And if you would, turn in your Bibles to Acts 21. We'll read from verses 15-40. And we have a lot to cover today, so I'm going to ask you to listen fast. Acts chapter 21 verses 15 to 40. After these days we got ready and started on our way to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came up with us taking Manasseh of Cyprus, a disciple of long-standing with whom we were to lodge. Verse 17, after we arrived in Jerusalem the brethren received us gladly and the following day to James and all the elders were present. And after he greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they had heard it, they began to glorify God. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all of the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads and all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law. But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote, We have decided that they should abstain from the meat sacrificed to idols and from blood, and from what is strangled and from fornication. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. When the seven days were almost over, the Jews of Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, come to our aid. This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the law and this place. And besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. They had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, in the city with him. And they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was provoked. And the people rushed together, taking hold of Paul. They dragged him out of the temple and immediately the doors were shut. while they were seeking to kill him. A report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the commander came up and took hold of him and ordered him to be bound with two chains And he began asking who he was and what he had done. Verse 34. But among the crowd, some were shouting one thing and some another. And when he could not find out the facts because of the uproar, he ordered that he, Paul, be brought to the barriers. When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting away with him. As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, may I say something to you? The commander said, do you know Greek? Then you are not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a revolt and led 4,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness? But Paul said, I am a Jew of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city, and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people. And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the stairs, motioned to the people with his hand, and when there was a great hush, he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect. We're gonna stop there. We'll pick up there next time. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. God of scripture, author of the holy book. We ask your blessing now on your word, on the reading of it and on the preaching of it. Help us to know as the Helvetic Confession states that in the preaching of the word, we hear the word of God. We discover the word of God. We hear the voice of Christ in this means of grace. God, this is our prayer this hour. Be pleased to bless us in this way. Hide this preacher behind the cross of Calvary. Sanctify your church and its members. Draw sinners to repentance and faith. It's in Christ's precious and holy name that we ask these things. Amen. Last time we found Paul setting his face toward Jerusalem. Remember, we made some comparisons with Paul going to Jerusalem and Christ Jesus going to Jerusalem. The Bible tells us that Jesus set his face like a flint. And this is the same attitude that Paul has. He is determined to go where he was directed by the Holy Spirit so he's setting his face toward Jerusalem, knowing that bonds and afflictions awaited him, hearing warnings and pleas from his friends, hearing from the Holy Spirit what awaited him, that Paul was not sure that he might die, even die in Jerusalem. So he sets a straight course for the city. And in these verses of our text this morning, we have the account of Paul's final visit to Jerusalem, and we have this under nine headings. I'll go ahead and tell you what they are. We have a glad reception in verse 17, a good report in 18 and 19, a questionable premise in 20 and 21, a bad plan in verses 22 through 25, a complete backfire in verses 26 through 29. A final rejection in verse 30. An unlikely rescue, verses 31 through 34. A familiar chant that we find in 35 and 36. Shift in attitude in 37 through 40. And then we'll close with some lessons, practical lessons for us from this text for today. If you didn't get that and you need it, I can give it to you later, or we're gonna go right through it. So as we dive right in here, first we find a glad reception in verse 15. After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. Paul has been to Jerusalem before. He knows the brothers and sisters in Christ that are there. He has a special love for the church of Jerusalem. Remember, he had received and collected from the churches where he had ministered. He had received and collected a generous gift that he was bringing, that he was delivering for the aid of the saints in Jerusalem. Paul, in his writing, had much to say about this offering and the bringing of him. Luke, in Acts here, has not been as wordy. We've talked about, and I mean, he hasn't kept anything from us. He's not hiding anything. But he has not spoken as much about this gift as Paul does. And some have suggested that it may indicate a difference in how Paul viewed the church in Jerusalem and how Luke saw the church. This is certainly one of those texts that gives us pause about the Jerusalem church. As I studied preachers and commentators have said some things like, well, I don't want to tell you how to think about this. And I don't want to tell you what to, what to, how to judge this. I don't think we're gonna be able to, I'm not good enough to conceal my thoughts. So I know you will get exactly what I'm thinking as we work through this. And this is a passage that I've struggled with because of the criticisms that I have. Not criticisms about the word of God. This is not prescription as to how we should live. It's description as to what happened and everything that happened wasn't just the best. Back when Peter reported to the Jerusalem church about the conversion of Cornelius. Remember he went, Cornelius was converted, Cornelius this Gentile, there was that great vision of the sheep that was lowered with all the different animals and Peter had that vision. Cornelius was converted and then he comes back and he reports to the church And there was an outward acceptance of that. Oh, yeah. OK, now God is saving Gentiles. But there seemed to be kind of under the surface a bit of a repressed offense. A bit of a covered indignance and like a buried resentment. And maybe you don't see that, and like I said, maybe that's just me reading it, but I think I saw that. And now here, we have Paul coming and making a report about the work that God is doing among the Gentiles, and I think once again, there is something under the surface. We read about a glad reception, but the other statements in the text leave us wondering, What is really going on in this church in Jerusalem? It seems to me evident that there is a distinct lack of teaching or a lack of emphasis on important things in the church at Jerusalem. Now we'll look at that more as we move on. But even as we note this glad reception, there's something here that seems amiss. So we see this glad reception. Secondly, we see a good report, verse 18, on the following day when Paul went in with us to James. Remember this, with us. Luke, who is the author of Acts, is with Paul, so they all go in together, this is with us, and they go in to James, and all the elders were present. So this is James, the half-brother of Jesus, Peter James and John James, it's a different James, the half-brother of Jesus, who is a leader here, so it's James and the elders. Verse 19, and after Paul greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. Note here the humility of Paul the apostle. If any one of us were writing a news story about the preceding chapters of Acts, we might title that news story something like, The amazing efforts of Paul the Apostle. I mean, you think about it. You think about all that we've seen that Paul has done. We might say, Paul's tireless ministry among the Gentiles. Wouldn't that be a good title? I mean, I think those would be good titles. But what does Paul report? What does he say when he is bringing this report? Not a single word about what I have done. You think about your job. You think about where you work, and you're gonna stand and give a report. You're gonna be, what are they, a review. You're gonna have your annual review. Well, this year I did this, and I completed this project, and I started this thing, and I did this, and I... Not a word from Paul about what I did. Only relating one by one the things which God had done. through Paul's ministry, but it was God's work. It was God's blessing. It was God's accomplishment. And that is what Paul reports. Look what God is doing among the Gentiles. I feel like I know just a little of how Paul might've felt when we meet with the pastors of sister churches in our association, we give and hear reports. What's going on in the churches. It is such a blessing to hear what God is doing. And I got to tell you, never once have I listened and thought, look at what David Shiflett's doing in his church. Look what Jason Montgomery is doing in his church. Look at what Matt Vincent is doing. Not once, I don't hear like that. And when I give that report, I hope brothers don't hear, look what pastors Todd and Brent are doing. I hope they don't hear that. What we hear is what God is doing and it is humbling and it is also encouraging the things recounted that God has been working. Here, Paul gives a good report. In the third place, we find, what I call a questionable premise. Verse 20, when they heard, they began glorifying God. See, you get that. They began glorifying God. But now look at what I'm calling under the surface or something that's just amiss. They began glorifying God, verse 20, and they said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed? And they're all zealous for the law. and they've been told about you. It just, it comes up in my mind. They've been told by whom. What did you guys do to correct the misinformation? They've been told about you, and this is what they were told, that you were teaching all the Jews who were among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs. To me, it just seems odd. Paul gives a report about the work that God is doing among the Gentile churches, and somebody decides now is the time to point out how well the Jews are doing. We have thousands. It just seems odd to me. This is good news. We're glad that the Jews are doing well, but it seems that it's placed here at the end of Paul's report Maybe to create some sort of competition. You tell us how the Gentiles are doing, we'll tell you how the Jews are doing. Some comparison or contrast. This is how the Gentiles are doing. Oh, well, I don't know if you know this, but we're doing pretty well with the Jews too. It just seems odd to me. There again, I'm not criticizing God's word. I'm just questioning what's going on here at this church. in Jerusalem, and then we have this statement. Thousands of Jews have believed and they are all zealous for the law. Thousands have believed and they're all zealous. What does this word zealous mean? It's the same word, zealous. It's the same word that would be used to describe those who were opposed to and political enemies of the Romans, those zealous. It's the same kind of word. They were all zealous, meaning radical. That's what you mean when you say those zealots against Rome, they were radicals. For some reason here, it seems that James and the elders are happy to report that the Jewish Christians were radical for the law. And then they throw in all. Sounds like a way of braggadocious exaggeration. Have you seen the thousands of Jews out there? All zealous for the law. By the way, we have, if you notice in your bulletin, we tell you where we're going and what we're doing in our particular portions of our worship service. And we have a law reading. And we want you to be We want you to be happy and excited to hear the law. I don't know if happy is the right word. We want you to hear the law reading and receive it as the word of God. But then we have the gospel reading. If there's one thing we want you to be zealous about, it's the gospel. I mean, you can't really have one without the other. We don't want to leave out, we don't want to be imbalanced. But these Jews are zealous for the law. They're zealous for the law, and that's what's reported That's a great thing. This statement, they're zealous for the law. What does it mean that they're radical and for the law? Has anybody asked, maybe you've asked since we started talking about this, what law? We should ask that question. When you see the word law in the New Testament, it doesn't always mean the same thing. What law? If we said, these Jews are zealous for the moral law, which reflects God's character, then we would all do well to join them in their zeal, to be zealous for the moral law, the eternal moral law of God, the eternal law of God that is summarized in the Ten Commandments, and it is a worthy and right thing for which we should be zealous. But the rest of this narrative leads me to believe that they were not only zealous for the moral law, but also for the defunct ceremonial law. What is mentioned here? What we hear, you're telling people to forsake Moses, now you might think that's moral law, and okay, maybe it could be, and you're telling them not to circumcise their children, not moral law. nor to walk according to the customs, not moral law. They're not just zealous for the moral law, they're zealous for the ceremonial law, they're zealous perhaps for the judicial law, they're zealous for the other things. This is why I think there was a deficiency in leadership in the church in Jerusalem, a deficiency. I have to pause here. Does anybody smell the electrical burn? Is that what Brinkman's taking care of? Then we're not gonna worry about it until we see the flames. So I think there's a deficiency in leadership among this congregation that they are so concerned with things like circumcision and that they're upset with Paul about. So this is the premise that I think there's a problem with. Fourthly, we find here a bad plan. A bad plan. Verse 22. Then what is to be done? Certainly they will hear that you have come. Immediately, I wonder if James and the elders are trying to solve a problem that doesn't need to be solved in this way. These people are gonna hear you're coming. They're gonna know you're here. Sounds like they're saying something like, if we could keep your visit a secret, we absolutely would. If we could keep people from knowing that you're here, we would hide it. I thought perhaps they should ask what should be done, and then they have a plan, but it's a bad plan. Why not just have Paul preach? Why not just have Paul preach on the wall and the gospel? Why not just have Paul address the church? Why not set up a Q&A for those who would like to hear from the man himself? I mean, we're upset with what we heard Paul says. We're upset with what we heard Paul to be preaching. Let's hear from the man himself. But no, instead, we have a bad plan. And they orchestrate a show They orchestrate this public display to indicate to the people, without coming right out and saying anything, but to indicate to the people through this show that Paul is on board with the Jews in Jerusalem. Let's continue in verse 23. Therefore do this that we tell you. We got a plan, Paul, just do this. We have four men who are under a vow. Now, this morning in our reading, we read from numbers about the Nazirite vow. We read about the vow and all that was involved in that. And that's where they spend. They're under a vow and they're coming to the end of the vow. And at that time when they would go through purification and when they would Go offer these sacrifices. Verse 24, this is the plan. Paul, you take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. And their expenses would include three animal sacrifices. I believe there was another... Another sacrifice that I can't think of right now. There was a grain sacrifice, there was a drink sacrifice, there was all these sacrifices, and it all costs to come up with these animals and with these things, and everything, this is an expensive thing, and it's times four, because there's four of them. And then they say, and all will know that there's nothing to the things which they've been told about you, but that you yourself walk orderly and keep the law. They'll see. This is a plan based on the reason and logic of King Agrippa. Agrippa was a king of Judea who was not on good terms with the people, the Jewish subjects that he had. Later he would be overthrown by his Jewish subjects and he would side with Rome against the Jews. That's the relationship. He has a tense relationship with the Jews. But there was a time that he was trying to curry favor with the Jews in Jerusalem. So this was his plan. He decided he would find the Jews who were taking a Nazarite vow and he would pay the expenses of completing their vow. Isn't this nicer? Listen, I know it is hard to concentrate when there's so much going on, but I think we're going to be all right. You can still see your Bibles. This King Agrippa, His idea, his logic and reason in order to curry favor, to gain the trust and favor with the Jews. He's gonna find those Jews who are taking a Nazarite vow and he's going to pay their expenses and go along with them. And that will be seen, and he will be seen as a man who Boy, you know, you pay somebody's way in something and you're seen as a good guy. That was Agrippa's plan. And now James and the elders say, you know what? That sounds like a pretty good plan to us, Paul. Let's do that same thing. So there are several kinds of offerings. There's a haircut to pay for. James and the elders take a page from Agrippa's playbook and they encourage Paul to go along with these four men under a vow and to pay their expenses for completing their vow. And this would make Paul look generous. It would make it would make Paul appear to be very Jewish and less Gentile. And it would dispel any rumors that Paul was anti-Semitic, that he was anti-Jew, that he was anti-Temple. Again, this seems It seems very bizarre to me that anyone would have ever thought this was a good idea. Rather than communicate clearly and effectively, let's put on a bit of play acting and hope that the people get this important message that we're trying to convey. I mean, that's the idea. Let's do this thing and hope people get what we want them to get. It seems to me a truly bad play. So then, in the fifth place, of course, a complete backfire. This plan does not go well. So far from working, this plan went as wrong as it could go. This is a bad plan gone badly. There's no indication here of failure in the execution. There's no indication that, well, like it was a pretty good plan, but Paul messed it up in how he did it. There's no indication of failure in execution of the plan. The failure was engaging the outrage of the Jews. We didn't consider how badly this could go. verse 26 then Paul took them in and on the next day purifying himself he went along with him he went in the temple giving notice of the completion the days of purification until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them verse 27 when the seven days were almost over the Jews from Asia These were Jews who knew Paul from where he had been ministering, and they had come there. This was probably during Pentecost. Remember, Paul was trying to get there by Pentecost. So they've traveled. They're back here. The Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying, Men of Israel, come to our aid. Listen to the desperation. The desperation here is palpable. Come to our aid! The accusations made against Paul here are not based in truth. They are misrepresentations and they are assumptions all over the place. Paul preaches against our people! The falseness of this statement is evident in the fact that Paul, at this very moment, is trying to appease their people. He preaches against our people. So at some level, he's trying to show solidarity with them. Paul preaches against the law. At this time, Paul had already written 1st and 2nd Corinthians, he had written Galatians, he had written 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, and he had written the book of Romans. And I would challenge any of you to read 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Romans, and walk away believing that Paul preached against the law. I mean, you'll walk away with a lot of information there, right? But he certainly preached against the law as a means of obtaining or earning eternal life or earning salvation. Absolutely. He certainly preached that the ceremonial law had been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. That we no longer need the shadow, we have the substance. He preached against trying to earn favor with God by keeping the law. But he absolutely preached the law. Listen to these verses from Romans 7. What shall we say then? Is the law a sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. For I would not have even known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, that is through the law, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is dead. This is pro-law. This is pro-moral law. And then he says in verse 12 of chapter 7, So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and righteous, and good. What did Paul think about the moral law? It's holy, and righteous, and good. And they're saying Paul preached against the law. He had already written these words. They said Paul preaches against our people, but he was there trying to show solidarity. They said Paul preaches against the law, but he had made public statements and written statements that he was pro moral law. And they said, Paul preaches against this place, against Jerusalem and the temple, especially the temple in Jerusalem. Paul was in Jerusalem, in the temple, as they're making this accusation. Paul's not preaching against it, so they're made up all these things, and then they make an assumption. Since they saw Paul with Trophimus, a Gentile, we all know that he brought him into the temple. We all, surely, surely, well they're just trying to make him out to be a bad man. And this is an assumption, and Paul had not done this. These accusations are very similar to the accusations brought against Stephen back in Acts chapter six. He speaks against the temple and the law. That's what they said about Stephen. If you remember in Acts chapter six, those false accusers were accompanied by one Saul of Tarsus who now is Paul the apostle hearing the same accusations against him. After a bad plan backfired, sixthly, we see a final rejection. Verse 30, all the city was provoked. The people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul, they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. They're still attacking Paul and beating him, But I want us to see this last phrase, immediately the doors were shut. And there's more here than just information about the security of the entry of the temple. I believe this shutting of the doors of the temple is symbolic of closing the door, the final rejection of Jesus Christ by the Jews. This is the last time we'll see the temple in the Book of Acts. This closing the door is the closing of the mind and the closing of the heart. Now, after this, individual Jews were still gonna be saved. And let me say this, individual Jews are still saved today by the grace of God. But this is a cutting off. a separation of the Jews as a whole from Jesus Christ. This is not him cutting off, but they closed the door. Christians, remember, when you hear someone speak of Judeo-Christian values, that there are values that we share. By the way, there are some values that we share with Muslims. some values and we share values with Jews. There's one God. Don't worship images. Don't take his name in vain. Don't murder. Don't steal. Obey your parents. We have things in common. So we can speak of Judeo-Christian values, but don't get confused and start to think that there is a Judeo-Christian religion. The Jews have one God who is not triune. We worship a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Jews worship one God who has no son who died for the souls of sinners. Our whole thing is about Jesus. And the Jews flatly reject Jesus. We are no more the same as the Jews than we are the same as the Muslims, or Buddhists, or atheists. There are Judeo-Christian values, but there is no Judeo-Christian religion Christians. After this bad plan backfired and the closing of the door, this final rejection, we see the seventh heading an unlikely rescue. While they were seeking to kill him, make no mistake, they weren't just annoying Paul. They were going to kill him. They were beating him. They were going to beat him today. After they were seeking to kill him, a report came up. Look at verse 31. When they saw the commander of 32, when they saw the commander of the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. So they're not all done. I mean, you see this commander and the soldiers go, maybe we should lay off. They stopped beating Paul. Paul here is bound with chains by the Romans. Let me just pause. This is not my notes and we got to hurry. Some take this, and remember Agilus, and Agilus had taken Paul's belt and had bound himself by his hands and his feet and said, thus will the one who owns this belt be bound if you go to Jerusalem. Some have taken that and said, well, you see here, Agilus was not exactly right. Well, I don't think Agilus' prophecy was meant to be exactly, dude, they're gonna take our belt. and they're going to bind you with one belt by your hand. It wasn't that. It was to show something, but it wasn't to show everything. Someone's taken that, though, and said, you see, Adamus wasn't exactly right. He was close. He was in the neighborhood, but he wasn't exactly right. So today, when we have people who are prophets, and they prophesy, and it's close, but not exact, this is our biblical basis for them. Who are we? Agabus prophesied that Paul would be bound, and he was bound. And this is no basis for modern-day prophets that get somewhere in the neighborhood. No basis for that. Not in my notes, but I thought we needed to say it. Paul is bound here. Surely we'll see that this binding, this chaining Paul up is likely due to a misunderstanding of who he is. The Jews are so zealous to have Paul arrested or killed or something. that they hurt their own cause by shouting one another down so that the commander can't even hear to understand what is going on. So he says, take Paul back to the garrison, back to the place where this group was staying. And as they lead him away, we hear this. Our eighth point, a familiar chant in verse 35. When they got to the stairs, I don't know how he was chained, but apparently he couldn't climb the stairs. When he got to the stairs, he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob, for the multitude of the people kept following and shouting, Away with him! Now listen, Paul, Paul died. But Paul did not die to redeem anyone. Paul paid for no one's sin. Paul and Jesus are not the same by a long shot. But we've talked about similarities, and here we have these similarities. The crowd who sought to kill Jesus shouted, away with him, give us grass. Now Paul, it's kind of an honor that Paul is having the same thing shouted about him Away with you. So we have a familiar chain in the last place we have. As a sort of an introduction to the next section, we have a shift in attitude. Verse 37, I'm not going to read this text, but but. Paul speaks of the commander in Greek. Oh, you speak Greek? You must not be the Ethiopian we thought you were. No, I'm a Jew from Tarsus, a citizen. And that means he's a Roman citizen. And all of a sudden, the Romans who thought Paul was an Egyptian bad guy, when they find out that he was not that guy, they hear him speak Greek, they find out he's a citizen, a Roman citizen, their attitude changes. Not to the point that they're like, well, let us let you go. Not to that point, but they grant him favor. They let him speak when he requests to speak. And now he speaks to the crowd in Aramaic. We know that Paul spoke in tongues more than anyone, meaning languages. And we see an example of that here. So we have this shift in attitude that we will continue to see how the Lord took this thing and used it for his purpose. So three applications very quick for us today. First, we learn in this text to trust the providence of God. We say that a lot, but let's do it. Let's trust overrules the intention of men. We see that all through the group. Remember back when Joseph said to his brothers, you meant for evil, God meant it for good. That's the same thing we're saying here. God's purpose overrules the intention of men. Now we certainly can say whatever the intentions of James and the elders at Jerusalem. whether they made a wise proposal or a foolish one. And I've already showed my hand on that. Whatever the intentions of the Asian Jews who stirred up the mob against Paul, and we see that they wanted to kill him. Whatever Paul's motives, because somebody might be asking, why did Paul go along with this? Why did he do this? Whatever Paul's motives and whether Paul made a good decision by going along with this bad plan or whether Paul's decision was flawed and his choices were in error. Whatever all of those things are, God transcends all of it. God rises above and rules over all of it. God works in such a way that He directs and even uses the actions of men to accomplish His own good pleasure. God uses the bad stuff to do what He's doing, which is always good. God is directing Paul. He's been directing him to Jerusalem. Maybe Paul thought, well, it's all gonna happen in Jerusalem. Well, it's not. God gets Paul to Jerusalem so that he can get arrested, so that he can direct him to Rome. You know where the gospel has been? Oh, in Asia, Macedonia. You know where it hasn't been? Rome! How do we get the gospel in Rome? Well, let's get Paul arrested. Let's get Paul arrested by the actions of some men who were deficient in their teaching in the church in Jerusalem by a terrible plan that backfired awfully. Let's get Paul directed to Rome and back. Who makes a plan like this? Only God can do this. Only God can take all these actions and intentions and say, I will work through. I will use all of this. God's gospel will be preached in so many places because Paul was arrested in Jerusalem because they were carrying out a terrible plan. God uses this stuff. God is even using a bad plan that backfired to accomplish his work. Now, brothers and sisters, It is worthless. It is futile, beloved, for us to spend time worrying if a decision we made might have messed up God's perfect will for our lives. I just worry that I did that thing and now I'm going to... I was taught this growing up. Maybe you were too when we got hurt. I was taught this growing up. Maybe you were too. God's got a perfect plan for your life, but if you mess something up, You will no longer be on plan A. You will be for the rest of your life destined for plan B. And if you're like me, plan C and D and E and F and X and Y and Z. That's what I was taught. That we're gonna do something and we're gonna mess up God's perfect plan. Now, brothers and sisters, when we do things, we do need to look at them and say, was there sin there that needed to be repented of? Did we make mistakes that we need to learn? We need to look at what we've done. We need to do something. But don't think that you're going to mess God up. Don't think you're going to mess up His plan. God works. And we are never going to do something that makes God's perfect plan go to the trash heap. It's an unbiblical and a wrong idea of God's sovereignty and God's providence to think that we're going to mess God up. And I said here, God overrules the intentions of men. And when I say God overrules, I don't mean that God overrules and we don't face consequences. There are consequences. There are consequences that come. I don't mean that we should not ever worry about our actions, but what I am saying is that when we sin, when we err, when we make foolish decisions, unwise decisions, guess what? That's also part of God's plan. He already knew about it and he planned for it. That election didn't go the way I thought it would. Or that election went exactly like I thought it would. And we think we're manipulating God's plan in something? God overrules the intentions, the decisions, and the actions of men to accomplish his own good pleasure. His perfect plan will come to pass. It will. No one stays the hand of God. Secondly, we learned that sometimes a Christian may go along with things which are not sinful in order to keep the peace. I'm gonna go off my nose to try to be quicker here. We wonder why did Paul do this? Why did Paul go along with this thing? Because it seems weird. This plan. Why did he do that? Well, this was not sinful. It is not a sin to keep a vow. It wasn't a sinful thing to do. And Paul had said that he would go along with this in order to demonstrate what he had already written to the Corinthian church. To the Jews, I became a Jew, that I might gain Jews. 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 the law as without the law, not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might gain them that are without the law to the weak. I became as weak that I might gain the weak in. I made I have made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. Here, Paul. submitted himself, yielded himself, went along with a bad plan, but it wasn't sinful. So that he could try to gain the Jews. How often could we show our love and our care for some people by going along with something that is not sinful? Some of us get the idea that the only way to be a Christian is to oppose everything and to be abrasive. Some people think that being a Christian means we make disagreeable as an art form. Listen, listen. There are times when opposition is the only right call. Did you hear that? because somebody's going to go out here and say, he said, don't get along. There are times when opposing, when standing against is the only right thing for us to do. But sometimes we don't need to show that grit. Sometimes we need to be agreeable. sometimes we can go along and get along. Never, never when going along is sinful. Never when it is sinful. But when it is not sinful, we learn from this passage that we might be able to be all things to all men, that by some means we might win some. And Christians, we should be, win some. Thirdly, and lastly, we are warned against forsaking orthodoxy for nationalism, traditionalism, or sentimentalism. Here I'm speaking of James and the elders in Jerusalem and the Jews in that church. James and the elders seemed to be glad to report that so many in their congregation were zealous for the law. But in this uproar, we see that the thing that they were zealous for was not the moral law of God. but they were zealous for things that were in the past. Ceremonial law, no longer applied, it's been fulfilled, and they were zealous for it. Because of nationalism, perhaps? Think about that, I mean, that makes sense. Perhaps because of tradition? Tradition. Perhaps because of sentiment, sentimentalism? They love those things and hearts. And you know how hard it is as pastors to to teach God's word to people accurately when they have heartstrings that are connected to someone who believed a false doctrine. Preacher, if what you're telling me is true, then my Aunt Sally is in hell. And I cannot believe my Aunt Sally is in hell. Therefore, I will reject the truth of Scripture. because I love my ex-wife or my grandma or my mom or whoever that is. These Jews held on to tradition and sentimentalism and maybe nationalism and that's what they held to and they rejected the truth of God. Beloved, we may find ourselves in danger of the same sin Don't become American Christians. I was American as the next guy. I love our country. But it is not on the same level as the love for God and the love for his word in Jesus Christ. That is not even in the same vicinity. Let us be Christians. Some of us love the law of God for the wrong reasons. We think that we can gain status or reputation, and by the way, among men, you can't. You can't. You do certain things and call it holy living, and others will look at you and say, wow, you are something. You are holy. And we'll be puffed up with pride because of how we live. Keeping and even loving rules that are not even found in scripture. I've heard on more than one occasion, Christians proudly profess, there has never been a drop of alcohol past my lips. They're not just introducing that as a fact, because here's the deal. Whatever. What are they saying? Do you know how holy I am? You know, do you know how pure I am? When there's nothing in the Bible that commands abstaining from alcohol. Ladies, you may wear dresses, you may wear dresses to church, or you may wear dresses all the time, but when we hear someone say, my wife and daughter will never wear a pair of pants, you're saying that all those ladies who do wear pants, they are less, they are beneath, they are lower, and we have ways within the Christian church of establishing a hierarchy We love the law, not the moral law that reflects God's character. We love the stuff that we can make up that puts us on status. The Bible commands modesty. The Jews in this passage were zealous for the law, but they were not zealous for the law in a good way. We learn in this text that they were zealous for the law circumcision. By the way, you're free to circumcise your baby boys or not. Either way, we have that freedom, but we cannot make it part of status with God, part of salvation. I mean, whatever. And we don't even know it. We learn in this text that we may have zeal for the law that pulls us away from the word of God and from God himself. This text is a turning point in Paul's ministry. We will see the unfolding of these events for the remainder of the book of Acts. No longer will Paul be on the offensive. We've seen him going here and going there, preaching gospel, establishing churches. And he's been going and doing. And now that'll be flipped. He's going to be on the defensive. He will be taken. He will not be going to a place to be put in a place. He'll be on the and we're going to see that Paul doesn't just say, well, ministry's over. Paul is going to continue to preach and continue to minister the gospel, but it'll be different now from here on out. He will adapt this kind of ministry and the preaching of Jesus will continue and the gospel will reach all the way to Rome. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you. that You have overruled the intentions of man, and You have brought Your gospel to Rome and to the whole world, and that You have brought Your gospel to us. God, we thank You, and we pray that You continue to establish Your Word, to establish Your gospel. It's in Jesus' name that we pray these things. Amen.