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brought into court and he's going to be examined now they were going to examine him by scourging if you remember but then he brings up the fact hey I'm a Roman I was freeborn and they decided that they couldn't bind him or scourge him so they got him out of there kept him safe well now he's going to stand before the council of the Jews and it says in verse one and Paul earnestly beholding the council said men and brethren I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day and the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth basically all he said was I haven't done anything wrong he's basically pleading not guilty and then basically the high priest Ananias commanded them that survived to smite him on the mouth or basically just punch him in the mouth is what that means then said Paul unto the unto him so Paul gets angry here and you can understand why because he just got popped in the mouth just for pleading not guilty here and he says God shall smite thee thou whited wall for sittest thou to judge me after the law and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law and they that stood by said revile is thou God's high priest then said Paul I wish not brethren that he was the high priest for it is written thou shall not speak evil of the ruler of thy people now let's come right back to this but flip back and keep your finger there go back to John 18 there's actually a really similar event that happened to Jesus almost the same thing and so I think it's a pattern with these people just hitting people in the face when they don't like what they say but it says in John chapter 18 verse 19 the high priest same guy here not sure if it's the exact same guy just because there's a little bit difference in the name it talks about Caiaphas being the high priest I think this is Caiaphas that Jesus is dealing with but there's another man Annas who was his father-in-law who is basically also referred to as the high priest I don't know if there was kind of a changing of the guard taking place there that was in process and I'm not sure if this Ananias enacts is the same as Annas or a totally different guy but doesn't really matter the same type of guy they're related to each other they follow the same modus operandi apparently but look at verse 19 it says the high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine so he's basically asking him to testify against himself because they're trying to catch him up and find fault in him well in verse 20 Jesus answered him I spake openly to the world I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple whither the Jews always resort and in secret have I said nothing why askest thou me ask them which heard me what I have said unto them behold they know what I said so basically he turns it around on them and says well you know why are you asking me what I preach I preach publicly that's why I'm even here so why don't you ask those that heard me now the reason they didn't want to ask those that heard him is because if you remember they brought all these false witnesses to testify against Jesus and their stories were contradicting one another and so they were unable to use that testimony because it was just all contradictory and it was lying false witnesses now one of the things that God ordained in the old testament the book of Deuteronomy was that a person would not be put to death except at the mouth of two or three witnesses one witness would not cause a man to be put to death now in our constitution our bill of rights we have the fifth amendment which says that no witness will be compelled to testify against himself in federal court so we have the right as Americans not to have to testify against ourselves in court okay and it's biblical because you know a lot of people confess to crimes that they did not commit I don't know if you know that but there's there's some kind of a statistic that says that I think 20 percent of people who confess didn't really do it or something because it's just a lot of people just it's kind of like it's kind of like you know you get that a traffic ticket and you know you didn't do anything wrong but sometimes it might just be easier just to pay it that type of thing and just plead guilty and a lot of times they'll tell you you know just plead guilty we'll make a plea bargain with you who's ever ever a plea bargain they'll say you know if you just plead guilty to this we'll cut you some slack you know we'll give you a lighter sentence and so some people just plead guilty to stuff or no contest just because they're intimidated into doing so or whatever but the bottom line is that Jesus here is being asked to testify against himself because they could not get anyone to testify against him because he had done no wrong and so they have these lying witnesses that aren't adding up now you remember once they finally get him to testify against himself and he says that he is the son of God then they say well we don't need any more witnesses because we've heard it out of his own mouth guilty and then they of course crucified him so this is a bogus court here where they're forcing you to testify against yourself it's their job to bring the evidence against Jesus and Jesus reminding them of that and so he just basically says ask them which heard me they know what I said verse 22 and when he had thus spoken one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand saying answer us thou the high priest so Jesus answered him if I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smite us thou me so he basically says look I haven't said anything wrong and if I have then show me what I've said that's wrong and if I've spoken right why are you hitting me he's basically saying now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest and Simon Peter stood and warmed himself and we see of course there where Peter denies that he knows him and so forth but if we if we jump down let me see here verse number 34 or first 33 it says then pilot entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus sent him art thou the king of the Jews verse 34 Jesus answered him sayest thou this thing of thyself or did others tell it the uppity so he's still answering the same way you see what I mean he's still saying go ask them what did they say that I said he hasn't changed anything here now look go back to acts 23 if you would so we know that Jesus never did wrong we know Jesus perfect and without sin and yet Jesus refused to answer these questions because it wasn't right for him to have to testify against himself in court he's teaching us a lesson here about the mosaic law about justice and about the way court proceedings should take place and so we see that very clearly and then we see of course Jesus getting hit in the face and not liking it and basically rebuking the person that hit him in the face well we kind of see the same thing in acts 23 except Paul takes it a step further because he's calling this high priest he's calling him names calling him you know God shall smite thee thou whited wall now here's the question that I have tonight was it wrong was it really wrong for Paul to say to the high priest God shall smite thee thou whited wall you sit here to judge me according to the law and you ask me to be smitten contrary to law personally I agree with brother Davis here I don't think it was wrong for him to say that okay now he basically checks himself I don't know if he's if he's tongue-in-cheek here if he's really serious but he checks himself and says well I just didn't know that he was the high priest otherwise I wouldn't have said that because it's written thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people now wait a minute was he the high priest though hold on a second was he the high priest no because guess what when Jesus Christ died on the cross the veil was rent in twain and the bible says that we no longer are under the levitical priesthood from that moment forward read the book of hebrews the levitical priesthood was over okay and so when that veil was rent in twain we have the priests after the order of melchizedek and the bible says that Jesus Christ is our high priest clear as day crystal clear in uh and let's turn there just to show it to you look at hebrews chapter 5 keep your finger and uh keep your finger and actually through we'll come back there let's actually start in hebrews 4 verse 14 the bible says seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our profession for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin and we could go on and on that's just one scripture we could read chapter five we could read chapter six that explained the fact that the old priesthood is abolished and that the new priesthood after the order of melchizedek uh we are the priesthood we are the royal priesthood and that Jesus Christ is our high priest now you say well that's pretty simple then pastor answer but but see the question is though was he still in any kind of political authority you know was he a a figure of political justice because he's standing there as a judge in the courtroom okay but is he really the ruler of their people you know that this is the thing that that i'm not really sure about but i would tend to say that he did not do wrong here because he really did similar to what Jesus did there's really not a big difference and you know Jesus called these same people whited sepulchers you know i'd rather be called a whited wall than a whited sepulcher you know i don't know i mean i probably don't want to be called either one but uh you know he called him a name but Jesus called these exact same people the same type of names and he called king harrod uh a fox he said go tell that fox and he called them you know whited sepulchers generation of vipers serpents uh he called out the pharisees and so uh i would tend to think that paul was justified in what he said here because he was smitten in the face totally unprovoked and he uh he responded in that way but either way that's what happened you know you can you can decide based on other scripture and look the reason i asked the question you say why do you even question that pastor anderson because you have to understand very important when you're interpreting the bible to realize that everything that happens in the bible is not necessarily right when you're reading a story okay when you're reading stories in the bible you have to use the statements elsewhere in the bible to interpret the story okay for example if i'm reading genesis i'm reading about somebody having two wives it doesn't mean that it's right to have two wives earlier in the book of acts we read about uh paul taking part in a birth sacrifice shaving his head that wasn't right and we know it wasn't right because the spirit of god made a clear statement him don't go to jerusalem yet he went to jerusalem that tells us that what he did was wrong we see people all throughout the bible doing things and sometimes it's crystal clear hey this guy committed adultery he was wrong hey this guy had a second wife he's wrong but sometimes we have to really study and dig deeper to figure out you know hey what's going on here was this right was this wrong but either way uh the bible is always true in that this happened but we don't always know whether paul was doing right or wrong we don't know whether the the priests were always doing right or wrong but either way he backs off you know he calls him that name he backs down and says well i didn't know that he was the high priest of course you and i know that he was not the high priest because jesus was the high priest because jesus had already died on the cross it says in verse number six but when paul perceived that the one part were sadducees and the other Pharisees he cried out in the council men and brethren i am a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead i am called in question so here he decides to do a little divide and conquer half the group are Pharisees half the group are sadducees now these are two religious sects guess what they're both wrong let's say it's like the catholics and the united methodists you know and the reason i use that example is because the sadducees were a lot like the united methodists they don't believe in the miracles they deny the virgin birth they deny the inspiration of the bible and so the sadducees kind of did the same thing i mean doesn't the old testament talk a lot about angels and spirits and the resurrection but they the sadducees denied all that stuff yet they claim to believe the old testament basically modern day judaism in a lot of ways and then the Pharisees were the ones that basically taught a work salvation trying to establish their own righteousness but they did believe in the miracles of the bible they did believe in the supernatural things but they had a false uh gospel and a false plan salvation and so he sees this division and he decides you know what instead of getting them all mad at me i'm going to turn them against each other so he finds the one that he lines up with the closest you know the Pharisees at least he's got a little bit of common ground even though they reject a lot of the bible he knew that they agreed on the resurrection just that anybody's going to be resurrected that there's an afterlife whereas the sadducees deny it so he jumps all over that and he says you know i'm a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee and he says of the hope and resurrection of the dead i'm called he's like that's why i'm on trial for believing what you believe in the resurrection and when he had so said you know his plan works perfectly and when he had so said there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the multitude was divided for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection neither angel nor spirit but the Pharisees confess both now stop and think about this for a second what does the word both mean what does it mean both how many are we talking about both only two are we talking about three no both is two all would be three okay now how many things do you see listed there in verse eight for the Sadducee say there is no what resurrection that's one neither angel that's two nor spirit that's three so why does it say both let me tell you why because angels are spirits that's why keep your finger there and go to hebrews chapter one this is an important point because there's a lot of false doctrine around today about what angels are and who they are look if you would at hebrews chapter number one verse five the bible says in hebrews 1 5 for unto which of the angels said he at any time thou art my son this day have i begotten thee and again i will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son so let me ask them according to hebrews 1 5 are the angels have they ever been referred to as god's son no absolutely not now have we been referred to as god's son oh yeah the bible says behold what manner of love the father bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of god the bible also says in uh first john 5 1 whosoever believeth that jesus is the christ is born of god and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that has begotten of him by this we know that we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments the bible says that we have been begotten again unto a lively hope that we are begotten of god but are the angels begotten of god no are they the sons of god no that's what it clearly states right here in hebrews 1 5 look at the last verse of the chapter or let's read verse 13 just to give context but to which of the angels said he at any time sit on my right hand until i make thine enemies thy footstool are they not all ministering what so the angels here he's referring to are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation remember when jesus rose from the dead he said come handle me put your fingers in the holes in my hand and thrust your hand on my side and he said for an a spirit hath not flesh and bone as you see me to have so a spirit doesn't have flesh and bone does it no and the bible says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit okay so the angels are spirits they don't have a flesh and bone body like you and i do okay so people who teach this heresy this false doctrine that in genesis chapter 6 the sons of god are angels and that those angels came down and reproduced with humans that's a false doctrine it's a wicked doctrine it's it's mormonism it's paganism it's occultism you'll find the traits of that in mormonism and all the things i just listed you see they cannot reproduce with humans that's that's bogus false doctrine it's fantasy and so we need to be aware of that doctrine this is false because the the sons of god are not angels none of the angels were ever called god sons and and their spirits therefore they do not have flesh and bone and the bible you remember this part he said in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels which are in heaven so there's another place where jesus said the angels don't marry so when it says the sons of god uh looked upon the daughters of men and saw that they were fair and took all of the wives of which they chose that's not angels that's the sons of god that's talking about saved human beings that is not talking about angels because angels don't marry angels don't have flesh and bone angels are spirits okay does everybody understand so it's pretty clear and it's important to get that doctrine so when he says they confess both he's referring to both resurrection and angel or spirit because he's putting those in the same guy because he's referring to the same entity there okay and that's why that word there there is both and so that's why it's important to read every word of the bible and notice every word it says and there arose a great cry verse 9 acts 23 9 and the scribes that were of the pharisees part arose and strove saying we find no evil on this man you know all of a sudden we find no evil in this man but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him let us not fight against god and when they're a row and again you see how they put those two in the same boat right there an angel or spirit and he says when there arose a great dissension the chief captain fearing lest paul should have been pulled in pieces of them commanded the soldiers to go down and to take him by force from among them and to bring him into the castle so let me give you the image here we've got a courtroom here the jews are the ones running the show in this courtroom the high priest is presiding as the judge and all the scribes and the pharisees and the sadducees are the ones that are presiding and they're there listening well the roman soldiers are present but they're not involved in the proceedings so far but when this huge riot breaks out where the pharisees start fighting against the sadducees and basically the the pharisees are grabbing a hold of paul okay in the middle come on up here matt you're going to represent the apostle paul garrett mr sadducee come on up here and uh basically i'm going to represent the pharisees and this is the sadducees and basically the pharisees are saying you know we don't find any fault in him you know if he saw a you know a spirit or an angel we don't want to fight against god and the sadducees are saying no he's to die and we're saying no he's okay he's one of us and basically go ahead and sit down basically they're you know the chief captain sees what's going on and he brings in his soldiers to break up this right so he was there watching letting the jews do their own justice did we pull you apart too bad there you all right all right you still in one piece so anyway uh you know they step in and just stop this this riot because they're afraid that paul's literally just gonna be ripped in half by these people so they bring down the soldiers they take him by force and they bring him into the castle look at verse 11 and the night following the lord stood by him and said be of good cheer paul for as thou has testified of me in jerusalem so must now bear witness also at rome now this is an interesting verse because remember a couple chapters ago god was telling paul don't go to jerusalem don't do it and and all these people were sent to paul by god to tell him that he didn't want him to go but yet now that he has gone there god is basically just telling him hey be of good cheer you're going to testify me at rome you're going to make it there in one piece you're going to survive you see just because you make a mistake doesn't mean that god's just through with you i think that's what we can learn from this verse even though paul did wrong he disobeyed god's clear instruction not to go to jerusalem that doesn't mean that god's through with him that doesn't mean that god can't still bless him and still work and that's why we need to realize that even if we've made really bad mistakes in our past the bible says forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth under those things which are before i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus so we should realize that god's perfect will for our life we might miss that when we when we do wrong things but he'll he'll revise and have a a new will for us from here on out you know for example let's say you've been you know let's say you're married obviously it's god's will for you to stay married till death do us part but let's say you've been you've been married and divorced you know a couple times and you're actually on your third spouse right now okay well if you're on your third wife you know now god's will is for you to stay married to that third wife okay because you know you've already broken your vow twice you've already made that mistake you've sinned and divorced but now that you're married to that third wife okay you've made a vow to be with her till death do us part so you don't want to compound the mistake by now breaking a vow to god the third time you know god makes it clear that you know you're supposed to stay married to that other spouse the bible talks about that exact scenario because it talks about people who've been divorced and they marry someone else it says they can't go they they shouldn't go back to the previous spouse ever no matter what even if their second spouse dies never go back to the first spouse once they've been remarried very clear in the bible mosaic law book of jeremiah a couple different places that's spelled out and so what i'm saying is that obviously it's not god's will for your life to to be divorced twice and on your third spouse but if that's where you're at it doesn't mean that god's just through with you god still wants to work with you he still wants to use you he still wants you to serve him and he has a new will for your life that says okay well stay married to that one elizabeth taylor you know you're on number seven or whatever stay with it you know and so that's what you need to see from this passage so don't get down and discouraged just because you messed up yesterday today's a brand new day start over with god and god is always ready to push the reset button for you and start you out on a new plan okay paul you did what i told you not to do you came to jerusalem but you know what okay you're going to be carried to rome prisoner now here's the thing paul already planned on going to rome as a missionary he said that in romans 1 and in romans 16 he planned he said man i want to go there and preach the gospel and he was planning on taking a trip all the way to spain and stopping at rome on the way there but basically now because he's done this wrong thing he doesn't get to go to spain so he's missing out on that but at least god is still letting him preach in rome just this time he's going to be in bonds but at least god can still use him he's going to get more people saved and so don't ever think that god is uh through with you you know if you fall then get back up the the righteous man falls seven times and rises up again it says in verse 12 and when it was day certain of the jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed paul now here's what's funny about this paul was still was alive for a long time after this i wonder if those guys ate and drank they're still not eating and drinking you know because how long can you do that for i mean you can only go without water for what a week you're pretty much dead you can go about 40 40 some days without food if you drink water but they're drinking neither food nor water you're going to be dead in about a week and so they made a really dumb vow here and and you know what we can learn from this is not to make stupid vows you know because god expects you to keep your word when you make a vow when you make an oath and that's why the bible says be better for you not to swear at all than to make a vow and to break it be better than does not bow whatsoever than to make about a break so basically these guys are binding themselves under a curse saying we're going to eat nothing until we have slain paul and it says in verse 13 and they were more than 40 which had made this conspiracy now now listen whenever you hear about a conspiracy it's never true it's never real because there's no such thing as conspiracies right it's funny how people say like oh that's just a conspiracy that's a conspiracy theory like when you try to tell them about some evil thing that our government is doing or some other government is doing or you try to tell them like i tried to tell this this reporter from germany that was talking to me i told him that you know we're headed toward a one world government and by the way i got that from the bible and you know i told him the anti-christ and the one world government and and the united nations and he said oh that's just a conspiracy theory that's just like a way to just blow it up all right no it's the bible but you know it's funny look up every time the word conspiracy is found in the bible it's not a lot because what does the word conspiracy mean it just means people getting together behind closed doors and deciding to do something dirty to do wrong that happens all the time these back room dealings about ripping people off and i mean it happens in business i've seen it in business where companies get together they're bidding on the same job and they get together behind closed doors and they tell each other what the bids are and they jack up the price it's called bid rigging or there's all different things that take place and i've been exposed to it i've seen it take place in business and you know business is a lot more honest than politics you know or the government i mean good night so you know don't be don't just be one of these knee-jerk people all of us conspiracy is bad stupid you know you you're crazy if you believe in it no well this was a conspiracy that's all conspiracy means it's people conspiring together to do wrong that's what it is and it happens all the time and the wicked people of this world conspire together and and by the way the real forces of this world's evil are run by satan himself because the bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against listen to this against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places notice not the ruler singular of the dark the rulers of the darkness of this world conspiring together okay so don't let that become like a cuss word to you conspiracy so and and they were more than 40 which had made this so 40 guys have sworn that they're not going to eat or drink until they kill paul that's a lot of people i mean imagine 40 guys rushing toward you determined to kill you not having eaten or drunk pretty formidable says in verse number 14 and they came to the chief priests and elders and said we bound ourselves under a great curse that we will eat nothing until we have slain paul now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow as though you would inquire something more perfectly concerning him and we or ever we come near are ready to kill him now look who else is in on the conspiracy now now the chief priest now the high priest himself is consenting to murder this guy without a trial this guy that's totally innocent they're just conspiring let's kill him let's murder him and the chief priest is okay let's do it he's not trying to say okay guys we're not going to do that i'm not going to have anything to do with that so the high priest a wicked man here of course he's the the bogus phony high priest because jesus is the high priest because he'd been replaced he was replaced he was the high priest before but when jesus died on the cross he was replaced and he's replaced to this day and so it says in verse number 16 and when paul's sister's son heard of their lying weight he went and entered into the castle and told paul basically this is just a nephew of paul's that just happened that i don't know he had some connections he found out about this whole thing he was a conspiracy theorist and so he basically you know finds out about this and it says then paul called one of the centurions unto him and said bring this young man under the chief captain for he had a certain thing to tell him so he took him and brought him to the chief captain and said paul the prisoner called me unto him and prayed me to bring this young man under thee who had something to say to thee then the chief captain took him by the hand and went with the messiah privately and asked him what is that thou hast to tell me and he said the jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down paul tomorrow into the council as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly but do not now yield unto them for their lie in wait for him of them more than 40 men which have bound themselves with an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him and now are they ready looking for a promise from thee so the chief captain then let the young man depart and charged him see thou tell no man that thou has showed these things to me and he called unto him two centurions saying make ready 200 soldiers okay so now he's going to have a really big escort because he knows there's like 40 guys that want to come kill him look at the escort he gives him two centurions now you know what the word century means it's a hundred years right a centurion is a man who's in charge of a hundred soldiers so basically he calls two centurions saying make ready 200 soldiers see how that works so the bible kind of defines itself to go to cesarea and horsemen three score and ten score means 20 so what's three score and ten 70 so you got 200 soldiers and then you got 70 horsemen and spearmen 200 at the third hour of the night which is basically uh 9 p.m so basically what we're talking about here is 470 troops okay to protect one man 470 men and then 70 animals and then also he said get a beasts that they may set pole on and bring him safe onto felix the governor and he wrote a letter after this manner and he writes like now here's what i get from this chapter boy the romans are really persecuted christians in this chapter aren't they man those romans i tell you what all roads lead to rome it's those romans persecuted is that what you see in this chapter now who's persecuting the christians in this chapter yeah what else is new you know week 23 of the book of acts and who's protecting him the romans have the romans laid a finger on him they they started to but then they found out oh he's a roman they said we can't find anything wrong with this guy now let me ask you this if the romans were persecuting christians at this time as many historians and history books will tell us and by the way this is my history book right here if the romans were persecuting christians at this time would they keep writing letters to each other saying we can't find anything wrong with this guy this guy hasn't done anything wrong i can't figure out why they're trying to kill them it's something about their law wouldn't they have just said oh he's a christian thrown to the lines so that's why you gotta be careful what you listen to because everybody will stand there and be all scholarly and tell you you know this was the roman emperor at that time and he was persecuting the christians and throwing lines and look i'm not saying that that didn't happen later i don't know what happened later because this is where my history cuts off right here you know that i could really take to the bank i mean you can get all kinds of history books that'll tell you about you know the roman empire and it'll tell you about persecuting christians and throwing christians to the lines i'm not denying any of that i'm not saying that didn't happen i don't know what happened back i don't care what happened i'm a bible preacher i'm not up here teaching a history class i'm teaching a bible class tonight and let me tell you something there is zero evidence of that in the bible none so i'm not saying it didn't happen later but i'm saying it didn't happen at this time it was not happening at this time or it would be mentioned and it even is the opposite that's happening it's the jews persecuting the christians and the romans are getting them out of there they're protect i mean they're think about it they have to pay these guys 470 troops because it's so important to them to protect this guy so how can you say that they're persecuting him it doesn't make any sense and so i'm not going to stand up here and and pull out some fossil you know from 2 000 years ago you know or whatever i'm not going to pull out some fossil and and some history book and try to i'm not saying i'm an expert on history but i'm an expert on this book and in this book you're not going to find it and so don't be deceived by that and you say well why does that matter because people will draw conclusions based on that history they'll say well when romans 13 was written nero was throwing christians to the lions and burning them and and and paul still said that they were a righteous authority figure protecting him now hold on a second the book of romans was clearly written before these events took place because it's clear when you read romans 1 and when you read romans 16 that he had never been to rome he spells that out he says you know i haven't been there i would like to go there i want to go there on my way to spain he'd never been there well guess what he's about to go there so if he's writing that letter talking about going to spain he's this is before he's arrested when he's planning on going to spain and going through rome and that is when he wrote romans 13 and that is not when romans were throwing christians the lions or lighting them on fire or any of that that is false doctrine and and i've heard it i mean look if i had a nickel for every time i heard i'd be a wealthy man if it was the you know well i guess not you know but maybe if i had a nickel if i had a nickel for every time i heard it and it was like a nickel what a nickel was worth like a hundred years ago then i'd be really rich okay now nickels aren't worth much but the bottom line i think that saying came out when nickels were worth more so if i had a hundred dollars for every time anyway that's inflation for you but the bottom line is that you know we've got to not just take for granted things that we hear from historians or bible theologians because i mean it's real prevalent out there folks this doctrine i mean anybody who's been to christian school or bible college or or been in church a long time has heard this stuff taught and and it's it's just false i mean you can prove it false right here and so we'll get off that but we see that the jews here and look it's not anti-semitic it's not that we hate jews or something we you know and look we go out and preach the gospel to the jews we knock there's a ton of them in tempe we knock their door we try to preach them the gospel in love we have nothing against any nationality but it's just a fact here that the jews of jesus's day and it's not the jews that are alive today folks okay but the jews of back then were persecuting the christians and trying to kill them okay and the romans were protecting them just a fact and it says in verse 25 and he wrote a letter after this matter so this is when the chief captain is writing unto felix he's sending him to the governor felix and he's going to write a letter just explaining who this prisoner is that's coming with 470 armed guards so it says claudius lysius that's the name of the chief priest or i'm sorry the chief captain claudius lysius unto the most excellent governor felix sendeth greeting this man was taken of the jews and should have been killed of them then came i with an army and persecuted him more because i hate you christian no he says then came i with an army and rescued him having understood that he was a roman and when i would have known the cause wherefore they accused him i brought him forth into their council whom i perceived to be accused of questions of their law but to have done to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds and when it was told me how that the jews laid weight for the man i sent straight way to thee and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him farewell see you later then the soldiers as it was commanded them took paul and brought him by night to antipatras on the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him and returned to the castle who when they came to cesarea and delivered the epistle to the governor presented paul also before so what is the definition of an epistle what's it say in verse 25 and he wrote a what verse 25 he wrote a letter and it says made delivered the epistle so the bible is defining for us a letter is an epistle and it says when he had delivered the epistle i lost my place here to the governor verse 33 presented paul also before him and when the governor had read the what the letter okay so the bible defines big words you know when you're going to do a hard word in the bible usually the definition is right there so epistle is an unknown word to most people today and so it's defined for us right there as a letter he asked of what province he was and when he understood that he was of cilicia i will hear these said he when nine accusers are also come and he commanded him to be kept in herit's judgment hall of course that's where we're going to pick up next week where basically the accusers from the chief priests the high priest they come and now he's not in the jewish courtroom that turned into a big mess where he's getting torn apart now he's going to be in a roman courtroom with the with the governor presiding and the plaintiff in the case the accuser is going to be the jews and then paul is going to be the defendant and he's going to be put on the stand in uh chapter 24 let's power heads and have a word of prayer father thank you so much for your word dear god and for this uh great story about a great man and father please just uh help us to study to show ourselves approved dear god and to learn the bible and and not to just take things for granted just because we hear them but rather to study and search out our scriptures daily uh to see whether these things be so and please just bless us as we go our separate ways tonight in jesus name we pray amen all right let's do song 23 now song 23 song 23 there is power in the blood song number 23 let's sing it out in that first verse