Your Testimony of the Gospel Matters

I'm going to get us to turn this morning to Acts 23 as we come to our message this morning. Well, if you look at your Bible, you will notice that Acts 23 is very much towards the end of the book of Acts and we are quickly coming, making our way towards the final chapters of Acts. We'll be done in the next few weeks on that. And where we saw last week in Acts 20, Paul set his face towards a return to Jerusalem. This morning, we find that he is in Jerusalem. And things are set in motion that will dictate how the final chapters of Acts finish.

This morning, we read from Acts chapter 23, and we begin by looking at verse one. And looking intently at the council, Paul said to them, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day. And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law and yet contrary to the law, you order me to be struck?

Those who stood by said, would you revile God's high priest? And Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people. Now when Paul perceived that one part was Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial. And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the Pharisees acknowledged them all. Then a great clamour arose and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and contended sharply. We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?

And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks. The following night, the Lord stood by Paul and said, take courage, for as you have testified the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath, neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than 40 who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, we have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.

Now, therefore, you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you as though you were going to determine his case more exactly, and we are ready to kill him before he comes near. Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, take this young man to the tribune for he has something to tell him. So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you as he has something to say to you. The tribune took him by the hand and going aside asked him privately, what is it that you have to tell me?

And he said, the Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than 40 of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath, neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent. So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, tell no one that you have informed me of these things. So far, reading, this is God's word.

Like I began saying, this is in chapter 23, almost the culmination of what's been happening for the past three chapters, spanning across chapters 20 that we looked at last week up until this point. Last week, we saw the beginning of this process where we're told that Paul had this desire, this drive to go back to Jerusalem after years of being a missionary overseas. We are told that even then, he knew that imprisonment, suffering awaited him when he would return to Jerusalem. On his way there, he met with the elders from the Ephesian church, and he encouraged them one last time. And even then, these elders encouraged Paul not to go because they knew prophetically that imprisonment awaited him there.

But instead, he replied with the words, I consider my life worth nothing to me if only I may finish the race and complete the task that the Lord Jesus has given me. Later on, if you scan through these chapters, you find in chapter 21, Paul is warned again in a place called Caesarea, very close to Jerusalem now, not to go to the city. The prophecies indicate that Paul would be bound and imprisoned for his message. But again, he presses on towards Jerusalem, and he says to the Christians there, I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

Now think of this: after some twenty years as a missionary and a church planter, Paul has developed this growing sense of a need to return to Jerusalem. And that through his visit there, he would be able to ultimately go to Rome. Now, in chapter 22 and in chapter 23, he finally reaches Jerusalem. And the question is, how does he get to Rome from here? Well, in the context of what we've just read, Paul arrives in Jerusalem alongside the likes of Luke and those who are travelling with him.

They are warmly greeted by the Jerusalem church. James and the elders there meet with Paul and the others, and they are thrilled at the detailed report that they hear from these men about the amazing conversions of Gentiles happening all across the known world. It seems that James and the Christian leaders, however, are afraid of what Paul's presence in the city may also mean because they tell Paul to take some men who have, as Christians, dedicated themselves to go and be cleansed at the Jewish temple, to have taken an oath and to go and be ritually cleansed at the temple. And so they gave Paul the instructions, which eventually are very ominous instructions, to shave his head to indicate mourning and repentance and confession, and to go to the Jerusalem Temple. As Paul's time of worship in the temple comes to an end there, some, we are told, Asian Jews, meaning Jews from the region of Asia Minor, sees Paul and a man by the name of Trophimus, who was a Gentile Christian from Ephesus.

And these Asian Jews incorrectly assume that Paul has taken this Gentile into the temple, which is blasphemous according to their custom, immediately worthy of death. These Greek-speaking Jews who were in Jerusalem for the Passover called to their Hebrew brothers to come to their aid, and a riot ensues, where Paul is severely beaten by this mob of angry, zealous Jews. Had the commander or the tribune of the Roman troops in Jerusalem not arrived quickly, Paul would have been killed, we are told. But ironically, this commander hurries to the scene to save Paul's life, but because he thinks he's capturing someone he thought was an Egyptian revolutionary against the Roman Empire, who had led 4,000 assassins into the wilderness. So he's not protecting Paul for the sake of protecting Paul.

He's trying to measure out justice for the Roman Empire. When the commander arrives on the scene, the Jews have stopped beating Paul, pretending to be upstanding citizens. I wonder how they explained the blood. The commander himself is not able to get any consistent accusations regarding this Paul, so he takes him back to the barracks for questioning. Questioning in those days meant flogging and then asking some questions.

So Paul is flogged in the barracks. However, on his way to that flogging, Paul, being chained up, is carried up the steps to the barracks. He turns to the commander, and he speaks to him in Greek. He asks him permission to address the crowd. The commander is taken aback by the fact that this Jew speaks such great Greek, firstly, but secondly, also that Paul is not the Egyptian revolutionary that he thought he was.

Amazingly though, and completely outside of protocol, this commander allows Paul to address the crowd under protection from the guards. In Paul's address to the Jewish people, remember zealots who are there for the Passover, Paul's speech, however, doesn't convince, as he shares his personal testimony of him coming to Christ. It doesn't seem to convince the crowds that they are mistaken in what they've done to Paul. Instead, Paul's words sends the crowd into an even greater frenzy. They throw dust in the air, they take off their cloak and throw it on the ground in protest, yelling for his blood.

The tribune, the commander, proceeds to take Paul into the barracks, where he examines Paul by flogging. But instead, he learns that Paul is not only a Jew, but that he is a natural-born citizen. So he's about to strike him, but he doesn't. This forces him to release Paul, to arrange for a proper trial the next day before the Jewish Sanhedrin, where we begin our reading this morning. Paul stands before the Sanhedrin, the council of the religious Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

But his trial before them is another disaster, at least from a Jewish and a Roman point of view. Paul knew that he was to be tried by a group of men who differed strongly in several areas, one of which is on the resurrection of the dead. Paul identifies himself as being a Pharisee and a son of Pharisees. And he says, therefore, I believe in the resurrection of the dead. The Sanhedrin, however, is now irreversibly divided because the two major parties, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, hold very opposing views on these things.

We see Paul cleverly avoiding this whole kangaroo court by causing division in the ranks. The whole trial is therefore thrown out because it is unlawful, it is so chaotic that it can't possibly go ahead. The tribune has to intervene again. He puts Paul into a kind of protective custody, lest, we are told, Paul be torn limb from limb by this crowd. We are told that that very night, the Lord Jesus appears to Paul and He assures Paul that he will get to Rome, that he will preach the gospel there.

Having failed to put Paul to death legally, however, now a conspiracy is formed by 40 Jews who wanted to assassinate Paul on his way to the formal hearing before the Roman courts. Paul hears of the plot through his nephew, and the tribune is informed of this scheme. The passage ends where the commander musters an armed escort and sends Paul to Caesarea, back where he's come from just now, to stand before the governor of the entire region, a man called Festus, where he will now be more formally and categorically charged with some of these offences. Well, that is a brief survey of what is covered in these chapters. But what I want us to think about and reflect this morning are on some truths, I believe, that emerge from these texts.

So allow me to highlight some of these as we reflect on these chapters. Firstly, again, as we've said many times in this series, what we see in this is the sovereignty of God to spread the gospel. We are told by the Lord Jesus, right at the beginning of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 1, verse 8, that the gospel would be proclaimed where? In Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and then where? To the ends of the earth.

And that's exactly what we see happening throughout the course of the book of Acts. Not simply through these faithful disciples who will now become apostles. The spreading of the gospel doesn't happen simply through the church of God filled with faithful believers. This decree of how the gospel will go forth is so impressive, so unstoppable, so sovereign that God is accomplishing the spread of the gospel through His enemies as well. And that is what we see in these chapters.

We see it this morning being accomplished by the mistakes of a Roman commander who, out of his mind, allows a prisoner to address the crowd as he's leading him away under protection. We see it being accomplished through the Jews who accuse and oppose Paul, who cause him to be captured, who cause him to be sent to Rome. We see it through the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The gospel has indeed been proclaimed everywhere, starting in Jerusalem, spreading to Judea, to Samaria, to the many regions in the Roman Empire by the likes of Paul and Barnabas. But now, as Paul comes to Jerusalem, the opposite way to where he's been travelling in Asia, further away from Rome where he was hoping to end up.

Things are set in motion that will see him preaching the gospel in the courtroom of Caesar in Rome. The harder God's enemies work to resist Him, to resist the message of Jesus Christ, the more the proclamation of the gospel spreads. It cannot be stopped. It's an amazing evidence for me that God, our God, is very real. The uncanny, often humorous way that God is able to let His will for people's salvation be achieved is staggering.

At times, it looks like the enemy has the upper hand. The enemies kill, they steal, they destroy. Paul himself is dragged off to prison, and yet he was the one who dragged others off to prison himself. He enabled others to murder Christians even as he has threatened to be killed himself now. He grabbed people by the scruff and led them away to Jerusalem and yet, on the road to Damascus, Jesus Christ grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and brought him trembling to his knees.

And now, through this Paul, the message that will later go to conquer the Roman Empire in a few decades, through this Paul, the gospel is spread. Whether he was imprisoned, flogged, or free, the gospel was being spread by this unlikely messenger of God, proving that God is unstoppable. Now all these things we've seen and we are seeing again have been displayed so clearly in the book of Acts, and it shows the nature of God's sovereignty, that He is in absolute control over all aspects of the universe. But the book of Acts wants to specifically highlight this: God is sovereign over the aspects of the redemption of the elect. He will not stop.

There is no one and nothing that can prevent Him from doing what He wants. And here in chapter 23, we are again faced with the sovereignty of God as Paul and the Roman Empire and the unbelieving and opposing Jews are all used to speak and proclaim the gospel, to hear the gospel, and to spread the gospel. So firstly, we see the sovereignty of God to spread the good news of Jesus. And then we come to the power of a testimony. We don't know from what we have here as evidence that anyone hearing Paul in Jerusalem that day became believers as a result of his defences, of his speeches.

But we do see a strong reaction to these testimonies, albeit a negative reaction. We actually do see that there is power in a testimony. And the power of a testimony lies in the fact that people relate to testimonies. When Paul speaks to the crowd, he tells them exactly what he was like before he met Jesus. He tells them again his life story, who he was as the persecutor of the church.

And it's exactly because Paul dares to tell them that he was as lost as they are right now, that they respond in this sort of violent way. It's because he tells them that they have not believed in Jesus Christ, that they have rejected the Messiah as he once did, that they become furious. Why? Because the testimony is too close to home.

The testimony is too real. Personal testimony has the power to evoke powerful responses, whether positive or negative, because it goes to the heart of the person. This is the point of the testimony. This is the point of being able to reflect and share your own story, your own testimony. When people know what you and I used to be or what we would have been apart from the intervening grace of God, when people come to hear and see what God has done to change us, in that moment, the power of the gospel becomes evident.

The gospel moves, therefore, from the realms of the conceptual and the abstract, that there once lived a man in history named Jesus, who died on a cross, a Roman torture device, to save us from the concept and the mysterious and mythical phenomenon of sin, to saying, I was this and then I met Jesus and now I'm this. The gospel moves from the realms of the conceptual to the reality of personal experience. And so the power of one's testimony is proportionate, humanly speaking, to the experience of those who you are speaking to. In other words, the power of a testimony lies with how much it relates to the listener's own story. And so you can hear of many people reflecting on their own salvation stories by saying that they heard a person share a testimony that felt so familiar to where they were.

Now, of course, understand me well that at the most essential level, every testimony centred on the gospel will be relevant to every person who has a regenerate heart, who understands their need of a saviour, and who will receive it. Everyone will say, yes, amen. That's me. So it doesn't matter whether you are a person who's grown up in the church all your life, or you hear someone coming to faith later on in their life. When we talk about the grace of God, we all understand it. So every Christian's testimony will be similar to every soon-to-be Christian's story. But there are many subtle layers in our testimony that relate to people at all sorts of levels.

Bad mistakes, unwise decisions, good decisions. Throughout our studies in the book of Acts, we've looked at various common themes. We've looked at Luke's understanding of the spiritual realm of the demonic. We've looked at the Holy Spirit. We've looked at public proclamation and preaching.

We've looked at elders, but there's another emphasis for Luke in his books, and that is personal testimony. Throughout the book, we find people giving their testimony about what God has done miraculously through them, through the ministry of the apostles, people being healed and saying, there was this man, Paul, and he did this and I just believe. We see the testimony of people like Barnabas and Philip who give testimony of what God was doing among the Gentiles. We see that here again. James and the elders thank God for what Paul was able to tell them about what God had done.

And again and again, we see it in Paul's ministry over the years when he comes back again to tell the story of his conversion on the road of Damascus, of his former self persecuting the church, and how he met the Christ who he came to know as the dying and the rising Messiah. Personal testimony is a recurring theme in Acts and we ask ourselves, why? Because the early church was built on it. It is important for the church and we will do well to make space for it as Christians ourselves, both privately, interpersonally and corporately. It is good for us to hear people share about what God has done in their lives.

People have asked me, for example, why we do our announcements in the middle of the church service. When everything else seems holy and good and we're singing and we're preaching, why announcements? Well, that's where testimony happens. That's where we talk about what is happening in our church. And from time to time, we actually give people opportunity to formally give a testimony. It is a part of the worship and the life of the church.

I'm entirely confident, therefore, that our announcements can fit into a worship service because testimony and feedback is important in the church of God. What we see in chapter 23, we will see a number of times more in the final chapters of Acts and that is a slow progression of legal scenes where Luke is able to demonstrate through his recordings of Paul's defence speeches not only Paul's innocence, but far more important, the reality for which Paul truly stands as a witness. And that is to the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and that being the hope of eternal life for both Jews and Greeks. Soon, we will find Paul standing in Rome before Jewish believers in that great city.

And in the final chapter of Acts, he will again share his testimony and why he is now in Rome as a prisoner. And he says this to them, for this reason, therefore, I have asked to speak to you, Jewish leaders in this city, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain. There is power in your testimony to speak of the hope that you have in Jesus Christ, remembering that He is not simply your hope. He is the hope of everyone around you. And that leads us to our third and our final point.

A true heart of love cannot keep silent. It's hard for me sometimes to understand why Paul would willingly enter into this mess. After being warned so many times that something terrible awaits him in Jerusalem, that he goes back. Beatings, floggings, assassination attempts, the stress of defending yourself in a courtroom, speaking to governors, kings and emperors, and yet he keeps going back for more. But of many of Paul's noble qualities, this is the one that makes such an impression on me.

His deep love for his own people, his love for the Jewish people, even as the one called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. You could argue that Paul's eyes were only ever set on getting to Rome and that causing mischief in Jerusalem was just a means to an end, to end up in Rome, like he thought some great scheme would cause him to end up in Rome, but I don't think that is what was on Paul's heart. He knew that the Lord was going to get him to Rome. But he knew that he had an opportunity in Jerusalem as well and he wants to take it. Paul isn't anti-Jewish as some scholars try to make him out to be.

He was deeply sympathetic and concerned for them and that is ultimately why Paul shares the gospel and his testimony there on the steps of the barracks again. We see the heart of Paul in passages like Romans 9. His intense desire for them to be saved. Romans 9, verse 1. He says, I'm speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying.

My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Paul expresses the anguish in his heart and says, hypothetically, that if he could choose to be personally cut off from Christ, meaning spending eternity in hell, in order to see all of Israel saved, he would take that deal. That's how much Paul loves his people. He agonises over them, and it drives him in his ministry. And so in Acts 23, we see that in Paul's words here in Romans as well. It's no mere lip service. Paul is not giving pleasantries.

He loves the Jewish people. He loves his brothers and his sisters. His deep desire is that they receive the promise of the Messiah for themselves, that they put their trust in Jesus Christ. And he loves them so much that he is willing to be beaten nearly to death. And after being beaten so severely, he goes back for a second attempt to try and tell them why he will be saying these things to them.

Even as they seek to put him to death in the courtroom, even as they plot to circumvent justice and assassinate him on the way to court. Paul does not pass up any opportunity to tell them of the salvation he has found in Christ. Why? Is it to prove that he is innocent? Is it to prove that he is right and they are wrong?

No. It is that they may find salvation in Jesus Christ, to save them from being cut off from Christ. Friends, if you and I could have a fraction of this kind of compassion and concern for the lost, we would never need to be reminded to be involved in personal evangelism. We would find more than enough opportunities to share our faith because we can't stop speaking about Jesus. We see in Paul a heart of a man who loves his people so much that he could not be silenced from sharing his faith with them and a true heart of love cannot be silenced.

So in these few chapters, summarised in chapter 23, we see in the book of Acts a turning attention to the city of Rome, but across these chapters, we are reminded again, firstly, of the sovereign power of God in directing His church and its messengers in the spreading of the good news of Jesus. Secondly, of the power of personal testimony, the power of speaking the hope that we have found in Jesus Christ. And thirdly, that a heart of love cannot keep silent about the work that He has done for us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the example and the witness of your servant, Paul.

We thank you, Lord, that we can see the power that you have over every aspect of the history, the story of your church. And so firstly, Lord, when it seems like things are so dreary and your church is so fragile and the enemy is so strong and that there is impediment and there is resistance and opposition at every corner. God, you only need to think, and everything falls in place to bring about incredible gospel proclamation, belief, repentance, and faith. Father, we thank you, firstly, that you are powerful and that we can trust in your great almighty will. And secondly, Lord, we bend our wills to yours.

Father, help us to understand the power of the gospel that is present in the most mundane, imperfect person like us. Thank you for the power of testimony that brings the abstract and the theological into reality. And Father, give us the courage, the urgency, the love to not let opportunities pass by. And so we pray, not simply that you will lead us in the words to say, but firstly, that you give us the hearts to love, that we can be moved with a similar love which you sovereignly gave to your servant, that you will move in us to be courageous, to be stubborn, oh Lord, and to even go back again and again to soil that seems so hard so that some may be saved. We pray that you will continue to work in our lives, people of this church, to be ones who bring testimony of your goodness to those who are willing to hear and even to those who are not.

In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.