How To Defend Yourself When On Trial
When you are on trial how should you defend yourself? Notice I say, when, and not if!
This man, Paul appears in another courtroom, and we are given quite a descriptive insight as to how he acts and behaves before his accusers.
Reach for your New Testament and check out the detail in Chapter 24.
Paul, on trial in Caesarea, by the Mediterranean Sea, is invited to reply to the accusations which have been made against him. Here we see a man of God who has a clear conscience in the presence of God, and before his accusers.
There is no trace of bitterness - no trace of ranker - and no self-pity. He does not appeal to feelings, and he certainly avoids flattery.
Paul keeps to the facts - declares the truth - and demolishes the charges.
He is specific. It was only 12 days ago, when I went up to Jerusalem to the Temple - to WORSHIP! Nobody found me arguing in the Temple, nor was I discovered stirring up a crowd in the synagogues, or anywhere else in the city. They cannot prove to you the charges they are making against me. But let me admit this - I worship the God of our fathers, as a follower of the way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in the Word, the law and the prophets - all of it - and like them, I believe in the resurrection. I believe there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. There are these two groups in the world. I have worked hard at this, having a clear conscience before God and men.” We too have to work at this.
A man with a clear conscience can keep to the facts. Paul is innocent as he stands in that courtroom. He has nothing to fear from the truth. He had not always had a clean sheet - but that has been dealt with - and he had discovered what to do with his failures - his guilt - his weakness - his sin - he took all that to the Cross and Jesus dealt with it.
Paul has been so open, telling us in his testimony how he had been violently opposed to those who believed in Jesus. He hides nothing. He does not try to cover things up.
He explains what happened and what he did on arriving in Jerusalem. I committed no crime. If I have, then let those who are here state what it is, but, if I am accused of this one thing, of believing in the resurrection, if I am accused of believing that Jesus Christ is Risen and Alive, then that is true.
Felix the Governor knows that there is no case. Paul should have been released and let go and set free. But Felix says, “When Lysius the commander comes I will decide your case”.
No matter how ably you may defend your cause and state your case, that does not mean you will automatically be released and set free - not when you are a prisoner and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be prepared to accept that. Know that God is in control and we never see the whole picture, at the time.
Sandy Shaw
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled “Word from Scotland” on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
Sandy Shaw
sandyshaw63@yahoo.com
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