Now turn again in your Bible
to the book of Acts and chapter 21 in the book of
Acts. Some of you may wonder why we,
when we meet together and we come to worship, why we take
the Word of God and go the way we proceed through the service
by reading the Word, teaching the Word, going verse by verse
through each of the books of the Bible. Have you ever wondered
why that we do those things? Well, there are many valid reasons
why it's good for us to go through the Scripture verse by verse.
This is God's truth. This is God's Word. All that
God has given to us is good for our learning, our edification. Every word, everything that He's
given to us is good for us to hear, to study. Hold your place
in Acts 21, we're coming back there, but find Romans 15. Let
me give you a couple of scriptures on that point. All that God has
given to us is given for our good, for our learning. Romans
15 verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4. For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope. Now believers have a good hope
But it's a good hope through grace, the grace of God that's
revealed in the very Word of God, the truth of God. In God's
Word, we have many precious promises given to us. If you'll find 2
Peter, 2 Peter 1, many exceeding great and precious promises,
gospel promises. Of all that God has promised
us, not one word of His promise will fail. He's given us these
exceeding great and precious promises as we read here, this
is 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1 verse 3, According as His divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises. that by these ye might be partakers
of the divine nature of having escaped the corruption that is
in the world through lust." So He's given us these exceeding
great and precious promises. But also He's given us not only
promises, but warnings. Promises lest we despair and
warnings lest we presume. Turn to Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews
chapter 3. Take heed, verse 12. Take heed,
brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God." Now, I want you to find
2 Timothy while you're right in that neighborhood, 2 Timothy
3. Why is it good for us to study
God's Word? Well, it's His truth. It's also
good for us to consider difficult passages of Scripture, difficult
portions of Scripture, lest we neglect and forget some, and
perhaps we overuse or exaggerate others. We go through the entire
record of God that exposes us to the whole truth of God, not
just a portion of it, or a snip here, a snip there, or verse
here, or verse here, as my dear pastor used to call that, verse-itis.
We take Scripture, comparing it with Scripture, and the whole
canon of Scripture, the whole record of Scripture is given
to us to study. 2 Timothy 3, 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. No question about that. And it
is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness. James is just as much inspired
as Romans. James emphasizes the obedience
of the believer, faith that works by love, and Paul emphasized
in Romans justification by faith. James emphasizes our faith being
demonstrated by obedience unto God. All Scripture is given profitable
for doctrine, for reproof. Do you need reproofing? Correction,
if you need correction, for instruction in the way of righteousness,
that the man of God be mature, throughly furnished unto all
good things. One of the many things, now back
to Acts 21. If I was given an assignment
of preaching from the book of Acts, and given my liberty to
pick any text or any chapter, to preach the gospel from, I
probably wouldn't choose these verses that I have to deal with
today because they're difficult. I confess they're difficult.
One of the many things that lends to the truth and credibility
of Holy Scripture is the fact that the weakness and failures
of believers are not hidden. Now you read the books of men,
especially those books that are written by themselves, of their
life story, they usually leave out the sad parts, the questionable
parts. But one of the things that lends
the credibility to Holy Scripture is the fact when God talks about
His elect, His chosen, He shows them and reveals unto us and
writes about them how the grace of God was manifested to them,
and He talks about their faithfulness, how they believe, but also He
talks about their fairs to show us that salvation is all of God's
grace. Now, I'll give you a couple examples
of that. Abraham. Abraham was held forth in Scripture
as the father of the faithful. Faithful Abraham. And yet we
find on not only one occasion, but twice, Abraham, who is that
woman over there? She's my sister. Abraham. That was his wife. He lied to
save his own skin. And yet God said, He was my chosen
friend. You see, salvation is by grace.
I'll give you another example. Moses. Moses. God told Moses to hit that rock. You remember? Water came out
of that rock. Well, He obeyed him the first
time. He hit the rock. Water came out. The multitude
of millions was Their thirst was quenched abundantly. Well,
later on, God told Moses, when they complained again about having
no water, God told Moses to speak to the rock. You remember, he
got upset and mad at the people and he hit the rock. And God
dealt with him in judgment. Would not let him go into the
promised land. I tell you another example. You
see, God exposes us for what we are. Sinners saved by God's
grace. Paul is no exception to that.
Abraham, Moses, David. David's called by God a man after
my own heart. He had a new heart. We have many
of the Psalms that God gave to David, inspired and given, and
how they magnify the grace of God, and yet we find David to
cover his own tracks, send his dear friend Uriah to the forefront
of the battle, had him murdered to cover up having an affair
with another woman that wasn't his wife. God exposed that. It teaches us that salvation
is by the grace of God. How about Peter? I could go on
and on. Peter, Lord, I'll never leave
you. I'll never deny you these other
fellows, Mike, James, and John. You know, they're kind of weak.
But I never will. Peter, before the cock crows,
you're going to deny me not once, but three times. And here come
a little Jewish maid after the Lord was arrested, and Peter
was outside there warming himself by the fire. She come up and
said, Aren't you one of those disciples of the Lord? Oh, I
don't know the name. What? Peter? Peter? You see, my friend, this is God's
truth, and it exposes us for what we are, sinners, but it
also magnifies the grace of God. in Christ Jesus. And Paul, though
he's God's elect, God's servant, God's chosen, Paul was a man
just like you and I. With failures and faults and
sins and bad thoughts and bad ways, he was only, he said, what
I am by His grace is by the grace of God that I love Him that I'm
kept by the grace of God. All these things are given and
recorded that we might learn from their mistakes and to see
that salvation is all of God's grace in His grace alone. Now I said all that so we can
deal with this Scripture here in Acts chapter 21. In Acts chapter
21 verse 17, when Paul was come to Jerusalem, the brethren there,
James, the others, gladly received Paul. They warmly embraced him
and welcomed him as a believer, as a lover of Christ. The day
following, Paul went in with us unto James, God's apostle,
God's servant. And all the elders were present
there. Now evidently, James, other than Paul, was the only
apostle here at that time. Where Peter is at, where John
is at, I have no clue. Where the rest of the apostles
are at, I have no idea. Evidently, they're out preaching
the gospel somewhere else. So he comes to the church there,
and James and the elders are present, and when he had saluted
them, greeted them, Paul greeted them warmly, he declared unto
them, verse 19, Paul declared unto them in detail, particularly,
what things God hath wrought among the Gentiles by his preaching. Now that's a good description
of God's salvation. What things God had wrought among
the Gentiles. And Paul does this repeatedly.
Turn back to Acts chapter 14. When he comes back from that
first journey there, sent out from Antioch, and when he comes
back to the church, In Acts 14, verse 26, or verse 27, When they
were come, and had gathered the church together, he rehearsed
all that God had done with them, how he opened the door of faith
unto the Gentiles, and there they abode a long time. Again
in chapter 12, excuse me, chapter 15, verse 12, when Paul was at
Jerusalem on this other occasion, then all the multitude kept silence
and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." He's very
careful to give God all the honor and glory and salvation extended
to these sinners, idolaters, these Gentiles. All of salvation
is a declaration of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.
And this is a message we love to tell. Tell me what God hath
done for us. I'll give you a good example
of that in Mark chapter 5. Turn to Mark chapter 5. You remember
that wild Gadarene that dwelt in the graveyard? He was a wild
man. No one could tame him. No one
could do anything for him. He had just plucked the chains
asunder. And in Mark chapter 5, when he met the Lord Jesus
Christ, and God healed him, saved him, put him in his right mind,
in Mark chapter 5 verse 15, when they come to Jesus and see him
that was possessed with the devil, and had a legion, he had an army
of demons in him, sitting and clothed in his right mind, they
were afraid. And they that saw it told him
how it befell them that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning
the swine, and they began to pray him to depart out of their
coat. And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed
with the devil prayed, prayed him, asked the Lord that he might
be with him. And the Lord said unto him, Suffereth
not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, tell them," now
watch this, "...tell them how great things the Lord hath done
for you, and hath compassion on you." And he departed, and
began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for them, done for him, and they all Marvel. Salvation, turn back
to the text, and that's exactly what Paul was doing there. He's
saying and reminding them things that God had wrought among them
by His grace. I was reading a scripture earlier
this morning from 1 Samuel 12, and Samuel said this, Fear the
Lord, serve Him in truth with all your heart, and consider
how great things He hath done for you. Christ in you. Consider the things that Christ
hath done in you. God who hath begun a good work
in you, He will finish it. He will perform it. He will perfect
it. Now let's look back to the story.
In Acts 21, when they heard this, when they heard all that God
had done through Paul's preaching, how he was magnified and how
God saved sinners, when they heard this, they glorified the
Lord and said to Him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of
Jews There are which believe, and they're all zealous of the
law. When they heard how God had wondrously
saved sinners, they were rejoicing in the Lord." And we do rejoice.
We do rejoice in God's mercy to sinners. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that the Lord Jesus came to save
sinners, and I confess I'm the chief one. I don't know about
you, you probably feel that same way about yourself, that there's
no one as sinful as you. But we do rejoice, and I'm sure
that they rejoice. It says there in verse 20, they
glorified the Lord, magnified His mercy. Thank God. And then
they told Paul of the thousands of the Jews which were converted.
And we've seen that. When Paul preached at Pentecost,
there were thousands converted on several occasions, many thousands. But it's added there, they do
believe, but they're yet zealous of the law. Zealous of the law. They had not yet been set free
from the ceremonies of the law. Now hold your place here and
find Acts 15, 5. When Paul was at Jerusalem before
concerning this question of circumcision and the matter of salvation,
this same crowd that were zealous of the law, Acts 15, 5, but there
rose up a certain sect of the Pharisees that believed, saying
that it was needful to circumcise them and command them to keep
the law of Moses. They believed. Now here's what
they believed. They believed Jesus Christ to be God's Christ,
God's Messiah, but they did not fully understand how Christ fulfilled
all the law of God for them. They were yet ignorant on that
matter of how the Lord Jesus Christ said, I didn't come to
destroy the law, I came to fulfill the law. No wonder, find Romans
10. No wonder Paul writes this about
his own nation, his own family, and those to whom he preached
so often in Romans 10. Brethren, my heart's desire,
verse 1. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. They were ignorant. Now, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, they were ignorant
of God's holy character and what God demanded. Therefore they
were going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness," notice this,
"...the righteousness of God." The righteousness provided in
Christ, in the gospel. Look at verse 4 now carefully,
"...for Christ is the end of the law." Righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Now, we must understand that
these Jews were raised in these conditions and they were hard
to break. They were hard to break. They
did not yet fully understand how that the Lord Jesus was the
sum and substance of the law, that He was the fulfillment of
the law, and that He was the sacrifice that the law of God
demanded and that God accepted. They were yet somehow unknowing
or not fully understanding all that Christ had done for them.
They believed Him to be the Messiah, but they did not yet fully understand
all things. Now, I'm not going to be critical
of these at this time. They didn't have what we have
today. They didn't have the completed record of Scripture. They didn't
have Romans and Galatians and Philippians and Colossians. These
things that we have that so plainly teach us of salvation and justification
by grace alone, not the law. Now, let's look back at verse
21. Acts 21, 21. Here's what was said. They are
informed of thee, Paul, that you teach the Jews, which are
among the Gentiles, to forsake Moses, saying that they ought
not circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. Now there's the accusation. Now
it was absolutely true that Paul did preach justification by grace
alone, faith alone, Christ alone. We've seen this. Turn to Acts
13. It was absolutely true that Paul did preach that we are saved
without circumcision, that it's by grace alone, not through the
law, but through the law being honored by Christ. In Acts 13,
look what it says here, verse 38. Acts 13, 38. Be it known,
therefore, be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man Christ crucified. The blood atonement
of Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and
by Him all that believe are justified from all things which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. As a matter of fact, if
you'll find Acts chapter 15, Peter said the exact same thing. So it was true that Paul and
Peter did preach justification by Christ alone, grace alone. Acts 15, verse 9, Peter stood
up and said, God has put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Not by the law, but by faith.
Jew and Gentile. Now therefore, why do you tempt
God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples with neither
our fathers nor we are able to bear? They couldn't keep the
law. We can't either. They couldn't
be justified by the law. We can't either. Verse 11, Key
verse. But we believe that through the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. God is going
to save the Jew the same way we shall be saved even as they. Jew and Gentile, all in Christ
Jesus. All who are in Him are justified
by grace and grace alone. A couple more scriptures. It is true. Romans chapter 3.
that Paul clearly, plainly declared salvation by grace alone without
the deeds of the law. We've seen that in the preaching
through the book of Acts. In Romans chapter 3, look at
this, verse 19. Romans 3, 19. Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. The law of God exposes our sin,
But it does not remove our sin. Guilty before God. Therefore,
verse 20, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in the sight of God, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is revealed,
manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Moses
wrote of Christ. Even the righteousness of God
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all
them that believe there is no difference. All have sinned that
come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be the propitiation, the satisfaction through faith
in His blood. to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just and the justifier of them which believe
in Christ." Yes, it is true. Paul clearly, plainly preached
justification by grace alone in Christ Jesus. Turn back to
the book of Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. He writes here in verse Galatians
2.16, knowing, Galatians 2.16, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.
Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified
by faith, by faith, the faith of Christ, not by the works of
the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight. No, by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. But if while we seek to be justified
by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is Christ,
is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I
build again the things which I destroy, I make myself a transgressor. Now read on. For I through the
law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives within
me. and the life which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Now
here's a key scripture right here in all the Word of God. For I do not frustrate, confuse
the grace of God. Have you got this marked in your
Bible? If you don't, mark it and read it carefully. For if
righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. You see his argument there? So,
look back to the text now. Verse 21, they are all informed
that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles
to forsake Moses, saying they ought not to be circumcised and
walk after the customs of the law. It was true, Paul did preach
salvation by grace alone, justification by grace alone, that the ceremonies
and circumcisions of the law had nothing to do with the sinner's
salvation. That's why it says, stand fast in the liberty with
which Christ has set us free, and don't be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage. However, it was false. It was a false accusation that
the enemies of the gospel had planted against Paul that he
discounted the writings of Moses, for both Moses and all the apostles
preached Christ as the only way of salvation. I can make good
on that. Turn to Acts 10, 43. Moses preached Christ as a way
of salvation. Our Lord said to those Jews,
had you believed Him, Moses, His writings, you would have
believed Me, for Moses wrote of Me. He said, you search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. There
they would testify of Me. Acts 10, 42, and He commanded
us to preach unto the people, to testify that it was He who
was ordained of God to be judge of the living and the dead. To
Him give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive the remission of sin, the forgiveness
of sin. To Him give all the prophets
witness. Our Lord said, Abraham rejoiced
to see My day. Abraham's hope of salvation was
what? Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Christ
alone. So, turn back to Romans 3 again. Let me show you this scripture.
It was true that Paul preached salvation by Christ alone, justification
by Christ alone, that ceremonies of the law and circumcision of
the law had nothing to do with the sinner's salvation before
God, but it was false that Paul discounted the writings of Moses,
because Moses wrote of Christ, Christ, the Lord Jesus. Matter
of fact, we read this in Romans 3 again, verse 28, therefore
we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of
the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing
it as one God which shall justify the circumcision of the Jew by
faith and the Gentile through faith." Now watch this. Do we
then make void the law through faith? God forbid! We establish it! How? How do we establish it by
faith? In Christ. He honored and magnified
the law of God for us. Now, back to the story in Acts
21. So it was true that Paul preached
justification by Christ alone, grace alone, but it was false
that he denied the rising and teaching of Moses because Moses
wrote of Christ. God gave this inspired all the
record of Scripture to show us that salvation is in Christ Jesus. Now, look at verse 22. What is it there for? The multitudes
must need come together, for they will hear that thou art
come. These men, in the frailty of
their thinking, I don't know if God just left them to themselves
at this particular time, but somehow they desired, devised,
or they wanted some way to bring some means of reconciliation
between Jew and Gentile. So here's what they did. Here's
what James and the elders submitted to Paul, persuaded him and compelled
him. Do therefore this that we say
unto you. We have four men which have taken
a vow upon themselves. Take them and purify thyself
with them and be at charges with them that they may shave their
heads. That's that Nazarite vow. Notice the reference there, number
6-2. That all may know those things
whereof we are informed concerning thee are nothing, but you walk,
that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and that you keep the
law. As touching the Gentiles we believe,
which believe, we have written and concluded, they observe no
such thing, save only that they keep themselves from idols and
blood, strangle things, fornication. Look at verse 26. Then Paul took
the men, and the next day, purifying himself with them, entered into
the temple to signify the accomplishment of days of purification until
that offering should be offered for every one of them. He was
going to go and agreed with them to take this Nazarite vow to
go to the temple, the Jewish temple and offer a blood sacrifice. Paul agreed to do it. He agreed
to do it. Now why did Paul do this? when he knew that Christ was
the end of the law for righteousness and for cleansing. Why did he
do this? Well, perhaps for the same reason
that he circumcised Timothy. Remember in Acts 16, when he
came, Timothy's father was a Greek. Timothy was called to preach
the gospel to stop any opposition. Paul took Timothy and had him
circumcised so he could preach among the Jews without any question.
perhaps for the same reason, or perhaps to remove any prejudice
against him by the Jews. Read this scripture with me,
1 Corinthians 9. 1 Corinthians 9. I think we get some insight
into what he's saying here, what's going on here. In 1 Corinthians
9 verse 19, For though I be free from all, Yet I have made myself
a servant unto all, that I might gain them more. Unto the Jews
I became a Jew, that I might gain them. To them that are under
the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are 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 the law." Talking about the Gentiles.
became I weak, that I might gain the weak. I made all things to
all men, that I might by all means save some. And for this I do, for the gospel's
sake, that I might be a partaker thereof with you." Perhaps to remove the prejudice
against him by these Jewish believers. Now, listen to me carefully,
I'm almost done. Did Paul compromise the gospel
in going too far to satisfy the believing Jews? What about the believing Gentiles
who no doubt would hear about this and it might cause some
to stumble? Is Paul to be blamed or is he
to be praised? Well, maybe both. There is reason to blame him
and reason to praise him. But I think the answer is found
in what follows. When Paul took these four men
and started the temple, and on that seventh day when they were
about to give this blood sacrifice, God intervened and stopped it. Dead in his tracks. That's what
happened. Verse 28 and following. These Jews of Asia, when they
came, when they saw Paul in the temple, this is the man that
teacheth all men everywhere against the people, against the law,
against this place, and polluted it. And they wrestled him to
the ground, threw him out of the building, shut the doors
and went about to kill him. God in his wise providence, overruling
providence, graciously stopped Paul from going through this
ceremonial sacrifice and opened the door for him to preach the
gospel to a multitude. And that's what happens in verse
40 in the whole chapter. God got the attention of this
whole city through what was going on and focused the attention
on that message that Paul was about to preach in the 22nd chapter
of the book of Acts. Now you think on this. Remember
how this chapter started, chapter 21, and I made I made a lot about
this statement, and it came to pass, verse 1, and it came to
pass. You see, my friend, even the
weaknesses in believers, God does overrule for His glory and
our good. And it came to pass. All things
work for the glory of God and for the good of His people. Now
you think on this. Had not Paul gone to Jerusalem
on that day, remember he was determined to go. Had he not
gone to the temple that day with those four men to offer that
blood sacrifice, he would have not been arrested, would not
have gone to Rome to preach the gospel because he was arrested
that day and that gave him a springboard to go to Rome to preach the gospel
for two years. You remember what happened there
in those two years that he was in prison in Rome? There in Rome,
God gave him those prison epistles. God gave him Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, 2 Timothy and Philemon. Those two years
he was in a Roman prison. And all this happened through
this one incident in God's providence, how he overruled that for the
glory of God and for the fervent of the gospel and for our good.
Aren't you glad that we have those prison epistles given to
us? God always gets the glory even
overruling our weaknesses to His glory and for our good. Well, my friend,