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Word from Scotland
by Sandy Shaw
We are in Acts 23 - the scene is Paul - the man of God - the apostle - the servant and slave of the Risen and Living Lord Jesus Christ - on trial for his faith in Jesus Christ. Paul had only been in the city for around 10 days - when he is falsely accused of polluting, contaminating and desecrating the Temple. There is a rumpus and a near riot. He is hustled away by the Roman soldiers for his own safety.
They were going to beat him, flog him, torture him, but when he informs them that he is a Roman citizen, this illegal activity ceases.
The Roman Commanding Officer places him Paul on trial in the Sanhedrin, composed of the 70 top leading lawyers in Jerusalem. We have rushed through these verses in order to get down to verse 11. Consider what happened in that courtroom.
Paul looks at them straight in the eye - and speaks. His conscience was clear in the sight of God. He was cleansed - redeemed - forgiven - anointed with the Holy Spirit - and he is struck on the face. This was uncalled for, but this too may happen to us in the cause of Christ. Paul challenges the legality of the blow.
He expected more from religious leaders. I don't know why. Paul had behaved like that, and worse than that, before he met Jesus Christ, but he was taken by surprise, and again, this can be part of our experience too. We can be taken by surprise at times. What we have to make sure of is that we do not let down others who may expect much from us.
Paul discerns that there are two groups in that courtroom - the conservative Pharisees and the liberal Sadducees. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection - in angels - and in the Holy Spirit. The more liberal Sadducees did not believe in miracles. They did not believe in the supernatural. They said there was no resurrection, and they did not believe in the Holy Spirit. There are many such people around today in religious circles.
Never be ashamed nor embarrassed for believing the whole of The Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. We do not have to feel intellectually inferior for believing the Bible. Having been preaching the Gospel and teaching the Scriptures since 1964, I have never had anyone come and say to me - "That passage is just wrong!" And no-one ever will. Of course, that does not mean every one has believed when I have preached and taught, but no-one has ever shown me where the Scripture is wrong and they never will.
The Bible is an up-to-date authentic authoritative relevant book of which we need never be ashamed.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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