We continue our journey through the book of Acts, what we might call the Acts of the risen Lord Jesus. And as we come here to Acts chapter 21 today, our text this morning will be verse 15 through verse 26. And what we find here in Acts 21, reads like a mystery novel, reads like a detective paper, reads like an international spy thriller, if you will. There is quite literally, we're going to see this some next week, assassins, spies, subterfuge, government corruption, attempts to overthrow government. All of this is kind of in the background here of Acts 21. And here we find the one who we've been chronicling in the last several chapters of Acts, the Apostle Paul. Apostle Paul, of course, born as a Jew, a Jewish pedigree to top every other Jewish pedigree. And Jesus Christ graciously saves him out of his rebellion against God. And now Paul has been on a decade-long ministry to pagan lands, to people who've never heard of this Jewish God, much less the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul now has an offering in his bag. He's gone from church to church and collected an offering for poor and suffering saints, Jewish Christians who are living in Jerusalem. And this is the background. There's a couple of things we need to know. It's going to be more of a lengthy introduction this morning because there's some historical background that will help us understand what takes place here. When I sit down and do the schedule, usually a couple of months out, and I try to figure out where I'm going to break the text from which we preach. And I'll put a provisional title. I send this out to Joe. He probably gets in trouble with some of the titles that are there, and then what they actually change to, which I actually read and study the text. So I have kind of a first glance. And my first glance title of this was with a curious vow. Not so bad. Paul makes a vow here, and he goes and undergoes this purification rite. And we might scratch our heads and go, wait a minute. This is the same apostle Paul that we've seen over and over and over again say the Jewish laws are not necessary. Jewish customs are no longer necessary to be saved. You don't have to be circumcised to be saved. And yet here's Paul going into the temple pay an exorbitant fee for these four men that we'll encounter here, you might be tempted to think, why would Paul do that? The historical backdrop will help us answer that question, because it is a curious vow, otherwise. But the title I chose instead, and it's a mouthful, On Purpose, the hard application of reconciliation. hard application of reconciliation. The title itself has some difficulty in it, just to say. I say that several times, really quickly. What we find here is an ongoing work through the Lord Jesus Christ, by the hand and the mouth of Paul, to establish a reconciliation, first to God, but also between Jew and Gentile. A cultural reconciliation that is generations and in fact hundreds of years deep. So Paul, as he arrives in Jerusalem, the climate here is important to understand. First, I'll make a couple of comments about the general state of Judaism, the Jewish religion in Jerusalem. They have always been suspicious of Gentiles. The law itself taught them not to intermarry with Gentiles, and that Gentile lands were unclean, that they were God's special people called out from among the nations. So there's always been a suspicion of Gentiles. But now, particularly under the jackboot of Roman rule, that suspicion has grown into a full-blown hatred. The year here is AD 57. We're now over a quarter of a century after the death and the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So over a quarter of a century has passed, but in some respects, things haven't changed. The gospel has gone forth, Gentiles and Jews are being gloriously saved, but some of the old ways still hang on. Jerusalem has experienced a series of mediocre Roman governors. Jerusalem is no longer under Jewish rule. At this point in history, it's under the rule of the Roman Empire. And there's been a series of mediocre, in fact, most of them were incompetent, Jewish or Roman rulers, consuls, governors. And their manner of rule has made the Jewish tensions even worse. So what I want you to feel in this text is a growing sense of tension, national pride, Jewish fervor, and in contrast to that, a growing state of nervousness among the governing authorities within Rome. So we're going to be introduced in the next couple of weeks to a man named Felix. He is presently governor of Jerusalem of Judea, which includes the city of Jerusalem. He ruled from 1852 to 1859, so he's about two years away from being recalled from his post because he's not very good at his job. His job is to maintain peace. The Romans wanted nothing else but peace. He's not very good at maintaining that. In fact, even though he's one of the longest serving governors at the time, he's not a wise ruler. And he ruled with a heavy, kind of clumsy hand. Often killing innocent citizens for the sake of peace. Many of those citizens that were killed were Jews. That doesn't help the Jewish suspicions. And perhaps one of the worst examples of this abuse of power was the extermination of a whole group of Jews who were following an Egyptian Jew who had a prophecy that the walls of Jerusalem would fall down and that Jerusalem would be restored to Jewish rule. So he goes out to the Mount of Olives with his group of followers. They were going to pray and watch for these walls to fall down. Romans heard about this. They went and massacred 400 of them. And captured another 200 alive, according to Josephus, who was a historian during the time. And the effect of this was to inflame Jewish anti-Roman sentiment even further. And anti-Gentile sentiments, generally. And ultimately this led to looting, burning of Roman homes, especially those who were government sympathizers. Terrorism. Working out of Rome. Now, this will be helpful for us to remember next week when we look at what Paul is asked by a man who arrests him, the Roman soldiers, are you the Egyptian who led the assassins? See, the 400 men that were massacred didn't include the leader. He escaped. And there's still, he's kind of this, according to Romans, sort of this boogeyman. He's still out there somewhere. And there's suspicions. So the situation had digressed to the point that Nero, the emperor, calls Felix, who's now the governor, calls him back to Rome just two years after this. So we understand that tensions are growing. That's what's happening in Judaism in general. Listen to one historian who says this, it might be thought from the record of Roman procurators, or governors, that they all, as if by secret arrangement, systematically and deliberately set out to drive the people to revolt. Even the best of them had no idea that a nation like the Jews required, above all, consideration from their religious leaders. Instead of giving moderation and indulgence, they severely clamped down on any manifestation of the people's national hero. So a series of Roman rule words and clamped further and further, they're squeezing the Jews in a box. More and more, the Jewish nation is feeling like a cornered animal. By this point, for Jews in Jerusalem, the situation was already volatile and often violent. And ultimately, a full Jewish revolt would begin by AD 66. That's less than 10 years away from when Paul arrives in Jerusalem. So that's sort of the stage in Judaism generally. But then there's something else we need to understand about Jerusalem in particular, this city, at this particular point. Now remember, as we walk through, Paul is going to Jerusalem with an offering. And he has stated he wants to be there by a certain end. A certain death, the Pentecost. Pentecost was the celebration of the Jews' march 50 days after Passover. And it commemorated 50 days after God led them out of Egypt in the Exodus. He gave them the law. He gave them the Torah and Mount Sinai. The city would swell in attendance to roughly 2 million people. In fact, it's said that every square inch of every Jew's home in all of Jerusalem was occupied by a stranger during this time. People would come, pilgrims would come. There was no chain of Marriots and Pilgrims. Holiday Inns and those kinds of things, you stayed with strangers. They were part of a family. People would come in and sleep on the floor all over Jerusalem. It's packed. And it's packed with Jewish pilgrims. With these kinds of crowds, coupled with this kind of nationalistic fervor that had been increasing year after year after year, and the fact that Jews are celebrating the receiving of their law. That was their whole national identity, was this Torah, the laws that God had given their nation, calling them out of Egypt, calling them out of the pagan land. So both Roman soldiers and Jewish pilgrims are all just on edge. It's better to go with the tinderbox. With the tinderbox. It's difficult, really, to overstate how volatile the situation is. Now that's a lengthy intro, and I know that the history can be tedious, but it's helpful to understand this is what Paul is walking into, and it also helps us understand why the Jewish Church here, the Jewish Christian Church, responds to Paul in the way that they do. It's a very delicate situation. Very volatile. Potential for violence. There's pain in the air. You can just feel it walking in there. So here, our message this morning is a hard application of reconciliation. I'm going to begin reading in verse 15, chapter 21 of Acts. Follow along with me here. After these days, after Paul had resolutely determined to continue to Jerusalem, even though the prophecies, even though the brothers were encouraging him, don't go to Jerusalem because it's going to be trouble. Paul says, stop weeping and breaking my heart. I'm going to go. After these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Nathan of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should watch. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went with us to Gaze, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all telling you them all. And they have been told about you, that you teach all the Jews who are opposed to Gentiles to perform sacred poses. Telling them not to circumcise their children, or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? That question is ringing in the air today. What is to be done? They will certainly fear that you will come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have to leave, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed in idols, and from blood, and from what has been sprinkled, and from sexual immorality, and all to prevent it. And the next day, he purified himself along with them and went to the temple, giving notice that the days of purification would be fulfilled, and offered representatives for each one of them. There are some things in here that are, I'll comment on as we go, that are culturally confusing. There's some things, shaking heads, and making offerings, and making vows, and some of these things are very remote from us. As we sit here in Congo, Texas, some 2,000 years later, it doesn't immediately resonate with us. But if you're a Jew, I mean, Luke is speaking here into a context where they would have understood the Jewish customs. It makes more sense. So the heart application of reconciliation. We're going to look at this under three headings. There are three movements here in our narrative. The first is this joyful reception of Paul and his companion. You'll see this in the back of your worship guide. Paul has received joyfully. He's told, there's trouble that waits for you in Jerusalem. Nothing but change awaits you. Paul testified that the Spirit of God Himself told Paul, when you go to Jerusalem, nothing but change awaits you. And yet, when he gets there, his first reception is wonder. It's a delightful encounter. Not only with Manasseh, who is an early disciple, he's a Greek name, so he's probably a Greek-speaking Jew. He may live on the outskirts there of Jerusalem. It's not exactly clear in the text whether he lives in town or just outside of town. But Paul, remember he's got several Gentile Catholic companions. People from Europe, people from Asia. People from all over the world who are called to travel have accompanied him to personally testify that these churches desire to minister to these saints in Jerusalem by way of offering a tangible expression of their fellowship and their love in Christ because of the gospel message that they have received. They wanted to express solidarity with Jewish believers who were in crisis at home or in Jerusalem. So, they go and they stay with Nathan, and then as they come into Jerusalem, the text tells us, when we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us lively. This is no small thing. Paul is not a popular man in these parts. Paul is viewed by some of the Jews as a traitor. He was a Jewish man, he was a Pharisee, he was a son of lawyers, an influential family, and he turned to Jesus Christ and became a Christian. So his Jewish fathers and brothers were very suspicious of Paul. And not only that, we're going to find they've heard some false reports about him. But even the Jewish Christians are concerned about Paul because they're Jewish and he's been hanging out with Gentiles in foreign lands. And they've heard false reports about what he's been teaching. So it's a very prickly kind of situation that Paul enters into. So the fact that he's receiving joy from it is quite a puzzle for the people here. Since after Reverse 19, after reading it, He related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. Paul goes in and meets with the elders, the leaders of the Jerusalem church, including James. Now we have several James mentioned in the Bible, in the New Testament. This particular one is not James, the original apostle, because he's not alive anymore. Eric had been headed some years earlier. This is James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ. They share the same father. But instead of sharing the same mother, that's a trick I have to say. Don't misquote me on that one. If they shared the same mother, they would go forward and marry. Joseph would have been Jesus' adopted father and James' biological father. Did I correct that sufficiently? Okay. Let's see the letters coming tomorrow. James is a half-brother of Christ. He was an unbeliever until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was saved. He's been acknowledged as one of the leaders of the Crucifixion Church, along with Peter and John, who are not mentioned. So the Apostles were no longer running the Crucifixion Church. Some stories have said that there were, that the ownership here in Jerusalem was all about the Sanhedrin, the Jewish form of government, with 70 elders. But based on the number of people involved, they probably had at least 100 elders. It was a big church. Paul goes in the room with his group and gives a report about all that the Lord had given in detail. All that the Lord had accomplished, or what Paul had accomplished, or what God had accomplished in these Gentile lands. According to all that their fathers had taught them, as Messiah was proclaimed, Gentiles were to come into faith and be reconciled to God. And they glorified God because of the grace of God in saving Gentiles through Jesus Christ. This is an amazing thing. And Paul, here, flanked by Gentiles as he walks into this meeting as living, walking, breathing testimony and proof of the grace of God. And these Jerusalem elders. Seeing Paul laughing, that's remarkable. Because Paul would have been considered sort of a persona non grata in international affairs. The government might declare a person persona non grata. It's a legal status. It's actually a legal declaration of no legal status. We don't want the diplomatic opportunity anymore. Paul has exactly that kind of reputation. He's the kind of man that we really don't want there. It would not have been remarkable here for the Jewish church to say, God, we love you. We praise God. We want God for what He is doing in each of His holy lands. Why don't you head back out? Not now. So you have plans to go to Rome? Spain? Sounds like a good time to start the meeting. That would not be unexpected, but the fact that they did receive them, in moments, they make a public identification with Paul. That's remarkable in light of the overall context, the overall political circumstances of what's going on in Jerusalem. And Paul was, frankly, the last person they find appointed to the seat. They appreciated what he was doing. How do you feel about that? All of a sudden, it was somebody that they didn't want to touch. And they received it gladly. The next thing that we see is a sober anticipation of difficulty. As joyful as this reception was, James and the other elders had to say, hey, there is an issue that we've got to talk about. There's a giant warmest element of truth that has to be addressed. They could hear the crowds outside, heard the beating. Jerusalem was absolutely full. All the streets were packed. This was a festive time, but also a potential very caucus time. Look what happens here. In verse 20, they heard it, they glorified God, and they said, you see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews. That word thousands literally means myriads. It's tens of thousands. There are potentially tens of thousands of Jews who have come to faith in Christ, living there in Jerusalem. And he says, James says, they are all zealous for the law. Now, in Greek, it's actually, now, they're zealots. The Church itself is a Jewish believer and has been so heavily influenced by a political group, a nationalistic, militant political group. James says, here's the reality of our situation. Prince Godfrey, what he's done with you all in the work with the Gentiles, here's our situation. We've got tens of thousands of Jews who've come and made a sacrifice for the sellers of the law. What's going on right outside the window? Celebration leading up to Pentecost. The celebration of the law being given to God's people. In the context of Romans walking up and down the streets, wads on their back ready to beat anyone who gets out of line. Only scourgers are on hand to carry any, what we call, disturbance. It's a tricky situation. So the question is, what do we do? See, here's the problem with verse 21. Today, these Jewish Christians all have been told about you And you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, or walk according to our customs. There had been a false report circulated about Paul. Now here's what's really interesting about a false report. A false report that's close to the truth is the most dangerous. Because it's believable. Paul's report that's so outlandish that no one teaches that. Paul did not teach, as they said he taught, that Jews should forsake Moses and they should not go on according to the Testament. But Paul did teach that was necessary. It wasn't necessary. To keep the ceremonial law, to offer sacrifices, to go through these purifications behind the plights of the temple, in order to be reconciled to God, Paul thought that that happened through Christ alone, through faith in Christ alone. When they pushed it just a little bit and said, Paul's teaching, we should ignore Moses and we should walk away from all of that. But we shouldn't see this statement as unexpected or outlandish. David Paul himself expressed some concern about going to Jerusalem as to whether or not the offering would even be accepted. Imagine that. He's taking up a collection from all over the world, from 10,000 in London, to see if it would be accepted. That's how things tend to work. Turn over just one book to your right to Romans. The book of Romans, you're going to hear it in chapter 15. Paul wrote this book probably just months before he arrived in Jerusalem. In chapter 15 of Romans, verse 30, Paul has just explained to the Gentiles there at home that his plight for the Gentiles to participate in this offering to the Jewish church, and he makes this argument, he says, because the Gentiles have experienced the blessings and spiritual purpose of Jews, they ought to share in material ways in exchange. It's only right that they should share their material blessings because the Jews have given their spiritual blessings. So then in verse 30, Paul asks for prayer. He writes to the Roman churches, brothers, I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. So Paul said, I need you to labor with me in prayer. It's something very important. In fact, verse 31, that I may be delivered from unbelievers in Judaea. And that my service, you might read that offering, for Jerusalem may be accepted by the saints, so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and refreshment to accompany you. May the God of peace be with you all. See, even before Paul got to Jerusalem, he knew, he was very likely to talk to God. In this case, in this initial encounter, Luke doesn't tell us anything about the problem. Nobody really can come up with a very logical question to see if you're in a position to act. You're concerned. The Jewish Church is concerned that they have a little bit on their hands. That they identify too strongly and too publicly and too quickly. So this is also not inconsistent with what we've observed after so far. Again, we're a quarter of a century away from the resurrection of Christ, which in one hand, for a long time. On the other hand, that's not very long, for prejudices to come to light, for longstanding customs to fall by the wayside. My parents both grew up in Texas. They were, one graduated from one high school in the town, another from the other high school in town, and just before they entered high school, one of those was an all-black high school, the other one was an all-white high school, and they integrated those two struggles before they started. It was very contentious. My mother's brother was shot. They were literally starving him. In a racial altercation. I'm only one generation removed from people who understand that, remember the Coca-Cola water bottles on the back doors. So when we think about this, we kind of zoom back out and think, what if my beard isn't that long? When we think about some of those kinds of pregnancies, they just fall away. And even though the gospel has gone forward, even though people have legitimately been saved, the saints that are described here in Jerusalem, these Jews, have come to fail. They are blood-bought Christians. They have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They've been taught by the apostles. That doesn't mean that all of their flesh just goes away just like that. It's unbelievable. It's a hard application of reconciliation. It's difficult for these things. When we think back to Peter, remember back in chapter 10 of Acts, we won't turn there, but there was a scene where Peter gets a vision. And in the vision, there's this kind of sheep coming down from heaven with all kinds of thing and unthinkable animals. And the voice comes to Peter in his dreams. He cries, Peter, kill me. What does Peter say? Not so, my Lord. I'd never do anything of the kind. The timing of that is uncertain, but if I could live as long as a decade after Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, it would be impossible. Maybe as long as a decade after Christ left this earth, there's still people that are going to die. But not only that, Probably a decade earlier, Paul absolutely refused to confront Peter, because Peter decides he's not going to sit with the Gentiles and have supper together. When did you two agree on that? And I didn't take it the wrong way. Paul said, I rebuke Peter, because it's nice, but this is wrong. Previously, he had no trouble meeting with the Gentiles, but when the Jewish guys came to help in Jerusalem, all of a sudden, he don't want to meet with the Gentiles anymore. That's impossible. So these things we need to understand. On one hand we think, why are they so funny about this? There's a bit of flesh, just like we are. Things died slowly. In fact, it took the providential hand of God about a dozen years after this to kill the system entirely. Jerusalem was completely overtaken by the moment. The temple burned. Destroyed. So that no longer was this going to be an option for the Jews to complete this temple service. So Paul confronts Peter. Peter's still dealing with this unclean stuff a decade or so after Christ. And this confusion and division over the ongoing role of the temple would continue to plague this Jewish Christian church. And the question is, what is to be done? What is to be done? James makes a reference here in verse 25. What about the Gentiles? Okay, Jews, we understand the cultural problem there. What about the Gentiles? People who didn't grow up in the Jewish system. People who didn't grow up going to the temple. People who didn't grow up memorizing the Torah and all the ceremonial laws about what garments you could wear and what crops you could plant and what kind of animals you could have together. What about those guys? And James reminds us, verse 25, "...but as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed in idols and from blood, and from what has been sprinkled and from sexual morality." That, of course, is the letter that we read about in Acts 15. The Jerusalem Decree, where the representatives of the churches came together and asked, what do we do about the Gentiles? They don't have to be circumcised to be saved. They don't have to become Jewish in order to be Christians. But they must turn from their idolatry. They must give up their typical practices with their pagan idols. And the feasts, the blood feasts, and the sexual morality, the ritual prostitution, and all of those things, they must forsake that. And what Jamie was saying is that determination still stands. That's what we've been teaching people regarding the Gentiles. The Gentiles aren't so much the problem here. It's the Christians. We're still very much attached to their culture. So, Jamie asked, what is to be done? And he proposed a solution. He proposed this solution, what I'm going to call a humble effort to build a bridge. Humble, probably more so on Paul's part than on the part of the group's security. Here's what they said. Paul, they've heard about you, these false reports. That you're teaching people to, teaching Jews, to disregard Moses, to forsake our customs, not to circumcise our children, not to identify in tangible outward ways as Jews anymore. That's what they're hearing. Now here's what we want you to do, Paul. We want you to make a public expression, sort of a public symbolic gesture that proves that isn't true. We want you to do something that will put a side of all men down at the temple that demonstrates those things are not true. So here's what we do. Verse 23, do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Now I'm going to mention some of the cultural things. This is likely what's called a Nazarethic vow, a Nazarite vow, where they would profess to abstain from certain things for 30 days, their hair would grow, and at the end of that 30 days they could shave their heads. They would burn that hair as an offering to God, but then they would also make a sacrifice. They would have to pay, make an offering to the temple, and make a sacrifice. So there are four men here in this church, perhaps among the elders themselves, that are under this vow. Okay, so here's what we want you to do, Paul. You are, because you've been traveling around as a Jew in foreign land, you are ritually unclean. They believe that even the soil in Gentile territory was contaminated. So you need to be richly purified. This was kind of a multi-step process that would take place over seven days. Paul would have to appear at the temple right away, and declare his intention publicly. Then appear in three days, be anointed, and then come back in seven days when the purification rite was over. Very ceremonial, and very formal, and very public. So what Paul's doing here, what the myth suggests to Paul is once you became these men, and purified yourself along with them, and paid their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. You may be thinking, well, surely a head shave isn't that much. Surely, you know, all these people coming in that have traveled, surely somebody would like to pick up some work and shave some heads for fairly inexpensive, right? It's not the cost of the shaving of the head. It was the offering that went along with it. And this would be considered an act of piety. This was a public act of piety for one man to go and participate financially in someone else's masturbating practice. So they said, look, we've got this all staged. We're ready to go. We have four guys, and this is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate to everybody here that you have not forsaken those people. A.P. Smith, purify yourself along with them, because Paul would not be able to be present in the temple for their finishing of their Nazarene vow if he wasn't himself purified. So he had to be purified so that he could accompany them into the temple. The temple was set up in sort of three phases. There was an outside area, there was a courtyard where the Gentiles would be allowed to come in. Then there was the holy place, which is where only circumcised Jews could come in. And then there was the Holy of Holies, where only the high priest went once a year when they would come. So what we're going to see next week is Paul is accused of taking a Gentile into that holy area. It works Paul. So they take these men, purify yourself along with them, pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. What do they say? Thus, all will know. Who's all? Basically all. The Jewish Christians that have heard that Paul's coming, they've heard of all. That's what they're concerned about, is the Jewish Christians, the myriads, the tens of thousands, perhaps, of Jewish Christians. Thus, Paul will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about him. See, the James himself says, we know this is false report. But we can't just stand up and say it's false report. We have to reject it. We need something tangible. We need an expression from Paul. A good faith expression publicly. So they hoped that a Jewish Christian might be persuaded. Reports about Paul were false. The public nature of the ceremonies would put Paul in the spotlight. So if you understand the risk of this, this is a risky strategy. The safe plot here. Paul, why don't you head on your own? In fact, some of the offerings, you got a bag, just take some of that, pay your expenses, that's disabled money. Neither Paul nor the Christian church were disabled. They wanted to come up with it together, to fight together. It's very possible that these four men were actually noble, they were leaders in the Christian church, were willing publicly to show up in the temple with Paul. And Paul willingly show up with them. It's an amazing display of solidarity. But it puts Paul in the spotlight and it also publicly identified the leaders of the Jerusalem church in Paul. And here, Paul condescends to this request. John Chrysostom, who was a preacher in the 4th century, a few hundred years after A.C. Menn, asks the question, did Paul compromise? or compromise him by doing this kind of ritual thing that he knows isn't necessary. Why don't you just say, look guys, this isn't necessary. I'll tell him the truth, and that'll be that. So Paul condescends, and that's what Christofsky says. He says, Paul did not compromise. Condescension is what it is. Do not be alarmed. Paul condescends. Paul recognizes the weak conscience of his dear brother. He recognizes the weak conscience. They have been second twice. They've embraced all of the claims of salvation Christ alone, and faith alone, by grace alone. And yet, they still feel bound to these cultural expressions of their faith. Also, how am I going to regress to that? I'll go with them. I'll condescend to that. He's patient with their weak, comforting consciences. He knows that these are matters that Paul, in a number of places in the New Testament, refers to them as the iophora, the indifferent things. Whether you eat meat or not eat meat, it's indifferent. Whether you drink wine or not drink wine, it's indifferent. That's not a salvation issue. Also, this is a bit of a different thing. Whether or not somebody shaves their head, takes a bath, goes and burns their hair, it's a bit different. That's a bit different. It's no compromise. But it does show just how difficult it would be to forsake your heritage. And especially so with the alternative. Think about this. If the Jews think, if they get the message here that Paul is saying we have to forsake Moses, what's the alternative? We have to be assimilated into this Roman culture. That's not an option for us. Thank you very much. We'll stick with the Temple. That's their response. That's their identity. And they're still trying to craft this new Christian identity. But I want you to notice two kind of parallel but distinct attitudes that Paul proclaims in his other writings, particularly through Galatians. You turn a moment, you convert to 2 Corinthians, then Galatians. In Galatians chapter 2, Paul's describing an event where another time he was in Jerusalem, and he was met by a group of people known as Judaizers who thought that if you have to be circumcised, the word for it had been taught, to become a Christian, they have to first be circumcised and become a Jew, keep the law, and then become a Christian, that there's a multiply step process. That's what they thought. So Paul, in Galatians chapter 2, He says that he and Barabbas had caught up with Jerusalem another time, taking an offering. Then he says in verse 2, it says, I went up because of the revelation and set before them, but privately, before those who seemed influential. The gospel that I proclaimed among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had not run away is a meaning very similar to the one we have now. It's a private meeting with the leaders of the Jerusalem church. He said, verse 3, but even Titus, Titus is a Gentile, even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, no, he was aggrieved. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spot out our fishermen we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery, to them did not yield in submission, even for a moment. so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved. Now Peter, what Paul tells his claim is that we get the same kind of private meeting, but this is probably the same group of men, at least some overlap. Interesting. The issue is, how is someone saved? There were some, Paul says, secretly brought in to distribute the false report about us. Sound familiar? Paul said, we couldn't budge from the pulpit. Why? Because they thought circumcision was a means of salvation. Paul said, we're not going to budge from the pulpit. This is about the gospel and the gospel alone. We were saved with faith and pride and nothing else. No wars. Nothing added on to it. No ceremonies. No traditions. None of those things saved us. Paul said, we're not going to compromise even for a moment on those things. Now turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Turn back, four steps, to your left. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 19. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, 19, For nobody, including Paul, I have made myself a servant to all, that I could win the war of them Jews. I became as a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under law, I became as one under law. Though not being myself under law, that I might win those under law. To those outside the law, I became as one outside the law. Not being outside the law of God, but under the law of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. But weak, I became weak, as I have been weak. He says weak is the weak of conscience. Those who believe it have to still believe it. This is to the weak I became weak, that I might wither weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share the word with my city. This is the mind of all people. It's splitting it back in the middle. I'm saying if it comes to the gospel, how someone is saved, I'm not going to budge even for a moment. Why doesn't he circumcise? No way. No, not at all. But when it comes to an opportunity to share the gospel, I'm willing to go along with the ceremony for the sake of the gospel, and I might have opportunity to declare the name of Christ. That's Paul's ambition. He says, so that I may share with them his blessing, so that I may have opportunity to proclaim the gospel with them. When it comes to matters of indifferent things, Paul says, sure, I'll go along with that. I'll condescend to that. I'll become weak because you're weak. I want you to see one other thing about Paul. In Romans, continue to turn back and direct your backs. Romans chapter 9. This is the heart of this man. It gives us some explanations, perhaps, when these Jewish brothers said, Paul, this is what we want you to do. We want you to put your life in danger. Go down to the temple. Two million people here in town. It's a political and religious hotbed. We want you to put your life on the line. Go down with these four men so that you can be purified ritually. pay out of the offering you brought to the religion of the poor and instead give to the temple system that's run by Jews who are heathens of God. Think about that. Paul might be questioning, where's that money going? He didn't make this for the offering. I bought it for the religion of Christians. You won't even give it to Jews who want to show the Lord. Okay. Paul says, I'm speaking the truth of Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I can wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brother. I cannot agree. Paul wrote these words probably months before he began his travel to Mexico. I have great sorrow and unceasing pain for him in my heart, for my kids and for the world. early desirers of souls, they sinned. Because they are in the name of God. They are opposed to God. They are haters of God. And in all their religious trappings, in all their ceremonies, in all their offerings, they hate God. He said, it's not possible. He said, it's not possible. But if it were possible by myself to be accursed, to be carved from the promise of God, I'd do that. I'd say that. I'm willing to be damned for eternity. It's nothing for me to lose in this life. It helps us understand in depth what Paul said when we looked at this just last week. Back now in Acts chapter 31, when his brothers were telling him, don't go to Jerusalem, Paul, don't go. And Paul says, what are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem in the name of the Lord Jesus. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for my sins. Way back, in Acts chapter 9, right after Paul's conversion, 20 years later, Luke tells us, in Jerusalem, Paul was not fully accepted by the disciples there. If he did get to go in and out and look, he would have preached Jesus boldly. But do you know there's no recorded man since then that Paul's gotten to preach in Jerusalem? Can you imagine that? It's not even possible. Paul, a Hebrew of Jerusalem, Now, there's a faithful witness here in the Jerusalem Church. Myriads have come to faith in Christ. And I'll tell you this, there's not a preacher worth his salt who wouldn't say, put me in the game, coach. Let me go in and preach. Let me go. These are my kids that have been according to the flesh. If I have an opportunity, it's going to cost me my life for one more sermon. I don't want to. I don't want to do that. See you next week. Peace. One is conscience. The other's a paraplegic. I'm innocent of the blood. I've declared the whole council of God to be. All my young colleagues are innocent of the blood of this Jewish man. Paul was writing, about four years after this, a letter to the Ephesian church, a church I've been three years with, before he came to Jerusalem. In Ephesians chapter 2, we want to turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Paul's writing to the church is the rise of the Jews and the tympanis. Four years later, before Jerusalem's control, before these things are anywhere close to being settled, Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 13, it says, Now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, tympanis. have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandment expressed in the Covenant of the Saints, that he might create in himself one new world like the other two. so making peace, and by reconciling us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near. But through Him, we both have access in one spirit to the Father, so that you are no longer stranded today, but are fellow citizens, saints, and believers in the house of God. This is what Paul sees as being accomplished in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jews and Gentiles. The wall of separation being poured down into Christ's own body. And through His atoning birth, through His sacrifice, through His laying down of His own body, His own body delivered over to the Gentiles. Now, the greatest gift of the day is to make full accomplishment for the Jews and the Gentiles so they might become one in the same spirit. Worshipping the same father. He says this all takes place on a platform. Commandments expressed in words. I need to put them together. I don't know how this turned out. See the plan? Verse 26, Paul took the man and the next day he purified himself along with him and went into the temple, giving notice with the days of purification would be fulfilled and offered and presented for each one of them. Paul not only goes into the public place, but he says, this is the next time I'll be in the public place for anyone who knows how to kill me, I'll be there at 3 o'clock on Friday. This is when the day of purification is going to happen. This is when I'll be back. I share with you some things that I see in these applications here. Think through this. I think there's a lot going on here in this narrative. And there's not, we don't look in the scriptures and say, there's nothing here that says you shall, you shall not, we've got those kinds of narratives here. But it should shape our thinking. Sometimes the best application of discernment is how do we think? We're not making the rest wrong, we're just going to be conforming to the will of God, transformed by the maneuvering of our minds. Number one, we need to understand that reconciliation does not just happen by chance, or without effort. Reconciliation does not just happen. Even those who have embraced Christ, who have accepted the gospel, who have come to faith, who share one spirit, one fatherhood with the Lord, they're not just automatically reconciled. I don't have to tell you that, you know that. Do you remember? This is true, I think, in our country, isn't it? Is it not? Sometimes there are, especially when claimants come to Christ, those who have not. Think about the reconciliation. How are we willing to condescend to those who are weaker? How are we willing to pump up those, for the sake of the gospel, and not compromise? Seek deliberately opportunities that the gospel might be shared. There are implications for our parish. Reconciliation doesn't just happen, it takes work. There are implications for some of you as siblings. Either siblings that you don't share a roof with, or siblings that all moved on from one another to live in different households now. There are implications, but reconciliation doesn't just happen. Extended family, other relationships, reconciliation takes work. It's a hard application of reconciliation. Remember, as Paul preached to the Athenian elders, we looked at this in the last couple of weeks, He said, you need to imitate my message. What was the central point of Paul's message? To be reconciled to God, through Christ. You are an enemy of a conquering king. And you have two choices. You can either be annihilated by the enemy, or you can be reconciled to him, through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be reconciled. Application number two. False professors of Christ are more dangerous to the cause of Christ than even an educated government. It's important for us to remember, false professors of religion, false professors of Christ, are far more dangerous to the cause of gospel than even a corrupt government. It's interesting here that one of the meanings that Luke develops throughout the entire book of Acts, but it really slows down here in these last several chapters, is that overdevelopment isn't the enemy. Even though Paul's in prison, again and again and again, the Gentiles rule in his favor. Again and again and again, the Gentiles say, there's nothing wrong with this man. He's done nothing deserving of death. He's done nothing unlawful. He's a good citizen of Rome. So false professors of religion could imitate the Gospel. We remember them. That's not to say the government cannot be a hindrance. It can be. But a greater hindrance would cause the price of a false professor. Thirdly, false information and inaccurate reports about other Christians have greater potential to harm the advance of the Gospel than politically correct or actual doctrinal evidence. I'll say that again. False reports in active information about fellow Christians or about other Christian churches can do far more harm or cause damage to our gospel testimony than political threats or even actual doctrinal differences. We ought to be more afraid of false reports of our Christians than we are of any genuine doctrinal differences. Particular doctrinal differences, we know where they are, they're well-articulated. We can do things with our Presbyterian brothers because they're clearly articulated. We know where we disagree. It's wrongly disagreed. There's not a danger there, the same way there is for someone who has given a false report about what we believe. We're accepting or promoting a false report about what someone else believes. It's a barred conversation. It's a nine-to-the-man one. We're required to be aware of the truth. We say, well, this church over here teaches that. He doesn't. He doesn't. I heard a sermon. Well, the sermon doesn't describe all of it. But we faithfully, in extending that kind of information, we can do far more harm than the gospel and those false reports. Fourthly, cultural and ethnic divisions remain difficult, unless the gospel of Jesus Christ is primary and is accompanied by humble effort and self-sacrifice, reconciliation, and love. Ethnic difficulties still remain among us today, aren't they? Deep cultural divisions still remain among us. When we approach those kinds of sensitivities, those kinds of requirements, I think it's very important to be willing to listen. It's going to take work. It's going to take effort. It's going to take our honesty. It's about ourselves. It's about others. The gospel needs to be centered. If we decide we're going to try to unify all the other things superficially and not on Christ, we're not going to get to reconciliation. It could be a simple case. A static reconciliation today is profoundly accomplished through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fifthly, we usually underestimate the hatred of the world, and even religious people usually underestimate the hatred of the world of the Lord Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. What happens here in Acts, chapter 21, is they underestimate the hatred of the gospel. These are religious people who are Jews, not Gentiles. This is exactly what Peter, in the church, quoted back in Acts chapter 4. Why did the Gentiles rage at the people's plot to bathe? They were arrested, and they used, they quoted Psalm 2 as an explanation for why this happened. Psalm chapter 2 reads in this way, Why did the nations rage, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the peoples fought a vain feud, that's 2,000, and the saying, let us purge their bonds of heart and cast away their courts from us. He who sits in the heavens, one who is enthroned, one who sits in a regal splendor, in heaven's laps the Lord holds him in the ridge and then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my feet on Zion by the word of the Lord. Why do people by the nations, fought in vain and in rage against the words of the sign, the fundamental oppose of the promise. Christian, every one of you here who will be leaving, this is who you are. This is who I am. I was not some part of the soul who wanted the best, who died for the living. Before I came to Christ, I was a hater of God. No matter what my outward appearance might have been, no matter what my outward religion was, I was a hater of God. There is no neutrality. We were either lined up alongside of our king, or we were fighting against him. There is no duality. Jesus said you were either with me or against me. Jews, once we were not Christian here, once we were Muslim, all the people in the world, all their lives, all their outward life. You'll see next week, one of the most tragic statements in all of history. Verse 30, chapter 21 of Acts. All the city was stirred up and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple. And at once the gates were shut. There would be time to reach Saul's gathering today, but the temple gates would be shut. When Christ returns, we have no idea what that will be. We don't know who He will be. When He returns, will we die? Will we be able to repent of our sin? Will we be able to turn to Christ after that? Turn while there's time. Turn to Christ. It's not raging. It's the Word of the Lord. It's not raging. There is no neutrality. You cannot sit here this morning and think I'm going to push you. I do the right things. People have their religion, and I choose not to. That's fine. I'm adherent to this stuff, but I'm not really into that. There is no neutrality. You need to embrace your pride as pure and clean and accept all the promises and blessings that are attached to that gospel. Okay.