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Healing Is a Part of Redemption
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In those days, if you were not a Roman, you were nobody. You were nothing. I don’t care who
you were, or who you thought you were, or what you had. I mean, if someone found a dead body
in the ditch on Monday morning, the authorities would want to know who it was—if they were a
citizen. If not, there wouldn’t even be an investigation. Non-citizens could be slaves; they could
be property of someone else. Non-citizens were nobodies.
But if you were a Roman citizen, you had rights. You had rights that the whole kingdom and the
Emperor himself backed up personally. If you were a Roman citizen, you could appeal your case
all the way to Caesar himself, if you didn’t like what was going on. Paul did. It’s a matter of
biblical record. Remember when he stood before Agrippa and said, “I appeal to Caesar.” He’s
there in shackles, and they look at each other and say, “What did he do?” They confer with their
lawyers, and they say, “Hey, you’ve got to send him. You don’t want it getting back to Caesar
that you violated his Roman rights.” They said, “If you appeal to Caesar, it’s to Caesar you will
go.” He had rights.
Why is this in the Bible? The Bible says in Philippians 3 that our “citizenship” is in heaven. It’s
the Greek word “pŏlitӗuma,” and it means “citizenship.” What do you think it means that your
name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? In time and in eternity, if you are not a citizen of
heaven, you’re not anybody. I don’t care about your family tree, or how much money you have,
or what kind of political clout—when it’s all said and done, there’s only going to be one roster
that matters. But here’s the Good News: If your name is in that Book, if you are a citizen of
heaven, you have rights now! Right now! You have rights right now!
Masses of Christians don’t know this, so they’re silent, and they take it. They take the devil
tearing up their affairs, hurting their babies, and destroying their finances. They just take it. They
say, “Well, you just never know what the Lord’s going to do,” and they just take it. The devil is
beating, stealing, killing, and destroying, and they don’t even know they have any rights, much
less stand up and speak up for them.
What if Paul had been quiet? What if he just stood there and said, “Well, I have made a lot of
mistakes. I guess I deserve a good beating. Lord, help me to be strong, to take it like a man.
Lord, give me strength. Lord, give me strength. Lord, give me strength.”
Well, if that’s all you know, the Lord will be merciful, and He’ll give you strength. But, there’s
something better.
What did Paul say? “Hey! Wait a minute. Wait a minute.” Get this word: “Is it lawful?”
See, the devil is counting on you not knowing this. He is a spiritual outlaw, and he wants to take
advantage of you because of your ignorance. He wants you to be quiet and take it.
Paul said, “Is it lawful for you to beat me like this, uncondemned? A Roman citizen?” He knew
who he was. He knew he had rights. Look at it. “When the centurion heard that, he went and told
the chief captain…” First he told that big brute of a guy with the whip, “Whoa! Wait. Just go sit
down. Wait a minute.” Then he went into the chief captain, the head man.