Chris Sales - Paul's Enemies and Friends - Class 4 - Fiery Darts of the Wicked

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1. 0:00

   This is day four of the 2023 Palm Springs Bible School. Our second period teacher is Brother Chris Sales. His general subject is Paul's enemies and allies. And today's topic is fiery darts of the wicked. Brother Chris. Good morning, everyone. So where have we come from? Class one, friends in the truth, friends in the ecclesia, the encouragement that they can give us.

2. 0:25

   And then class two is challenging, right? Enemies within the ecclesia. And that's challenging. So yesterday was friends from outside the ecclesia or those that had experience perhaps, you know, outside the ecclesia. And we've decided that the best title is friends in high places. All right. And how that works. And hopefully you've had some discussions and thought about how that might apply to your life, you know, your sort of sphere of influence.

3. 0:57

   So we're back to enemies today, which is, I think, always a bit more challenging, maybe a bit more negative. I hope it doesn't come across as negative. And so we've entitled it Fiery Darts of the Wicked. You know, enemies from without. And I hope we can, even if I don't say it, I hope you can somehow connect it to your own life.

4. 1:19

   Because that's important. There's no sense studying these things. You know, it's fine to go through the scriptures and get the facts, as it were. But it has to make sense to us today. And, you know, we don't face enemies quite like Paul. At least I haven't had the experience of facing those kind of where people are literally wanting to tear me apart and kill me.

5. 1:40

   They may have wanted to. So you've got to make whatever that is for you, you know, what that means for you. And do you find the same, for example, when we're reading through the Psalms? I've taken a little project where I'm trying to read a psalm every day. And that was great until I came to Bible school.

6. 1:57

   And put it to music and have it so that people can listen to it. And when you do that, I've just been reading the Psalms differently. Do you know how often David talks about his enemies? And, I mean, I guess that was real for David, certainly. At times in his life, he was literally, you know, sword and spear, sling, taken on enemies.

7. 2:18

   But it's got to mean something for us today. So I'm not sure what your enemies are. What you have to combat. You know, we know we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places. You know, there's humanism and there's evolution. And there's all these things that are trying to undermine our faith and tear us down.

8. 2:35

   And however it comes at you, wherever those darts come from, I hope that you can draw that for yourself if I don't bring it out in the class. So, again, just getting our brains sort of going, brainstorming a little bit. Can we think of some of the non-Christian enemies of Paul? Those that were outside the Ecclesia.

9. 2:59

   Demetrius. We're going to spend some time with Demetrius today, for sure. Demetrius the silversmith. Diotrephes is in the third John, which is, well, we're not going to go there, just because that's outside of Paul's experience. But yeah, that type of character, although he was in the Ecclesia. Diotrephes was. Demet. Sorry? Demetrius. Demetrius had left Paul, having, you know, gone to the world, as it were, having desired the things of the world.

10. 3:33

    Hmm. Sorry? Felix. So, he was, you know, Paul had to witness before him, so he was one of the rulers. Felix is an awkward one, because he didn't do Paul any favors much, but he didn't really, you know, he left him bound. We'll come to him a little later today, if either Felix or Festus.

11. 3:55

    Eunice? Sadducees and Pharisees. Okay, the Jews. We're going to lump them all together, that Jewish component that just hated. Read what he was doing, Jeff. It was a bunch of guys that shaved their heads.

12. 4:10

    Couldn't shave until they were there. Oh, those guys. Yeah. There was 40 of them. 40. 40, yes. Yeah, so they were part of that Jewish group. Elemis the Sorcerer. Elemis the Sorcerer. So, we're going to start. Okay. So, there's a bunch. Some names, some not. So, that's the four, sort of, some of them are categories.

13. 4:29

    So, let's go right to Acts chapter 13. This is the first missionary journey. You remember, they were over here in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas and John Mark, they come to Cyprus. And then they come to, they pass through the island. And they come to Paphos, Paphos. And found a certain sorcerer, a false name, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus.

14. 4:51

    Elemis is his other name. We'll see that in a moment. This is interesting. He's a sorcerer. He's Jewish. He's a false prophet. And he's there. So, this is Paul's first missionary journey. This is his first experience that's recorded. And, you know, there's already conflict. All right. So, if you're going to take up your cross and follow Christ, if you're going to be, you know, a preacher of righteousness, you're going to face this in some sphere.

15. 5:20

    And again, it might look differently for each of us. So, this sorcerer had wormed his way into the office. You know, he was a confidant, I guess, of this, the deputy of the country. His name is Sergius Paulus. And he wanted to know stuff. Paul and Barnabas perhaps heard, you know, from the village about this teacher, these two men.

16. 5:45

    And he calls them in. And in verse 8, Elemas, the sorcerer, for sore is his name by interpretation. And this is the key. He withstood them, Paul and Barnabas, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Okay. So, one thing I want to try and bring out today, and we'll see how it goes, is when does Paul react and when doesn't he?

17. 6:09

    When does he take the beating? When does he stand up? You know, how do we navigate through that and whatever that looks like in your life? But this is an important thing. Like, if this guy had met him on the street and kind of challenged him or whatever, I don't know how that interaction would have gone.

18. 6:25

    We'll meet some in a moment that beat Paul. But here, he withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. So, let's pick it up in our Bibles here. So, write your Bibles over to Acts 13. And in verse 9, interestingly enough, this is when we first introduced to Paul. His name is changed.

19. 6:47

    Then Saul, whose name is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him. So, like, this is sort of a full-scale attack now. And I think this was it. This is what the trigger was. Because here, Sir, just Paul is wanting to hear the truth. And this man's in the way.

20. 7:01

    So, get out of the way. All right? It wasn't personal. This was, you know, the reproaches of them that approached thee fell on me. Okay? And he says, O full of subtlety and mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all unrighteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

21. 7:20

    And basically, he smites them with blindness. Okay? Which, there's some irony there. Let's go with that. All right? He's blinded. Okay? For a season. And it says they're a mist of darkness. And he went about looking for someone to lead him by the hand. Which was really what had been happening the whole time.

22. 7:39

    He had been blind the whole time. Groping about in darkness, as it were. Leading this, um, Sergius Paulus astray. Uh, he was a false prophet. Okay? So what, what had, he'd been doing was now manifested in reality in this blindness. And, and I think that's, I think that's significant. Now, for Paul, then it's about, it's about what's true and what's right.

23. 8:02

    And this man had to be, um, dealt with in this way. And so he uses God's power to blind somebody. Now, we don't have that option today. But there's got to be some lesson here. And, and I was, I was thinking about Jesus. You know, he's, he's baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit.

24. 8:22

    It descends upon him like a dove without measure. And what's the first thing that happens? He goes out into the wilderness for 40 days. It's like, okay, how are you going to use God's power? Stones into bread for you because you're hungry? No. Five loaves and two fishes to feed 12,000 people. Good to go.

25. 8:44

    Right? So how are you going to use God's power? And I think this is interesting. On this first missionary journey, Paul is faced with this. Okay. Was this a vendetta personally against this man? What did he, was it pride? You know, oh, listen to me, Paul, you know, don't listen to this guy.

26. 8:58

    I'll show you. Kaboom. I don't think so. It's because he was stood, he was in the way of someone else learning the truth. And so he, it really was an enacted parable in a way by, by smiting this man with blindness. But for Paul, this was important. He had to decide, you know, when do I, when do I sort of protect myself?

27. 9:17

    When do I protect the truth? Okay. And if that's helpful for us in any kind of discussions we have, you know, maybe, maybe it's a, it's a discussion with someone who has a false teaching, but is Christian. How do we conduct ourselves in that? Maybe it's with, you know, someone who, who is an atheist.

28. 9:35

    How do we construct ourselves in that situation? And I, I, hopefully there's some, some exhortation there for us. And of course, verse 12, then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord and, and, and they move on. So then we come to, to Acts 16.

29. 9:55

    Let's flip over a few pages. Again, we're not, we're not necessarily following along chronologically. And they're here in Philippi. And you'll remember in Philippi, there wasn't a synagogue. So they'd gone down by the river where prayer was wont to be made. And they met Lydia. Okay. And there's, that's an amazing story in and of itself.

30. 10:13

    Lydia is probably one of the friends of Paul we could have looked at if we had more time. Okay. She's there in verse 14 and 15. And she wants Paul to come into her house. She's hospitable. It's amazing. And we come along here then. And, and while they're going through the city and, and, and teaching, there's this, this damsel says she's possessed with a spirit of divination.

31. 10:35

    And here's the key. There's something to note here. It, she brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. So it was some sort of fortune telling thing or whatever. And then she was a, it was a freak show, right? And she was controlled by these men and, and doing her thing. But we know that, well, what she'd said, let's just pick it up there.

32. 10:57

    You can just glance, glance your eyes down at there. She said in verse 17, these are servants of the most high God, which show us the way of salvation in her mental state. She was able to cut through all some of the other stuff and she able to, to take Paul and Barnabas at face value and see them for what they were.

33. 11:14

    And this was awkward for Paul coming from, from, from her. And so he has compassion on her and he heals her. Well, when the masters saw that their hope was gone, okay, now they're interested. Now, now Paul and Barnabas have their attention. They probably didn't even know who they were or listened to them much, but it's all about their money.

34. 11:36

    Their, their means of, of, of gain is gone. And so they bring them to the magistrates. And do they say this guy, you know, cured this woman. And so now she's not, doesn't have this power anymore and we've lost our source of income. Is that what they say? No. See, cause this is the thing when, when, when, when dealing with enemies, especially those without scruples, you know, it's not a fair battle because, cause they don't need to, to obey rules, follow protocol.

35. 12:02

    They just get to do whatever they want. But we can't stoop to that level. Okay. That's, that's a challenge. All right. So what do they say? These men, they're Jews. They, they throw in that card. You know, they're out, they're here in Philippi. And there obviously isn't a very big Jewish community cause there's not even a synagogue there.

36. 12:21

    They exceedingly trouble our city. Really? Like doing good things to people and, and preaching and stuff. They teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being Romans. So, you know, they've really loaded this up. Okay. The magistrates take the bait. They get a multitude together and they're beaten.

37. 12:41

    Okay. So we can follow the story here. We ended there in 22, verse 23, 23, they laid many stripes upon them. They cast them into prison. They charged the jailer to keep them safely. He takes his job seriously, puts them in stocks. We know the story. Okay. Okay. So the, the enemies here, um, Paul, Paul doesn't, I think I got on this next slide here.

38. 13:05

    I'm going to hit myself here. He's motivated by compassion for the damsel. Okay. So that's the one thing that his, why did he choose to act in this case? It wasn't again, anything personal. It wasn't for his glorification as it were. He, he, they obviously felt compassion for the damsel who was being taken advantage of.

39. 13:24

    Okay. So they cured her. He doesn't defend himself against the charges. There's no indication there's any, any, any kind of tribunal there. And he doesn't draw the Roman card. Do you notice that yet? Yet. Okay. Why? Why? I mean, there were, it's not that I guess they were sort of true charges, but they were, they were exaggerated and they hadn't done anything unlawful.

40. 13:49

    They'd, they'd heal the girl. You know, she was mentally unstable and now she was sitting and in her right mind as it were. Okay. This wasn't a bad thing they'd done in the eyes of the magistrates for the masters. It was their, their livelihood was gone. Okay. So we got to, we got to sort this out.

41. 14:08

    Of course, this is the great, this would, I mean, if we had the class on Silas, we'd be here, right? They're in prison, you know, falsely accused. They've been beaten. They're locked in, in, in, in chains and in the inner prison. The guy took his charge seriously. So they were, they were safe.

42. 14:25

    They weren't going to escape. And they're, they're praying and singing praises and everyone's hearing them. This is, this is incredible. So, I mean, Paul didn't know this was going to happen, but they, they took, they, they made the most of that, that situation.

43. 14:42

    And then, you know, we know what happens. The earthquake came and the, the man was about to kill himself because he thought everyone escaped. Somehow Paul had the confidence to say, no, we're all here. Like, why didn't all the other prisoners run away? What was going on? Wouldn't you love to know? Like, what happened?

44. 14:56

    Were they so impressed with Paul and Silas? They're like, and Paul said, look, everyone just stay where they are. And they did these hardened prisoners in the inner, like, we don't know a little bit of speculation there, but you know, you got to enter into that story. But, but we do know that, that the jailer was impressed.

45. 15:13

    Okay. And I've highlighted this word stripes. He took them, the, the, the jailer took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. This echoes by Paul stripes, the jailer was healed. Isaiah 53. Okay. So make, maybe look a note of that. I mean, this is, this is, this is Paul, this is incredible.

46. 15:39

    So Paul is, he's not bemoaning the situation. He's not sort of saying, woe is me, or, you know, this isn't about him. He's, he's, he's preaching to this, to this jailer and he's teaching them about the Lord Jesus Christ.

47. 15:57

    And he's like, he's like an object lesson. I'm not a great object lesson guy. We have, we have a couple of brothers in our ecclesia who are just, you know, they'll, they'll just bring an object and like make a point from it and everyone gets it. So how about like your body by his stripes, you're healed.

48. 16:11

    And the jailer's like, wow. Okay. You know, Jesus took upon us, you know, our sin and all those, all those, you know, quoting Isaiah 53. But how about this one? Just keep something there and head over to a Galatians chapter six. I think, I think Paul, and I've, I wrote a note to myself and I'll tell you so that you can help me with this.

49. 16:34

    As we're going through today, I think you can see Paul and Jesus in their lives. Like you could start a list. It'd be, you know, we'd, we'd, we'd run out of time just making a list of the connections. But I think this is one of them. And I think Paul understood it. Galatians chapter six.

50. 16:51

    And let's start, let's start at verse 14. God forbid, or by no means that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, who he's got the crucifixion in mind, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I into the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.

51. 17:16

    And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy upon the God of Israel. From henceforth, let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. He, his body became the object lesson.

52. 17:39

    He born his body, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, when they had, they'd crucified Jesus and they had the apostles brought him before them, Peter and John and, and the others. And they looked at them and said, these are unlearned men. How are they confounding the wisest people in Israel?

53. 17:58

    And what does it say of them? They took knowledge of them that they'd been with Jesus. They said, we've seen this before. Where have we seen this before? Oh, it was that guy we, we crucified. We thought it would solve the problem. He's back right in these people. And, and so does anyone know what that word marks is?

54. 18:18

    Anyone got different translation? I bear in my body, the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ. No. Is that what your version says? A brand? Well, that like, so yeah, like, but the actual Greek word, anyone know? It's like, we get the word stigma. It's like stigmata. Yeah. Okay. He bears the stigma of Jesus as it were.

55. 18:43

    You know, do people see Jesus in us? I guess that's the exhortation, right? Do they, they look and say, you know, why are you the way you are? You remind me of that, that kind of thing. Do we bear the marks? And I think, I think Paul, see, cause he's preaching to Gentiles.

56. 18:59

    They didn't know the story necessarily, and they'd never met Jesus. They could see Jesus in Paul, literally with the marks on his back. I don't know if we ever did that. I don't know what kind of person Paul was. You know, you can imagine if he was a certain kind of characteristic, he might take, pull down his robe and say, that's, that's the marks of Jesus, right?

57. 19:19

    That's what he's done for you. I don't know how he would have used that, but I think that's what's going on here in, in Acts 16. Then of course they, they come along and they say, oh yeah, we're dropping the charges. Would you mind just leaving? And could you do it quietly? Paul's like, we're not going quietly.

58. 19:41

    Do you know you've, you've beaten Romans? And they're like, oh no. Right? Now why did Paul pull out the Roman card later? My suggestion was to protect the Ecclesia.

59. 19:55

    Who have you got there in the Ecclesia right now? You got Lydia, the jailer and his family. And a few convicts. And a few convicts.

60. 20:08

    Yes. Yeah. Those prisoners that didn't leave their cells, where did they go? So, so maybe that's the Ecclesia. Okay. And, and there's people like those, those masters that, you know, and the magistrates. And so Paul's going to make the point. This is not about Paul. I don't think he's protecting the Ecclesia. Like, just be careful what you're going to do.

61. 20:29

    Like, you know, so, and what does he do? They go out of the prison. They go to Beth, the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them. I'm following that through. It's like Paul's comforting the Ecclesia. Paul and Silas. Ah, it's, it's beautiful. And, and, and, and then they moved, then they moved on.

62. 20:48

    So hopefully there's some lessons there for us about, you know, how we interact with those we would consider enemies. Now, this one, and I can see where it's going to be tricky to get through the time, but we'll, so this one, again, we're going to go a little more quickly here. I'm assuming we're familiar with what went down in Ephesus.

63. 21:07

    We've been there a couple of times already. Okay. Why was there the big commotion, the big uproar in Ephesus where the, the, the friends of Paul who were chief men of Asia had to get them out the back door and keep them safe? Well, it was because of this Demetrius. Okay. And what's he all about?

64. 21:25

    No small gain. We have our wealth, you know, idolatry and so on. So again, they bring in some, you know, these, these men are speaking against Diana and that's terrible because, you know, he, she's the true God. No, at the end of the day, it's because their pocketbook was being affected. Okay. So just remember that whoever you're coming in contact with, like, you know, whatever, who are the challenges, whatever challenges you find in your own life and life of your, of your family, it's hard to compete against the almighty dollar.

65. 21:54

    Right. And if it's going to sell a book, you know, who cares if it's going to leave, lead kids or substance abuse. I mean, I think California is kind of like Ontario. Well, Canada, you know, marijuana is now legal. Well, that's not a challenge for our kids, right? Well, it's legal. It must be okay.

66. 22:10

    Right. And I don't want to get into that, but I'm just saying it really, at the end of the day, it's about money. Right. They legalized it because instead of the profits going to the marijuana growers, it's now going to the government, which that's the way it is in Canada. So that's, we have to keep that in mind.

67. 22:24

    So when you're reasoning or when you're, you know, having these challenges, it's hard to compete against those that don't care about protocol and about truth and really are just interested in the bottom line and having a huge profit. Okay. So that's Demetrius. It's all about money and challenges. Now, this came to my mind.

68. 22:46

    What's our attitude to our enemies? How did Paul feel about, you know, someone like Demetrius? Well, he must have, I mean, he's speaking from personal experience here, isn't he? Recompense to no man, evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. This is hard to do. If it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men.

69. 23:05

    I didn't ask you to turn this up, but at least someone with a modern translation to turn this up and help us for this phrase right here. So if someone can do that, if it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men. Some might think, well, you know, that Jeff really rubs me the wrong way.

70. 23:24

    I've really tried. And, you know, it's, I'm at the end of my tether. I, you know, I, it's much, I tried really hard. That's not what that's saying. Have we got a, have we got a, what do you got there, Michael? The ESV. So far as it depends on you. Okay. Was that what you had, Jeff?

71. 23:41

    Good friend of mine. No one been tagging him as in whatsoever. As, so, so just remind me again. So as, as much as possible. So far as it depends on you. As, so, as, so far as it depends upon you. I mean, and there, there's, there's no limit to that. Like there's no excuse to say, well, I tried really hard.

72. 23:57

    And the reason I got angry is because he just run me the wrong way. There is not an excuse. That's not what this is saying. So live peaceably with all men. Are you going to be, are you going to be at peace with everyone? No, there's going to be those colleagues at work or the neighbors who aren't going to live peaceably with you.

73. 24:11

    And it's all on them. Right? So I don't get down that rabbit hole. All right. So avenge not yourselves. Right? Why don't we avenge ourselves? Because vengeance is mine. I'll repay, says the Lord. So I think we see in, in Paul's dealings with people, this is, this is how he, he lives. If your enemy hunger, feed him.

74. 24:33

    Right? This is the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Love your enemies. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. You know, never fall into the trap of sort of fighting evil with evil. I think that's Paul's attitude towards these, these enemies. And there's some exhortation for us. Now, this is a very busy slide and I'm going to go through it really quickly.

75. 24:55

    It's a little bit of speculation, but here's my thinking. So in 2 Timothy 4 verse 14, Paul says, Alexander the coppersmith did much, did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. He's the, you know, vengeance is mine. I'll repay, says the Lord. Of whom thou also beware, for he hath greatly withstood our words.

76. 25:16

    So a couple of things. Timothy is in Ephesus and he's, Paul's writing to him. And Demetrius the silversmith that we just looked at in the previous verse. In my brain, I'm like, okay, Alexander coppersmith, Demetrius silversmith. Maybe there's something going on there. Okay? Okay?

77. 25:35

    And here, Paul's exhortation, this is the end of Timothy. Note that. 2 Timothy 4. We have to leave it up to God to reward him according to his works, but we don't have to be stupid about it. Okay? Be aware of him. Okay? We have to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves.

78. 25:54

    Okay? So I think there's some exhortation there. Now, here's the, here's the speculation. Don't try and scribble this all down. You can, I can give this to you later, whatever. Alexanders. Okay? This is Alexander the coppersmith. If the following passages all refer to the same Alexander, because it's never, there's only Alexander the silver, sorry, coppersmith in the one verse.

79. 26:16

    It builds quite a story. So let's just go on this little diversion, little ride here. You'll remember that when Jesus couldn't carry his cross, they compelled one Simon, the Cyrenian to bear the cross after him. And he's the father of Alexander and Rufus. Just let that, think that through. Rufus, if it's the same Rufus, unless Rufus is a common name, became a believer because in, and that was Mark 15, 21, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

80. 26:47

    Romans 16, 13, salute Rufus chosen in the Lord. So we know Rufus came into the truth. I mean, Simon carried the cross behind Jesus, right? He didn't carry it for him. So he's there. Talk about seeing the marks of the Lord. You know, he's looking at the back of Jesus. He's following in his footsteps.

81. 27:08

    I think what a testimony that would be. So perhaps his sons and his whole family came into the truth because of that experience. He was coming out of the country, got turned around and headed back the other way. That's a whole nother story. Now, back in Ephesus during this riot, remember the leader said, Paul, don't go down into the theater.

82. 27:29

    But they grabbed this guy named Alexander out of the multitude. And he's a Jew. And he starts to talk. And the people are like, we're not listening to a Jew. Greatest man of the Ephesians and so on. So there's a guy named Alexander in Ephesus. I'm suggesting he may have been partners with Demetrius.

83. 27:47

    Just go in there with their all, you know, silversmiths and coppersmiths. There is a person named Alexander who in 1 Timothy chapter 1 had to be disfellowshipped.

84. 28:00

    I'm building a bit of a story here, but it's kind of fun. And the reason is, is because his faith was shipwreck. So potentially, the experiences in Ephesus caused this Alexander to leave his coppersmith ways, idol-making ways, and accept the truth. But then maybe the lure of the lack of wealth, he may be, you know, Demetrius said to him, come on, Alexander, like, what are you doing?

85. 28:30

    He may be, is disfellowshipped, and then doesn't take that well. And then, well, I'll just put the last one up here too, because we've already got it at the top. He perhaps tried to, well, he couldn't serve God and mammon, and mammon won out. Maybe. Maybe. So Alexander the coppersmith, a bunch of Alexanders, maybe they're the same person.

86. 28:53

    The geography is right, because it's in Ephesus there. Just a thought. And I guess, yes, it is, it's some speculation. But this would have potentially been really hurtful to Paul. Just think about that. This Alexander the coppersmith did him much evil. And, you know, if he was someone who was a coppersmith, accepted the truth, and then turned against the very ones he was working with, that could be hurtful.

87. 29:20

    And Paul was obviously saddened by that. You know, I think it's important for us to just work through that, because maybe we have people that were close to us and, you know, had affiliations and now are our enemies. And we know that that can hurt. So just something to think about. Not that I like to raise things that are, you know, maybe controversially only cause discussion, but discuss it amongst yourselves later.

88. 29:44

    Okay. Okay. Our second, so those were sort of pagan enemies. That's what I kind of, those pagan enemies. The second, the second half of my talk, which has to last 15 minutes, is the Jewish side of things. Now, we've seen a lot of this already in class two with the Jews that were, you know, the sect of the Pharisees, which believed.

89. 30:07

    Okay. And they brought Paul much grief. We're now looking at the sect of the Pharisees, which don't believe. So these are enemies from without. And it started way back there in Damascus. So his first interaction with an enemy from without was Eliam as a source for a bar Jesus on his first missionary journey.

90. 30:32

    This is his first preaching campaign of any sort, right? He's in Damascus. He's just been converted. Okay. And he is increasing in strength in, is this Acts 9, 18 to 23-ish. He's confounding the Jews. I mean, what a testimony. I mean, think about it. There's a little bit of an exhortation for us.

91. 30:54

    Whatever your experience is, your life circumstances that brought you to where you are today, use that as a witness and a testimony. Tell people why you came to Bible school. Tell people why Jesus means something in your life. Like, Paul, what a testimony. I mean, he could confound the Jews all right. He knew all their arguments.

92. 31:16

    He'd been a Pharisee. They didn't stand a chance at debating with Paul, if you like, or arguing with him or trying to convince which is right or wrong. They didn't stand a chance. So what did they resort to?

93. 31:31

    Violence. Right? That's the only thing. And they became bullies. They had to. They took counsel to kill him. And, of course, he has to flee from Damascus. So that's just getting going. And it's never going to end. There's a little bit of a respite in Athens and in Greece where it seems there's a bit more openness to discussing things.

94. 31:50

    Not that there was more opportunity of a success in terms of preaching. But it seems some of the persecution backed off. But from this day forward, the Jews took counsel to kill him. Acts chapter 9 to Acts 28. They just never stop. And, again, we'll go through some of these fairly quickly. We've been here before.

95. 32:13

    One thing to note, when you get to Acts 13, the first missionary journey, they come across from Cyprus into Pamphylia. There's another Antioch, which can confuse things. So this is called Antioch in Pisidia. And they go there. And just watch what happens as we go through this. They preach. They go to the synagogue first.

96. 32:32

    When the Jews saw the multitudes, because everyone wanted to hear what Paul was doing, they were filled with envy. So there's a couple of exhortations, I guess, for us.

97. 32:42

    What does it say about Pilate with his understanding of why Jesus was standing in front of him? Pilate knew it was for envy. The charges were nothing. He knew it was envy. So two things. Watch our own selves. Examine ourselves if we feel our kind of blood boiling in whatever situation, ecclesial or non-ecclesial.

98. 33:09

    What is it that's stirring those feelings? Hold that in check. And if it's envy. And also remember when someone kind of reacts against you. Realize that they're being motivated by the same challenges that we face. And it doesn't make it right, but at least we can understand maybe where they're coming from. So they're filled with envy.

99. 33:28

    And then just look at this. I'll just unroll this one here. Acts 14. They literally go from place to place. He's in Antioch. And the Jews are filled with envy. So he, following the commands of the Lord, when they persecute in one city fleet to another. So he goes to Iconium. Has trouble in Iconium.

100. 33:45

     Goes to Lystra. And you can just follow it. Everywhere he goes, the unbelieving Jews, certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium had come to Lystra. And of course that's where they healed the lame man. They were proclaimed gods. And they said, I don't know what gods were. We're just normal people. And they're teaching the people the truth.

101. 34:02

     The Jews come along and they stone Paul and throw him out of the city or get him stoned by. So they are literally dogging his steps. They're tracking him wherever he goes. And Paul just keeps moving. He just keeps moving. And I think, you know, maybe there's some exhortation there for us. But it is relentless.

102. 34:23

     And it goes on when the truth comes to Europe. You know, when he gets down to Athens here, there's a bit of a reprieve. In Mars Hill we looked at yesterday. But they're still following him through. And again, the place names here, what they're called isn't significant. But, you know, they're going from all these places.

103. 34:42

     And it's always the Jews, which believe not, are just tracking him. And even off here and now into what we call Europe today. So Asia, you know, Europe, they're following his steps. And giving him a hard time all along the way. Now, let's just open to Acts 17. We were there yesterday. Just to make this point, there seems to have been a little bit of a reprieve as he comes to Athens.

104. 35:11

     It says in verse 17 of Acts 17. And there was a Jewish synagogue there in Athens. And with the devout persons and in the marketplace daily with them that met him. And certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, what will this Bible say? And others says, he seems to be a setter forth of strange gods.

105. 35:41

     Because he had these two weird gods. One named Jesus and one named resurrection. Okay, and they're just like, resurrection was, you know, to the Jews it was a stumbling block. To the Greeks it was foolishness. Who needs resurrection when you got like an immortal soul? Right? Greek mythology didn't need resurrection. So, but there's no indication here that there was persecution.

106. 36:04

     And there's no indication that the Jews that had chased them all through here made it down to Athens. So there was something different. And I think this is maybe what we face. Where people just want to tell and hear some new thing. Do you have friends like this? Right? They don't mind hearing what you believe.

107. 36:21

     They're not going to change. And they're like, that's kind of crazy. I don't know what you'd do. But is that easier or harder to convince someone of? I'm not sure. We live in this sort of tolerant society, right? Where everything goes. Superboss.

108. 36:38

     Anything goes. It's okay. No worries. No worries. I'm a school teacher. I tell people, you know, try and distract me. You know, good luck with that. Right, Sean? It's impossible. And if you think I'm offended by you looking at your phone, if that was the case, I would have retired 30 years ago.

109. 37:01

     And not just one year ago. Right? So I get it. And I know I'm saying stuff and people are checking it out on their phone. Like, that's not quite right. And your mind's going, that's totally fine. And everything I say is not like, well, you've got to get every little bit of a thing.

110. 37:14

     So no problem whatsoever. I get it. Now, some of my colleagues wouldn't. I have some pretty hardcore colleagues that, you know, you've got to check your phone at the door before they come in. And, you know, all power to them. But I could never do that. But you've distracted me. No.

111. 37:31

     There seems to have been a reprieve here in Athens. And our tolerant society means that we can usually preach unmolested. We'll see where that goes. Because the world's saying, well, we tolerate everything unless you're intolerant to something. And then you're a problem. And it's free speech as long as it's not against what we think.

112. 37:52

     And so it's going to get interesting. Okay? And I don't know where that's going to go and how it's going to affect your public witness. When you get challenged by someone at work, what do you think about this issue or that issue? Talk to Sean if you want to find out, you know.

113. 38:07

     That's why he retired. All right? So, but nonetheless, there seems to have been a bit of a reprieve for him here in Athens. Was he more successful? I don't know. You know, what's this babbler saying? And remember, some clave to him at the end there. He gets back, and this is where we were yesterday.

114. 38:25

     And we'll try and get through this quickly so we can highlight some things. He gets back to, they sort of let him go there when he was in Athens, but they re-engaged. The Jews are laying waiting for him in Acts 20. The Jews were to Asia. They're the ones in Jerusalem now, stirring up trouble.

115. 38:41

     Paul's in there with some brethren, fulfilling this vow. And it's the Jews from Asia. They've tracked him all this way back to Asia, to Jerusalem. And they're the ones that stir up the trouble and almost get him killed. And in 22, you know, they lifted up their voices. Away with such a fellow from the earth.

116. 38:57

     It's not fit for him that he should live. Here's a connection to Jesus. Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him. Crucify him. You know, Jesus and Paul had this connection. And Paul would have, I guess, been encouraged that he's just simply going through. You know, if they called the master of the house Beelzebub, what are they going to do with his followers?

117. 39:19

     And so, not that we look for persecution. I think that's wrong. But if we're living a Christ-like life, if we're manifesting the fruits of the Spirit, there's going to be some pushback on that. We're going to rub some people the wrong way. But we can remember that Jesus had those same experiences. And in Acts 23, you know, this is when the chief captain came in.

118. 39:41

     We looked at him yesterday as well. Paul was literally about to be pulled in pieces. And this is a good one. This is one of the councils before one of the rulers, Felix or Festus. And they bring in this turtleist, this orator, right? Talk about a political speech. That guy just dripped. You cringe when you read that speech?

119. 40:01

     The guy is like, ugh. But what did he say? We found this man, this Paul, a pestilent fellow. You know, he's worried to die because we don't like him. Like, it's so flimsy, the argument. But, you know, they wanted to silence him. He's a mover of sedition among the Jews throughout all the world.

120. 40:18

     A ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. Let's see how many things we can throw out there. You know, Christadelphians are a cult. Just throw that one out there. And that you'll turn your friends off, right? If they hear that from another friend or they Google it. All right? Whatever it takes to undermine it.

121. 40:33

     And it's hard to... We can't fight fire with fire. We need to just speak the truth. And I think that's what Paul does. And then, of course, this one. You know, Felix, who had some sympathy towards Paul. We get the sense of that. But willing to show the Jews a pleasure. All right?

122. 40:52

     It's all political. It's hard to combat that. And so Paul just goes along with it. So I was trying to think of some, you know, some exhortation for us. Like, how did Paul feel about these Jewish enemies? And we're going to talk about them a little bit more tomorrow in our final class.

123. 41:07

     So these things came to mind. You know, he loved his brethren. The Jews. He had a natural affinity towards them. Even though Jesus said, I'm sending you to the Gentiles. He still went to synagogues time and again. And this is what he says. We'll let Paul answer the question. He says, I say the truth in Christ.

124. 41:24

     This is Romans 9. I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. That I have a great heaviness and continue sorrow in my heart. And I wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. He's willing to lay down his life for his natural brothers.

125. 41:45

     These are the ones that were tracking his steps. Having him stoned in Leicester. Having him pulled apart in Jerusalem. You know, undermining everything that he did. Somehow he maintained this attitude. You know, he bore about him the marks of Jesus, as it were. And it's like, I'd die for them. He's just following the commands of Jesus, isn't he?

126. 42:07

     Love your enemies. And he says, you know, these... And look, he says, there's so much going for them. They're blind. Blindness in part has happened to Israel, right? They've got that veil over their eyes. He would write all these things. And he says, look, they've got the covenants. They've got the glory. They've got the law.

127. 42:25

     It's all there. What was the missing piece for the Jew then and the Jew today? What's the missing piece? Jesus. The Messiah. Jesus is Christ. Messiah. Right? Jesus is both Lord and Christ. That was the missing piece. But look at Paul's feeling towards them. And these were his arch enemies.

128. 42:50

     Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. That was what motivated Paul every step of the way. That they might be saved. And that has to be our motivation. Why do we talk to our colleagues? Why do we talk to our friends? You know, why do we talk to our neighbors?

129. 43:06

     We want them to be saved. And if what they're believing, whether it's, you know, a false teaching in Christianity or whether it's like humanism, it's hindering them from being saved. We can't argue because we want to be right and we're going to show them how they're wrong. I don't think that's going to be successful.

130. 43:21

     But if our motivation is that they might be saved, then I think there's some exhortation for us. And we were talking about this at the breakfast table. This is Romans 10 verse 2. Because these Jews, these ones that are trying to have him killed, he says, I bear them record, they have a zeal of God.

131. 43:39

     You know, their motivation is kind of right. The application of it is obviously wrong. But they have a zeal according to God, but not, they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. And this is the key. And maybe there's some self-reflection for us here as well. And of course, this is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

132. 44:04

     Right? What's the Pharisee saying? I'm so awesome because I do all these things and I'm not like that dude over there. Right? This is it. They are ignorant of God's righteousness. Because you know this parable is all about righteousness. We'll come back to that. They go about to establish their own righteousness. And have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

133. 44:32

     And you know, if the unjust steward might be a little bit here. And we were just talking, I was just talking to Ethel before this. You know, they seek to establish their own righteousness. And it's as if God says, see how that works out for you. How's that going for you? Because it doesn't really work.

134. 44:49

     Oh, you can try, you can put on the robes, you can like do all the stuff. But you know at your heart that it hasn't affected your heart. Okay? So this guy is establishing his own righteousness. And he's listing off all the things he did. And the one way you can establish your own righteousness is by looking, finding people that are worse than you and looking down on them.

135. 45:10

     Because then you're lifted up. What did this guy say? Smote his heart or his breast and said? The seven word prayer, right? God be merciful to me, a sinner. And then what does the passage go on to say? This man went down to his house justified. And what's justified mean? Made righteous. So this guy who's trying to establish his own righteousness didn't work.

136. 45:40

     Oh, he thought he was okay. He was the 99 sheep that need no repentance. He's the older brother. He's perhaps the unjust steward. This man went down to his house justified because he knew he had to submit, submit themselves to the righteousness of God. But this was Paul's attitude. And if we could do that in whatever sphere we have conflict, if we can say, well, look, I can see where they're coming from.

137. 46:08

     Their application, what they're doing is wrong. And I need to help them through that. But I appreciate where they're coming from. And I'm not going to sort of hold that against them at that part of it anyway. Because I've been there. I remember that time I spoke out of turn or I said mean words or I was trying to make myself feel better.

138. 46:29

     And so I lashed out at them. Again, whatever it is, take it in your own life and try and make something of that. Put yourselves in their shoes. They always say, you know, walk a mile in another person's shoes. You know why that's good? Because when you get there, you're a mile away from them and you have their shoes.

139. 46:50

     That's terrible. That's terrible. Okay. I have no idea where that came from. That is not in my notes, I can guarantee you. Okay, we're wrapping up. This is the last one. I have no idea what time it is. Okay, we're not bad. Michael's not got the hook out yet. Okay, so above all, taking the shield of faith.

140. 47:13

     It's the shield of faith that withstands the fiery darts of the wicked. It's our faith. You know, you go toe-to-toe with these guys based on your own. Oh, I'm smarter than them. I got all the answers. You might win. You might lose. But you won't be successful. We withstand these fiery darts of the wicked from the shield of faith.

141. 47:32

     So what lessons can we take away from Paul and his enemies? Focus on the message. Just keep speaking the truth. You know, in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves. In meekness instruct those. You know, the message is what's important. It's not about us. Don't return evil for evil. But be aware and wise about the workings of the enemy.

142. 47:54

     And that was the thing about, you know, Alexander the coppersmith has done much evil. And, you know, perhaps he's the one that had been disfellowshipped. But be aware of him. You know, and I think that's important that this passage here comes to mind. You know, in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11, lest Satan should take an advantage of us.

143. 48:11

     We are not ignorant of his devices. And that's twofold. We know that Satan is an adversary. So there are external adversaries. These are enemies. So be wise as serpents. Don't put yourself in harm's way unnecessarily. But harmless as doves. Okay? But also, you know, be aware for yourself. Know what triggers you have and what sets you off.

144. 48:34

     And, you know, we know what we're like. And don't, we're not ignorant of his devices, our own personal devices. Because we can be taken advantage of it if we allow our anger or our pride to kind of rise to the fore. And don't be political. You know, propaganda, power struggle, playing the game.

145. 48:57

     I know that's sort of some code language. I don't know how that would maybe translate in other languages. I think everyone in this room understands what I mean when I say whatever circumstances, whether the enemies, whatever, you know, what's at work or in your home or in your ecclesia or, you know, your neighbors, whatever.

146. 49:12

     Don't get caught up in playing this game of politics. Because Paul saw it happening all around him. And he never played it. So, thanks for that.