Acts 23:1-11 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brothers, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.… 1. We sometimes pay compliments unconsciously, and tributes to power in the very act of appearing to despise it. Paul never appeared socially greater than when sent to Caesarea with "two hundred soldiers," etc. — so small a man. We have entered into a new region of apostolic history; we shall sometimes be almost amused by certain aspects of it — such great courts and such a small prisoner. 2. And yet Paul is like his Master — the only quiet man in all the tumult. Paul had himself once been a member of the council which he now addressed as a prisoner! He looks as well in the dock as he looked on the bench; but the remembrance of his once having been on the bench gives him his first sentence — "Men and brethren." Think of the criminal addressing the judge as a brother! The quality of men comes out at unexpected places. In no company was there a greater man than Paul. 3. How proud his beginning with a humble pride! (ver. 1). Earnest speakers reveal themselves in their first sentence. 4. But goodness always awakens wickedness. Hearing a man claim a good conscience, the high priest was reminded of his own evil career, and "commanded them that stood by Paul to smite him on the mouth." That is the only thing the bad man can do. He has no other shot in his locker. 5. Now we see quite a near aspect of Paul. He has borne so much that we thought he would bear everything to the last; but there was a priestism which Paul could not bear, so he exclaimed, "God shall smite thee, thou whited wall" — a mass of clay chalked over, a white robe covering a black character. Nor was this mere anger. It was inspired by moral emotion and conviction. The reason of this anger is given. We are bound to defend eternal rectitude. It is a sin to appear to be satisfied when the heart is filled with a conviction that things are wrong. Paul speaks here not for himself only, but for every man who suffers wrongfully. The prophecy was fulfilled: the beast was dragged out not long afterward and killed by vengeful hands. 6. It is curious to notice, and most instructive, how religious some people suddenly become. "They that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?" Hypocrites, everyone I 7. In what follows Paul has been condemned, and commentators have endeavoured to screen him from the sight of those who would be only too anxious to discover a flaw in such fine porcelain. But Paul needs no defence. We may read, "I did not sufficiently reflect that he was the high priest"; or, better still, ironically, "The high priest breaking the law! This cannot be the high priest!" Again Paul advances a moral reason — for that was the great battering ram with which he delivered his most terrific blows. "For it is written," etc. Mark the composure, the ability, the gentlemanliness. Up to this point Paul has the best of it. Surely someone must be standing at his right hand whom we cannot see. In this history note — I. THAT IT IS LAWFUL TO BREAK UP UNHOLY TRUCES. The Pharisees and the Sadducees have combined in a common cause, whereas they are themselves divided by the greatest differences. Paul says, "I will break this up." His suggestion was effectual. The Pharisees and the Sadducees fell upon one another, and the Pharisees took his part. It was a master stroke, and we should not forget it in modern controversies. II. THAT IT IS LAWFUL TO DEFEAT UNHOLY CONSPIRACIES. Forty men had bound themselves together neither to eat nor drink until they had slain Paul. Never believe in the oath of bad men; and if you have overheard their plots, publish them. There are confidences we gladly hide away in the heart, but they have no relation to courses which would unhinge society. Put every possible obstacle in the way of bad men. Imagine the forty Jews baffled in their design, and not knowing how they had been baffled! Said they, "Who knew about this? The oath has been broken by some traitor," and nine-and-thirty voices reply to the fortieth, "No." "Then how is this?" There is the mysterious element in life, the anonymous force, the mischief that upsets our mischief. This is always God's purpose. We do not know how things happen. But something always does happen. III. THAT IN THE MOST SAINTLY LIVES THERE ARE MOMENTS OF APPARENT DESERTION BY GOD. Throughout these exciting events, where is the living Lord? The apostle is smitten on the mouth and sent away as a criminal. How is this? Is this the poor return for all the labour we have traced? Yet we ourselves have been in exactly those spiritual circumstances. God does stand afar off sometimes. Why does He not always stand close to the heart that has never struck but in His praise? What is this desertion? It may only be the sleep of the soul, the winter time in which God is giving the life deep rest, and a time of recruital and renewal. Sleep is not death; the conscious absence of God is not atheism. We must learn to bear these vacancies; we cannot always be upon the mountain top. It is part of our larger education. IV. THAT THE DESERTION IS APPARENT, NOT REAL; OR TEMPORARY, NOT FINAL. Ver. 11 shines over all the rest of this dark chapter. Tomorrow night is coming; this night is not the final darkness. This verse brings us face to face with the fact that Christian consciousness is the beginning of Christian argument. Elisha had the inner vision which saw the nearer army. Jesus Christ combined both the statements upon which we are now dwelling in one sublime utterance; said He, "I am alone, yet not alone; for the Father is with Me." We must destroy the character before we can destroy the testimony. 1. This is a good answer to all attacks upon the altar of prayer. "Has your prayer been answered?" When the suppliant can say "Yes," that settles the question. The appeal is not to your little scholarship or criticism. Here the man — the well-known man, the man with the solid character, and the sensible, penetrating mind — says, "My prayers have been answered." We have been now so long with Paul that we have come to know somewhat about him. He is a strong man, a man of great mental capacity, of distinct logical faculty and unexampled common sense, and now he steps into the witness box and says, "The Lord stood by me." What is our answer? 2. Here also we find illustrations of the supreme argument for immortality. This is not a question to be determined by logical fencing and historical research; we must go by the instinctive nature. As for our immortality, we know it; it is graven upon the very substratum of our life. V. THAT THE ENEMY IS MADE TO SERVE THE CAUSE HE WOULD DESTROY. "Thou must bear witness also at Rome," and the enemy shall pay the expenses. The enemy is always forced into servitude. God maketh the wrath of man to praise Him. Everything is working for Christ, if we could only see it so; all secular progress is simply making a wider road for the chariot of Immanuel. There is a shorter way from Jerusalem to Rome now than there was in the days of Paul. The invention of steam was an incident in the development of Christian progress. Christians ought to keep their eyes open. The moment there is a new way of travelling invented, the first traveller should be a missionary. The instant you can find a shorter way of communicating with the distant parts of the earth, you should send a Christian message through the new medium. The ships are Christ's, and you have let other people use them first for merchandise, and the missionary has been stowed away somewhere as a thing not wholly welcome. "The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." I would have the Church buy up all bad houses and make good places of them; I would have the Church advertise gospel services in every newspaper; I would have the Church — alive! The Church is not the heroic force of this day, saying, "I must see Rome also." When the Church goes to see Rome, the Church goes in a tweed suit, in holiday attire, incog. What is our calling in Christ? Is it to fall asleep, or to be the first force in society? Let me call younger men to heroic temper in this matter. Never mind the charge of madness; in His own day they said that Jesus had a devil, and that He was mad; and later on they said that Paul was beside himself. If Christianity is not a passion supreme in the soul, it is the greatest mistake ever perpetrated by intellectual men. (J. Parker, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. |
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