knees and get right with God, so that your walk matches your talk.  That is the testimony that God desires.

Well, one final caution.  I wish I could tell you that when Paul did all these things the result was that thousands of Jews became saved that afternoon.  But the sad fact is that they ended up shouting “away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!”  Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world will reject the message of the gospel. The Jews revolted when Paul said that the Gentiles were now going to be the recipients of God’s grace.  They wanted to believe that they only were the chosen people of God.  They alone deserved God’s favor and blessing. 

The point of irritation which Paul stirred up was the idea that God would even consider going to the Gentiles and bring them into the same blessings the Jews had enjoyed. Their rejection of that idea was visceral. But what a twisting and distortion of God’s purposes.  The fact is that the nation Israel had been called of God to be the witness by which the nations of the world would be reached. But instead of obeying that call they had selfishly harbored God’s grace all to themselves and condemned the rest of the world as undeserving sinners by neglect. But the fact is that Christ came to save sinners.  And so we need to reach out to sinners.  The church is not a country club for respectable, religious people, but a mission of mercy to the lost and hopeless and helpless.

To a great degree we are guilty of  the same neglect as those Jews. We act as if God is not interested in the world, that he wants only us, that we are the favored people of God. We have gathered our robes of respectability about ourselves and withdrawn into our Christian country clubs and in effect are saying, "Let the world go to hell! We are the object of God's favor and blessing." And we have neglected and even resisted the chance to reach out to the lost, hopeless humanity around us. 

In closing, please understand an important principle.  God uses human instruments in divine intervention.  He has always used human instruments to perform His will.  And God has chosen us, as testaments of His grace, to be the human instruments by which the lost can know the truth of the gospel and be saved.  I pray that you will receive this commission from the Lord, and act in defense of the gospel even as Paul did, regardless of the cost to personal pride or even safety.  Let’s win the lost for the sake of our Lord. Let’s start with our families, and then our neighbors and coworkers, and then our communities.  Let’s run for the burning buildings, that we might by some means, save some, snatching them like brands from the burning.