Introduction
This is the sixth Sunday in 2026 and we’ve only spent one of those Sundays in the book of Acts. And that was on the first Sunday of the year. So, it’s been a while since we were studying this book together.
At that time we were following Paul as he made his way to Jerusalem. On the way, people warned him about what would happen to him when he reached Jerusalem and how he would be handed over to the Gentiles. But Paul — like the Lord Jesus before him — had set his face to go to Jerusalem and he was willing to suffer all things for the sake of Christ and his gospel.
And when he finally reached Jerusalem, he met the elders who welcomed him, but who also said to him that there was a rumour going around that Paul was teaching Jewish believers to turn away from the law of Moses and from Jewish customs. But they had a plan to put an end to the rumour. They wanted Paul — indeed they told Paul — to pay the expenses of four believers who had made a vow to the Lord and who now had to offer animals sacrifices in the temple as part of their vow. So, pay their expenses and join them in a purification rite. In other words, the elders in Jerusalem wanted Paul to show everyone that he’s not against the law, but is for it. And Paul did what they said.
However, their plan backfired, because when some Jews from the Roman province of Asia saw Paul in the temple, they stirred up the whole crowd against him and they seized him and accused him of turning the people against the law and for bringing Gentiles into the temple, which was forbidden by the law. And we read in verse 30 of chapter 21 how they dragged Paul out of the temple and shut the gate of the temple after them. And the reason they dragged him from the temple was to kill him.
That’s where we got to the last time. And I made the point the last time that the elders’ plan for Paul had to backfire. It had to backfire, because the Jewish believers in Jerusalem needed to learn that those Old Testament laws about ceremonial purity and animal sacrifices and what you could and couldn’t eat and so on were no longer in force. They were put in place by God in the past to teach his Old Testament people that they’re sinners who need to be cleansed of their guilt. But now that Christ has come and has offered himself on the cross as the once-for-all, perfect sacrifice for sins, those Old Testament laws are no longer needed. The people needed to learn that we’re cleansed, not by ceremonial washing with water and not by offering animal sacrifices in the temple, but we’re cleansed from our sin and guilt through faith in the Saviour who died and was raised. When we trust in him, the stain of our guilt is removed from us for ever and we have peace with God.
The Jewish believers in Jerusalem needed to learn this. And so, their plan had to backfire and they needed someone to shut them out of the temple, so that they would realise that they no longer needed the temple, now that Christ has come to reconcile God and sinners by his death on the cross.
And so, we don’t offer animal sacrifices in church as part of our worship. We don’t perform any ceremonial washings before we enter this building. We don’t have rules about what to eat and what not to eat. We don’t follow those Old Testament customs, because we believe that we’re pardoned and accepted by God through faith in the Saviour, who gave up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and who shed his blood to cleanse us.
Today we pick up the story where we left off the last time. And the passage can be divided into three parts. Firstly, Paul is saved from the Jews by the Roman commander. Secondly, Paul asks the commander’s permission to address the Jews. And thirdly, Paul addresses the Jews. And in his speech to them, he tells them how the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to him, first, on the road to Damascus and, then secondly, in a vision in Jerusalem.
21:31–36
The first part is verses 31 to 36 of chapter 21. And it begins with Luke telling us plainly that the Jews in Jerusalem were trying to kill Paul. So, they weren’t trying to scare him. They weren’t trying to rough him up. They were trying to kill him. But while they were doing that, news reached the Roman commander that the whole city was in uproar. And since it was his job to keep the peace, he at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd in order to put a stop to the trouble. And when the rioters saw them coming — and presumably the soldiers were carrying their swords and spears and shields — they stopped beating Paul. No doubt they stopped beating Paul so that they wouldn’t receive a beating from the soldiers.
And then the commander arrested Paul and ordered him to be bound with two chains. That seems a little unfair, since Paul had done nothing wrong, but I suppose the commander wasn’t sure at this stage what was going on and who was at fault and it’s better be safe than sorry and arrest the man who was at the centre of the riot. So, Paul was arrested and chained. And only then did the commander inquire who Paul was and what he had done. And there’s only chaos, isn’t there? You’re not going to get a clear explanation from a mob, are you? And so, some shouted one thing and others shouted something else. It was chaos. The commander realised this quickly and ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks so that he could question Paul in peace. But even when they were taking Paul into the barracks, the mob continued to attack Paul. And so there was nothing else for it, but the soldiers had to lift Paul off his feet and carry him through the crowd, who kept shouting, ‘Away with him!’
Application
Before we move on, we ought to notice how the Lord saved Paul from the mob by means of the Roman commander and his men.
The Roman commander and his men were not believers. They were pagans who did not know the true God. And yet, they did the right thing when they rescued Paul from this mob. And in our day, God maintains law and order in society by means of the police force. And the members of the police force might not be believers, but they do the right thing and they maintain law and order and they keep us safe and they apprehend criminals.
Paul tells us in Romans 13 that such people — he refers to the governing authorities — have been established by God. So, even though they may not realise it, they have been appointed by God to these positions of authority in society. And they have been appointed by God to these positions of authority in order to keep the peace and to maintain law and order and to punish lawbreakers.
And so, it’s a good thing that we have them and we should give thanks to God for them, even though they may not share our faith. And we should pray for them: that they will do their work well and protect the innocent and arrest lawbreakers and do all things in a just and fair way.
This is all part of God’s common grace. God’s special grace is his kindness to his people by which he saves us from our sin and misery for the sake of Christ who died for us. So, God’s special grace is his kindness to his people leading to salvation. But God’s common grace is his kindness to all people everywhere. So, he causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall and the crops to grow so that all kinds of people — the righteous and the wicked — have food to eat. And he restrains our natural wickedness and enables people to do good much of the time and not evil. And he fills all kinds of people with all kinds of skills and abilities to help us every day. Think of all the people we rely on every day who do us good if though they’re not believers. God has made them this way and he has given them the desire to help us. And because of God’s common grace to all, he gives us people with the authority to govern the nation on our behalf and to keep the peace. And every day that we walk down the street in peace and safety, we should give thanks to God for making this possible.
God rescued Paul from the mob by sending the Roman commander to save him. And God rescues us from danger every day by sending us police officers and others to maintain law and order on our behalf.
21:37–40
But let’s move on to the second part which is verses 37 to 40. Luke tells us that just before the soldiers took Paul into the barracks, Paul asked the commander for permission to speak to him. Paul addressed the commander in Greek, which surprised him. And it surprised the commander because he had mistaken Paul for an Egyptian trouble-maker who had started a revolt involving four thousand terrorists. We have no idea why the commander mistook Paul for that person. But Paul replies by telling the commander that he’s a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia and he’s therefore a citizen of no ordinary city. You get the impression that Paul is proud of his background.
And he asks the commander if he can address the crowd. And because the commander agreed, Paul stood on the steps outside the barracks and motioned to the crowd to make clear that he wants to speak to them. And remarkably, they all fell silent. And Paul, who a moment before was speaking in Greek to the commander, now addresses the crowd in Aramaic, which was their common language.
22:1–21
And so, we come to the third part of today’s passage which is verses 1 to 21 of chapter 22. And in this part, Paul makes his defence to the people. And notice that this is his defence and not his testimony. That’s how we often interpret this speech. But this was not an evangelistic rally where Paul gave his testimony to explain how he became a Christian. No, this is his defence. That’s a legal word which is normally used in a court setting. And you see, Paul is responding to the accusation that he’s a trouble-maker who is trying to lead Jewish people astray. And so, in his defence, he’s trying to demonstrate to the people that he’s always been a faithful Jew and he’s only ever wanted to do God’s will. And the reason he’s now a preacher of the gospel is because the God of Israel chose him to bear witness to everyone of what he has seen and heard about the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, he asked the people to listen to his defence. And since he was speaking to them in their own language, they became very quiet. We might say they were all ears.
And his defence to them is in four parts. Firstly, he outlines for them his Jewish background. Secondly, he tells them about his encounter with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. Thirdly, he tells them how the God of Israel commissioned him to bear witness to what he had seen and heard. And fourthly, he tells them about the vision he received from the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem.
And so, he outlines for them his Jewish background. I’m looking at verses 3 to 5. He tells them that he’s a Jew. And he was born in Tarsus, but was brought up in Jerusalem, where he was trained in the law of Moses by this famous teacher, Gamaliel. And he says that he was as zealous for God as any of his audience are and he once did all he could to persecute the Christian church.
And the point of saying these things is to demonstrate to Jews in Jerusalem his Jewish credentials. He’s telling them that he’s always been a faithful Jew. He’s always been zealous for God and his law.
But then, in the next part of his defence — which is in verses 6 to 11 — he explains to them what happened to him when he was on his way to Damascus.
So, it was about noon. He had almost reached Damascus. But then a bright light from heaven flashed all around him. And so, he fell to the ground. And that’s when he heard a voice speaking to him and saying: ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
Paul didn’t know who it was who was speaking to him. And so, he asked: ‘Who are you, Lord?’ ‘Lord’ here is simply a title of respect. We might say, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And the one who spoke to him answered: ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ And so, it’s the Lord Jesus Christ who was speaking to Paul. This is the same Jesus who died on the cross to pay for our sins with his life. And then, on the third day, he was raised from the dead and various people saw him alive. And forty days after he was raised, he ascended to heaven. That’s where he is now with the same body he had when he was on the earth. And now he’s seated at the Father’s right hand side as king over all. And from his throne in heaven, he appeared to Paul in this bright light from heaven.
And the Lord Jesus spoke to Paul. And he asked Paul why was Paul persecuting him. And you see, there’s such a close connection between Christ and his church here on earth that to persecute the church means that you’re persecuting Christ in heaven. When anyone attacks the church on earth, they’re also attacking Christ in heaven, because there’s this close connection, this bond, between Christ and his church.
And Paul asked the Lord Jesus what he must do. And the Lord told him to get up from the ground and to go into Damascus where someone will tell him what he has been assigned to do. And Paul went on to explain to the audience that since the bright light had blinded him, his companions needed to lead him by the hand into the city.
And so, the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul when he was on the way to Damascus.
And in verses 12 to 16 he tells the audience how the God of Israel commissioned him to bear witness to what he had seen and heard. And God commissioned him by means of this man, Ananias.
The first thing Ananias did was heal Paul of his blindness. And that’s a sign that he had been sent by God, because who can heal the blind except a prophet sent by God? And since Ananias was a prophet sent by God, then Paul must listen to him. And not only must Paul listen to him, but the Jews in Jerusalem should listen to him as well.
And what was the message he brought from the Lord to Paul? It was that the God of our fathers — so, the God of Israel or the God of the Jews — has chosen Paul to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth. When Ananias refers here to ‘the Righteous One’, he means the Lord Jesus. So, Paul has been chosen by the God of Israel to know his will and to see the Lord Jesus — risen from the dead and exalted to heaven — and to hear his voice. And God is appointing Paul to bear witness to everyone of what he has seen and heard. And what has Paul seen and heard? He’s seen the Risen and Exalted Lord Jesus and he has heard his voice.
And Ananias then commanded Paul to get up and to be baptised. That’s because baptism is the sign of God’s willingness to wash away the sins of everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for sinners.
And in the fourth part of his speech, Paul described for his audience in Jerusalem the vision he received when he was in the temple in Jerusalem. This is verses 17 to 21. So, he returned to Jerusalem from Damascus. He was praying in the temple. And he fell into a trance and he saw the Lord. He means the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ told him to leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people there will not accept Paul’s testimony about the Lord Jesus.
And in his reply to the Lord, Paul is saying that sure, he’s the right person to testify to the Jews, because they know what he used to be like and how he used to go from place to place, imprisoning and beating Christians. And when Stephen was martyred, Paul was there, approving of it. I’m the right person to reach the Jews, because they know I used to be just like them!
That’s what he’s saying in verses 19 and 20. And that’s often the way we think, isn’t it? We want to reach a certain group of people and we try to find a Christian they can identify with and who perhaps has a great testimony which we think the people will respond to. So, we want to reach a group of young men, for instance. And so, we try to find someone who was once like them and can talk to them about what God has done for him. And if he did it for me, he can do it for you!
That’s the way we think. And it seems it was the way Paul was thinking as well. But God’s ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He had something else in mind for Paul, because he was sending Paul far away to the Gentiles.
Application
And isn’t that interesting? What did Paul have in common with the Gentiles? Nothing. He had been brought up as a Jew. In fact, in the book of Philippians, he tells us that he was of a Hebrew of Hebrews and a Pharisee. So, he was an exemplary Jew, who was devoted to keeping God’s law. All of that meant he was a good Jew. He was an outstanding Jew. But it also meant he had nothing in common with the Gentiles.
And yet the Lord chose him to reach the Gentiles. And that’s because, when we have the opportunity to speak to someone about the faith, we’re not to talk to them about ourselves. We’re to talk to them about the Saviour. We’re to talk to them about how he’s the only begotten Son of God who came into the world as one of us, so that he could suffer and die on the cross to pay for our sins and make peace for us with God. And he was raised from the dead and rules now as king over all. When we have the opportunity, we’re not to talk about ourselves, but we’re to talk about him, because he’s the only Saviour of the world.
And that’s what Paul did wherever he went. Wherever he went, and whether he was preaching to Jews or Gentiles, he preached to them about Christ who died for sinners, and who is alive and who is seated at God’s right hand side as king over all and who gives forgiveness and eternal life to everyone who believes in his name. When we have the opportunity, we’re to tell people about him and not about ourselves.
And choosing Paul to go to the Gentiles reveals to us the overflowing grace and mercy and goodness and love of our God. It was God’s will for God the Son to show himself to Paul and to send Paul to the Gentiles because God loves this world. He loves this world. Yes, it’s a fallen, sinful world. We’ve rejected God. We’ve rejected his purposes for us. We’re turned from his ways and we’ve gone our own way. And we’ve made a mess of our lives and we’ve made a mess of his world. We’ve filled the world with sin and misery and sorrow and sadness. We’re divided from one another and we hurt one another. We make one another weep. And we haven’t loved God as we should. It’s a fallen, sinful world. It’s a broken world.
And yet, God loves this world. And because he loves this world, he not only sent his Son into the world to pay for our sins with his life, but he sent Paul to preach the good news to the world so that sinners would hear and believe and be saved. And he didn’t only send Paul, but he has sent lots and lots and lots of preachers into the world to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to men and women and boys and girls everywhere. And he promises that whoever believes in his Son receives forgiveness and peace with God and the hope of eternal life in the presence of God in the new and better world to come. God’s goodness and love overflow through Christ to the world. And as we go about our lives each day, and as we face all kinds of trials and troubles and tribulations, you should remind yourself continually of God’s overflowing goodness and love to you. He loved you so much that he sent his Son to die for you. And he loved you so much that he sent a preacher to tell you the good news. And he loves you so much that he will never leave you or forsake you, because he is determined to bring you at last into his presence in the new and better world to come.
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