Acts 25 Message

“I Appeal To Caesar!”

Acts 25: 1-27 Lesson 28
Key verse 25:11 By Jay Irwin NIU UBF 2/8/09

“If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!”

In today’s passage Paul stands on trial before governor Festus. The Jewish religious leaders were plotting to murder him, but God protected Paul and put words in his mouth as he testified boldly to the resurrection of Jesus. This passage teaches us important lessons regarding the justice of God, God’s protection, and the difference that faith in the resurrection makes in our lives. I pray that each of us may understand what it means to have the justice of God in our hearts and stand firm in any adverse situation. Let’s pray.

Part I, Paul’s trial before Governor Festus

The first 5 verses of chapter 25 paint a grim picture for us of Paul’s situation after having been arrested for preaching the gospel. Look at verses 1-5. Let’s read these verses responsively, “1Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, 2where the chief priests and Jewish leaders appeared before him and presented the charges against Paul. 3They urgently requested Festus, as a favor to them, to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way. 4Festus answered, "Paul is being held at Caesarea, and I myself am going there soon. 5Let some of your leaders come with me and press charges against the man there, if he has done anything wrong." The Jewish religious leaders were still operating under their oath to ambush and kill Paul. They had been looking for a way to fulfill their plan, but had no way of doing so until now. When Festus became the new governor of the land, they thought they could get Festus to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem for a trial there. Their request seemed honest and simple, but their motives were devious and they would kill Paul on his way there. God knew of this evil plan, and blocked Paul from being transferred. Festus insisted that he would listen to Paul at Caesarea where Paul was being held in prison. God protected his servant Paul from the evil plots of the religious leaders.

This teaches us that God is a God who protects his servants and people. God protected many other prophets as well throughout history. When David was being pursued by king Saul, God protected David on numerous occasions. One time is psalm 41 he said, “The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.” David trusted that God would protect him from all harm, especially from his immediate enemies. God is also protecting his servants today in our times. Can you think of ways that God has protected you or is protecting you these days?

Personally, I can see God’s hand of protection upon my life these days as well. God protected Carrie and I financially despite the hard economic times by allowing me to get hired at the Geek Squad and Carrie to get a temporary Spanish job at Geneva high school. He also recently blessed us with an apartment to make a spiritual environment and an inheritance from Carrie’s grandmother, this will help us as we prepare for the new baby boy on the way, due in June. God has also helped me to find spiritual protection from the devil’s temptations through my new year’s key verse Psalm 143:9, “Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in you.” I also pray for God’s protection upon my Bible students, Danny, Anthony, and Mark so that they would continue faithful Bible study and grow in God’s words. Let’s pray that God would open our eyes to see his protection in our day to day lives and give thanks to him for it.

Look at verses 6-7, Augustine can you read those verses for us please, “6After spending eight or ten days with them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he convened the court and ordered that Paul be brought before him. 7When Paul appeared, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.” The Jews accused Paul vehemently before governor Festus, but they could not prove anything they were saying. This probably means that they had no witnesses, nor did they have specific details such as times, dates, people, or places. Their claims were exaggerations and farces that they were using to try to make a case for Paul being guilty of committing a crime. They might have accused him with remarks like, “He causes uproars and riots among our people everywhere!”, “He disgraces and dishonors the Jewish religion by preaching about the resurrection of Jesus!”, “He brings Gentiles into the temple courts, defiling the holy temple!”, “He claims that there is a king greater than Caesar, named Jesus who was crucified some time ago!” We are not sure what they said exactly, but we do know that their charges were serious.

In verse 8 Paul makes his defense to the Jews’ accusations by saying, “8…"I have done nothing wrong against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar." In reality, such a bold and clear response did not come from Paul but from the Holy Spirit, for Jesus himself promised his disciples in Mark 13:11 saying, “11Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”

At times we too are at a loss as to what to say in difficult situations. When we are inviting students to Bible study on campus, sometimes we are not sure how to invite them exactly. Or when we talk to our family members about the gospel, at times we are not quite sure about what to say or how to say it. Likewise, sometimes the problems that people have are overwhelming to us and we don’t even know how to respond to them. Well, such situations are perfect opportunities for us to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us just the right words to speak to them.

Paul clearly explained that he had not done anything wrong against the Jewish law, the temple, or Caesar. Paul used to be a Pharisee and he deeply respected God’s laws. As a follower of Jesus, he lived by faith, but he also still upheld the law in his practical life. Likewise, Paul had not brought Trophimus into the temple area as the Jews had assumed, instead he had only been seen together with him. He preached about Jesus not as a political king or as a rival to Rome, but as a spiritual king whose kingdom was not of this world. Festus replied by saying in verse 9, "…Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there on these charges?" There was no reason for Paul to need to go back to Jerusalem to be tried again. Festus wasn’t really interested in seeing justice done regarding Paul’s case, he only wanted to do the Jews a favor and look good in their eyes. It was clear that Paul was innocent and that the charges brought against him were exaggerated and ungrounded. This was an official roman court, but justice was nowhere to be found; instead it was full of a spirit of false accusation and condemnation. How did Paul answer Festus’ question?

Sarah, can you read verses 10-11a please, “Paul answered, “I am now standing before Caesar's court, where I ought to be tried. I have not done any wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well. 11If, however, I am guilty of doing anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if the charges brought against me by these Jews are not true, no one has the right to hand me over to them…" Paul repeated himself by saying he had done nothing wrong. He also understood that in court justice should be done. It is just for a guilty criminal to be punishment for his crimes, while an innocent criminal should be released without being punished. Paul was not afraid to die, and would accept death as the just punishment for any crime he might have committed.

Paul’s trial before governor Festus makes us think about issues of justice and righteousness. In this world, Paul was accused falsely and condemned. In this world Satan accuses people night and day. The devil is our accuser and he accuses people before God constantly. He makes us feel that we are condemned, and he enslaves us by our fear of death. Spiritually speaking, we are treated very unjustly by the devil and by the principle of this world if it were not for Jesus and his infinite justice. God is a God of justice, who saves us from the unjust treatment of the devil. The Bible declares that the foundation of the kingdom of God is justice and righteousness. Psalm 84:19 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” After meeting Jesus personally God put his justice and righteousness in Paul’s heart. Before, Paul had trusted in his own legalistic righteousness and tried to be justified based on his own good works. But he was only left feeling condemned and enslaved by his covetous desires. He must have felt guilty and burdened like a man on trial, but he came to put his faith fully in the righteousness that came from God through the blood of Jesus. Through this, Paul could have a clear sense of God’s justice which vindicated him before God and made him bold and fearless before these corrupted leaders. Even though he was guilty as a sinner before God’s court, having broken God’s holy laws, he was not afraid or intimidated by their condemning accusations. Instead, he stood his ground and believed that God would justify him and would make things right, even though that is not what was being done throughout his court case. God was on his side, and in God’s way justice would be done. God had freed him from spiritual condemnation in his heart that came from his sins. Though men tried to accuse him, God forgave him completely. And God would bring about his perfect justice through it all.

It is very important for us to trust in the justice of God in our lives as well. God is just, which means that he always does what is right. When people sin they feel guilty and their consciences condemn them. To sin is to commit a crime against God and it requires that we be punished and even put to death. Imagine if you were on trial in God’s court for all the crimes you committed throughout your lifetime, what would you say in your defense? Through we would try to say a lot, honestly, none of us would have anything to say except, “I’m guilty!”

However, Christ died in our place and took the punishment upon himself that we all deserved. His death frees us from the condemnation of our own hearts and consciences which always accused us before we knew Jesus personally. Jesus came to make the guilty innocent and to take all the offenses of humanity upon himself. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” When we repent of our sins and trust God’s justice given through Christ, then God does what is right; he frees our hearts from guilt and condemnation and we can be free to testify boldly about Christ in any situation.

Does the devil ever accuse you of things you have done wrong? How do you respond to such accusations? Are you ever accused by worldly people falsely? How do you respond to them? We should respond with humility and boldness, being firm in our faith in the justice and righteousness of God that Christ brought into our lives. We should not be intimidated or pushed around, but instead we should overcome the world with the grace that God has poured out into our hearts. We should be bold not to justify ourselves, but bold to proclaim the gospel. I pray that all of us today would trust in God’s justice and that God will do what is right and just in our lives.

One example of trusting in God’s justice can be seen in the life of a young Pakistani girl named Shafia. Voice of the Martyrs wrote about her heart-moving story. Her brother was killed and she was held captive by a violent kidnapper who tried to force her to convert from Christianity to Islam. In a section entitled “Trusting God’s justice” she shared her experience, she said,

“Previously, when I was pursuing my court case against my brother’s killers and against the person who raped me, I did not forgive them. I wanted to take revenge… Then, I read and heard in the Word that we should forgive our persecutors. It was very difficult for me to forgive them. This took about a year. Now, I have forgiven those who persecuted me. The Lord can do anything. He will do justice with me.” (VOM Feb 09, pg. 5)

Shafia found that through trusting in God’s justice in her life, she could forgive those who had wronged her and she could have peace for the future. Although she had been wronged by people, God had made things right in her heart. She knew that God would work things out in her life and would bring about his righteousness for her in his good time. This is the same work that God wants to do in our lives as well. We can know that even though we may have to pass through many injustices during this life, God has filled our hearts with his righteousness and justice. He is preparing us for life in the eternal kingdom to come where his justice and righteousness will endure forever.

Then, empowered by God’s grace, justice, and wisdom from the Holy Spirit, Paul makes a bold statement by saying, “I appeal to Caesar!” Festus talked things over with his council, and being bound by Roman law, could only consent to Paul’s appeal to Caesar. So, Festus said, “…You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!"

The decision of Festus to send Paul to Caesar in Rome was actually God’s will. Because of the fact that Paul was a roman citizen, he had the right to have his case heard by Caesar himself in Rome. This would be like someone requesting that their case be heard by the Supreme court. But when we think about the bigger picture here, we know that God was working to send the gospel to all nations. What better way to send the gospel out than to have Paul sent to Rome, protected from the murderous Jewish leaders so that Paul could share the gospel with numerous Roman rulers, and even Caesar himself. If these leaders accepted the gospel then this would have a great impact on Rome and even the whole world, since Rome was the most powerful nation on earth at that time.

Part II, Festus consults king Agrippa about Pauls’ case

After a couple days, King Agrippa and Bernice came to honor governor Festus. Festus spoke to Agrippa about Paul’s case, telling him about how the Jews had accused Paul and how Paul had defended himself. Carrie, can you read verses 18-19 "18When his accusers got up to speak, they did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected. 19Instead, they had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.” Festus didn’t fully know how to handle Paul’s case since the Jews were accusing Paul of numerous religious issues, which were things he was not familiar with. From Festus’ account, the Jews saw Jesus as “…a dead man…”, but Paul saw Jesus as one who was alive. This distinction reveals what difference faith in the resurrection makes in our lives.

The resurrection proves that Jesus did not die in vain and that everything he said was true. Jesus had not just died randomly like any old criminal on the cross, nor had he suffered pointlessly at the San Hedrin. Rather, Jesus had overcome sin, death, hell, and the grave by his powerful resurrection from the dead and was now alive. The message of the resurrection stuck in Festus’ mind as the key point of what Paul was on trial about.

Sometimes, it seems hard to know how believing in Jesus’ resurrection makes a difference in our lives today. The Bible says that Jesus died and rose again, but what difference does that make to us? The difference is that worldly people are influenced by us through our faith in the resurrection. If Paul would have never converted from Judaism to Christianity, governor Festus, king Agrippa, and many other Roman leaders would have never have heard the gospel. Through the resurrection Paul’s life was totally changed around.

God also wants to change our lives around entirely too, but that can only happen when we fully accept and believe that Jesus not only died, but that he also rose again. Our Christian life doesn’t stop at the forgiveness of our sins, instead it continues on with the victorious life over sin and death that Jesus wants to live out in us through the power of his resurrection. Faith in the resurrection is what makes us have an impact in the lives of unbelievers. Our friends might not remember a lot about us, but they will remember that we believe in a living Lord with whom we have a dynamic love relationship. Let’s pray that each of us may believe in the resurrection of Jesus and see what a difference that makes in our lives this week and beyond.

Agrippa requested to hear Paul for himself, so Festus made arrangements for Agrippa and the others who had come to stay there to hear Paul for themselves. In verses 23-27, we see the introduction to Paul’s trial before king Agrippa and numerous other Roman officials. Festus confessed that he had found nothing in Paul deserving the death penalty, and that he hoped that something definite could be written about Paul’s case as the arrangements were made to send him off to Caesar.

In conclusion, Acts 25 teaches us that God protects us in adverse situations. We should trust that God will give us words and wisdom to say in difficult situations through the Holy Spirit. It also reminds us of what God did through Christ to justify us and make us righteous despite our wrongs and crimes against heaven. Through trusting in God’s justice, our hearts are made strong and bold. Finally, we learned that faith in the resurrection makes a difference in our lives by allowing us to make an impact upon those around us.

One Word: Trust in God’s justice