I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to Acts 21. Acts 21. Tonight, I'd like to deal with
the passage of Scripture. that is in itself, when it's
first read, is very, to me, very thought-provoking. It's a passage that I think,
except the Spirit of God give us some understanding to its
meaning, we could be confused. So, therefore, it's a passage
that I'll ask you to now ask the Lord to give us all some
understanding into it. I've entitled this message For
the Gospels' Sake. It is the passages that began
in verse 24. of Acts 21, and it centers around four men that
we had began to look at last time that had, according to James
in verse 20, were part of some that believed. These were men
that believed the gospel. So it's not poor men that it's
just religious. These men are believers. And what they had done is they
had taken upon themselves to enter into the vow of a Nazarite. We dealt last week, and I don't
want to go over it. It's too long to go over the
vow of the Nazarite. Well, we looked at that last
Wednesday. But this vow was a vow that was
a voluntary separation. It was a promise that men or
women could make. They would separate themselves
unto the Lord. And it was a vow that was according
to the law. The Lord gave this to Moses and
Moses gave it to Aaron and the people. It was a vow that was
obviously picturing looking to the Lord Jesus Christ who was
the only true Nazarite And he was the only one that ever truly
separated himself before God and pleased God on his own merit,
the Lord Jesus. No one else ever did that. But
we have a passage of Scripture tonight that I do pray the Spirit
of God might be pleased to bless our hearts and that we might
see Christ. in this passage. James had suggested
to Paul that he do something because of some questions that
had come up. Now, think about this. This is the scenario right here.
You had the law, the ceremonial law and all the customs and the
observance of meets and And when the Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and He Himself observed and kept every point of the law,
everything that was required according to the law, the moral
law, the ceremonial law, whatever the law, whatever the law, everything
that God ever commanded, the Lord Jesus Christ kept every
point of it. He was circumcised the eighth
day. He never deviated not one point. He kept the Passover.
He attended. He was at the synagogue. He just
did everything, everything, everything. He kept it. Therefore, the Lord
Jesus Christ having fulfilled all the points of the law and
obeyed God in every jot until nothing was left out, and then
his obedience to the law of God, his obedience, that is what is
imputed to every believer. God Almighty looks at them in
him and says of them, in the Lord Jesus Christ, well done. Well, Christ being the end of
the law, that's it. No more demands, no more, no
more. It's over. No more observances
of the law. But we've got four men that have
entered in to this vow of the Nazarite. And James now, James
says to Paul, Paul, verse 23, we've got four men which have a vow on them, a vow
according to the law." Christ was the end of the law. Well, James says in verse 24,
let's read verses 24 to 26, "...them take, and purify thyself with
them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their
heads, and all may know that those things whereof they were
informed concerning thee are nothing, but that thou thyself
also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles
which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe
no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things
offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangle, and from fornication. Then Paul took the men, and the
next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple
to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification until
that an offering should be offered for every one of them." And these guys, they've taken
the bow of an Azerite. Now, the reason they did this
is because this is the way they were raised. You said, yeah,
but the thing is, is that I thought that the Lord was the end of
it. He was the end of it. He is the end of it. But you
know, it's amazing to me. We're going through the book
of Acts. And if you took the book of Acts, where we are right
now, and the book of Romans, where we are on Sunday mornings,
and you just watch them, they just parallel, don't they, Neil?
They just, it's amazing to me how, and I didn't even realize,
I mean, back, you know, months and months and months ago when
we started these two books, I had no earthly idea how these two
books would line up at this point. But you look and see how these
two books are lining up. And Paul is dealing with the
same subject. in Acts and Romans. And it's
dealing with those that are weak in the faith. Those that the
Spirit of God has not yet taught the liberty, the freedom from
the law and the observances of. The vow of a Nazarite. Now you
think about this. Who is the only one that is a
true Nazarite? The Lord Jesus. This vow according
to the law. Now, three things that they did. Number one, drink no wine. This is what they were actually
saying when they did that. I promise to not allow anything
that will cloud or will distort my fellowship with God. Drinking
no wine was a picture, was a type, I am not going to allow anything
that will intoxicate me spiritually so that I cannot have perfect
communion with God. I promise. Number two, they couldn't cut
their hair. A man that had long hair, what that means is unkempt. It just grew. Nothing, didn't
calm it, didn't do anything with it. It was really humiliation
is what it was. When they didn't cut their hair,
what they were saying is this, I am fully willing to expose
my rebellion against God. Anybody here willing to do that?
No. You don't want me to know your heart and I don't want you
to know mine. I'm not willing to do that. The Lord Jesus Christ
did. And thirdly, they couldn't touch
anything dead. That's what they're saying. I
promise, I give God my word. I will be spotless. I will be untainted by anything
that's associated with death and sin. I ain't going to touch
it. Too late. You were born that way. Well, that was the bow. And after
they took the bow, after they were set apart 30 days, 60 days,
100 days, or for a lifetime, there were only three that I
mentioned that I knew of that were lifetimers. Samson, Samuel,
John the Baptist. But they'd set themselves apart.
And after they'd go through that vow, they were in the temple
and they were set apart and they were, you know, they couldn't.
After it was over, then they would have to have some offerings
made. There were five offerings, the
burnt, the sin, the trespass, the meat, the peace offering.
Those offerings had to be made. They had to be paid for by the
person making the vow. He was obligated to them. They
were charged. They were looking to him for
them. And then after those sacrifices were made, then OK, they could
shave their head. They'd take the fire of the hair
and put it under the altar, burn it up. It was done with. And
they're free to go, free from the law. Well, for as the Lord Jesus Christ
He was the true Nazarite. And the offerings that he made
was himself. These guys would have to pay
to go get a lamb. He was the lamb. And he was the
one that was sacrificed. Well, these fellows have made
a vow according to the law. James says to them, Paul, these guys have made this
vow. Take them and verse 24, be at
charges with them that they may shave their heads. What he was
saying is this, Paul, I'm going to ask you to go in with them.
These four guys now have obligated themselves to the law. They've
got to keep those commandments. They've got to pay for those
sacrifices. They've got to come up with the
money, Paul. They're going to have to pay whatever it costs
for that lamb. Every one of them. There's four
of them. Every one of them had to have all the five sacrifices
for every one of them. Paul, go in there with them and
be at charges with them. In other words, what he was saying
was this. You make yourself chargeable for them and you go in, Paul. And you make good on what is
required of them so that after those sacrifices are made and
given, then they can shave their hair and they can get out and
they won't be under the law. Well, I want to consider a few
things tonight. Here's my question. What Paul
did. Was Paul's actions a compromise
on his conviction concerning the law? That's the first question
I'm going to ask. Was his actions a compromise? Well, the first thing that I
want to ask you is this. Do you find any place in the
Scripture right here? Here or anywhere else? concerning
this event, do you find any place where the Spirit of God ever
related that what Paul did was not right? No. The Spirit of God never said
anything about it. And I will tell you this, the
Spirit of God exposes sin. I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to Genesis. Genesis 20. Genesis 20. Genesis chapter 20 in verse 2. Abraham is married to a woman
named Sarah. Genesis 20, verse 2, And Abraham
said to Sarah, his wife, she's my sister. And Abimelech king
of Jerah sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in
a dream by night and said unto him, Behold, thou art but a dead
man. for the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's
wife." Look down at verse 7, "...therefore, restore the man
his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and
thou shalt live. And if thou restore her not,
know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. Therefore Abimelech Rose early
in the morning and called all of his servants and told these
things in their ears. And the men were sore afraid.
Then Abimelech called Abraham and said unto him, What hast
thou done unto us? And what have I offended thee
that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?
Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said unto Abraham,
What sawest thou that thou hast Done this thing, and Abraham
said, because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this
place, and they shall slay me for my wife's sake. The Spirit of God exposed the
sin of Abraham. Abraham lied. His wife was a
beautiful woman. And he said, they'll see her
and they'll kill me. So he just told him, he said,
she's my sister. So the king took her. And the
Spirit of God came to him. He said, I'll tell you, you touch
her and I'll kill you. She's another man's wife. Now
you go back to Abraham and you tell him that he's to pray for
you. If he prays for you, I'm not
going to kill you. And Abimelech said, what in the
world are you doing? Turn over to 2 Samuel 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11, verse 2. It
came to pass in an even time that David arose off his bed
and walked upon the roof of the king's house. And from the roof
he saw a woman washing herself. And the woman was very beautiful
to look upon. And David sent and inquired after
the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter
Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and David sent messengers
and took her. She came in unto him, and he
lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness. And she
returned unto her house, and the woman conceived, and sent,
and told David, and said, I am with child. Now David later sent,
and her husband was in the battle, Uriah, and David said, Bring
Uriah back here to the house, and we'll talk to him." So Uriah
came, and David knew. He knew. David knew. He took
this man's wife, and he laid with her. She was pregnant. And
David thought to himself, I know what I'll do. I'll get Uriah
back over here, and I'll tell Uriah, you've been a good soldier. Why don't you go on back and
stay with your wife? And he thought, OK, he'll go back, and he'll
lay with her, and he'll never know. You never know. Uriah,
he was an honorable man. And he would not go back to his
wife. He stayed right there outside
the door of the king. And David knew it the next day.
And he said, what are you doing? Uriah said, I could not. I got
men out there that's dying. And I could not go and stay with
my wife knowing that I got men out there shedding their blood David said, well, send him back
and put him out on the front line. Get him out there in the
front. And of course, he got killed. That's going to be the
end of it, right? 2 Samuel 12, verse 7. Nathan was a prophet. Nathan
came and told him a little story about a man that were wealthy,
had a lot of sheep, a lot of livestock. He had a real influential
friend that came into town and so he wanted to do something
for his influential friend. But he had a, there was a little
fellow over here just had a little, one little lamb, you know. So
this rich guy went and took that little guy's one, that's all
he had, took his and killed it and fed his friend. And David
heard that story. And David said, you've got to
be kidding me. That's sorry, sucker. He said, You tell me
who that was that went and took that man's one little lamb, and
I'll deal with him. And Nathan said, You're the guy. Verse 7, Nathan said to David,
Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the
hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house, thy master's
wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Judah. And
if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto
thee such and such things. Wherefore, thou hast despised
the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight. Thou hast
killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword, and hast taken his wife
to be thy wife, hast slain him with the sword of the children
of Mammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from
thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the
wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife." The Spirit of God
exposed the sin of David. Abraham? David? Look at Matthew 26. Matthew chapter 26, verse 33. How about Peter? The Lord had told him that he
would be forsaken. Matthew 26, 33, Peter answered
and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because
of thee, yet will I never be offended. And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, that this night before the cock
crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. Peter said unto him, Though I
should die with thee, Yet will I not deny thee likewise also,"
said all the disciples. Not me, Lord. No way. Look at verse 69. Now Peter said,
without palace and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also with
Jesus of Galilee. And he denied before them all,
saying, I know not what thou sayest. And when he was gone
out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that
were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again
he denied a note with an oath, I do not know the man. After
a while came unto him they that stood by, and said unto Peter,
Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech reieth thee. Then began he to curse and to
swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock
crew. And Peter remembered the word
of Jesus, which said in him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt
deny me thrice. And he went out and wept bitterly."
That's Peter. Abraham, David, Peter. Whenever the Spirit of God exposes The sin of men. I'm talking about men that we
obviously hold in high esteem. Abraham, David, Peter. The Spirit of God exposes sin
in His people. The Spirit of God never said
anything about Paul doing anything contrary to God's will. Secondly,
Paul never said anything to the contrary. of his actions. And
I'll tell you this, God's people will not, with a clear conscience,
excuse their own rebellion. They will not. I don't want people
to see the depth of my heart. I don't. But I'm going to tell
you something. I am not so stupid as to stand here and admit to
you or to try to convince you that I am without sin and rebellion. If I say that I am without sin,
I make God a liar. Job said in Job 42, 5 and 6,
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye
seeth thee. Wherefore, I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. David said in Psalm 51, 3, For
I acknowledge my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. Paul said over in Romans chapter
7, Verse 22, I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in
my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?" So if the Spirit of God did not bring
up any inconsistency and the Apostle himself didn't say anything,
Paul was not a man that would have just swept this under the
carpet and said nothing about it. The Scripture is not written
that way, and the Spirit of God does not expose His people that
way. And we must ask ourselves in
light of this Scripture, did Paul do anything that was
contrary to the will of God? I'm talking about Paul that said
in Romans 3.20, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified. You remember Paul circumcised
Timothy, but it wasn't because Paul was setting forth that Timothy
was going to be justified by that circumcision. That wasn't meant. Did Paul compromise
his conviction? I believe the key to the answer
to this question is found, turn with me to 1 Corinthians 9, 1
Corinthians chapter 9, verse 19. 1 Corinthians 9, 19. Paul says, For though I be free
from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that
I might gain the more. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew,
that I might gain the Jews. To them that are under the law
as under the law, that I might gain them under the law. To them
that are without law as without law, being not without law to
God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are
without law. To the weak became I as weak,
that I might gain the weak. I made all things to all men,
that I might by all means save some. Why do you do that, Paul? This I do for the gospel's sake
that I might be partaker thereof with you. No one was more yielding
in matters of indifference than Paul. No one was more lenient,
let me say it like that, in matters that didn't matter than Paul
was. But no one was more unyielding
when it came to the issues that mattered. If you tried to make
an issue out of salvation by your works, if you tried to make
an issue and you'd say, well, I'll tell you this, the reason
I am saved is because I, now the next words that come out
of your mouth, You're going to find a big difference between
Paul's attitude. If you'd say, the reason I'm
saved is because I have exercised my free will. No. The reason
I'm saved is because I was baptized. No. The reason I'm saved is because
anything else. No. No. But if there was something. that
was not an issue of your salvation based on your works, if it was
something that you were doing, even concerning the law. Even
the law was done away with. It was over. But there were some
carryovers. There were some consciences.
There were some grave clothes that these people still held
on to. Things that they just hadn't
got exactly down yet. And they're looking, they're
thinking that Paul was so lenient because he knew. Remember, these
people were believers. And there were some things that
they just... And Paul did not destroy them over it. He actually
went in there with them. Made himself chargeable with
them. They said, are you compromising, Paul? Obviously, he wasn't. The Spirit of God didn't say
anything about it. Paul didn't say anything about it. As long
as things were done as a matter of conscience and respect before
God. I said this, it was real simple,
real simple. One day I was talking to somebody
and we were talking about mowing the grass on Sunday. On Sunday? Sunday? Yeah. Let me ask you this. If you mow your grass on Sundays,
are you going to, uh, what's going to happen? Nothing. Well,
isn't that, you know, let me tell you something. If you do
or don't do something and it's out of a conscience and a respect
before God, I don't want to do this. Well, number one, I wouldn't.
I got some neighbors that wouldn't more understand. I got neighbors
that don't understand me anyway. But tell you what, it's not Glenn,
that's the other neighbors. But I've got some that wouldn't
more understand me than the man in the moon. But I wouldn't do
something to offend them for anything. I wouldn't purposefully
offend you for anything. But let me ask you something.
If I had to, on a Sunday afternoon, mow my grass, Is it going to
make any difference whatsoever as far as my standing before
God? No. Let me tell you something. I wasn't justified by not mowing
my grass and I won't be unjustified by doing it. I've been justified
by the grace of God. Now, let me ask you something.
Was Paul getting ready to do something that was going to cause
some great damage before God? No. Why? Because Christ was the
end of the law. But these guys had a problem.
They just, for conscience sake, you know, Mom and Daddy did this,
and Grandpa and Grandma did this, and you're eating back and back
and back, and we've always done it. And I just felt that this
was the right thing to do. Paul said, I'll go with you.
Why'd you do that, Paul? For the gospel's sake. These four guys, believers, who
were zealous for the law, and Paul knowing that he was free
from all." That's what he said. That's what he said in Corinthians.
Do I be free from all? Free from the curse of the law?
Free from the yoke of the ceremonies of the law? But he made himself
a willing servant and did not let his liberty in Christ hinder
his influence. to those that he preached to.
He said, to the Jews, I became as a Jew. To the weak, that is,
any in feebleness or infirmity that arises from anything in
the mind or the body, those that are weak, he said, I became as
a weak for the gospel's sake. These four believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ were weak. Weak in what to let go of. Weak in what was the right thing
to do or not to do. Have you ever tried to convince
somebody to do something and they're not convinced yet that
that's the right thing to do? And you can sit there and talk
all you want to. Do you know when you're going
to feel good about it? When you feel good about it.
That's when you're going to feel good. I can sit here and tell
you, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard in my life. And
all it did was confuse you more. Whenever God settles your heart,
you'll settle down. These men were not settled. Paul
said in Romans 14, one hymn this week in the faith, Receive ye,
but not to doubtful disputations. Don't cast doubt. on them because
of their weakness in the light of their liberty. So that they
could fulfill that law, Paul went in with them. Went into
the purification process. Assumed the charges of the sacrifices
that they finally were going to have to pay for and give. Paul paid them so that they could
get out from under that bow. And he preached the gospel to
them in doing that. That's what he did. He preached
Christ to them by doing it. How? Well, I started to tell
you last week. Last week, I really started getting
to this message today. That's what I did. I couldn't
stand it. How did he do it? And this is how I'm going to
end up. What did he really do when he went in there with them?
I mean, boy, I'm telling you, it would be so easy to look at
Paul and just say, Paul, I just can't believe you did that, Paul. I'll tell you what he did. Those
four men took a vow according to the law and they made themselves
answerable to all its demands. When they took that vow and they
went in there, they were going to have to fulfill it and they
were going to have to pay for the sacrifices before they were
going to get out of it. They made themselves answerable
and you and I did too in the fall. In Adam, when Adam fell,
Adam and all mankind assumed the law's demand. What was it? Death. Whenever Adam fell in
the garden, what did God tell him? In the day you eat, what's
going to happen to you? You're going to die. You're going
to die. You're going to die physically,
yeah, but you died spiritually immediately. Immediately, the
presence and the awareness and the communication of Almighty
God was gone. No more freedom bound in trespasses
and sin. Whenever Adam sinned, all mankind
took that vow to fulfill the law. If you offend in one point,
you are liable to all of it. And I am telling you, you and
I took a vow too. For that vow to be completed
so that they could shave their heads and therefore show it is
over. That hair was taken, shaved off,
threw it under fire, and it was burnt up. It's over. This is
done with. The vow is over. It's over. You're
free to go. For me to be freed, those sacrifices
were going to have to be made. The Lord Jesus Christ assumed the vow that I had made concerning
the law, and he assumed my position as the sinner that had broken
the law, and all of the sacrifices that were demanded to fulfill
that law, he truly had unbiased, undiluted fellowship. He truly drank no wine. Symbolically,
there was nothing that clouded his communion with God the Father.
He truly, as that hair was symbolically the exposure of your humility,
he humbled himself. I couldn't touch anything. But
as I said, it's too late. Sin had already touched me. Death
had already touched me. He was made what I am. The sacrifices
that were demanded to let me go free was paid by Himself. It was Himself. He was made sin. So all of those sacrifices and
the cost of them, Paul assumed that responsibility. So Paul,
as a type of Christ, took the responsibility of the vow that
those four men made Paul was answerable for all of it now.
Assumed that position with him. Made himself chargeable to the
demands of the law. He entered in to pay the debt.
Beautiful picture of the type of Christ. Why? So that those four men could
shave their heads and walk out free. by his action released them from the bondage
of that law. And Paul made good on what they
owed. And Christ made good on what
we owed. He hath made him sin who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Well, it may appear that Paul
compromised his convictions. Someone might say, well, I can't
see why he did that. Paul said, I did it for the gospel
sake. Can you imagine what those men
saw in light of the gospel of free grace when they realized
this man came in and made Himself chargeable for us, and we were
released because of what He paid, and we're free by what He did,
not what we did. You think they saw Christ in
that? I do. Paul said, Philippians 2, 5 to
8, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God." That means that none of God's glory was relinquished
in the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. "...But he made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant." What
did Paul do? He was a servant. He did this
for the gospel's sake. Made in the likeness of men and
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Paul's spirit
to become or to be made all things to all men never relinquished
one point of the gospel. Paul being made all things to
the Jew, to the weak, not one point. His attitude and his actions
enabled him to address his hearers to their apprehension of divine
things and to minister to them in spite of their weakness. Paul,
why did you do what you did? I did that for the gospel's sake.
Why did you go in and make yourself chargeable? I did that for the
gospel's sake. Lord, why did you come into this
world? I did this for you. He made himself answerable. You see, I can't believe Paul
humiliated himself like that to do this. What do you think our Lord did?
He humbled himself. And he made himself of no reputation. to deliver those that he had
everlastingly loved.