The name of the message today
is Paul Arrested. Paul Arrested. Some people may
say, well, why was Paul arrested? Paul was arrested for preaching
the gospel. That's all he did. Didn't break
any laws. He was arrested because he preached
that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. He preached that the believer
is no longer under the law. Although we love the law of God,
we are no longer bound to it or any of its ceremonies or any
of the things it says to do. We are free in Christ. Free. And I really don't think
we know how free we are. We do not use our freedom for
licentiousness. We do not use our freedom to
sin. We use our freedom to praise
our great God and King. Have you ever noticed that you
don't have the appetite for the things that you once did? Now,
they still raise their ugly head, don't they? The flesh still raises
its ugly head, but we don't have the appetite for those things
anymore. Now, and this is a miracle, we
hunger and thirst for righteousness. Well, who's our righteousness? Christ. See, Paul was Christocentric,
and I bought that up in Sunday School, and you're gonna be hearing
me use that word a lot. Paul was Christocentric in everything
he wrote. Even how we are to live, we're
to live in Christ. We are to rest in Christ. See,
salvation's not about do, although the world thinks that, and the
religions of the world thinks that. Salvation's all about done. Right? Remember last week we
looked at the word, um, the end in the Greek and it was, uh,
the end of the line. You can't go any further for
righteousness. Christ is the end, the telios
of salvation, the end of the line. And when, and think of
this, God himself cried, it is finished. What does that mean? It means it's perfect. So I preach
a Christ who's perfectly fulfilled the law of God in the room and
place of his people. Now we love the law of God, don't
we, sister? We love it. But he made it honorable, as
we saw on Wednesday night. He fulfilled it. He made it honorable.
He magnified the law. None of us can do that by anything
we do. None of us. And so salvation's in a person.
And this is who Paul was preaching. He was going around on the missionary
journeys. Do you think he was getting involved
in the culture wars of his day? Absolutely not. I tell you what,
he was not. Paul was preaching Christ. That's what's the most important
thing. And our eyes can so easily be
removed from that by something that occurs. But God is still
on the throne today, isn't he? Just like he was last Sunday,
just like he was the Sunday before, and just like he will be every
day before he comes. And this world and the things
we just shake our head at and say, well, why did that happen?
Well, there's a reason, we just don't know. But we have to believe what God
says, right? And he tells us that those things work for the
good of those who love Christ Jesus, for those who are the
called according to his purpose. Even when we throw our hands
up and go, I don't understand what's going on! God's in control. God's in control. I listened to this fellow, ex-Navy
SEAL guy now, who professes Christ and is amazing. He's just learning
the doctrines of grace. He even went on Joe Rogan's podcast
and told Joe Rogan, he said, well, I sure hope you're one
of the elect. I'm praying for you. Like this. And Rogan didn't
know what to say. He's like, what? He put out a
thing about anger. And I learned so much just from
this little seven minute thing. And he said, all of us can get
angry with circumstances that go on and all this. He says,
but how do we react to that circumstance? Do we react with anger or do
we take that anger and turn it into resolve and use it for good? Right? Because all of us are
emotional beings. Paul could have got so angry,
I got arrested for preaching Christ. Shackle me up. Shackle me up. And we're going
to see how God uses an unsaved Roman captain to deliver Paul
from the Jews, the self-righteous Jews, who proclaim that Paul
preached that the law doesn't matter anymore, that he was a
rebel towards the law, and all Paul really preached, which we
looked at last week and we looked at on Wednesday night, is Paul
preached that Christ magnified the law and made it honorable.
It's still there. But he fulfilled it in our room
and place, beloved. And I say, hallelujah, don't
you? Because by my efforts, I can't fulfill one little snippet of
God's law. And then James tells me, well,
if you break one law, you broke them all. Oh, man, I'm in trouble. But praise God, Christ fulfilled
the law in my room and place. He's the end of the law for righteousness
for us. That's good news, isn't it, Brother
Greg? That's wonderful news. That's wonderful news. Now let's
read Acts. Let's stand up and read Acts
21 verses 27 to 31. Look at this. Let's stand up
and read this together. 27 to 31. And when the seven days
were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him
in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on
him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man that teaches
all every man everywhere against the people and the law in this
place, and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and had
polluted this holy place. For they had seen before with
him in the city, Tropinus and Ephesians, whom they supposed
that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was
moved, and the people ran together. And they took Paul and drew him
out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they
went about to kill him, tidings came upon the chief captain of
the band, that Jerusalem was in an uproar. Now God is going
to use an unsaved Roman chief captain. and the band, the Roman legionaries,
the band of Roman legionaries that was stationed at Jerusalem
to rescue Paul from the hands of these Jews who hated him,
because he preached Christ. He preached Christ. Now God's preachers, we're not
to compromise the truth, are we? But we are to preach the
truth in love. We preach to everyone. Turn to
Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
And I know preaching that, that if you do turn to Christ, it's
all of God. Salvation's of the Lord. But I still proclaim to
the whole world, all the hearers here, and then as the messages
go out into the world, we proclaim, come to Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. There's no other hope. I'll tell
you that. There's no other hope outside
of Christ. We preach the gospel in love, praying that our Lord
might be pleased to make his truths effectual to us. You know, a man, until they're
born again, or a woman, will never admit we're a sinner until
we're born again. I've been meeting with someone
for studies, and I was amazed this week that
as we looked in the gospel of John, In the third chapter, in the
discussion with Nicodemus and the Lord, this person said, it really is simple, isn't it? You know what the verse this
person really struck them? Was the verse that said, God
came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save. And I talked about how that's
the elect of all the ages. And that the Jews considered
anyone outside their realm, not of the world. And the Romans
considered anyone outside their realm, not of the world. And that God has a people of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And I said, you know,
you're right. And as we were reading John chapter
three, I said, notice how many times the Lord uses one and two
syllable words. This is the God of the universe
speaking. He's using one and two syllable
words. You must be born again. Even
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth on him
should not perish but have everlasting life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish but have everlasting life. So we
see the gospel in verse 14, we see the remedy in verse 15, and
we see the result in verse 16. The gospel's not 16, the gospel's
14. Even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. And
I took her to, it was a young lady, I took her to Deuteronomy,
I believe it's Deuteronomy, where Moses lifted up the serpent.
Might be numbers. And all who looked to him, looked
to that serpent was saved. I said, that's a picture of Christ. And they said, she said, it's
so simple. And I said, yeah, it's simple,
but yet profound. And she goes, I can see that. My. So we preach the gospel that's
not to be confounded by the things of man. We preach salvations
in Christ and him alone. It's a topic that is so vast
we will never understand it all. But the little bit that we know,
don't we rejoice in? Don't we rejoice in that little
truth? This is why Paul was arrested for preaching Christ. This is
why they laid hands on him. And we see there in verse 31,
they wanted to kill him. They didn't just want to get
him away, they wanted to kill him. Again, God's preachers are not
to compromise the truth. We preach the gospel in love,
praying that the Lord Jesus Christ would make it effectual, praying
the Holy Spirit would move and make it effectual. God has his
chosen people, it says in 2 Thessalonians 13 and 14, the scriptures declare,
to salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth. Whereunto he calls us by his gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by God. We're kept
by God. And we'll be taken home by God.
And our sovereign Lord has guided and directed our dear brother
Paul to Jerusalem. Remember, he had an unction from
on high to go to Jerusalem. And think of all the trials and
the tribulations Paul's went through. He knows he's going
to face trials. He knows. He left the Ephesian elders in
tears. crying with them, but knowing he had to go to Jerusalem. Think of all the people he, his
mind is on his kinsmen in the flesh, and the fact that he's
gonna be able to get to preach the gospel to them. That's the
whole reason he went to Jerusalem, beloved, is to preach the gospel. Do you think he was getting caught
up in things that the world gets all worried about? Do you think
he was getting caught up in what Jerusalem gets all worried about?
He preached Christ. Is that not what we need? We need Christ, beloved, and
Christ alone. My. And our great God, those tribulations
and trials he went, and think of this even in our lives. It's
just incredible. Those trials and tribulations
he went through, beloved. God was with him and God will
do all those things. You know, God will get us through
as a nation. What just occurred this week? He will. He will. He has in the past,
right? And he will again. God's will will be accomplished
based upon no one man, but based upon himself. Right? He does what he pleases with
the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing in his sight. And yet sister, he has mercy
on us. in and through Christ. That's
amazing. That's absolutely stunning. It's wonderful. That's absolutely
wonderful. That God himself, the very giver
of the law, came down to earth, fulfilled his own law, and now
we're in place as our substitute. that we might be saved from all
our sins. Then he sends his Holy Spirit
to regenerate us. We're born again. Then he gives
us faith to believe on the only object of salvation, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the only savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we who were rebels, now we're praising him. That's a miracle, isn't it, beloved?
Isn't that wonderful? And so Paul was arrested for
the same thing I do every week, preaching the gospel. My, oh, my. Thankful for our
freedom. You know, there's countries in the
world where men can't get up like this and preach the gospel.
Jean-Claude told me about over in Africa. Some of the nations
he goes to. The Islamists are rolling grenades
in people's house while they gather together to study the
word. Horrible things happen. Nobody
ever hears about them now. Horrible things. The depravity of man, beloved,
is on full display in this world. Every day for us. And you know
what? This is amazing. The only one
who made us to differ is Christ. It's Christ. That's it. I can't tell you what I would
have been if the Lord hadn't saved me. I have an inkling.
And it wouldn't have been good. Because it wasn't good. But praise is grace and mercy.
I know what he dragged me out of. And marvel at that, beloved,
because we were all dragged out of the same pit of humanity,
weren't we? All of us. So our sovereign Lord has guided
and directed our dear brother Paul to Jerusalem amidst all
the trials and tribulations. Our great God overruled all of
those situations, bringing good out of those situations for his
glory and his honor and his praise. All for the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ and for the good of his people. Think of this,
Paul's going around murdering Christians, the Lord saves them.
Now he's going around preaching the gospel. He murdered Christians' blood.
He dragged them from their houses. How atrocious is that? The Lord
says, he's one of mine. He's a chosen vessel. Isn't that amazing? What are
we? Chosen vessels. Monuments to his mercy. Monuments
to his grace. And we know we're so undeserving,
don't we? People say, oh, you Christians, you think you're
better than everyone else. No, we don't. Just try asking one, a real believer,
not someone who professes to be a believer and then you see
them off doing other things. A real believer, someone who
loves Christ. Not saying that all of us can't
fall into sin grievously, and that's something we all have
to remember, right? There go I but for the grace of God. Oh my. Some fellas I meet, they're professing
Christians, and you'd think they'd only sin one or two times a day. Everything we do is tainted with
sin, isn't it? That's why we're so grateful God saved us. That's
why we're so wondrous at this mercy and love we've received
in Christ. Because we don't deserve it. We definitely don't seek
it until the Lord makes us willing. And now we just rejoice. Look
what God's done! Look what he's done. Let's read
verses 27 to 30 now of Acts chapter 21. And when the seven days were
almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him
in the temple, stirred up the people and laid hands on him.
Now the Jews of Asia, these fellows were probably from Ephesus or
maybe somewhere else where Paul had visited, but they recognized
him. So they had heard him preach.
Or they'd heard of him. They probably saw him because
they recognized him. Look what they say. When they
saw him in the temple, stirred up the people and laid hands
on him. They grabbed a hold of Paul. He's just standing there
in the temple as far as we know. It doesn't even say he was preaching.
We know he went into the temple and preached, but he's standing
there. And they laid a hold upon him.
And then we cry out, men of Israel, help! No, they didn't need no
help. You know that, right? You know
why they're doing that. Brother Brian, they're trying
to get everyone riled up. Isn't it amazing that one man or one woman can rile
up a whole bunch of folks? So much so that they can cause
splits in churches, too. A man or a woman. A whole mind. Man of Israel, help, this is
the man. So now they know him, they recognize
him. This is the man that teaches
all men everywhere against the people and the law. See, their
biggest thing there was the law. These were Jews. He's preaching against the law.
No, he's actually preaching Christ fulfilled the law, that he magnified
the law, that he made it honorable. Isn't that wonderful? And the
scripture says, he redeemed us out from under the law. So what
does, if he redeemed us out from under the law, what does that
mean? That means we're not under the law. Now do we, like what
Norm Wells says, and I think we should trumpet this, no believer
will want to go contrary to the law of God. We don't want to kill. We don't
want to steal. Right? We don't want any other
gods. We don't want to commit adultery.
We don't want to covet other people's things. We don't want
to steal. Now all that's in us too, though, isn't it? But now
we have a new nature. See, the flesh desires those
things, but now we have a new nature, beloved. And see how liberating and freeing
this is? This is absolutely incredible. This is the man. The man, oh
my, that's Paul, that's a preacher that teaches all men everywhere
against the people and the law and this place. Now they're saying
he's even preaching against the temple. No, he, the first place
he goes to when he goes into a city is the synagogue and he
waits his turn and then he preaches the gospel to them. It's an opportunity. Why is he there in the temple?
He's waiting for an opportunity to proclaim about Christ. Or
he could be even talking to other people about Christ. Saying,
you know, that lamb that they're going to sacrifice, that points
right to Christ. Shedding his blood for his people.
Oh my. And look what they said. Now
they're going to even add something else. And further, but Greeks
also went to the temple and have polluted this holy place. My oh my. See, Christ has already died,
right? The Lamb has already been sacrificed. The true Passover Lamb is already
gone. He's gone home to glory. A victorious
Savior. They're still doing sacrifices.
That's an abomination to God. You ever hear people say, I've
mentioned this many times for those of you who have not heard
this, that people nowadays, the big thing is let's rebuild the
temple in Jerusalem. Let's find the cows and the cattle
and all this stuff. Do you know that any sacrifice
done in Jerusalem in a rebuilt temple would be an absolute abomination
in God's eyes? Because He sent His Son. He sent the true Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins of the world. Didn't He? That would be like spitting in
God's eye. See, people don't know how serious this is. Christ is a victorious Savior.
He's risen again. He's in glory. He's at the right
hand of the Father and saints. from the ages past and up to
the current sense, they're worshiping him and adoring him. And you
think they're worried about anything down here? Not at all. Not at
all. Brother Joel's praising Christ. Sister Kathy's praising Christ.
Man, worshiping him, adoring him. Isn't that wonderful? My. Now, so now they're saying he
polluted the holy place. He polluted the temple by bringing
in the Greek. But Christ said the middle wall, or Paul says
in Ephesians, that the middle wall of partition that separated
the Jews and the Gentile, the court of the Gentiles and the
holy of holies, that's gone now in Christ. That's why we can
therefore now boldly come to the throne of grace as believers.
We're Gentiles, aren't we? If we were back then, we wouldn't
even be allowed near that temple. But now, we could go in the court
of the Gentiles, but now, Christ said, the middle wall partition's
been taken away. That's wonderful. We can approach
the throne of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, because
we're redeemed, saved sinners, saved by Christ's blood and righteousness.
My, how that makes my heart sing. Does it yours? It's absolutely
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And then it says here, for they
had seen before with him in the city, Teirapophis and Ephesians,
whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.
So they assumed that Paul brought him into the temple. That's what
they did. And all the city was moved. Now we see people are
coming out of their doors, see what's going on. Because the temple is the center
of Jerusalem for worship. People are coming out, what is
going on? What's going on at the temple?
And all the city was moved and the people ran together and they
took Paul and drew him out of the temple. And for what the
doors were shut. So we see the seven days in verse
27 referred to the accomplishment of those days of Nazarite purification. which Paul did with those men
to get an opportunity to preach the gospel, had no bearing. He knew he was not under anything
like that. He didn't be able to preach the
gospel to the Jews. Because he had heard that they
slanderously reported of him that he preached that, well,
it's further up. It's further up in this text
here. Acts 21. when he's meeting with
James. I should have put it in my notes. Okay, it's up in verse 21. And they were informed of the
that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise
their children, neither to walk after the customs." Well, they're
lying about Paul. Because what, again, I'm going
to say it again, what Paul's really preaching is Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness. And he tells us in Galatians
that circumcision availeth not, right? If you get circumcised
back then to be closer to God or to favor with God, Paul said
it's nothing. It's nothing. Christ fulfilled
the law in the room and place of his people. He's the end of
the law for righteousness. My. So in all probability, these
Asian Jews were either from Ephesus or from some town that Paul had
visited where he preached the gospel. They had heard Paul preach
that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness, and they
decided that they were gonna rile the folks up. My, they'd also heard Paul preach
among the Gentiles in the cities they were from, and they took
that to mean that he was attempting to turn all people everywhere
against the Jews, which he wasn't. He's preaching Christ, the Messiah,
the one they've been waiting for. That's what he's doing. He's
preaching Christ to them. And he'd been walking with a
Gentile man. Well, he's got all kinds of brothers. Remember,
some brethren even came with him from Ephesus to preach the
gospel with him. We saw that last week. A whole
bunch of them came with him to preach the gospel. My. And then we see in verse 29,
again, he's walking with the Gentile man, and these fellas
seeing how friendly he was with that Gentile, they just assumed
that Paul had brought him into the temple, but he hadn't. And bringing a Gentile into the
holy temple was against the law of Moses. So this was a false
accusation. Paul wouldn't have done that. And we see in verse 30 that the
unbelieving self-righteous religionists, that's what they are, laid their
hands on Paul and began dragging him out of the temple. You know,
they hated this man. How do we know they hated him?
Well, they wanted to kill him. If you want to kill someone,
you usually hate them. Right? They hated him. And they're grabbing him by their
hands, and they're pulling him out of the temple. And then they
begin crying, men of Israel, help! They don't need no help.
Man, they're just trying to stir the pot, aren't they, Brother
Brian? They're just trying to get people riled up, man. That's
all they're trying to do. That's all they're trying to
do. They say, this is the man! This is him! This is the guy! Well. That teaches all men everywhere
against the people and against the law in this place. They're
riled up, beloved. They didn't just say that calmly.
They're riled up. And they didn't need any help
to remove Paul from the temple. It only taken two or three of
them to remove Paul. But they cry for help to turn
others against Paul. Remember the cry of the crowd?
Crucify him. Crucify him. And you know what? I've heard some self-righteous
religionists say, if I'd have been there, I never would have
said, crucify him, crucify him. You know what my answer is to
them? In my natural state, I would have. I'd have been screaming, crucify
him. Praise God He didn't leave me
there. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. This salvation in Christ is remarkable. It turns rebels into ones who
love God, love His people, love people in the world even. My, there go I but for the grace
of God. My oh my. And look at this. They didn't
need any help removing Paul, no. They just turned others against
him, bringing these charges against him. And they accomplished their
purpose, didn't they? Look at verse 30. And all the
city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul
and drew him out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were
shut. We see the huge outcry now. It's rumbling out of the
temple, and it's going into the city, and the whole city's getting
worked up. Everyone's getting worked up. It's reached the ears. The cry
has reached the ears of some that were outside the temple
and it alarmed others. And the report spread like wildfire. A report of, there's a disturbance
in the temple. It alarmed some so that they
ran through the city. And it says the whole city and
bought people out of their houses. They ran together in great numbers
to see what this matter was. You know what? You know what
the Lord's doing? You're going to give Paul an audience. But he's a sovereign hand, beloved.
We're going to see that next week, though. But in chapter
22, Paul stands up and addresses them all. Oh my, isn't God amazing? He's having all this stuff happen
for a purpose, for his will and purpose. We read that. Do you think Paul understood
what was going on? But he knew. He knew that, well, this is for
God's glory. I'm going to rest in Christ, even though I don't
understand it. Oh my. And they took Paul and
they drew him out of the temple. And they thought he was unworthy
to be in that holy place. Thought he might defile it just
with his presence. And we see the doors were shut.
by the doorkeepers, the Levites, the priests, to prevent Paul's
returning into it for refuge. Because if Paul ran back in and
got on those horns of the altar where the blood sprinkled, he
could cry for mercy, couldn't he? Shut them doors. You not think
they knew who Paul was? He was a Pharisee of high regard,
wasn't he? Now he preaches that Jesus. Folks in Jerusalem knew who he
was. Doors were shut to prevent the
Gentiles from going in and prevent the Jews from going in. And we
see in verse 31 and 32 of Acts 21, look at this. And as they
went about, to what? Kill them. Kill them. They thought they
were doing good in God's eyes, didn't they? Ah, I come out of
Roman Catholicism. They thought they were doing
good slaughtering all our Christian brothers and sisters in the Inquisition. No. These folks have a zeal for
God and yet without knowledge. My. And as they went about to kill
him, they hate him, they wanted to kill him. Tidings came unto
the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an
uproar. Now, they were under Roman control. Chief captain here, he's over
the legions and the centurions, and it says here, who immediately
took soldiers and centurions. Centurions are those over 100.
and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain
and the soldiers, they left beating Paul. They saw those Romans,
and you know what? Isn't this wild? I was talking
to my son about this. I said to him, you know, you
ought to fear God more than man. You ought to fear God more than
man. Good thing for us to know, isn't
it? These, see these Jews here? They feared the Romans more than
they feared God. They took one of God's servants
and they're beating him. They say, we won't kill him. My, oh my. Zeal without knowledge, beloved. Thinking they're doing God a
favor. My. They went about to kill him.
We see these unbelieving Jews were completely out of control. They were completely out of control. Their anger had consumed them. When anger consumes us, we say
things, even as believers, that we ought not to say. They were consumed with anger.
They had hatred in their heart against God's preacher. And they had every intent to
kill him. They wanted to take him out. But let us never forget who's
in control. Now, when it was Paul's appointed day to die,
what happened? Paul died, didn't he? When we see death in this world,
no matter how horrendous the way that person is taken out,
that was their appointment. That was their appointed time
to die. Brian and I were talking about that. That's their appointed time.
Is anyone going to stop it? Nope. When it's my day to die, I'm
going to drop dead, beloved. I'm going back to glory by the
grace and mercy of God. And there won't be anything a
doctor can do for me. Won't be anything you can do
for me. And I won't want to come back. And neither will you when
it's your time. Because we'll be in glory with
the Lord forever. Forever. Do you know there's never been
a time when God's not in control? Because if there was a time when
God wasn't in control, do you know what that means? That God's
not God. Right? God being God is he's in control
and all things happen according to his will and purpose. even
the things we do not understand, for his glory and for our good,
even though we can't see it. Again, if God's not in control,
then he ceases to be God. Our God's sovereign, beloved.
He's in full control. Now, the Jews, again, they're
under Roman law. which was also ordained by God,
right? Is that not ordained by God? It's amazing. Isn't it amazing that this country
was ordained to be free from Britain, and in 1776 they signed
the Declaration of Independence? That was all ordained by God. Isn't that amazing? And here
we are now, 2025, living in this free country, still the freest
country in the world, that's why everyone wants to come here,
right? Here we are, and we get to sit
and rejoice around the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners
saved by grace through the blood and righteousness of Christ.
That's amazing. That's absolutely incredible.
You even have a couple Canucks with you, right? Yeah. My. So soon as they saw those
Romans, they feared for their lives. But they didn't fear killing
God's preacher, God's apostle. Wow. They also knew they were violating
Roman law because you're not allowed to have a commotion like
that anywhere where Rome's in control. No, they consider that a rebellion,
and they will squash it like a bug. So they'd already started showing
their hatred for Paul. They were beating him. They showed
the hatred for the gospel that he preached, and it shows they
had no fear of God, but they did fear the Roman soldiers. My. They knew they were violating
Roman law. They knew they could suffer the
penalty of death, because that's what the Romans did. Usually
when there was an uprising like that, they just took the sword. They said to the soldiers, go,
and they'd kill as many people until the commander said, stop. And when they saw those Roman
soldiers, see, God used a group of unsaved soldiers Roman soldiers
to rescue Paul. God will even, He'll use the
wicked for His will and purpose to come to pass. Now He don't
create evil, does He? We're already there. The young
lady I was talking to, she recognized in that verse in John 3.18 that
we're already condemned. God came to save us. Condemned because we're a bunch
of lawbreakers by nature and choice, aren't we? But praise
God, he saved sinners. Oh, praise God. You know, he
never turned anyone, Christ never turned anyone away that came
to him. Never. Never. Now look at the next two
verses, Acts 21 verses 33 and 34. Then the chief captain came
near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains
and demanded who he was and what he had done. And some cried one
thing, some another among the multitude. And when he could
not know the certainty for the Talmud, he commanded him to be
carried into the castle. So this Roman captain, he says,
why is everybody in an uproar over this guy? And some folks
over here were saying, well, it's this. Some folks back there
saying, oh, it's this. And the folks up front, oh, it's
this. They couldn't even agree. You ever see people get in a
mob outrage? You ever see that happen? And
you start asking them why you're in a mob outrage, and they don't
even know. Some of them do, but some of them don't. And they
just get carried away by this whole next thing. My, that's what's happening here,
beloved. They don't even know. Some of
them don't even know what's going on with Paul. Now, this captain didn't know
Paul, but he knew according to the mob that he'd done something
to make them angry. And they're in an uproar, beloved.
And we see the captain ordered those Jews to tell him Paul was,
what had Paul done? What did he do? And the unbelieving
Jews were in such a state of mass confusion, also ordained
by our Lord, right? That they could not even agree
with one another in their accusations against Paul. I just hate him because these
folks hate him. You know, man wants to kill.
Man wants to strike back. It's in every one of us. But
the Lord says, vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. Oh my. The chief captain then, not knowing
the certainty of the matter, commanded that Paul would be
carried into the castle because this castle or tower was adjacent
to the temple. It was used as a garrison for
the Roman soldiers, so they didn't have very far to come to get
to them. And we read in verses 35 to 38,
let's read that now. We come upon the stairs, so it
was that he was born of the soldiers for the violence of the people.
So the soldiers got him. They chained him up and they
took him away from the people. Nobody's gonna mess with these
Roman legionaries, no one. Look at this, for the multitude
of the people fall after crying, away with him, look at that.
He's in chains, the Roman captain's taking possession of him, and
they're still following him, Chris, and they're saying, kill
him, away with him. Let's slaughter this fella. And
they don't even know why. They can't even agree. That's just our natural heart
on display, beloved. That's our natural heart on display
there. And again, let us not say, well,
if I'd been in that crowd and not saved, I would never have
said that. No, we'd be screaming right along with them, wouldn't
we? It's God who they hate. It's
the God of the Bible. It's Christ who they hate. The
Messiah who was sent to them. My. The Roman soldiers surrounded
Paul to protect him. If they hadn't surrounded him,
this mob would have grabbed him and tore him apart, beloved.
How do we know that? Away with him. Basically they're
saying kill him. Now Paul was very close to the
chief captain in proximity who was leading the way, and we see
that when Paul spoke to him in his native language, it took
the captain by surprise. It took him by surprise. Look
at this. Let's read verses 35 to 38. And when he had come upon
the stairs, so it was that he was born of the soldiers for
the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people
followed after, crying away with him. And as Paul was being led
into the castle, he said to the chief captain, may I speak unto
thee? Who said, canst thou speak Greek? And see, there had been an Egyptian
fella that was in Jerusalem that had somehow got 4,000 murderers
released, and he led them, and I guess they caused all kinds
of mayhem. And this chief captain thought that's who Paul was. And look at this here in verse
38. Art thou not that Egyptian which before these days made
us an uproar and led us out into the wilderness 4,000 men that
were murderers? He thought he was this Egyptian
fellow, this Egyptian rebel. And when Paul spoke to him, he
was taken aback. The chief captain suspected that
Paul was an Egyptian, a known insurrectionist that had led
4,000 murderers out of the city. And some commentators say most
of those men had either been captured or killed. We don't
know. I always think that's just speculation, but the Egyptian
was still at large. We can see that from our text.
Now let's read verse 39 and 40 of 21 and then the first two
verses of Acts 22 verses 1 and 2 together. Now Paul's talking
to this chief captain. He says he hasn't told him he's
a Roman yet. He says, but Paul said, in verse
39, I am a man which am a Jew of Taurus, a city in Caecilia,
a citizen of no mean city, and I beseech thee, suffer me to
speak unto the people. And when he had given him license,
Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with a hand unto the
people. And when there was made a great
silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, Men
and brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I make now
unto you. And when they had heard it, heard
that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the silence
more, and he saith. So isn't that amazing how God's
ordained this? Now Paul has a platform to speak
to all these people about Christ. We're going to look at that next
week. He's going to proclaim Christ to them. Because that's
what he did, right? Paul didn't, he went to preach
Christ. He said, I'm determined that
wherever I go, I'm going to preach Christ. That's what I'm going
to do. Why are we here, beloved? We're
ambassadors for Christ, aren't we? To tell others about Christ. First and foremost. You know,
an ambassador, I remember when I read that for the first time,
and I looked up ambassador, and I knew what an ambassador was,
but I wanted to look a little more in depth, and it's one who
represents their country. It's one who represents their
leader. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that
wonderful, great? We're representatives, and we seek a better country,
don't we? We seek heaven. That's our home. This world is
not our home. We are ambassadors. We're representatives
of the king of kings and the lord of lords. Isn't that wonderful? And what do ambassadors do? Well,
they usually tell people about their country. This is my king. My king is the
king of kings. My king is the lord of lords.
My king proved his love to chosen sinners by dying and bleeding
for them on Calvary's cross. My king died for a peasant like
me. You ever look in the history
books and see any kings dying for peasants? King of Kings did
that, didn't he? And Paul said, and we all say,
I'm the chief peasant. I'm the chief sinner. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh my. Let us rejoice, beloved. What a savior we have. What a
redeemer. And while we're here, let us
tell others of Christ, and Him crucified, and how He gave His
life for sinners such as me, such as we. Oh, my. You know, I like what,
I think it was John Newton said, I'm a great sinner, but I have
a great Savior. Oh, my. That's the fellow that
penned Amazing Grace. Now we know he knew something,
didn't he? Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. Our Lord Jesus Christ has equipped
Paul as he does all of his ordained preachers for the ministry. He
called him. He built him up. Paul's a well-educated
man. But his ability to speak in multiple
languages, I think, was one of his greatest ordained gifts that
God gave him. He could speak multiple languages.
What a blessing. He could preach the gospel. What'd
he do? He preached the gospel in multiple languages, didn't
he? Isn't that wonderful? My. He could go to Rome and speak
Greek. He could go to Jesus and speak
Hebrew. I don't even know how many other
languages he knew, but he might have known even more. Isn't that
amazing? But what did he do? He preached
Christ. I tell you what, that is the most important thing
for a church group when we gather together, is to preach Christ. In Christ alone, holding Christ
out to a lost and dying world. A world full of sinners. And let us never forget, we're
all taken out of the same rock of humanity, right? The quarry,
I love what Spurgeon used to say, we're all taken from the
same quarry of humanity. I used to visit a quarry when
I was little. My dad would work on trucks at the quarry. And
I'd look over the edge and see this big quarry all the way down
to the ground. And the truck's coming up the
side of it. Guys working down there, digging and all that.
I thought, wow, that's a long way down. And they used to haul
rock up from there. We're all taken from the same
quarry of humanity, beloved. And we are, with those we agree
with and with those we disagree with. Cut us open, we all bleed
the same blood, don't we? You know, God doesn't see different.
I often say this, and I love this. In God's eyes, we're called the
human race. One. It's man who divines. We're all one. No matter where we come from.
We're one. And isn't it amazing that believers
who are truly born again are one in Christ? One. And I love what Paul said. Jews and Gentiles, Scythians,
the worst of the worst, barbarians. When the Lord saves us, we're
one in Christ, aren't we? You know, and Brother Clay preaches
the same gospel that salvation was accomplished 2,000 years
ago. It's done. I'm preaching a work done. Praise God, it's done by the
perfect one. I look to the perfect one for the salvation of my soul,
do you? Because I look in here, and I look out there, and I see
in here more than anywhere, the imperfect one. All right? Henry Mahan used to have a saying,
I loved it. He said, do you ever hear someone putting down someone
else about a certain thing? It might be their looks. It might
be what they believe and what they don't know or what they
do know. You know what Henry used to say about that? He said,
that's just one worm thinking he's better than another worm. He says, he just got sunglasses
on. He thinks he can look. Great
analogy, isn't it? thinks he's better than the other
worm. Let us never forget we're no better than any other worm, whether we agree with him or
not. And the only one who's made us to differ is God and God alone. And we say praise his mighty
name. Amen and amen. Brother Neil, can you close us
in prayer?