Item number 448. 448. There's a sweet and blessed story
of the Christ who came from glory just to rescue me from sin and
misery. He in loving kindness sought
me and from sin and shame has brought me. Hallelujah, Jesus
ransomed me Hallelujah, what a Savior Who can take a poor
lost sinner Lift him from the miry clay and set him free I
will with her tell the story Shouting glory, glory, glory
Hallelujah, Jesus, friend of me From the depths of sin and
sadness To the heights of joy and gladness Jesus lifted me
In mercy full and free With his precious blood he bought me When
I knew him not he sought me And in love divine He ransomed me. Alleluia, what a Savior, Who
can take a poor lost sinner, Lift him from the miry clay,
And set him free. I will ever tell the story, Shouting
glory, glory, glory, Hallelujah, Jesus rents on me. By and by, with joy increasing,
And with gratitude unceasing, Lifted up to be with Christ eternally. I will join the hosts, they're
singing, In the anthem ever ringing. To the King of Love who ransomed
me. Alleluia, what a Savior, Who
can take a poor lost sinner, Lift him from the miry play,
And set him free. I will ever tell the story, Shouting
glory, glory, glory, Be seated. Hymn number 195. 195. The third, the first line in
the third verse is in the book it says life is offered. We're
going to say life is promised. And on the fourth verse, just
before the course, it says I trusted and, we're going to say I trusted
when. I trusted when he saved my soul. if I can get it in my head after
the other one. I have a message from the Lord,
hallelujah. The message unto you I'll give. It is recorded in his word, hallelujah. It is only that you look. ? Look and live ? Look and live,
my brother, live ? Look to Jesus now and live ? It is recorded
in his word, hallelujah ? It is only that you look and live
I've a message full of love, Alleluia A message, O my friend,
for you Tis a message from above, Alleluia Jesus said it and I
know it is true Look and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in His Word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and
live. Life is promised unto you, Alleluia! Eternal life thy soul shall have,
If you only look to Him, Alleluia! up to Jesus who alone can save. Who can live, my brother, live? I will tell you how I came to
Jesus when he made me I trusted when he saved my soul. Cook and live, my brother, live. Look to Jesus now and live. It is recorded in His word, hallelujah. It is only that you look and
live. Let's look together in Action,
Chapter 21. There's 40 verses in this chapter. And I'm gonna go through all
40 of them. Don't get nervous. It won't take
me long. It won't take me long because
we're not gonna read the whole thing and we'll deal with it
as we come to it. But I will. Read down through 14. And it
came to pass after we were gotten from them. Remember when he was
at Miletus and the Ephesian elders came down and Paul gave his farewell
message to them. And so they left there and it
came to pass after we were gotten from them and had launched, we
came with a straight course under Koas and the day following under
Rhodes. and from thence unto Patera,
and finding a ship sailing unto Phoenicia, we went aboard and
set forth. Now when we had discovered Cyprus,
we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed
at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her burden. And finding
disciples, we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through
the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And when
he had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way.
And they all brought us on our way with wives and children till
we were out of the city, and we knelt down on the shore and
prayed. And when we had taken our leave
one of another, we took ship, and they returned home. And when
we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemus and
saluted the brethren and broke with them one day. And the next
day we that were of Paul's company departed, came unto Caesarea,
and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which
was one of the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had
four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried
there many days, there came down a certain prophet, It came down
from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. And when he was
come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, bound his own hands and
feet. Thus saith the Holy Ghost, so
shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle.
and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when he
had heard these things, both we and they of that place besought
him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what mean
ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am not ready to
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of
the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded,
we ceased saying, the will of the Lord be done. Our gracious, gracious, gracious
eternal God in heaven. God of mercy, God of grace, God
of love, God of pity. Lord, we're so thankful that
we can come to you to a throne of grace, not a throne of judgment,
not a throne of anger and wrath, but a throne of grace. And there
we can find mercy. to help us in our time of need.
Oh, how blessed we are that we can approach you, speak to you,
come into your holy presence. When the high priest, once a
year, could go behind the veil. Lord, every time we come into
your presence, we go behind the veil. We go into the holiest
of holies. We go where God dwells, where
Christ sits in God's right hand. And Lord, we come. so thankful,
so blessed, so privileged. Lord, you owe us nothing. You
owed us nothing. We deserve nothing. So everything
we've got, you gave to us. The life, the hope, the forgiveness
of sin, the righteousness, everything we hold, every spiritual blessing. you gave to us, and we bless
you for it. Meet with us tonight. Please
have mercy upon us. And Father, for those who are
not with us, providentially hindered, please be gracious, merciful,
and pitiful toward them. And for those who are sick, whose
bodies are weak and frail, and can't come for that reason, please
be with them. Bless the message to their heart.
We ask these things in our blessed Savior's name. Amen. Amen. Number 354. 354. Heaven, Jesus All our sins and
griefs to bear What a privilege to carry Everything to God in
prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged
Take it to the Lord in prayer Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows Jesus knows our every weakness
Take it to the Lord in prayer For we weak and heavy laden Covered
with a load of care Precious Savior, still our refuge Take
it to the Lord in prayer thy friends despise forsake thee
take it to the lord in prayer in his arms he'll take and shield
thee thou will find You know, I want to talk tonight
about Peter's, or excuse me, Paul's faith, his fearlessness,
and his failure. His faith, his fearlessness,
and his failure. God said man at his best estate
is altogether vanity. I mean altogether vanity, not
just partly vanity, altogether vanity. And here we have the
Apostle Paul, a man greatly, greatly used of God. Other than the Lord Jesus Christ,
he was used more of God than any other man. He quoted more
than any other of the apostles. He wrote 13 books of the New
Testament. But this blessed man, he also
had his failures. He had his failures. We see his
faith, we see his commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, but
he also, here in this chapter, has a great, great, great failure. But you know, there's one reason
why we know the Bible is the Word of God, because God exposes
even his David's a man after God's own heart, but God exposed
David for his sin. Rebuked him for his sin. Told
him that he's gonna have to suffer for his sin. And then Jacob,
Jacob was a deceiver. He'd come along, he would deceive
people, he would go in and he'd take somebody up and take their
place and take their goods. He was a manipulating kind of
a man. Very manipulating kind of a man. And I tell you then there's a
lot. He decided he wanted to live
in Sodom. And look what a mess it was for
him. Had to drag him out. Moses, he got, you know why he
didn't get to go to the Promised Land? He smoked the rock twice. Christ only be smoking one time
on the cross. Well, he did it twice. The first
time he did it because God told him to. Second time he did it,
he did it out of anger. And not only that, but he killed
a man. He murdered a man. And he had
to leave and leave on the backside of the desert for 40 years to
keep from them coming after him. And then, of course, there's
Simon Peter. Everybody knows about him. But for Paul, for
him to live as Christ, it really was. But I want you to look at
a very, very sorrowful, sad prospect for this man. Let's start together
here in verse four. They got off the boat, they got
off the ship, and finding disciples, finding disciples, that's the
first thing he wanted to do. He wanted to, like attracts like. I mean, he said, is there any
believers around here? Is there anybody here that trusts
Christ? Anybody around here knows Christ? And finding disciples.
He found him disciples. Look what it says. We stayed
there seven days. We found some folks just like
us that rejoiced in Christ, believed the gospel, and oh my, we stayed
with them for seven days. Seven days, and when those days
was accomplished, we departed. He would depart it. But here's
what I want you to see. He was warned three times here
not to go to Jerusalem, not to go to Jerusalem. And look what
it says now. And as they all brought us in
verse five, excuse me, in verse four, who some of those disciples
who said to Paul, through the Spirit, see how that's capitalized?
That means the Holy Spirit. through the spirits that he should
not go up to Jerusalem. He is determined to go, but don't
go up. The Spirit of God said, don't
go up. Don't do that. Don't do that. And look down
here in verse 10, and he was over at Philip's house there.
And then, you know, and as we tarried there many days, there
came down from Judea, a certain prophet named Agabus. And when
he was come, He took Paul's girdle, now a girdle is just a big belt
where they tie their clothes up with, a big belt, that's all
it is, made out of cloth, but they wrapped it around them,
keep their robes and things up, and Agabus took Paul's girdle,
he took his belt, and he wrapped his hands with that belt, then
he sat down and also wrapped his feet with it, and tied himself
up, and this is what he said. and bound his own hand and feet,
and in this again he said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost. I'm not
saying it. Those people over there said
the Spirit says it. And he said, Thus saith the Holy
Ghost, shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owns this girdle,
and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. So I mean
he was warned, he was warned over and over and over again.
And in his days as a Pharisee, he profited much, he said, in
the Jews' religion, above many his equals. But oh my, but I
tell you, he is honored of men, praised of men, and counted it
all done for Christ, for his gospel. for his gospel. And I, Lord, when He came to
him and called him and chose him when he was over at Ananias'
house and he went preaching, Christ came to him and said,
Saul, Paul, I'm going to SHOW you, I want you to SEE and I
want you to UNDERSTAND how much you're going to SUFFER for Me,
how much you're going to SUFFER for My name's sake. So I'll tell
you what, but here he was He was called to the fellowship
of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I do want you
to notice this now in verse 5 before I move on to my next point. And when they went on their way,
let's watch this, they brought us on our way with their wives
and their children. Everybody, that was all them
disciples there. They brought them, walked with
them on the way. And we got out of the city, and
there's the husbands, the wives, and even the little children,
and all their kids. They were out of the city, and
listen to this, and we knelt down on the shore and prayed. Oh my. Knelt down on the shore. There's father, mother, their
children. Got down with the apostle Paul
outside of town, and they had a prayer meeting. Oh, I just,
that blesses my heart. That really blesses my heart.
Then look what else is, look at his faith. Look down here
in verse 12 now. You know, after Agabus and those
saints there, and Tyre said, you know, don't go, don't go
to Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem, stay out of Jerusalem, you're
gonna have trouble in Jerusalem. In fact, he had already told
them at Ephesus, he said, everywhere I go, I know I'm gonna have afflictions
and I'm gonna go in bonds, I know that, I'm ready for that. And
then he said here in verse 12, and when we heard these things, We and they of that place, here's
the third time now, besought him, begged him, please don't
go up to Jerusalem. Don't go. Three times now, three
groups of people said, don't you go. Don't go up there. Don't go up there. What in the
world you think this man? Why would he not listen to the
Holy Spirit? Why would he not listen to the
Holy Ghost? Why would he not listen to his prophets? Why would
he not listen to these people that loved him and begged him
not to go to Jerusalem and told him that Agabus says, you're
gonna be bound. They're gonna bind you. You're
gonna be in jail. You're gonna be in prison. And
oh my, and then look what Paul said. Then answered, Paul answered,
what mean ye to weep and to break my heart? Not only they sought
him, they were crying. They were weeping. Weeping, Paul,
please don't go. Shedding tears for this man,
weeping for this man, worried about this man, concerned for
this man. And he said, oh my, what do you
mean to weep and to break my heart? And that's what he's saying,
you're breaking my heart, you're hurting me, telling me these
things, showing you great love for me. But oh my. He said, I'm ready. I am ready. I am ready. Not only to be bound,
put the chains on me, but I'm ready also to die at Jerusalem
for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you, he was ready
and willing. And you know where he got his
peace and his faith and his ability to face these troubles and go
on? He says, for the name of the
Lord Jesus. That's the reason. That gave
him the peace. That gave him the power. That
gave him the faith to endure whatever was coming his way.
I mean he was the one who said, I'm persuaded that NOTHING, NOTHING
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ. And here's what he said, I don't care whether it's
life or death, and he was living and he was facing death. He said,
I don't care. He said, nobody shall separate
us from the love of God that's in Christ. So he had that peace,
he had that assurance, he had that faith. But then he said,
and listen to this. I am ready. See there in verse
two, I am ready. Every one of us has got ready
to go someplace or do something. Every one of us, we've packed
clothes, we've packed bags, packed our car, have to get ready to
go somewhere, do something. We get ready to come to service.
We go change clothes and put on some swelling to come to worship.
We have to get ready for these things. I'm going to Florida
this week, and we got to get ready to go down there. I got
to get ready to preach two times Sunday. I got to get ready. But
oh my, very, very few people are ready to meet the Lord Jesus
Christ, ready to leave this world. They're ready for everything
else, but boy, are you ready to meet Christ? Are you ready
to face the grave? Are you ready to face sickness? Are you ready to face trials?
Are you ready to face affliction? Are you ready? Oh my, you know
how much Scott Richardson, I think I put him on one of the boards,
maybe in this one, but he says, man tries everything, he's interested
in everything but his dying day. And oh, are you ready? You know,
you remember that there was 10 virgins over in Matthew chapter
25. And it says, you know, that they
all slumbered. They all slept. Every single
one of them did. But then one day there was a
knock at the door. The bridegroom come. It's time
to go. Time to go. And the scripture
said that the five whys were now ready. They were now ready. But there's five that wasn't.
You know what that tells us? When he calls, you better be
ready. And when I tell you what, when
those five walked out that door, when those five that says they're
now therefore ready, when that five walked out that door, you
know what the scripture said? The door was shut. And them five
foolish couldn't get out. Shut that door. And they was
left in there. Our Lord Jesus says, my hour's
not yet come. But your hour's always ready,
always ready. I'm ready. I tell you, he believed,
he knew who he believed and he'd been told by the master all that
he'd have to shut. But oh my, don't mess around,
don't mess around, don't mess around until the door's shut.
Don't do that. Joe told me the other day about
a message he heard by Henry Manningham, they hated me without a cause.
He says, best message he ever heard. I listened to it, Joe.
Woo! My goodness. Henry didn't leave a stone unturned. To hate Christ and not be ready
for Christ. Oh my. Then, oh my, so here's
his faith. He said, I'm ready, I'm ready.
Go ahead and chain me up, I'm ready. If I go up there and they
kill me, I'm ready, I'm ready. I'm ready. Then look at his testimony
down here in verse, well, let's go back here then in verse 14
first before I move on. And when he would not be persuaded,
I mean, they was begging him, pleading with him, weeping, crying.
And when he would not be persuaded, we stopped, saying he's not gonna
change his mind, he's not gonna listen to what anybody got to
say. Saying, the will of the Lord be done. Whatever happens,
it's gonna happen. God's will be done in his life
and in ours. The will of the Lord be done.
Now look down at verse 17. They come up on an old disciple
named Manassas. and of Cyprus. It's an old disciple. Now, you know, it was hard to
find an old disciple. Most of these folks were relatively,
still relatively young. So this fellow may have been
a disciple in Christ's day, because he's an old, old man. But anyway,
it says in verse 17, he has this wonderful testimony. And we were
come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. Now there's
a church at Jerusalem, the biggest church of believers was at Jerusalem. That's where the church had the
greatest congregation, the biggest congregation was at Jerusalem,
was at Jerusalem. And I'll tell you when he got
there, all the brothers seen him and they hugged him and kissed
him and received him so gladly. Oh, they's glad to see the apostle. So the next day, the next day,
Paul went in with us unto James, and Luke is one of the writing
this. And the next day, the brethren
received us gladly. The next day following, Paul
went in with us unto James and all the elders that were present.
So there's James the apostle. And then there's all the elders,
all the fellows that do the preaching and help out and guard and help
protect the congregation. Oh, everybody was present. Everybody
that was anybody was present. And when he saluted them, that's
the first thing he did. He said, I believe he called
him Brother James. I don't think he said, you know,
I asked a fellow one time, what do you like to be called? My
name. If you had asked Paul, said,
what would you like to be called? Would he say, would you like
to be called an apostle? He said, no, just call me Paul. I'm just
Paul. but that's not the way preachers
are now. Reverent, right reverent, priest, but oh no, no. And I tell you, he saluted them,
told them how thankful he was to be there, how blessed he was
to be with the saints of God. And then look what it says in
verse 18. He declared particularly what
things God had wrought among the Gentiles by His ministry. Oh my. You know, I want you to
notice this. He did not tell the folks what
all He did. didn't brag about being an apostle,
didn't brag about healing people, didn't brag about raising Eutychus
from the dead, he didn't brag about how that they could take
clothes, pieces of his garment and heal people, didn't tell
anything that he ever did. You know what he said? What God
did. He said what God wrought. He said if anything happened,
God did it. That's what he's saying. Ain't
that what he said? That God hath wrought among the Gentiles. and
looks at this, by His ministry, God Almighty. I learned years
and years ago that people say, well, my church is like this
and my church is that. Listen, I've never had a church. I've never had a church. The
church belongs to Christ. How many go to your church? I
don't have a church. It's Christ's church. And that's
what Paul said, EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED, GOD DID IT! And you
know when a fellow trusts and begs in his own ministry and
his own abilities and things that he's done, God's not doing
that. No, no, we don't have a church.
God has a church! He just enables me to teach a
little bit and preach a little bit and encourage a little bit.
That's all He enables me to do. And oh my, he didn't brag about
himself and what he had done. And he was called the apostle
to the Gentiles. And I'll tell you one thing,
the Jews hated him for going to the Gentiles. And that was
Peter, let me tell you one of the failures that Peter had after
he began to preach the gospel. They were down at Galatia, down
in Galatia. And they was having a meal. They was all at a big table.
And Peter was sitting there with a whole bunch of Gentiles, people
like me and you. And he was eating with them.
They was all having a good fellowship and eating food and having a
good time. And then James, the one that's
here, he's talking about. And some of the men from Jerusalem
came in. He jumped up from that table,
scared teeth totally to death, and run over there and sit with
them Jews. Act like, man, I ain't got nothing to do with them Gentiles.
And you know what Paul did? Paul looked him right square
in the eye and said, boy, you did wrong. You dishonored the
gospel when you've done that. You're saying that there's two
gospels, one for the Gentile and one for the Jew. He withstood
him to his face. But oh, my. But I tell you what. These men and James from Jerusalem,
they came down, but anyway, and look what it said in verse 20.
And when they heard it, when they heard what God had done,
and when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. That's why he tells what God
done. That's why we always talk about what the Lord's done, that
he gets all the glory, but nobody gets any glory but him. He's
the only one to be glorified, and then they glorified the Lord,
and said unto him, they started talking to him. Oh, I believe
James was doing most of the talking. Thou seest, brother, and that's
what they called him, brother. Oh, thou seest, brother. How
many thousands of Jews there are which believe and they're
all zealous, zealous of the law. Well, this is where he started
compromising. This is where he failed. He failed
grievously right here. Now watch this. And all these thousands
of Jews which believe and are zealous of the law. I know people that are Calvinist,
say they believe the grace of God, but at the same time, they're
also zealous of the law. Also zealous of the law. About
half the congregation, quite a few of the congregation were
Clay Curtis preachers. They came out of Reformed churches
where it was works and law preached to them all. Go to the cross,
go to the cross, get your sins taken care of. But now the only
way in the world you know how to live right is for us to hammer
the law, hammer the law, hammer the law. And they got to, they
found out that there's somebody, they went over just to see what
was going on. And God brought them out from under the law. But these folks were zealous
for it. And look what he says now here in verse 21. And they are informed of thee.
This is what they're telling about you now. It's what he's
saying, this is what they're telling about you. That you teach
all the Jews, which are among the Gentiles, to forsake Moses. He said, Everywhere you go, this
is what they're telling on you, that you tell all the Jews to
forsake Moses. Don't bother with Moses. Forget
Moses. Forget Moses. Among the Gentiles,
forsake Moses, said they ought not to circumcise their children,
neither to walk after their customs. Oh, my. I want you to see something. I'm going to show you how bad
this was for Paul. Look over in Acts 13. And look in verse 38, and when
you see what he does here, you'll see what an awful, awful, he
just meant to have his way, but look what he preached here to
these folks. He said in verse 38, be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that
believe are justified from all things from which you could not
be justified by the law of Moses. So beware there, don't you perish,
don't you perish. But all they've been told, and
back over here in our text, they've been told, they've been told,
they've been informed, all these Jews have been informed about
you, don't bother with Moses, forget Moses, forget circumcision,
Now watch what he says in verse 22. What is it therefore? Which one
is it? Do you preach this? Is this what
you really preach? Do you tell folks to forsake
Moses and not to be circumcised? And not go after the customs
of the Jews? What is it therefore? Now listen to what he said. Everybody,
when the multitude hears that you're here, and they're gonna
hear, they've heard, they all know who Paul is. He's well,
well known, and they all know what he, they know what he preaches,
that's why I said, just been told of you. And he says, they
gonna have to come together, and when they hear that you're
come, they all gonna come together, and they're gonna hear what you
got to say. That's what they're talking about. Now listen to
this. Look what he said in verse 23. Do therefore this that we say
to thee. You do what we tell you to do. Here's a man who wrote 13 books
of the Bible. Here's a man who's more of God
than any of the other apostles. And they said, now what we tell
you to do, you do it. We're gonna tell you what to
do. Now, do this that we say unto you. Oh my. And everyone's
gonna hear you here, and they listen to man. And look what
he says here now. We have four men which have a
vow on them. And a vow is they vowed to be
Nazarites. Now look what he says in the
next one. And look what he says, now you do this that we tell
you to do, and this is what we want you to do. We got four men
now, then you take these men, you purify yourself with them,
and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads,
and all may know that those things were of they were informed to
you and were told about you, that they concerning thee are
nothing, but that you also walk orderly and keep the law. And this is the Nazarite vow,
and what happens is there's these four fellas got a vow on them,
and they make a vow for seven days, and then they go, and they
go to the temple or tabernacle, and they'd go and they'd shave
their head. They'd shave their head. And then the scriptures
tells us that they would, all of them would have, every one
of them would have to have an offering, a blood sacrifice. They took
a lamb, they took a bully, and they took a goat, and they had
to have three sacrifices, each one of them did. And they burnt
their hair with a peace offering. You can find that in Numbers
chapter six. And oh my, and they'll find out that you walk orderly
and you keep the law. And I tell you, he loved the
Jews, he loved his nation. He said he could be, you know,
that he could wish himself a curse for Christ, for the Jewish nation. And oh my, look what he does.
Now he listened. Oh, he listened to these fellas.
You know he wasn't a man fearer. You know he did not fear men.
You know that. And oh my, look what happens
now. And as touching the Gentiles,
which believe we have written, and remember that when we dealt
that, that they observed no such thing, save only that they keep
themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and
from things strangled, and from fornication. Now look what Paul
did. They said, you do what we tell
you to do, and everybody here will understand that you're not
against Moses, you're not against the law, that you're a real good
Jew. Look what happened. Then Paul
took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them.
They cut their hair, they've been purified, they've washed,
they've done all the things they're supposed to do. And they entered
into the temple, showing that the seven days were accomplished,
purification were accomplished, until that an offering, an offering
should be offered for every one of them. Now you reckon, Paul
would go far enough to offer a blood sacrifice after he preached
Christ as the only sacrifice, as the only offering for sin.
After all, he had preached about the Lord Jesus Christ and his
death and his crucifixion. What do you think he would do?
Oh my. An offering be offered for every
one, every one of them had to have an offering. And when the
seven days were almost ended, And his failure is so conspicuous,
look what happens now. And when the seven days were
almost ended, it was just about time just to have them offerings,
just about time to offer some blood. And then the Jews, which
were of Asia, from Ephesus, Miletus, where they fought him tooth and
nail, when they saw him in the temple, They saw him, they knew
exactly who he was. They'd hated him, they'd run
him out of town so many different places and despised him. And
they saw him in the temple, and listen to what happens now. They
stirred up the people, stirred up all the people, and laid hands
on him. They caught him outside the temple,
and they was all stirred up, and they went and got him, grabbed
him, manhandled him. And listen to what they said
now. Oh, my. In his compromise, his compromise,
what caused this, God kept him from doing this thing. God kept
him from doing this thing, and I know he found out later how
thankful he was. And they stirred up and crying
out, men of Israel, help! This is the man! Talking about
Paul. This is the man! that teacheth
all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this
place, and not only that, but brought Greeks also into the
temple, and hath polluted this holy place." Oh my, I got what
happened, but I mean they saw him and said, this is a fella
that's telling everybody to forget the law, stay away from the law. for they had seen before with
him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed
that Paul had brought into the temple." Oh, my! He had shaved his head, he was
getting ready to go, and later he told the Galatians, Stand
fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has set you
free. He had been warned not to go
up to Jerusalem three times. And now it's coming to pass.
The whole city's in an uproar. And look what it said in verse
30. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together,
and they took Paul, drew him out of the temple, dragged him
out of the temple, and this is what they've done, so he couldn't
get back in there, they shut the doors. We don't want him
back in there. We got him out, we're not gonna
let him go back in there. Oh no, they shut the doors on
him. And listen to this, as they went about to kill him. Went
about to kill him. These are these Jews that's zealous
for the law. These are these Jews that goes
to this temple. These are these Jews that keep
all these rituals and offerings and all that. And then they set
about to kill him. Kill him. Oh my. Oh, my. And they went about to
kill him. And then the chief captain of
the band, verse 31, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Somebody
said, boy, there's a big, there's a riot going on downtown. There's
a riot going on. Well, that captain, he immediately
took soldiers and centurions and ran And when they saw the
chief captain and the soldiers, listen to this, they left off
beating him. They'd been beating him and beating him. I mean,
this mob was beating on him and beating on him, and they sought
to kill him, and they was gonna beat him to death. And here he
was, he was rescued. You know who rescued him? Roman
Army. Soldiers rescued him, rescued
by the soldiers. And oh my, and then when they
saw the soldiers, they left off beating Paul. Then the chief
captain came near, took him, and listen to this, and commanded
him to be bound with two chains. Two chains. I believe one's on
his hands and foot, and one's on this hand and on that foot.
And he just had enough room in him that he could walk. Couldn't
run. And then oh my, and demanded,
who in the world are you? And what have you done to cause
all these folks to want to kill you and beat you to death? What
have you done and who are you? Well, they all got together and
someone was crying, one was crying something, another cried another
too, and the multitude was all upset and going on. And so what
he could not know THE REASON FOR THIS TUMULT AND THIS RIOT,
HE COMMANDED HIM, CARRY HIM INTO THE CASTLE, CARRY HIM UP. AND
LOOK WHAT IT SAYS NOW. THEY CARRIED HIM INTO THE CASTLE.
AND WHEN HE WAS COME UPON THE STAIRS, SO IT WAS THAT HE WAS,
THE SOLDIERS HAD TO CARRY HIM. IT SAID, BORN OF THE SOLDIERS
FOR THE VIOLENCE OF THE PEOPLE. THE SOLDIERS GOT AROUND HIM AND
PICKED HIM UP AND CARRIED HIM UP THROUGH THERE. Because that
people was wanting to kill him so much. They had to guard him. For the multitude of the people
followed after crying, away with him, kill him. That's just exactly
the way they'd done his master. Away with him. Away with him. Oh my. And they set away with him just
like they did his master, like they did our Lord Jesus. And
as Paul was led into the castle, look what happens now. He said
to the chief captain, may I speak unto thee? Can I talk to you?
You're the captain. You're the chief man around here. Can I speak unto you? And he
said, can you speak Greek? And this is the first thing he
said about him. He said, are you that Egyptian? He assumed
that he knowed who Paul was and what trouble he was in. Art thou
not the Egyptian, which before these days made us an uproar
and led us out into the wilderness, 4,000 men that were murderers?
Hey, you got to be a bad man, these folks won't kill you. You took 4,000 men that were
murderers and went out in the wilderness? No, Paul said, no,
that's not me. That's not me. That's not who
I am. That's not who I am. Oh my, these folks had a form
of godliness, that's all they had. But Paul said, I'm a man. That's the first thing he said,
I'm just a man. I'm a man. And I'm a Jew. And I was born
and raised in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean
city. I mean, it was a great city,
really, is what he's saying. And I beseech thee, I ask you,
please allow me to speak unto the people. Let me speak to the
people. And when he had given him license,
go ahead, you can go ahead and talk. Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with his hands unto
the people. And when there was a great silence,
I mean, it got quiet, went from a riot to quietness. And look
what it is, he spake unto them in the he true tongue, and we'll
take it up from there next week. And oh my, his defense of the
gospel, men and brethren and fathers, hear my defense. We'll
deal with that next week. But oh my, he had faith, he was
fearless, But God intervened and kept him from offering a
blood sacrifice. That would have destroyed his
ministry, his message. It'd be like me, it'd be like
me leaving the grace of God and quit preaching the grace of God
and going into Arminianism, going into works, going into free will. You'd say, boy, I never would
have believed it. And that's what they felt about
Paul. Our Father, thank you for meeting
with us this evening. Thank you for the grace of God.
Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for our Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank you for your word. Thank you for apostles that you
had, and you so mightily. And oh, love suffers so greatly
for you. Lord, I pray that we're ready,
that we are ready. Every one of us in this building
are ready, ready to be called any time. Ready when you knock
on the door. Ready when you call us home.
Ready, Lord, ready, ready. We don't have to pack. You made
us ready. We have nothing to do. You made
us ready. We're just waiting, Lord, for
you to call. We're ready. God bless these
dear saints, for Christ's sake, amen. Thank you, Lord, for saving
my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me Thy great salvation, so rich and free. Well, Larry Criss will
be here to preach for you Sunday. And we'll go down and preach
for Billy Ardropolis. He's had the COVID, him and his
wife both. He said, I didn't know anybody could get that sick. But I'm going to go down. I hope
he's able to come.