Our text this morning again comes from the book of Acts, chapter 21, verses 15 through 26. After these days, we got ready and started on our way to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came with us, taking us to Nason of Cyprus, a disciple of longstanding with whom we were to lodge. After we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they began glorifying 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 the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor 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, having decided that they should abstain from meat sacrifice 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. I don't know about you, but I really appreciated those songs that we sang. That last one, there was a line that we sang that I hope you heard and you thought about. It says, look to the hillside where mercy and justice met. What were we singing about? What hillside is that? That's the hillside where your sins were forever for eternally paid, where the check mark said, paid in full for your sins. That's mercy, and it's justice, because sin had to be paid for. I really appreciate the songs that we sing that prepare our hearts for the word of God that was just read to us. As we jump into this text and as we prepare our hearts for what God has for us to consider this morning, I need to make an admission to you that admittedly I should make this, maybe confession's a better word, I should confess this more often to you on Sunday mornings. Do you ever open up the word of God and read a text and at the end of your reading it you realize What on earth did that just say? You ever had that happen to you, or is that just me? You understand it completely. There's times where I open up the Word of God, and I seek to study it, and I ask the question when I'm done with it, what in the world is this about? That was my reaction when I first started studying this text that is before us this morning. I read through it, and I read throughout the rest of Acts, I finished the book, and I asked myself, what in the world is this all about? There's a lot of what we would consider strange, things that happen that we would say, why is this significant in order to understand how I today should follow God? This is one of those stories that we would put in the category of historical events, but get me back to what Jesus says, or get me back to the letters of Paul, or give me something that I can then take home tomorrow on Monday that helps me in my interrelations with other people. But I think that this historical account, which is deeply historical, it draws heavily from Jewish law, Jewish customs. It has an important context that comes with it. I think that what we learn from this is going to be deeply applicable regardless of your context, regardless of your experience, and regardless of where you're at in life. I think that this story is going to deeply impact your life. I've come to the conclusion, I did decide what I think this text is about, by the way, I want you to know that. I didn't just come up here and say, guys, I have no idea, let's go home. As you can see from the title of the sermon, I believe that this is bad counsel. I think that what's being told here, through great efforts, good intentions, is ultimately bad counsel. And so what I wanna do this morning before I pray and we jump into these verses and walk through them, I'm gonna handle this text in two ways. The first point is going to focus, it's gonna focus on the historical context of this story. So we're gonna walk through the story. And I'm gonna say, hey, this is how we need to understand this. This is how we need to understand this. This is what's going on here. And we're going to walk through this entire account so that we can say, oh, OK, that's how I should understand this story. The second main point is going to be focusing on what does it mean for the church and Christians today. That's going to be more of the application part. And the application is going to be the second half of the sermon. So with bearing that in mind, we'll first consider the historical context, understanding the story, and then the applicatory context, what it means to us today. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, let's ask for the Holy Spirit to inform our thinking and our consideration, and then we'll jump into these verses. Father, we want to quiet our hearts here in this moment. We want to humble ourselves to say that without you, Lord, there is no hope of rightly understanding and applying your word. Father, you're not impressed by the things that impress men. You're not impressed by eloquent sermons, by funny antidotes, or by amusing storytelling. You are impressed with your own glory, and that this morning is what we want to be impressed by. So Father, will you help us in this next short amount of time together to be impressed with our God, and for our hearts to worship you, to love you, and to obey you. Father, please help me to step aside and for your spirit to work in our midst in this moment right now. We ask in the perfect name of Jesus, amen. The very first main point that, if you grab the notes, you'll see, the very first main point, similar to the title of the sermon, is bad advice, bad advice. Let me give the context and the forward-thinking context of what's happening here at Acts 21. There's only 28 chapters in the book of Acts, and something that's amazing is what starts here in verse 15 of Acts 21, our text, What starts here in verse 15 actually precipitates the very end of the book of Acts. And here's what I mean by that. What starts in verse 15 doesn't end until the end of the book. So we could say that this is the last main theme of the book of Acts, because what happens here in verse 15 is that Paul is going to, he's eventually going to get into Jerusalem. And when he gets into Jerusalem, he's going to go on trial. That's chapters 21 to 24. Paul wrongfully on trial in Jerusalem. Chapters 25 and 26 is Paul wrongfully on trial in Caesarea in northern Judea. And then the last two chapters of the entire book, chapters 27 and 28, is Paul imprisoned on his way to Rome and then being imprisoned on house arrest in Rome. The point is that we should see what's happening here in verse 15 is the start of the beginning to the end, if that makes sense. And I think what Luke is trying to do with this last half, this last section of the book of Acts, is he's wanting to highlight how God uses unjust treatment for His glory. I said in my prayer that I want to highlight the glory of God because that's what we seek to do every time we worship together, and I think that's what Luke is doing here. The focal point of the remainder of the book is not to say, woe is Paul. The focal point is not to say, how can I be a Paul? The focal point of the remainder of this entire book is to say, isn't God good even in the worst of situations? Isn't God glorious even in the sinfulness of man? Isn't God still in control when it seems that man has no control over our lives anymore? We should, we ought to be impressed by the glory of God that we see here. Now, jumping into these specific verses, I see a bifurcation of the first two verses and then the remainder of the text. The first two verses of verses 15 and 16 give us the final remainder of Paul's third missionary journey. If you've been with us, he's on his third missionary journey. He's been gone for three years. He set out from Antioch, which was in Syria. He went across all of these crazy places, going to Turkey, modern-day Turkey, going to Greece, going to islands, and now he is returning, not to Antioch, he's going to Jerusalem. We're mindful that he has a financial love offering from the Gentile churches to give to the poor Jerusalem Christians. We need to note that here in verses 15 and 16, these are what we would consider the last verses expressing a free Paul. The remainder of this book, in some way, Paul is going to be enslaved. He's going to be imprisoned after verse 15, 16 and what happens here in this story. Isn't it amazing that he makes his way, the final stretch, the home stretch, to Jerusalem in verse 16, we're told that he's accompanied by a few people. We're told that there are Caesareans. These are Gentiles from Caesarea who accompany him. They take him to the house of Nason. Not insignificant that Nason is a Cyprian. He's not a Jew. He's from the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean. Here's something that should be striking to us in verses 15 and 16. As Paul is entering into Jerusalem, who is accompanying him? Here's a hint, it's not Jews. That's striking, isn't it? They're Gentiles. Gentiles, people who in the Old Testament were not sons and daughters of the covenant, now in the new covenant are accompanying Paul. And if you've been following the theme of Paul's coming to Jerusalem as almost a remembrance or a reflection of Jesus's entrance into Jerusalem, it's striking. that it's not the people you would expect accompanying the one who's coming to Jerusalem. It's not the Jews, it's the Gentiles, which is going to be a significant addition to what happens when Paul starts talking to James and the rest of the elders, because that distinction of Jew and Gentile is going to become more exposed here in our text, isn't it? But notice what happens here now in verse 17. Paul arrives in Jerusalem. We see that initially there were some brethren, there were some Christians who received him gladly. We don't know who these people are, but we do know that immediately following being received in Jerusalem, Paul goes to the elders of Christianity in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the hub of Christianity in the first century. The leaders of Christianity are there in this place. We're told specifically, not only are they the elders, but there's a specific person there named James. Now, if you've been following the storyline through Acts, you might remember that there are two Jameses mentioned in the book of Acts. The first James was the disciple of Jesus. He lost his head by Herod. Herod killed him. He was one of the martyrs of the first century church. There's a second James, so the first James, the disciple, that's not this James, you understand? There's a second James, which is this James. It's the same James from Acts chapter 15, the half-brother of Jesus. We saw James and these elders in Acts chapter 15. If you remember the Jerusalem Council, the elders came together. James gave the definitive word on the question of, should Gentiles have to follow the law in order to be obedient to Christ? Do Gentiles have to be circumcised, for instance? Do Gentiles have to abstain from food from idolatry? Do Gentiles have to follow the law and the customs of Moses in order to be made right with God? James and the elders gave the verdict, this is all back in Acts chapter 15, that no, Faith in Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation. That Gentile Christians must live a holy and pleasing life to the Lord, but it's no longer about keeping the law. I'm going through this because of what's gonna happen in these verses. So we see that Paul comes before James, he comes before the elders, and notice what we're told in verses 18 and 19. What does he do in verse 19? He gives a report. He gives a report of what has happened on his missionary journey. He talks about Gentiles who have come to know Christ. He talks about churches that have exploded in growth. No doubt he talked about Ephesus, where he stayed for over three years, talking about the salvation that was given to these people. Something that's interesting to me, and I'm reading into the text a little bit here, it's interesting to me that Paul's initial purpose of going to Jerusalem is nowhere mentioned in this text. Did that stick out to you? Why did Paul go to Jerusalem? Well, remember, he had a financial love offering for the poor, afflicted Jerusalem Christians. I think that probably happened somewhere between verses 18 and 19. I think when he came before the elders, he gave them the purse strings, as it were, to give to the poor. But Luke doesn't mention that. Why does Luke not mention that? I think that Luke doesn't mention that because he's focusing on what God is doing in the church He's focusing more on what is God going to do through Paul going forward, especially here in this Gentile Jew question. So what happens in this question? Well, after Paul recounts in verse 19 of the Gentiles who have come to know Christ, in verse 20, we start to see what I would consider a little bit of trouble brewing in paradise. It's kind of being a silly way of putting it, but this is the beginning of some concerning thoughts. Notice what the elders and James, notice what they do. Initially, it's good. They respond by glorifying God. Praise the Lord, Gentiles have come to salvation. That's the right response. But notice how they shift very quickly. They don't seem to spend a whole lot of time on Gentile salvation. They seem to pivot pretty quickly to then Jews. Is that bad? Is that wrong? No, but it's very quickly going from Gentiles to Jews, and then here's where it really starts to become problematic. At the very end of verse 20, notice that last expression. There are thousands, the Greek word here is myriads, it's uncountable. Jews have come to faith in Jesus Christ, they believe, but, I think there should be a but here, but they are all zealous for the law. Oh, that's dangerous language. It's dangerous because we've heard it before in the book of Acts. It wasn't describing Peter. It wasn't describing Paul, it wasn't describing James, and it wasn't describing the apostles. Do you want to make a wild guess in the book of Acts who that expression, zealous for the law, described? Does anybody want to make a guess? The Pharisees. We've heard that language before, but it wasn't a good expression. It's talking about Pharisaical adherence to the old covenant instead of the new covenant. Does that mean, Jeremiah, that these Jews that the elders are talking about are not believers? I don't think so. I think that these are genuine believers who are adversely affected by Pharisaical legalism to the Mosaic law. Does that make sense? They are following, or should I say, going beyond what Jesus has taught and what Peter and Paul have taught about what is necessary to know Jesus Christ and salvation. They are overstepping the bounds of the new covenant. And the author of Hebrews would say, by doing that, they are forsaking the new covenant of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is deeply problematic, what's happening here. And we see that because they are zealous for the law, in verse 21, we see that these new Jewish believers in Jerusalem, who are zealous for the law, we see that they have been told lies and are believing lies about Paul. They have heard lies, possibly from the Pharisees, probably from Jewish zealots, we're not sure, but they have heard lies about Paul that are documented nowhere in Acts that he has rejected Moses. that he has rejected the law, which by the way, nowhere has that been said in the book of Acts. Paul has argued it's faith in Jesus Christ alone, it's only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ that your sins are remitted and therefore you might have eternal life through Jesus Christ alone and through his victory over death. That's the gospel, but never has Paul said, throw out the Old Testament. Never has he said that circumcision is wrong. He said that circumcision is wrong if you think it leads to salvation. Does that make sense? They're hearing lies, these Jewish believers, about Paul that are just simply not true. So the elders, in their wisdom, and they're likely right here, they are afraid that Paul is going to be persecuted. Notice verse 22, the question that they ask themselves. What then should we do? If they are against you, how can we spare you, Paul? I see good motivations here, good things that they are desiring to do. They are wanting to spare Paul from the Jewish mob that we will see will happen in a moment. Notice what then happens in verse 23. They devise a plan. I don't think it's a very good one. You probably already know that by the language I've already been using. James and the elders, starting in verse 23, they instruct Paul to do some very strange things to our modern sensibilities. Paul is to purify himself by taking a vow Not only is he to take a vow, but he is to pay for other men to take a vow as well. What is that going to look like? There's going to be shaving of heads, some strange purification laws, very strange things that are happening. The idea here is, if Paul does the right things externally in the eyes of the Jews, the new believing Jews who are zealous for the law, then surely they will say, Paul's all right in my book. Surely they will excuse what they've heard of Paul when they see him following the traditions, the customs of the past that they're zealous for. And so James and the elders say, look, if you do these external things, right, you've been out of Israel, you must purify yourself before entering the temple, but you need to do this So that the Jews, the new believing Jews, will say you're okay. And maybe they'll leave you alone. Maybe they'll listen to you. Maybe you won't be persecuted. We then see, what is it in verse 25? A recap of the Jerusalem Council. We've gone through that quite a bit, but they affirm that, look, we still are saying that the Gentiles ought to live holy and pure lives. This is what they had talked about in Acts chapter 15. If you wanna read that on your own, I would encourage you to do that on your own. And then the text ends in verse 26. with Paul adhering to the desires, the instruction, the plan that these elders and James had devised. We see that he does this the very next day. He purifies himself, since he had been unclean, according to Jewish customs, being outside of Israel. He purifies himself, he went into the temple, and he made sacrifices, and we can assume vows, for each one of the four men just as James and the elders had asked him to do. Let me make one more point here, specifically on the vows, of what's going on here before I get to an application of what does this mean. So hopefully I haven't lost you yet with what we're talking about here. When we talk about vows and this ritualistic purification, I think that we have a pretty good understanding, based from the Old Testament, what they're talking about here. And I think it is important. more than likely the vow that Paul and these four men were making was something called the Nazarite vow. We first see that in Numbers chapter six, that if someone was to be set apart for the Lord for specific purpose of ministry, they would take a Nazarite vow. We've seen some of these in the Old Testament. For instance, Samson, he had taken a Nazirite vow. That's how you understand the basis of that story. He had taken a vow to be set apart for the Lord, and then he forsook that with Delilah. You can think in the New Testament, we don't have many examples, but before Jesus came and initiated the new covenant, John the Baptist was born into a Nazirite vow, that his life was set apart for a specific ministry purpose. Again, that was before the new covenant initiated by Jesus. And so I think what's going on here with these vows is that the concern is not, how can Paul be most obedient to God? Please hear me now. The concern was not how can Paul be most obedient to God? The concern was how can Paul look the best in the eyes of man? They are trying to show Paul as the really good Jew. Not only is he purifying himself, setting himself apart, but he's paying for four homeboys to do the same thing. This is a super Jew to do this. You can't hate a guy who takes a vow for himself and for four other people. But they're not following what we would say are God's instructions. I see this as them trying to follow the traditions that are no longer applicable to believers for the sake of appeasing man. If I were to put it in one phrase, this is the fear of man. And I would write that down in my notes. This is the fear of man. Going beyond the word of God for the sake of someone else. so that someone else doesn't give me a hard time, so that someone else is pleased with me, so that someone else, it's for a human or humans, not for God. Now we have to ask ourselves the question, What does this mean for me today? Hopefully, as I've been walking through this, you've already been able to think, wow, this is kind of applicable to my life. This is kind of applicable to the church's life. But I have four ways that I wanna apply this to our lives, and this is in the second main point, the second main point, which is missing the whole point. In the first point, we saw that there was bad counsel. I think that my tone, I think that what I've said has given you an indication that there was bad advice given, and this is kind of an extension of that, missing the whole point. And before I give you the four applications, which is gonna be the great breath of our second half of the sermon, I want to say a word of kindness and charity to James and these elders, because I don't want anyone to leave here saying, wow, James was really, really unwise. I think that this was an unwise thing that happened here in Acts 21, but I think that we need to be extremely charitable to these people. The elders and James were really in a difficult spot. On one hand, they are excited about Gentile salvation. They are excited about the Jewish salvations. But at the same time, they're trying to then discipline and disciple those who have come to know Jesus Christ. And they're trying to leverage this. They're trying to work it together. If you think of a seesaw, that's the right idea. On one hand, people are coming to Christ. On the other hand, they still don't believe things the right way. And I think that they're trying to work a compromise. They're trying to compromise for the sake of the gospel, which, by the way, never works, okay? That's never gonna work. but I do want to be gracious and charitable. I think James loved the Lord deeply. I think that James was not acting out of self-preservation. I think James was doing what he thought was best, and yet he failed still. The reason why I think that James still was trying to do the very best that he could is because three years after this text, what happens here in Acts chapter 21, in 60 AD, Josephus says that James was killed by zealous Jews. Three years later, I think that some of those Jews that were here in this story in chapter 21 and 22 and 23 and 24 that were against Paul, they eventually killed James. So I think we need to be charitable here. I think we need to be charitable. But at the same time, We have to understand what's going on here, and we have to understand what it applies to our lives. So let me give you four direct applications. So we're not at the end of the sermon yet, but this is the second half of the sermon. Four direct applications of how I think this misses the point and what this means to us as well. Let me give you this first application from the text. The first of which is a big one. is shifting our eyes from Christ to man-made plans will always fail. I'm gonna take a sip so that can just settle in for a moment. That was a joke that no one laughed to. Shifting our eyes from Christ to man-made plans will always fail. And let me put this idea in your mind. I am visualizing with this point that God commands his people, instead of looking to the right, instead of looking to the left, this is Deuteronomy and Proverbs, look straight to the Lord. Look straight to Christ. Pastor, how do I live my life so that it is pleasing to Christ? I don't look to what the world says is good over here. I don't listen to the lies over here. I don't look back and wallow in the past. I look straight to Christ and I walk straight to Christ. I run straight to Christ, but my eyes, they stay on Christ. Now here is, I think, the application from this story. If that's the depiction in mind, and you have that idea of looking straight to Christ, whenever we stop doing that, there's always failure. Because this is what always happens, always. Our eyes are initially on Christ and salvation. We're like Peter getting out of the boat. Do you remember that story on the Sea of Galilee? He's looking to Christ, but what happens? Does he keep looking to Christ? He starts walking to Christ until all of a sudden he starts to realize, oh my gosh, I'm walking on water. And so what does he do? He takes his eyes off Christ. He looks around him. He looks about him. He looks how far away he is from the boat. He looks how far away land is. And all of a sudden, when he's taken his eyes off Christ, and he's looking to his life, what happens? He starts to sink. Failure. Why? Because the mind was not on Christ. The heart was not on Christ. It shifted to the lesser. Went from the greater to the lesser. Now I can imagine someone might say, but pastor, are you trying to say that I should not plan things? Are you trying to say that in everything that I do, I shouldn't make any plans? Because after all, if I'm only looking to Christ, how do I live my life in that way? You live your life according to Proverbs 16.9. which says these powerful words. The mind of man plans his ways. That's a good thing to do. Make plans for your upcoming week. I'm gonna embarrass my wife. I'm sorry, Sadie, I love you, but I'm gonna do that. Her birthday is this week, right? This upcoming week, so on Wednesday. So be sure to tell her happy birthday. I've made plans for her birthday, right? And that's a good thing for a husband to do for his wife. Make plans to celebrate her birthday. But don't stop there. Because if those plans fall through, I'm going to point to this first. The mind of man plans his way, but God directs his steps. So why did it rain on your birthday? God directed our steps. Why did that restaurant, why was it sold out? We couldn't get a dinner there? Because God directed our steps. The idea here is, yes, make plans. Yes, live your life according to biblical guidance and instructions, but understand, dear friends, that God is the one who moves your life. It's not you. It's not ultimately up to you. When we take our eyes off of Christ, then we so quickly lose sight of what God has called us to do. In my mind, I've thought about a child on a tightrope, and at the end of the tightrope is her father, and he's saying, just look to me, come to me. The child is walking. Keep following me, don't look down, don't look down, you're high up, just come to me. The child just looks straight to the father and walks because she trusts in the one who knows her the best. I wonder, what would it look like for a church What would it look like for this church to not shift our eyes from Christ and to the world around us, but instead to say, we will commit and covenant together that collectively our mind and our eyes and our focus and our hearts and our souls, they're geared to Christ. That when we make decisions, man, we're looking straight to Jesus Christ. That when we have conversations, it's revolving around our Savior, Jesus Christ. That when we come to this church, even though we're tired and beaten down, we say, I want Christ, I want Christ, I want Christ. What would that church look like? It would look like a church that can't stop talking about Jesus. That can't stop trusting in Jesus. That when someone asks you, hey, how are you doing? You know what, it's been a really difficult week, but Jesus has sustained me through it all. Jesus' goodness has outweighed my sin. Do you see how just this is a shift of thinking? It's all about Jesus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the rest of the world will fade away. Don't shift your eyes off Christ or there will be failure. There's a second application to make from, I think, this text. And that is missing a little fails in a lot. missing in a little, fails in a lot. And here, of course, I'm drawing from how I understand James and the elders from Acts chapter 21, that I think in a lot of ways, these guys got a lot of things right. I think James got many things right, obviously throughout his life, but even here in this text. I think that it was good that they celebrated the Gentile salvation, I think it's good that they glorified the Lord, I think it's good that they were spending their lives investing in these Jewish believers, and I think that it's good that they were trying to follow God's Word. I think that they did a lot of things right, but I think that they did something wrong. And that is that they had the fear of man influencing and clouding out their wisdom in one key point of what Paul should do. Which, by the way, it didn't spare Paul. Did you notice that? Paul was still persecuted. I mean, here's what's gonna happen. He's gonna be in jail. He's gonna be wrongfully accused. So their wisdom didn't work. Because it wasn't wisdom from the Lord. And here's the point that we have to see. that you can be right in a lot of things, and yet if you're wrong in a little, it colors out and spoils the rest. Let me prove that to you. that if you're right in 90% but wrong in 10%, you've missed it all still. Let me prove this to you. Parents, we have some parents in here with teenagers. Some of you are parents that used to have teenagers. Let's imagine on Saturday night, you're waiting for your teenager to come home. Can any of you empathize with this situation? I've been on one side of that, I've been the teenager. I haven't yet been on the other side waiting for a teenager to come home. But imagine you're waiting for the teenager to come home. The curfew's at 11, and it's 11.25. And you're counting those minutes and thinking of the best way to discipline this child, this teenager. And the teenager comes home, and you say, OK, I want to be charitable. I love you very dearly. So you just tell me, just tell me, how was your day? Just tell me everything you did. Tell me what you did tonight. Let's just talk. So let's make sure that we're on the same page here. And so let's just say your teenager says, okay, okay mom, here's what I did. I got up this morning and I ate breakfast and I did this and I went to work and then I played here and I did this and I played baseball and then I went out with my friends, we saw a movie, we went to White Castle, because teenagers are dumb at night, and then I came home. And then that was my day. And all of that could have been true, right? But what if instead of going to a movie, they actually went and robbed a bank? That is a ridiculous example, right? But let's just say 90% of the day was truth. but just one little detail of the day was a lie. Do you then say, wow, Johnny, thank you so much. You did a lot of good things with your day. You woke up, you ate breakfast, you went to work, you spent some time with friends. I mean, I know you also robbed a bank, but you know, the rest of the 90% of your day was really pretty good. Is that a good parental response? No. The small part ruins the better part. The lie has destroyed the truth. And the same is true in life. When a little bit of a lie gets into truth, it destroys the truth. Did you know, by the way, that's a biblical concept? This is in Galatians, chapter five, verse nine. A little leaven, right, this is like a disease, yeast, this is something that infects everything. A little leaven leavens or spoils the entire lump of dough. Just a little bit destroys a lot. The same thing is repeated in 1 Corinthians 5, verses 6-8. I won't read that, but it says to clean out the leaven, throw out the old dough, make things right. Make all of it right. And friends, this is what we have to see. That if much of your life is right, You need to know what is not right. 90% of your life might be godly, but hey, let's check out for a second, what does that 10% look like? What is that 10% that's not godly, that's not biblical? As a church, 90% of what we do might be God-glorifying, but let's look at that 10%. Are we being wise with that 10%? Are we following the Lord in that 10%? So if you're here and you're asking, how can I know? Or what does this look like in my own life? I would write this question down because it's something that I've been thinking on as well. Ask yourself this question about yourself. What am I missing in a little that's failing in a lot? It's not on your notes, but I would write it down. What am I missing in a little that's failing in a lot? What is a seemingly little something that I have believed a lie and following that lie that is seemingly such a small part of my life, but it's affecting everything? It's the disease that has permeated through my life. What am I missing in a little that's failing in a lot? There's a third application. And that is that bad counsel leads to bad failure. Bad counsel leads to bad failure. I told a couple of men before the service that I had what I am calling a revolutionary realization recently. And that's three R's so you know it's really important. A revolutionary realization recently. I was thinking about tradition. I was thinking about the place in life that tradition has, its pros, its cons, the good things, the bad things, all of these different things. And this is the revolutionary realization that I came to recently. Are you ready for it? It's going to be up on the screen. I realized that tradition is being counseled in the present by the wisdom of the past. That's what I came to the realization of. Tradition is being counseled in the present by the wisdom of the past. It's not just doing something just for the sake of doing it, but it's listening to what somebody once thought was good, what somebody once thought was right, and hearing, listening to that counsel in the present, right now. The question that we have to ask ourselves when we listen to the counsel from the past, that's tradition, is, is this worthy counsel to listen to? Is this worthy to listen to? There's a story that probably many of you know. I like this story, and I'm not the one who originated it. But there's a story about a young woman who, she got married, and for the very first Christmas, she decided she was gonna take the heavy load of burden of making Christmas dinner away from her mom. She wanted to be a helper, so she's told her mom, you know what, I'm gonna make Christmas dinner, you relax, you've been doing this for many, many years, I will make the Christmas dinner. And so as this young, newly married woman, as she was making the dinner, she was getting all of everything together, and she was determined, I'm gonna make everything in the dinner exactly the way that mom makes it. And so when she came to the ham, she said, now mom always cuts off the ends of the ham before cooking it. I wonder why she does that. Some of you have heard this story before, right? And so she asks her mom, mom, hey, I'm just curious, is there any benefit, why are you cutting off the ends of the ham? And what does the mom say? You know, I don't know, that's what my mom always did. And so this young woman says, well let's go ask grandma, why are we cutting off the ends of the ham? So they go in the living room, grandma's playing with the little kids, and they ask grandma, why on earth are we cutting off the ends of this ham for Christmas dinner? Grandma looks at them, kind of amused, a little bit confused. She says, why do I cut off the ends of the ham? Because when I first got married, my pan was too small to fit the whole ham, so I had to cut off the ends to make it fit. Now what's the point of that ridiculous story? And I don't think it's true. The point of the story is to show that tradition, following the wisdom of the past in that situation, was no longer wise, it was no longer applicable, and it was no longer good counsel. It was wisdom that was no longer wise. That's what tradition was in that story. Now, I think we need to be frank here. What does that mean for now? What does that mean for today? What I think that means for today is I think that means that when we look at tradition, we need to look at it even-handedly. On one hand, tradition is a wonderful gift from the Lord, and we need to be thankful for it. I am so thankful, and I could go through a huge list. I am so thankful that my spiritual forefathers, passed down the tradition of following the sufficiency of Scripture, the authority of Scripture, and by God, through Jesus Christ, through the cross and the resurrection, that is the only way to know salvation in Jesus. I am so thankful that my Protestant, the Reformers, back in the 14, 15, 1600s, I am so thankful that they passed on the tradition of knowing Scripture and following Scripture above that of the Catholic Church. I am so thankful that in this church, that our spiritual forefathers came 80 years ago and they saw a place that needed a church and said, we want to reach a new frontier with the cause of the gospel. That is a good tradition to follow, seeing an unreached area that doesn't have truth and giving them truth. That's a good tradition to follow. And we need to be very clear that we celebrate tradition and counsel from the past that is still wise in the eyes of God. That it's still biblical, that it follows Godly instruction, and it informs us to seek after the Lord and be obedient to Him. That is a really good thing. But on the other hand, so we need to be even-handed, thankful for tradition that is godly, but we need to, in the same time, reject tradition, counsel, wisdom, that maybe at one time was good, but now is no longer wise in the present. Just like the grandma, it was wise in the past, it's no longer wise in the present. I am so thankful, so thankful. that we are not doing things just because, or we are seeking to not do things just because it's just what we've always done. Have you ever heard that? Well, we do that because that's how it's always been done. Have you said that? That's not a good enough reason. Can you imagine if the reformers said, well, you know what, I know that Catholic mass is in Latin, I know that we have to go to a priest in order to have our sins taken away, but you know what, that's just how it's always been done. So we're just going to keep that going. I mean, if it's been going on for so long, why change it now? Can you imagine? I can't, I don't know Latin, so I wouldn't be preaching to you right now if that were still the case. I am so thankful that our Puritan forefathers did not say, you know what, the Church of England, they're smooching up to the government and they have this licentious living. That's just how they've always done it. Let's just keep that going. I'm thankful that there was a stand for truth. Now let me bring this home and let me smash a gong. to make sure we hear it. I am really thankful, really thankful that the moniker that has followed this church for many decades of our existence no longer applies, that we're known for this ministry or this ministry. I thank the Lord that when people think of this church, they don't say, wow, they have a great bus ministry. I thank the Lord for that. I thank the Lord that when people think of this church, they do not say, wow, how wonderful that they are the most influentially relevant church in all of North County. Praise the Lord for that. What do they say when they talk about this church? Let all of that go. Influence, not interested in that. Trying to impress other people and be cool? Not interested in that. Having power in the community? Not interested in that. Let them say of us. That is a church that loves Jesus Christ above all else. That everything they do, they love Jesus. That they want Jesus. And it's not about them getting what they want. It's not about maintaining the power of the past. It is about looking to Jesus and saying, He is enough. He is all I need. That scripture is sufficient because it teaches me of my Savior. And that's all we're gonna do when we get together. You don't come to this church to be entertained. I make really bad dad jokes. They're not that funny. You don't come here because it's the cool thing to do. We put on a really bad show, if that's what you're coming for. Hopefully, you come here, and when visitors come here, they might walk away and say, wow, they're a little hokey, but they love Jesus. And there's hope, and there's joy, and there's certainty about where they're going for all of eternity, and I want that. Because everything around here is going to eventually burn, but their faith won't. Their God won't. Their eternity won't. I'm so thankful that what matters is not about tradition. It's about the gospel. If you're asking yourself, what does that look like? How do I know if a tradition is something that's good, that's leading me to Christ or not? Ask yourself this question. Is the tradition consistent with scripture's instructions? So I'm gonna make a plea. I've been trying to lead by example. That's been a big thing for me. I've been trying to lead by example. If you are serving in any capacity in this church, If you're on a committee, if you have a specific role, if you teach Sunday school, if you teach Awana, if you serve in the nursery, if you have any capacity in this church, whenever you do your work, meet with a committee, go and serve with other people, Would you please ask yourself and the people around you, is this tradition of how we do things consistent with scripture's instructions? I realize if you're taking care of the bed babies, that might be a strange question to ask. But would you ask it honestly and genuinely? I realize that if you're on the personnel committee, if you're on the finance committee, if you're on the trustee committee, it might be weird to ask, is this tradition of how we use our personnel, our finances, our building, and our space, is this consistent with scripture's instructions? It's an odd question to ask. It's a hard question to ask, because we can't rely just on the past as certain authority. It forces us to say, well, what does Scripture's instructions say? It's hard, but it's necessary. Can I just speak for a moment in my heart, and then I'm gonna end with one last final comment? As your pastor, I frequently live in anguish asking this question. frequently anguish over. Are we living consistently according to scripture's instructions? And it's one of the hardest things in my life that I've ever had to do. It forces me to scripture. It forces me to make hard decisions. The easiest thing for me is just to let the ship keep sailing in the direction it's always gone. But is that the most godly? Maybe the direction needs to be shifted. Maybe we're missing the point. Maybe we need to be more godly by knowing scripture and following scripture. Would you ask yourself, would you ask one another, is this consistent with scripture? I need to end, so let me end with this last final point. The fourth application, I don't want to end on it's up to us. I want to end on God. So the last final application from this text is that God never fails even when we do. I am a realist and I understand that this church has and will continue to fail no matter who's at the helm or no matter who fills the pews. I understand that your marriage will fail no matter who you're married to and no matter who you are. I understand that there is always going to be failure in every aspect of this human life on this earth until Jesus comes back. And here is the beautiful truth of all of this, and I'm just gonna end on this. The beautiful truth is you can fail and you will fail, but God never will. Paul was imprisoned, wrongfully accused, and this great ministry of traveling and starting churches and admonishing elders in these churches that was doing wonders was all stopped so that he could be put in jail, so that he could be shipwrecked on islands, so that he could be wrongfully accused before Caesar. because even when there's struggles, failures, hardships by anyone, either done to you or by you, God never fails. And if you struggle with that, then please read your Bible and read about Joseph, read about Job, read about David, read about Peter. Our God never forsakes his plan, which is better than yours and mine. So friends, I don't know about you, But I want to live in the reality of trusting God with my eyes focused on Him, asking constantly, is this godly? And saying, no matter what, He is enough. Is that the church that you want to be? Do you want to be a church that's motivated by the gospel instead of the traditions of man? This is where you say yes. Is that the church you want to be? a church motivated by the gospel and says, even though I fail, my God, my Savior will never fail. Let's serve him, let's live for that purpose, and let's live the rest of our lives until we get into glory for his purpose, for his glory, and for his honor. Let's pray. Father, you've called us to be obedient servants You've called us to be soldiers called to a task of giving you glory. Father, will you sanctify us? Will you draw us to yourself? And will you keep our eyes always and only on you, our King, our Savior, and our Lord? Lord, we love you, and we need you in this moment. In your name, amen.