Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it.

We have a lot of ground to cover tonight, 3 whole chapters, but we won’t be reading every single verse.

Instead, I’m hoping that you will spend some time over the next few days reading them on your own and tonight we will just pick out some key moments from Acts 24-26.

Last week we got to Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem and we briefly looked at what would be Paul’s first of many trials, in fact between Acts 21 and Acts 26, we see Paul defend himself 5 times to 5 different groups of people.

Tonight we are going to look at 3 of those defenses so I entitled this message, “Paul on Trial.”

Let me ask, do you guys like lawyer shows?

Or true crime shows?

I enjoy them but if you’ve ever watched them, have you ever noticed how often 1 of 2 things happen: either someone is clearly guilty of the crime or at the very last second, someone who appears to be guilty is saved by a last second piece of evidence or testimony?

Have you ever seen on any of these shows or movies someone appear before the judge but neither the judge nor the accusers have anything to accuse the person of?

Or have you ever seen a show where the accusations are so outlandish that we as the audience can clearly see that there is really nothing to convict of?

That’s exactly what we are going to see here with Paul.

Have you ever seen the movie 12 Angry Men? It’s a movie from the 50’s and it is an incredible movie.

There’s no action, no special effects, no cool soundtrack, there’s just great performances from 12 guys sitting in a jury room discussing the outcome of a trial.

I was in high school when I saw it the first time and like many of you, I thought it was going to be the most boring thing I’ve ever seen, but man was I wrong.

If you haven’t seen it, the entire plot of the movie is that there are 12 jurors who are brought in to decide a case that seems pretty cut and dry.

A man is accused of murdering his father and it seems pretty obvious that he is guilty because so much of the evidence is pointing towards him being guilty.

The jurors are told that they have to come back with a unanimous verdict and 11 out of the 12 vote that he’s guilty. 1 Juror recognized some inconsistencies in the testimonies and the events and he stood out for that truth even though the 11 others were set in their ways and set in their verdict.

Then 1 by 1, these men talk through the event and by the end of the movie, all 12 come back with a verdict of not guilty because the evidence didn’t line up and the accused man walks away free.

What happened in that movie is what we see Solomon say in Proverbs 18:17 “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

We are called to be that one.

That one that fights for what is true, what is righteous, and what is pure.

Paul is that man too as we are going to see.

Paul could compromise, he could bend to what others want him to do or say, he could take the easy way out, but that is not who Paul is. Paul stands for the truth regardless of the cost and each and every Christian in here is called to do the very same thing.

What I want us to do tonight is look at 11 observations from Acts 24-26 and I want us to see we are to stand out as the 1 against the 11.

As the 1 that stands for what is true regardless of the cost, regardless of the ease, because we stand for Him that defines truth and justice.

I know 11 things sound like a lot, but we will get through them relatively quickly and we will go through them in order of the chapters so open up to Acts 24.

We won’t read it all but it might help to have the whole chapter in front of you.

Before we do that, let’s pray together.

Observations on Acts 24

Let’s start with Acts 24, I want to bring your attention to 5 things that I thought we should look at from this chapter.

The world’s view of Christians

The first thing that I want to draw your attention to is the world’s view of Christians.

We see this in verses 5-6 and verse 9. Look at the accusations that are being made against Paul in these verses.

Acts 24:5-6

Acts 24:5–6 (ESV)

For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.

This isn’t just a stray statement made by one person, this is being echoed by quite a large number of people.

Acts 24:9

Acts 24:9 (ESV)

The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.

Now we know that what Paul is being accused of isn’t the case.

We know that he wasn’t stirring up riots or leading a cult or profaning or desecrating a religious site but that is how his opponents viewed him and in a way, that isn’t too far removed from how the world views all of us as Christians.

You might be thinking, “Well, that seems a bit extreme” but doesn’t the world view Christianity and Christians as like a plague?

Aren’t we those people that are called religious bigots and zealots, people that stand against the tide and culture, people that refuse to follow the world’s standards?

Aren’t we often aligned as the problem?

Have you ever noticed how Christianity is always the first religion to be attacked by the world?

I never see Islam being attacked the way that Christianity is!

I never see Judaism attacked the way Christianity is!

Why is it always the Christians that the world demands to be quiet?

Aren’t we the one’s that are deemed offensive and crazy?

Doesn’t the world accuse us of following some dead leader that left thousands of years ago and now all our beliefs are outdated and irrational?

Isn’t that close to what Paul is being accused of?

He’s being called someone that is a hindrance to society, a plague on the earth, a problem that needs to be dealt with, that is the accusation against the Body of Christ.

The world hates us because the world hates God.

What did Jesus say in John 15:18-20

John 15:18–20 (ESV)

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

We stand against all that the world holds dear because we stand against the love of sin.

James Hamilton writes on these verses, “The world loves only those who join it in delusional beliefs and destructive behaviors, which in effect means that the world loves itself.

The world’s kind of love is the selfish kind of love that does not deserve to be called love at all.

It may be enthusiastic approval and acceptance, but it is not love.”

We present the truth with joy and respect

The next thing that I want us to look at is Acts 24:10 “And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.”

Notice how Paul presents himself.

Look at how he defends not just himself, but the message of the Gospel.

He presents the truth with joy and respect.

Paul doesn’t go into this defense hoping to bash skulls together.

He’s also not hiding from the opportunity to defend the truths of the Gospel.

Paul doesn’t go into this defense with the mindset of, “I’m right, you’re wrong, don’t you dare mess with me.”

Far too often, I think that when we need to go on the defensive that we fail to realize that we have a terrific opportunity to present the Gospel to someone.

When someone asks why we are the way we are, they are inviting us in a sense to tell them what makes us different and what has made us different is what Christ has done in our lives.

When the time comes where you are asked to give a reason behind why you are the way you are, do it respectfully, do it with joy, do it with the recognition that you are living such a life that it causes the world to ask “what’s wrong with you?”

Christianity is a Historical Religion

The next thing that I want to point out to you is that Christianity is a historical religion.

This may go without saying but it is worth mentioning that we are not following cleverly devised myths.

to paraphrase 2 Peter 1:16, but we simply believe what is true and what has happened in time and space.

Look at how Paul defends himself in Acts 24:14-16

Acts 24:14–16 (ESV)

But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.

So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

What does Paul do here?

He’s testifying before a Jewish audience and he’s appealing to their history, which is really all of our history.

Paul is saying, “Look, I’m only testifying to what God has already revealed ahead of time.

I’m worshipping the same God, I’m believing what the Law and prophets have said, I believe in a resurrection just like you all do.

This shouldn’t shock you as anything new because God has already alluded to it!”

We as Christians aren’t grasping at straws.

We aren’t making things up on the fly.

We believe in a real historical Jesus.

We believe in a real historical faith.

We believe in something that has happened in real space and time and has made a real and lasting impact in the world.

We aren’t making things up to appeal to outsiders.

When we talked apologetics a couple of years ago I think, we made notice how there are far too many things in the Bible that wouldn’t make sense unless they really happened.

There’s no reason for women to be the first to notice the empty tomb or resurrected Jesus unless that is how it really happened.

There’s no reason for men like Paul or James to become Christians unless it really happened.

Why do we believe?