The Book of Acts
Paul's Clear Conscience
Acts 22:30–23:3
We are looking at the trial of the apostle Paul as it enters its second phase. He has had opportunity to speak before the Jewish crowd in Jerusalem and offer a defense of his life and ministry. And even though it is an articulate, well-reasoned presentation, when he mentions his call to minister to Gentiles, the crowd is ready to kill him.
The Roman official in charge decides to have him scourged, but then discovers that Paul is, in fact, a Roman citizen and scourging of Romans is forbidden.
So Claudius decides to take Paul before the Jewish Sanhedrin and have his own people deal with the situation.
So what we have beginning in verse 30 of chapter 22 is Paul speaking to this Jewish council that has been gathered by Claudius.
And I think it important to keep in mind that early in the ministry of Jesus, Jewish opposition to Him becomes very apparent, and now, through the life and ministry of Paul, we see that same mindset.
They are not interested in knowing or accepting that Jesus is the Messiah, and the hatred of that idea continues to grow through the Gospels, and not into the book of Acts. Never mind the evidence, as they said at His crucifixion, "We will not have this man to rule over us."
As you study the New Testament, you can see that opposition continually growing. At first, it is indifference, then Stephen is killed, and persecution begins. It follows Paul to Antioch and Lystra, and eventually, everywhere Paul goes, while some are saved, the majority of the Jews are not only against him, they violently oppose him, until, finally, as we'll see in chapter 28, there is a final denunciation of Israel because of their opposition.
So that's what Paul is experiencing here in chapter 22, this continually resistance and opposition by the Jews to their Messiah, as Claudias presents him to the Jewish Sanhedrin.
verse 30
The Sanhedrin was a group of 70 men who served as something of a Supreme Court for Israel. The leader of the group was the High Priest, and he served as the 71st member. The general mode of operation was for them to meet in an amphitheater type forum. The high priest would sit in front. Two people would sit there as secretaries taking down the count on the vote, and the prisoner would stand in the middle. But on this occasion, apparently they assemble at the fort where Paul is being held.
By the way, this is the fifth time that the Sanhedrin has met to evaluate the claims of Christ. The first time was at the trial of Jesus. The second time was in Acts 4 with Peter and John when Peter said, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there’s none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” The third time was before the Twelve in chapter 5. The fourth time was Stephen. The fifth time is Paul.
I would say they will have a lot to answer for when they stand before God someday! They had heard the truth from Jesus, Peter, John, the Twelve, Stephen, and Paul, and they made wrong judgments every time!
By the way, is that not a testimony to the grace of God? If God brings you the very best witnesses He has to convince you of the claims of Christ, you know God goes over and beyond to reach them!
Five times, the greatest communicators of the gospel, those who knew Him best and were the closest to Him, including the Savior Himself, were face-to-face with those men and heard the truth, and five times they condemned themselves by refusing to believe.
So here is Paul before the Jewish counci. They are looking for some valid reason to have Paul executed and finally be rid of this "Jesus" problem that keeps arising.
There are four parts to the trial. It begins with
1. The Confession
verse 1
The statement “looking earnestly” means he stared at them. It’s a very strong word. He is eyeball t eyeball and face-to-face. He's not stammering and stuttering around. He stood tall and looked them eyeball-to-eyeball.
How could he do that?
verse 1b
He says “All through my life, until now, I have done what my conscience has told me God wanted me to do.” Now, if that is true, then it is not Paul who is on trial, it is God! That's why he could say his conscience is clear.
Later on, when he will stand before the governor, Felix, he says exactly the same thing. “I do what my conscience tells me is right. My motives have always been pure.”
In fact, when he gave his testimony to the Jews from the steps, he had said the same thing there. "Everything that’s happened in my life, God has done to me. The Lord stopped me on the Damascus road. The Lord told me to do this. I came to Jerusalem. The Lord spoke to me in a trance and told me to be a minister to the Gentiles. So if you’ve got a quarrel, don’t talk to me, tell God. He’s doing all this, and I’m still living in good conscience before God.”
Now, that statement really made them mad because, in effect, what he's saying is, “I’m right and I’m doing what’s right, and you're wrong for accusing me of doing otherwise.”
And those who knew him knew he was telling the truth. Even when he was persecuting the church and killing Christians, he did it with a clear conscience, believing he was doing the right thing.
He was a man with a tremendous sense of conscientiousness toward God. “I’ve always done what I believe God wanted me to do.”
Now, that brings up an interesting point because conscience is not always dependable. Obviously, the conscience can be used by God, but you can mess your conscience up. You can have a defiled conscience, even an evil conscience.
And no matter how pure your conscience, that isn’t going to save you. People say, “Well, if a guy is sincere, he'll be all right.” That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.
Having a good conscience towards God isn’t going to save anybody unless truth is involved. Your conscience can play tricks on you and miss the truth. You may have no guilt from the standpoint of conscience toward God. You may think you’re doing right and be doing wrong.
The conscience must be educated in the Word to be an accurate guide. The New Testament says you can have a weak conscience, you can have a defiled conscience, you can have an evil conscience, and you can even have a seared conscience.
That’s a conscience that is covered with scar tissue. The conscience becomes so weakened and defiled, that it actually becomes evil and insensitive to the truth of God.
And in that situation, a person can believe what he’s doing is right and be dead wrong. People can actually go to hell believing they are on their way to heaven.
So the conscience is a very important thing. What exactly is the conscience?
Let me give you a simple definition: Conscience is that part of you that makes moral judgments about your actions.
If you have a defiled, weak, evil, or seared conscience, the judgment your conscience render will be wrong. That was the case with Paul before he met the Lord. His conscience was so fouled up it was telling him what he was doing was right when it wasn’t.
So how did his conscience get corrected, or for that matter, how does anyone's conscience get corrected?
We get saved and the Holy Spirit takes us to school so we can be re-educated. And through the work of the Holy Spirit, we receive a good conscience that is void of offense toward God as Paul told Timothy in 1
1 Timothy 1:19. In fact, later in the letter, he described it “a pure conscience.”
So how do go from a weak, defiled, evil, seared conscience to a good, void of offense, pure conscience?”
Look at Romans 9:1 and I’ll show you.
Now understand, context is important and you know I belive that, but here I'm not as interested in the context as I am the statement Paul makes.
Romans 9:1
So Paul is getting ready to make a statement and that statement is what he says in verse 2.
In other words, he’s telling everybody that he really has a heart for Israel. Now, there are some people who are going to say, “Oh, baloney, you don’t have any heart for Israel or you wouldn’t be going around condemning the Jews all the time.” So he says, “Look, I do care for Israel. I say the truth. I’m not lying.”
So how do we know he wasn't lying? He says, “My conscience also bearing me witness.” In other words, he says, “My conscience tells me I'm not lying. My conscience makes the moral judgment that my action is proper.”
But Paul, how can you trust your conscience?
Notice the last four words of verse 1: “in the Holy Spirit.”
What happens when a person becomes a believer is that their conscience is purified by the Holy Spirit, and, as a Christian, the Holy Spirit begins to supply us with right information. And the Holy Spirit, in conjunction with your conscience, sends right impulses.
That’s why a Christian who sins feels much more intense guilt than a non-believer! The Holy Spirit is at work to through your conscience making moral judgments on your actions and letting you know when you've done the wrong thing.
And what Paul is saying is, "I listen to the Holy Spirit and do what He tells me to do and my conscience is clear." He had pure motives.
That is his confession. Now that confession leads to
2. The Confrontation
And we don't have time to look at all of that so we'll save it for next week.
Let's pray.
