Jurisprudence – Acts 26:28-32

Let’s begin this morning with 2 almost opposing thoughts: “Everything is related & everything is relative.”

One of the strange, interesting, and potentially difficult parts of our visit with our grandson, was that one of his mother’s sisters was there, along with her mother and that lady’s husband.

The house was full, with at least one person sleeping on the floor, and some not sleeping much at all.

It is kind interesting the way that those eight people are all related.

We were all there, obviously, because of the birth of Nicholai.

Judy and I had met Rochelle’s new step-father only once before, but now he is related to us through Kraig and Rochelle.

He is an Okie, and he and Rochelle’s mother now live not far from friends of this church in Oklahoma, and that created other relationships between us – relatively speaking.

Rochelle’s mother and her sister have been estranged, and not speaking to each other for several years, until last week – related and yet not related.

Rochelle first came to live with us because of problems between her and her mother – they were related and at the time not wanting to be related.

Rochelle’s sister lives in Post Falls, but if we ever see any of that family it is purely by accident – related by residence, but only remotely so.

And all of us, except Nicholai, profess to be Christians, but only two of us pray or went to church last Sunday – related but not related.

These are just the highlights; there is much more than this.

We were all related, but in different ways, and those relationships were seen differently by each one of us.

But in case you are wondering, we all got along surprisingly well, with nearly every relationship strengthened, relatively speaking.

All of that is an illustration something here in this scripture.

In verse 31 King Agrippa made the statement, “This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.”

Paul was the baby who brought together a lot of diverse people and five different varieties of jurisprudence.

“Jurisprudence” is the study or science of law.

There is one variety or style of jurisprudence in Canada and another here in the United States.

Nearly every country in the world has their own unique jurisprudence, including Iraq.

And if the United States doesn’t realize that, we are going to be in trouble there for a long time.

Although there are similarities, the jurisprudence of our Founding Fathers was different from that of today’s ungrateful grandsons.

And in Paul’s day the jurisprudence of Israel was different from that of the Romans.

This morning, I would like to make a brief comparison of those differences as they relate to Paul.

In chapter 25, “Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that HE OUGHT NOT TO LIVE ANY LONGER.”

But then here in this verse Agrippa said, “This man doeth NOTHING worthy of death.”

Both statements are related to Paul, but they are only remotely relative to each other because of differences in jurisprudence.

Let’s begin with the JEWISH JURISPRUDENCE.

From the time of Paul’s conversion to Christ, the Jews had been trying to kill him, thinking that they had the law on their side.

The Jews of Damascus lay in wait to slay him once he left the city.

The Jews in Jerusalem plotted against him when he first presented himself to the Apostles.

In Corinth, they dragged Paul before Gallio and tried to get Rome to execute him.

When he returned to Jerusalem, after his third missionary journey, they tried to kill him in the temple, then again in the council-hall of the Sanhedrin.

Then there arose the conspiracy of the forty murderers.

Even though their plotted method was nefarious,

it was acceptable, according to Jewish law, at least as understood by the Sanhedrin.

Then before Felix, the lawyer Tertullus tried to say that the Sanhedrin was only trying to execute Paul according to their law.

Throughout the years since his salvation Paul had been charged by the Jews with a variety of capital crimes.

But whenever they tried to meld Roman law with their own, they got into trouble, so eventually they figured out to stick to their own brand of jurisprudence.

They said that he was worthy of death due to BLASPHEMY, preaching that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Son of God.

They tried to execute him for HERESY, teaching the Gentiles that they could be delivered from the penalty of their sins without becoming Jewish proselytes.

And they attempted to beat Paul to death because they believed that he had POLLUTED THE TEMPLE by bringing the uncircumcised into their midst.

In some ways, I can understand these three charges,

and if they were true, then I suppose that the death penalty really was justifiable.

But when my perspective of jurisprudence mixes with their’s, things get a little out of kilter.

I think that there should have been a fair trial, but there never really was one.

And I think if the evidence was fully examined – not a single one of their charges could have been proven.

According even to Jewish jurisprudence – in regard to these charges, Paul had done nothing worthy of death.

But because the rules of evidence were not being followed, they believed that Paul should die.

Then there was the ROMAN JURISPRUDENCE.

In the Macedonian city of Philippi, Paul and Silas delivered a woman from demon possession and in the process her owners/managers lost their meal ticket.

So they attacked Paul and accused him of destroying their livelihood.

The same charges were laid against Paul in Ephesus by Demetrius, the silversmith who made shrines for the worship of Diana.

But the laws of a free market don’t really contain any capital crimes – at least as I picture them.

In Lystra Paul was lynched, but I don’t really understand which law of the barbarians he had broken there.

In several places, the Greeks, Romans, Barbarians and other Gentiles tried to kill Paul according to their various laws, but without success.

Perhaps the situation before Gallio best illustrates the Roman jurisprudence involved.

Paul was having an exceptional ministry in Corinth, and in chapter 18 we read:

“And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized.

Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace:

For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.

And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat,

Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law.

And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you:

But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat.”

As Agrippa clearly stated, “According to Roman law this man has done nothing worthy of death.”

But now, let’s raise our eyes to a slightly higher level toward BASIC HUMAN JURISPRUDENCE.

I realize that this is one of those subjects which is perceived differently by different people.

We could say that this is one of those relative areas of legality.

But I believe that KIDNAPING is a capital offence.

When someone steals another person, for whatever purpose, it is a kind of taking of that life.

It may only be for a day, or an hour, but that person’s life has been lost to itself for a while.

I think that kidnappers should know up-front that they when they forcibly take, or hold a person against their will, that when they are caught their lives will be forfeited.

I believe that the Bible supports this opinion.

And of course, Paul, was never guilty of any kind of kidnaping.

And I believe that RAPE (sexual assault) is a capital crime.

This is may be my opinion, and not everyone agrees with it, but the Bible does.

Or maybe I should say that my opinion agrees with the Bible.

And I think that the majority of the people of the world, who are not rapists, would agree as well.

Paul, was not a rapist, and was not worthy of death for this crime.

I have a struggle within my own heart about this, but I think that HOMOSEXUALITY is a capital crime.

I don’t know that I would feel this way if my heart was left to its own devices,

but now that I own a Bible, and I read my Bible,

I know that homosexuality is and should be a capital crime.

Paul was not a homosexual.

I have the same struggle with ADULTERY, which is also worthy of death.

But I have no struggle at all with declaring that INCEST is a capital offense.

Paul was neither an adulterer nor guilty of incest.

But what about the crime of MURDER?

Before his salvation, Paul was at the very center of the death of Deacon Stephen of the First Baptistic Church of Jerusalem.

Stephen had defeated Saul and others, debating with them about the doctrines of Christ.

They got so angry that they carried Stephen before the leadership of Israel, and then they dragged him away to be executed.

“Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.

And they stoned Stephen…”

In my personal system of jurisprudence the stoning of Stephen was illegal and reprehensible.

In my system it was “murder.”

But it was not necessarily murder under the laws of the Jews.

For example they had laws which permitted and managed the revenger of blood.

Paul may not have been a kidnaper, a rapist or a homosexual, but it is really debatable whether or not he was a murderer.

Because according to Jewish law it was not murder to execute a criminal,

and even though WE don’t think that Stephen was a criminal, Jewish jurisprudence said that he was.

So according to their law Paul was not a murderer in leading the execution of Stephen.

Generally speaking, in no matter what jurisdiction of jurisprudence, murderers are worthy of death.

But Paul’s relationship to Stephen was never brought up before Felix, Festus or Agrippa.

The Romans may, or many not, have known about Paul’s involvement in the death of Stephen.

And if they had known, they might have agreed that it Paul was not a murderer.

I might think that he was, but my jurisprudence was not applicable that day.

So Agrippa said, “this man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds.”

But let’s raise our eyes just a bit higher toward DIVINE JURISPRUDENCE.

Men have their systems of laws.

There are laws among thieves and murderers, just as there are other laws among honest men.

There are laws which govern prisons and there are laws which prisoners use among themselves.

There are laws among Christians and there are different laws among the heathen.

Men have their different systems of jurisprudence and whether or not they come close, the Lord has His.

But when it all boils down to it, Jehovah’s is the only system that really and eternally matters.

Divine jurisprudence has lots of specifics to it, just as do most of the human varieties.

Only a handful of those specifics are mentioned in the Ten Commandments:

“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”

God has revealed many of the specifics of His jurisprudence in the Bible, but He has also been succinctly summarized it:

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

“For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

“When lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

It is not necessary for us to study the life of Paul, or my life, or your life, to come up with a list of charges which might be brought up in the Lord’s court against us.

It is sufficient to say that Paul, and you and I are “SINNERS.”

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”

“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.”

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. f we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

The Jews, with their system of jurisprudence, may have said that Paul was a sinner worthy of death.

But it didn’t matter because the Romans, with their system of jurisprudence, said that he wasn’t, and their jurisprudence was at that time superior to the Jew’s.

But that didn’t matter either, because God said that Paul, like all the rest of us, as a sinner, was worthy of death.

And one proof of that fact is that Paul died and so have a thousand generations of human beings since the days of Paul.

We are sinners and the wages of our sin is death.

Furthermore, “as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

This is the gist of divine jurisprudence: “You are a sinner, and you deserve to die the second death.”

But there is something even higher than simple Divine jurisprudence: SUBLIME JURISPRUDENCE.

This is still a part of the Lord’s legal system, but it is higher, more holy, and almost unbelievable.

There is a jurisprudence of DIVINE LAW and there is a jurisprudence of DIVINE GRACE.

Galatians 3:11-14 – “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

I Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

What can explain this sublime jurisprudence more wonderfully and precisely than Isaiah 53?

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

It matters, but it doesn’t matter much, whether man’s laws say that you and I are not worthy of death.

What really matters is that God says that you and I are worthy of death – eternal death; the second death.

“And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”.

You and I are children of Hell because we are children of sin.

But then there is the jurisprudence of the grace of God.

By divine covenant and law, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died as a substitute for sinners like us.

His blood paid the penalty that the Divine Law demanded.

And because of His execution, there has been made a way of escape for us.

Humble yourself before that grace.

Acknowledge that you deserve eternal death, and turn from your sin.

And trust Christ Jesus and the merits of His death for you.

I beseech you to repent of your sin and trust Christ.