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The Pilgrim Path (8-12-2022)

The Pilgrim Path---Acts 23: 12 – 22

When it was day, the Jews made a plot and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty who made this conspiracy. They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near.”

Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.” So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.” The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?” And he said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him. But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, who have bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.” So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, “Tell no one that you have informed me of these things.”

…WE ARE READY TO KILL HIM

More than forty Jews bound themselves in a pact to kill the Apostle Paul. This was done with the approval of the chief priests and elders. I’m sure they would have said that they were standing for orthodoxy. They were standing for Adonai! They were standing for the Law of Moses against a blasphemer! Yet, when you boil it all down---they simply hated Paul. He “was” the leading representative of The Way---The Sect of the Nazarene. What incredible animosity, bitterness, contempt, disgust, dislike, hostility---they had toward him (vengeance can be an awful idol to bow before). Think about it though: he had been one of them. Now---he belonged to Jesus. They did not understand. But Paul understood. Before he was converted---he had been involved in the arrest---and death of Christians. But the resurrected Christ had changed him. Only Jesus can change such hard hearts! Only Jesus can make such vile hatred vanish---and replace it with love!

My---my---in the same narrative, the stellar providence of Almighty God. Paul’s nephew is where he needs to be---and hears of a “murderous” plot against his uncle. He does not seem to have been that old---because the tribune takes his hand and leads him into a private place for a quiet conversation. The nephew gives a clear and concise word about what is to transpire. Small people often play a “big” place in God’s plans---that is proven over and over. Thank the LORD for their courage and conviction!

From Matthew Henry: What a monstrous idea must these men have formed of Paul, before they could be capable of forming such a monstrous design against him; they must be made to believe that he was the worst of men, an enemy to God and religion, and the curse and plague of his generation; when really his character was the reverse of all this! What laws of truth and justice so sacred, so strong which malice and bigotry will not break through!

From John Duncan: A life of hatred is a life of sin.

From Jeremiah Burroughs: People in their sinful passions break both tables of the law by their woeful distempers and sinful actions, like Moses when he came down in his holy zeal smashing the tables on which the law was written. What reviling speeches, what revengeful thoughts, what words and desperate resolutions are there in times of anger!

The Shorter Catechism, Question 11. What are God’s works of providence?

A. God’s works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

From Stephen Charnock: He hears the words, sees the actions, knows the thoughts, registers the gracious discourses, bottles up the penitent tears, and considers all the ways of men; not a whispered oath, not an atheistical thought, and not a disorderly word, but he knows and marks it. Nothing is acted in the world without the will of God.

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason