Acts 23:1-10<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin\u00a0and said, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience\u00a0to this day.\u201d\u00a02\u00a0At this the high priest Ananias\u00a0ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.\u00a03\u00a0Then Paul said to him, \u201cGod will strike you, you whitewashed wall!\u00a0You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck!\u201d\u00a0 4\u00a0Those who were standing near Paul said, \u201cHow dare you insult God\u2019s high priest!\u201d\u00a0 5\u00a0Paul replied, \u201cBrothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest; for it is written: \u2018Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 6\u00a0Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees\u00a0and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I am a Pharisee,\u00a0descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.\u201d\u00a07\u00a0When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.\u00a08\u00a0(The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection,\u00a0and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)\u00a0 9\u00a0There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees\u00a0stood up and argued vigorously. \u201cWe find nothing wrong with this man,\u201d\u00a0they said. \u201cWhat if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?\u201d\u00a010\u00a0The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cPaul looked straight at the Sanhedrin\u00a0and said, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience\u00a0to this day.\u201d<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 When Paul was before the Sanhedrin he was just where he wanted to be.\u00a0 The Sanhedrin was like the Supreme Court in the United States.\u00a0 Paul was not intimidated because he knew that he was bearing the truth that was for all and because he knew the Lord was with him.\u00a0 In a court we know that usually the prosecution speaks first but here Paul, the accused, spoke first.\u00a0 He could not wait to start on this opportunity to again share the Truth with them in hopes that they would receive salvation.\u00a0 Paul was relentless in his witnessing and his hope in the saving power of the Gospel was untiring.<\/p>\n
When addressing the Sanhedrin, which was populated by Sadducees and Pharisees, Paul started out by calling them \u201cbrothers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Normally, a person addressing this august governing body, out of respect, called them \u201cfathers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul was raised as a Pharisee and received his education under the imminently respected Gamaliel.\u00a0\u00a0Paul had risen to the upper echelons of Jews and he addressing the Sanhedrin as \u201cbrothers\u201d may well be indicative that he once also belonged as a member of them, or at least was considered a peer of them.<\/p>\n
Paul states that he has fulfilled the duty God has called him to in \u201call good conscience to this day.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Some wonder how he could say that he had a good conscience in light of the fact that he once persecuted Christians to have them beaten and killed.\u00a0\u00a0Yet we know that Paul is not reticent about his life before becoming as those he persecuted as even in\u00a0Acts 22:4<\/b>\u00a0he confesses to it.\u00a0\u00a0We must remember that Paul was used by the Lord to teach us that all our sins are forgiven because of the substitutionary act of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5;21, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 10:9<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0Paul is the one who wrote\u00a02 Corinthians 5:17<\/b>\u00a0\u201cTherefore, if anyone is in Christ,\u00a0the new creation\u00a0has come:\u00a0The old has gone, the new is here<\/i>!\u00a0\u00a0Paul was also an expert in the Old Testament and he was well aware of\u00a0Psalm 103:12<\/b>\u00a0\u201cas far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgression from us<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Paul was not stating that he never sinned, he never claimed that he did not sin and actually in\u00a0Romans 7:15-20<\/b>\u00a0revealed that even he carried the desire to sin, and that he did.\u00a0\u00a0Surely he did a great job of resisting sin, but he never claimed to be perfect and he was not.\u00a0\u00a0And aren\u2019t we glad of that!\u00a0\u00a0He was like us and yet increasingly gained victories over the flesh and sin and was mightily used of God.\u00a0\u00a0Family, there is hope for us, God forgives our sins and can even use sinners like us!\u00a0\u00a0Praise our God who has not only saved us but also brings us into the family business!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this the high priest Ananias\u00a0ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0The high priest, whose mind was against God (he opposed the Gospel) ordered that Paul be struck on the mouth.\u00a0\u00a0To him Paul was a blasphemer and it seemed obvious that Paul would again be defending The Way.\u00a0\u00a0It was not legal under Jewish law that a man should be punished, or struck, without due process revealing the need for punishment (Deuteronomy 25:1-2<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0But as would later be attested to, Ananias was corrupt and one of the worst high priests ever.\u00a0\u00a0He had told priests to reject as imperfect and therefore unworthy sacrifices the animals that travelers had brought to the temple to sacrifice.\u00a0\u00a0He did that so that then the priest could say to the disappointed worshipper \u201cThat\u2019s too bad but fortunately we just so happen to have a lamb that is pre-approved as acceptable.\u00a0\u00a0Of course, such a lamb is costly!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0In this way Ananias and his corrupt cohorts lined their pockets with filthy money.\u00a0\u00a0Later, in AD 66, Ananias was assassinated by militant Jews for being a pro-Roman conspirator against his own people.\u00a0\u00a0This Ananias was not a holy man.<\/p>\n
Family are we able to say that we have a clear conscience with God?\u00a0\u00a0I hope and for the same reason Paul could say so, all of us likewise can.\u00a0\u00a0As Paul did, we can say that we have a clean slate with God that is not based on our works (that are still plagued with sin) but because of the cleansing work of our Savior and Lord Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Family we all have a clean slate with God.\u00a0\u00a0As we strive to draw near to God, He will draw near to us and continue to transform us from who we were to become more and more like Him (Hebrews 10:19-23, James 4:7-10<\/b>).\u00a0\u00a0And that not for His benefit, but for ours.\u00a0\u00a0So let us approach God without fear because of the mighty cleansing work of Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who loves us so!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who saves us and continues to sanctify us!\u00a0\u00a0Praise God!<\/p>\n
P<\/b><\/span>salm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God<\/i>.<\/p>\n Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Acts 23:1-10\u00a0–\u00a0Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin\u00a0and said, \u201cMy brothers,\u00a0I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience\u00a0to this day.\u201d\u00a02\u00a0At this the high priest Ananias\u00a0ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.\u00a03\u00a0Then Paul said to him, \u201cGod will strike you, you whitewashed wall!\u00a0You sit there to judge me according to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,1872,1841,104,1700,94,1874,17,10],"class_list":["post-2066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-deuteronomy","tag-ephesians","tag-hebrews","tag-james","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm","tag-romans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2067,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2066\/revisions\/2067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}