It’s to be expected that, in making this kind of Bible study, one message leads into, or links with, the next.
But over the months, I’ve found that messages have linked together in unexpected ways.
We have an example of that sort of thing between last Sunday morning and this morning.
Last week we looked at Lysias’ letter to Governor Felix – as if he was actually explaining himself to God.
He twisted facts, made himself look better than he really was, and forgot to mention a thing or two which were just a little damaging to his reputation.
I called that message “A Propensity for Prevarication.”
We all have a tendency to make ourselves look better than we really are.
But in the light of the omniscience of God, that is a waste of time.
In that sermon there were lots of references to courtroom situations.
This morning our scripture brings us into an actual courtroom – Herod’s Judgment Hall
It was the official residence, with the offices the Roman governor, courtrooms and barracks for his most honored troops.
And once again, I would like to use Felix to represent the Lord.
But this time, it’s not the unbeliever who is on trial, it’s the child of God.
Two years after this scripture, we will find Paul still being kept from his freedom by the Romans, and as you might expect his patience will be running thin.
When Felix’s replacement, Festus, asks Paul if he would be willing to go up to Jerusalem for another trial, Paul will protest:
Notice that Paul called this “Caesar’s JUDGMENT SEAT,” literally, Caesar’s “bema.”
“Why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat [the bema] of Christ.”
“And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul.
We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.”
I’m of the opinion that the day after Paul’s hasty departure from Jerusalem, the High Priest, was ordered to make plans to stand before Felix.
It appears that the lawyer came down to the coast from Jerusalem with Ananias.
So there had been plenty of opportunity to prepare this orator for the work the Jews wanted him to do.
When Tertullus began to lay out the Jew’s charges against God’s missionary, he prefaced it with some of the most syrupy, sickening, stomach-turning flattery to be found anywhere in the pages of the Word of God.
He said, “Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness.”
Tertullus was probably referring to the capture of Eleazar, the leader of a huge criminal organization.
making travel around the country, when not in large groups, extremely dangerous.
Then there had been near war between the Syrians & Jews in Caesarea itself, which he was able to stop.
So yes, there was a kind of peace or quietness in Judea because of the military might of Governor Felix.
And on behalf of Ananias, Tertullus said that the Jews were happy to always and everywhere accept the leadership of the Roman governor.
Yea, sure.
Does anyone really think that Felix listened to any of this drivel?
Perhaps he had heard this before, and perhaps he expected to hear it.
But you can be sure that Felix was no fool, & he knew how much the Jewish leadership actually hated him.
This verbal garbage was just a part of the job.
But what if we raised the aim of that lawyer from the Governor of Judah to the King of Kings?
I’ll give you an argument for doing that in just a few minutes, but bear with me in the mean time.
“And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, we accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.”
When Zacharias, father of John Baptist, was given his voice back, the Lord filled his mouth with this prophecy:
“Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
No wonder the angels at the birth of Christ were shouting: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
And no wonder that we read verses like these:
“He said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
It is through Christ Jesus that we enjoy great quietness, even in the midst of the din & sin of this world.
Tertullus then said, “very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence.”
The word “providence” is talking about “provision.”
When spoken to Felix, it was nothing but flattery, but when that word is used about Christ and the Father, it takes on its true meaning.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
I don’t know that I have ever used the word “providence” except in the context of the blessings of God.
It is a word which genuinely fits the Lord, and the Lord alone.
“We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness.”
Maybe in some countries there is a day when citizens offer their thanksgiving to their government,
but in civilized societies, “Thanksgiving Day” – whether on the second Monday in October or the fourth Thursday in November –
is a day originally designated as a day of Thanksgiving TO GOD.
So you see, if we straightened out Tertullus’ words, they could very easily be directed toward the Lord.
He was trained to use words to persuade and manipulate people, just like a trial lawyer might try to do.
Tertullus isn’t called a “lawyer” here in this scripture, but that is exactly what he was.
Also I said that from his name, he appears to be a Roman.
And even though he was speaking on behalf of the High Priest and used words like “us” and “we,” he was doing so as a lawyer on behalf of his clients.
There isn’t any indication that he was proselyte, or that he was doing anything more than trying to earn the money which had been promised to him.
Now we come to the gist of my message:
I don’t fully understand the protocol,
Satan was permitted to somehow speak with the Lord.
And then when he was presented with the name of Job, he immediately attacked him.
Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.”
He has said, “I will be like the Most High.”
One of his wiles is to attack, in a variety of ways, the people whom the Lord has called to Himself.
The word “devil” refers to a “slanderer.” “Satan” means “adversary” or “accuser.”
Revelation 12 describes a great upcoming battle:
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, & Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the ACCUSER OF OUR BRETHREN is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
but that man is a graphic picture of the Devil, Satan, the accuser of the brethren.
Just listen to him – “Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words.”
It is only after the permission of the Lord that he can even open his mouth.
It is due to the “clemency” of the Governor that he is given the opportunity to address him.
“Clemency” speaks of the abundant and reasonable patience of the most powerful one in the room.
It implies that Tertullus had no right to speak, but a wonderful exception was being made in his case.
“We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes: who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.”
I remember an ignorant pastor, who refused to support our mission work, because I refused to believe that the Devil was omniscient.
These are traits of God which He has shared with no one; they are “non-communicable attributes.”
So when Jehovah brought up the name of Job, Satan was well-familiar with him.
And now let’s make an application out of those ACCUSATIONS.
“We have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes: who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took, and would have judged according to our law.”
I sincerely doubt that when you and I stand before the “bema” – the Judgment Seat of Christ – that Satan will be there at our left hand to accuse us.
I think that judgment will take place during the Tribulation, and that the Devil is going to be extremely busy.
But there may be a sense in which, just as it was in the day of Job, today Satan is accusing you and me before the throne of God.
And you can be sure that he is well aware of your major sins against the Lord.
When he is given the opportunity, he has enough teeth against you to grind you into hamburger.
And I’m sure that when it comes to pointing out our sins, he probably feels there isn’t much of a challenge.
He has records of some of our biggest lies, but when he brings them to the attention of God, he knows that God knows.
Satan is probably familiar with all the envy and hatred that we have harbored against people.
He knows, and probably indirectly encouraged some of the hurtful things that we have done to others.
But our overt sins are so easy to use against us that the adversary probably thinks that he could send the very least of his demons to adequately do the job.
And that’s because our Saviour is more aware of our sins than even Satan.
No, it’s not our sins that are the challenge to this accuser.
The great challenge to his skill is making our service to the Lord appear to be wicked.
“We have found this man to be a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world.”
As we have seen, just about everywhere Paul went there was trouble.
But that was true only because it was also true of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Paul was preaching the gospel, he was driving the Sword of the Spirit right into the heart of wicked society.
Before men and women can become saints of God, they have to be convinced that they are sinners.
Before people can become children of God, they need to know that they are children of their father, the Devil.
And just as most people get angry when they are called “the sons of this” or “the son of that,”
they get even more angry when they are called “children of the Devil.”
Everywhere Paul went, by preaching Christ, he was preaching against the gods & the religions of the heathen.
“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things . . . Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”
Paul was not only a mover of sedition among the Jews throughout the world, but also among the Heathen.
Yes, he was a trouble-maker, but it was the kind of trouble which was absolutely necessary.
And he was at the same time “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.”
That was just a different way of saying that he was one of the more prominent Christian leaders of his day.
The Jews wouldn’t accuse Paul of being a “Christian,” because that would lend some credence to the opinion that Jesus was the Christ.
“Christian” was a term coined by the heathen of Antioch, and the Jews wouldn’t use such language.
But Jesus was purportedly from Nazareth, Galilee,
and the Jews were convinced that no prophet, and certainly the Messiah, could not come from Galilee,
so they believed that they were putting Jesus in his place by calling him “the Nazarene.”
(Oh, how foolish and ignorant they were.)
Tertullus’ accusation was that Paul was a leader of the Christians, and he hoped that would anger Felix.
But this thoroughly secular Governor couldn’t have cared less about Paul’s religion.
On the other hand, wouldn’t it be wonderful if before the throne of God, the accuser of the saints, in an effort to slander us, accused us of be RINGLEADERS of the sect called “CHRISTIAN?”
And then there was the charge of defiling the temple.
Of course Paul was not guilty of desecrating the temple.
If the proper charge had been made, it should have been that by his presence he made it a holier place.
But this had been the excuse to attack him a week earlier, when they found him “purified in the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult.”
I wonder if Satan would ever consider charging you with defiling the Lord’s temple?
This opens the door to a variety of applications.
There is one that relates to the doctrine that the body of the Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
How much defilement have you brought into that temple of the Lord?
How much poison have you deliberately inhaled, ingested and with which you have infected yourself?
And how much evil, wicked and sinful thought have you entertained?
If your entrance into Heaven was based upon the purity of your body and mind, would be admitted?
And then there is the application which relates to the House of God.
How many times have you come to the church services, mad at the world or angry with the Lord?
How many times have you been unfit to pray, but, when you were asked, you led in prayer anyway.
How many times should you have left your offering and gone to that brother with whom you were angry and been reconciled – before presenting your gift to God?
How many times have you refused to join in the worship service because you were so occupied with the world that you didn’t have the heart to enter the presence of the Lord?
If Satan had access to these things, could he accuse you of defiling the temple of God?
Notice that Tertullus said that the Jews wanted to judge Paul according to their laws, but Claudius Lysias, the servant of the Governor, intervened.
How often would the world like to judge the saint according to its laws?
How many of the children of God have lost their lives to the pope, the communist, the secularist and the atheist?
The world has its little bemas and its kangaroo courts, but the conclusions reached there mean nothing.
What really matters is what the Judge at the Bema Seat of Christ concludes.
And that brings me to my last point:
The wicked High Priest had his corrupt lawyer/accuser Tertullus, but Paul had no man to stand with him.
However, as far as the Christian is concerned, whenever Satan stands to accuse us, we do have our defense lawyer – our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As John wrote: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
The blood which Jesus shed for our redemption was not simply to cover all the sins that we committed prior to the day of our repentance;
The blood of Christ is the remedy for all our sins, past and future.
“Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid!”
But even when the Christian does sin, he has the Perfect Representative standing at his side, before the Father, silencing any accusation which Satan and Tertullus might make against us.
So the question this morning is this: Is, or is not, Jesus Christ is your advocate before the Law of God?
Have you submitted your wretched and sinful case into His hands?
Have you acknowledged and repented of your sin and trusted the wisdom, the sacrifice and the blood of Christ?
If Christ is not your friend and counselor then you are without hope for eternity.
You need the Saviour.