Well, let me, let me invite you to turn, in your Bibles this morning to Psalm 2. Psalm chapter 2, we're going to look at the entirety of this Psalm. this morning, and just as a, a lead in to what we're gonna talk about this morning from this Psalm. I wanna, start, in, Acts 24.
You don't need to turn there, but I'll just, narrate a little bit of what happens. But in Acts chapter 24, the apostle Paul found himself standing trial before a pagan ruler named Festus, who was the governor or the procurator of Judea at the time and as the proceedings of this trial, developed. Paul did not like the direction that things were going as he stood before Festus. so he evaluated his viable options and said, I appeal to Caesar.
Caesar at that time was Nero. In that moment, Paul had a choice between two pagan rulers and he used his rights as a Roman citizen to select the ruler that he believed that he had a better chance of receiving a fair trial from. Nero, as we all know, was a wicked man. Yet in this instance, Paul preferred to stand before him rather than stand before Festus.
In Paul's mind, Nero would not be unduly influenced by the Jewish enemies of the gospel. As much as Paul observed that Festus was being unduly influenced by the enemies of the gospel. So Paul chose Nero and as a result of his appeal to Caesar, Paul was taken to Rome and he stood trial before the emperor Nero. And by all accounts, Nero rendered a decision in Paul's favor and Paul was released and had a few more years thereafter....
