I want you to turn, if you please, to the chapter that we read from God's precious word. I have a text from that chapter that I want to bring to you this morning. Let me first of all explain that we have been going through the life of the Apostle Paul for some considerable time now on Sunday mornings and I trust that all who have been here to listen to those messages have been blessed in their hearts and lives. We come now to a chapter which is difficult in one sense and I think that you might have gathered that as you read it this morning and of course the next chapter as well because in both chapters we have quite a bit of repetition of what has gone before. However, I believe that there are fresh lessons to be learned from the Word of God and I want to try and bring those out if I can this morning. Just have a look with me at verse 33. It's a starting point but also it's our verse which is our text this morning. Then the chief captain came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains and demanded who he was and what he had done. I want to try to take some of those words out here and speak on them. Bound with two chains. bound with two chains. I believe that all the words of scripture are inspired and very often when you read words in the Bible you will find that these words are highly significant and in the life of the Apostle Paul and indeed in our lives as well. I think that you will find that these words are significant bound with two chains. Of course, here is a picture of what actually transpired and happened in the life of the Apostle Paul. It certainly is a very sad picture, isn't it? Here is the Apostle Paul bound with two chains. And when you consider who he was and what he was, even as the question puts it here, we would say he was the most profound theologian that ever lived. Here was perhaps the greatest missionary that who ever lived. Here was perhaps the most loving pastor that had ever been. Here was a man of courage. Here was a man of faith. Here was a man of endeavor. But the picture what we have here of him is that he is bound with two chains. Now the last time that we looked into the life of the Apostle, of course, was last week. And what we saw last week was a free man. A free man, but yet he was a man in a hurry. He was a man in a hurry to get to Jerusalem and finally to Rome as well. You remember how he was in Miletus and he had said farewell to the Ephesian elders. He visited various island cities on his way and his journey. You remember how he spent seven days in Tyre with the disciples there. When he came to Caesarea, he spent the time in the house of Philip, the evangelist. But all the time we know that he was urgent to get to Jerusalem. And you could only imagine in your mind what it must have been like on that journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem. Some 65 miles. You will recall how that those of his company were against him going to Jerusalem. He had heard from the Prophet and others that he mustn't go to Jerusalem and so it must have been a wearisome journey to Jerusalem for all who were with him. And it was a journey that they did not exactly know what was really going to transpire. Now of course we have questioned the wisdom of the Apostle Paul going to Jerusalem at all. What we have said about it was that he was warned before that he should not enter in Jerusalem at all. He had no mandate from God and yet it seems to me that on every occasion when he went to various places he always had a mandate to go to that certain place. There's no prayer about this matter. He doesn't commit it to the Lord in prayer that we know of anyway. And so it seems that despite all the warnings from prophets and from the Holy Spirit himself and from those who were closest to him, yet he is intent on going to Jerusalem. And we think of the danger that he faced. Here he was hated. Here he was a man that was ostracized in the large sense of that particular word. But he's a man in a hurry. And so he hurried to Jerusalem. And the warnings which he received of course became true. And in our text it just describes his position, his position that would be now until the day of his death. He was bound with two chains. No longer would he be free to do the missionary work which God had blessed him and thousands had been swept into the kingdom. My question this morning, after trying to paint that picture to you, is just simply this. How would he react to this present situation? I don't know what spurred him on to go to Jerusalem. I've said to you maybe it was pride. Maybe it was that he felt that he had some more ministry to do in Jerusalem and so on. There might have been a number of different reasons that we could give for it. But it all turns out, because here is a man, in the words of our text, who's bound with two chains. And if he's bound with two chains, surely there must have been a disappointment about this. There must be discouragement about it. No longer would he be able to have free fellowship with the Christians around him. He's bound with two chains. So how would he react to that? And what is more, let us ask ourselves this morning, when things go wrong, we ourselves feel it's the right thing to do and yet maybe it's not God's will for us to do that and we find ourselves in difficulties and problems. What do we do? How do we react to that situation? Now the apostle Paul was a wonderful man, wasn't he? And you will notice the reaction that he had was certainly a positive one. A reaction which you and I would do well to emulate, to copy and to make our very own. Well let me if I can then try to go through this and try to explain more fully what I've really tried to say. The first thing that I want you to notice is the chains that he bore. The chains that he bore. Our text says, one with two chains. But how did he come to get into this situation? And why was it that God allowed him to get into this situation? And then another question, because we have read together this particular story and so you know, what the story is about. Where were the brethren that he came to Jerusalem to meet and the brethren that had greeted him so well and seemed to stand with him, where were they when he was in trouble and when he's in difficulties? There are two chains. And I want you to try, if you can this morning, to picture in your mind what these two chains actually stand for. Two chains. And it's the two chains which are going to bind the Apostle Paul from now on. And let me say quite clearly that you and I have two chains. And those two chains are very similar to the chains that the Apostle had in his day. The first chain was a chain of persuasion. That's a very strange thing. But let me, if I can, go through the story with you very briefly. We won't turn to read it again. You've read it once and I'm sure that you will remember it. The Apostle had been on his third missionary journey. Each occasion on the missionary journeys he would return to the returning church, to the ascending church rather. That ascending church was of course at Antioch, but he didn't do it this time. He now comes to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the place where James, who was head of the church, and where the elders were. It is thought that the church by this time had gained thousands of followers, and so it was, because it comes out in this chapter, doesn't it? And it's also thought that there probably were 70 elders, according to the pattern of the Old Testament, and so all of these elders were there. And out of the thousands and thousands that have been converted on the day of Pentecost, and a little while after in Acts chapter 4, and many many other occasions as well, there were thousands in Jerusalem who were believers, who governed under the eldership of James and these others who I have mentioned. And so we see the Apostle Paul come and he reports. And the word there that I emphasize in the read, he reported particularly. And the word particularly means that he went through every detail of what he did and where he went. We ourselves have thought about the various places that he went to. Salimos, Pathos, Piraeus and then Antioch. and then Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, and Philippi, Thessalonica, Abira, and then Athens, Corinth, and Ephesus. And there are a lot of other places as well that over the months we have looked at and we have seen how the Apostle actually went to these places. Can you imagine in your mind how he reports on this? And the result of course is that they glorify God. That so many had come into the kingdom by this man's ministry. What is more, he presents to them people who were the fruits of the Gentiles. And so Secundus and all the others were there. Trophimus, he's another one from Ephesus. And all of them come and they stand there and he introduces them to James and James no doubt will introduce all the others to these. And so they're all there. And he is now reporting of what God has really done. But there's a problem. And the problem is simply this. Paul is not accepted in Jerusalem. Where he was accepted outside of Jerusalem, inside Jerusalem, he still had his doubters, those who thought about the days of his persecution. Maybe relatives of those who were thrown into prison and lost their lives and so on. and it had got back to the people of Jerusalem that the Apostle Paul had been teaching his followers that they were to do away with the law, had nothing to do with Moses they were not to circumcise the male infants and that they were not to obey the laws of the temple. Now this is a very strange thing and I brought this up to you before. It really comes out very strongly here, those of you who can follow this, that the elders in Jerusalem had one law for the Christian Jews and one law for the Gentiles. The Gentiles, there was just a few things that they must not do. Eat things that were strangled, eat things that were offered to idols and abstain from fornication. But as far as the Christian Jews were concerned, they were expected to continue in the law of Moses. and continue in circumcision, and continue in the sacrifices, and continue in all the various other things. Very strange, isn't it? Because we know that the substance was to be found in Christ. And that all the Old Testament ceremonial had been done away with by the cross of Calvary. And so it's a very strange thing that you have here. And the elders demand of Paul that he now shows to the Christian Jews in Jerusalem that he was a man of the law. Now I've said to you before that there were some strange things about the Apostle because he certainly did enact some of the laws of the Old Testament which you and I believe are fulfilled in Christ. And so they bring four men who had made a vow, a Nazarite vow. We know that because it's the cutting off of the hair. And these men had made their vow. And first of all there was to be a period of purification. That would begin at the beginning of the week. At the end of the week their hair would be taken off or shaved and it would be burned. So they had grown their hair for some considerable time, the time of their vow, whatever it must have been. But of course there were things involved in this. And the Apostle Paul was to be in charge of this, and he himself was to go through the period of purification. And also, he was going to pay for them to go through this period of purification. Now, you may not have noticed that, but it's there here in the scriptures. He would make the charges of it, that's what the Bible says. He was to pay for it. Everyone must present two beasts as sacrifices. And the third offering was to be a drink offering, all expensive. And there were four men plus the Apostle Paul, five men, and so you can imagine that this was quite expensive. And the Apostle Paul was going to magnanimously pay for this to show to the Christian Jews that he still was an observer of the law of the Old Testament. Sadly, the Apostle went through with this. Now, Campbell Morgan says an interesting thing here. He says these words, he says, I hope Paul made the greatest mistake of his ministry on this occasion. And I think he did. I think the mistake was made earlier when he refused the warnings of the Holy Spirit concerning going to Jerusalem. You see, what this situation was, it was a compromise to please others. How often do we find ourselves doing that? How often do we compromise our lives and our spiritual life, our souls, just to please others? And somehow it seems to me that the Apostle Paul was going through with this so that he could appear good in front of these Christian Jews. And the elders who asked him to do these things, how awful it seems to me that they should even ask him to do this. They themselves, instead of condoning these practices, should have been condemning these practices. And instead of helping and encouraging these practices, should have been showing that these things are fulfilled in Christ. And that we have much more in our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the seven days took place. And it was at the end of these seven days of purification, which we haven't time to go into, but you read the Nazarite lore, as it's in Leviticus and particularly in the book of Numbers, and you will see what it is. This snare came from the brethren. And when we look at him with two chains, one of those chains was there because of the snare of the brethren. Oh yes, we've heard the saying, haven't we, doing evil that good may come. And that's exactly what was taking place here. He'd been led astray. He'd been persuaded to do wrong simply for the face of it. And now trouble comes because of that. Oh my friend, one of these things is called persuasion. And sometimes we are persuaded to do the things which are not right in God's sight. It doesn't matter who from, how near the person is, or how clever the person might be, we should never do wrong that we think good may come of it. But the second chain, of course, is the chain of persecution. If you look at verse 27, you will see here, when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him. Shouldn't have been in the temple anyway. Shouldn't have been doing this purification. Shouldn't have been in this vow of the Nazarite. But because he was there, these Jews are stirring up the people. My first question, of course, is simply who are these people, these Jews? They're probably Jews from Ephesus, because they come from Asia, it says that here. It's interesting to know this, and you will understand this if you followed the messages so far, that these Jews in Ephesus were especially hostile to the Apostle Paul. They regarded him as an apostate, one who had reneged on the Jewish faith. And they regarded him as no longer entitled to the privilege of the Jews. He didn't want to be in the temple. Isn't it sad when we are rebuked by the world and the world says to us, I didn't think Christians did that. And that somehow is exactly what's happening here. But it's much more than that because they're moved with indignation and they're willing to tell lies to trap him. And you'll know of course that lies spreads faster than truth. And so the lies spread around the place. And notice this, the persecutors were religious people. It's worse, isn't it, when persecution comes from this source. But we know that all persecution of the gospel and other things of God and of Christ, the devil is behind that. Remember that Ephesus was the place of Diana and the Jews joined with the persecutors who were those of the worshippers of Diana in persecuting the Christians. One man who stood up in that persecution was called Alexander. And you'll remember the last letter the apostle wrote from prison speaks about Alexander who did me much evil. Perhaps he was there at Jerusalem at this particular time. And so it is, you see, that here is the second chain. One is persuasion of his brethren. And the second chain is persecution by the Jewish people themselves. You know, up until AD 70, there was great persecution amongst all the Jews. In fact, uprisings happened almost on a daily basis. It is said in the book of the Jews by Josephus that 70,000 Jews died in the insurrections that happened after Christ up until AD 70 and it seems to me that that probably is correct. It's interesting that the Jews had a philosophy or a knowledge which many of them believe today that if a Jew dies within Israel and is buried in Israel they will be the only ones who will partake of the resurrection. That's why lots of Jews who die here are buried in Jerusalem. And other rabbis teach, no that is not right, but the Jews who are buried there may be buried all around the world, but somehow they are tunneled, their bodies will be tunneled in a day to come to Jerusalem and to Israel and take part in the resurrection. This is the sort of motivation that they had. It's the sort of motivation that terrorists have as well, isn't it? Of some sort. How sad it really is. But let me just tell you this. What happens is this, that you and I have trouble from inside and from outside. The Apostle Paul had persecution from outside and persuasion from inside. Both were trouble to him and those were the two chains. We must be careful of the chains that we have ourselves. Now the second thing that I want to show you, I've tried to show you first of all the chains that he bore to the charge that he bore. You know, we read together and I hope you saw the picture and you could see it as you read on into the next chapter as well. This was one of the biggest riots that Jerusalem had ever known. And that again is recorded by secular historians. First of all, let me think with you about the indictment. I suppose that any charge would do for the Jews. But notice exactly what they actually charged him with because it is interesting. Verse 28, crying, men of Israel help! This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place and further brought Greeks into the temple and have polluted this holy place. Two charges, first of all concerning his teaching, and you'll notice exactly what he says there, and the second charge is concerning trespass, that he had brought Greeks, Trophimus, which you'll read of in the next verse, in to the temple. Of course, both of these were totally false. He never taught against the Jews. He never talked against the temple. He never talked against the law. And they were certainly mistaken concerning Trophimus. No one ever verified that he took him there and he neither did take him there at all. No one ever saw this whatsoever. But there is no reason with a mob as you know very well. But my question here is this, when he is indicted in this manner by the Jews, where is James? And where is this great man of authority? And where are the elders of the church who are standing by him? They're not there. And so the temple is shut. Do you know the temple is never shut in Jerusalem? And you go through the Old Testament and the temple was there, never shut. And of course there was the eternal light in there and so on. And yet on this occasion the temple is shut. And this is how the devil stirred up the people. And so they sought to kill him. So the word of God says in verse 31. And we have to say this, that the leaders of the church had put this man's life at risk. And if you notice this, you will see that in verse 31, and as they went about to kill him, tidings came to the chief captain of the band, under whom all Jerusalem was in uproar, immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left off beating Paul. So here was a man who had been caught, he was being beaten, kicked and punched, and certainly he would have died unless there had been this intervention. Now of course we have to say this, that there is a great deal of the providence of God in all of this, and God is working to protect his servant. But of course we have to understand, don't we, and surely every one of us must take this to heart. It is dangerous to be out of the will of God. It is dangerous to be out of the will of God. Indictment. And then ignorance. Look at verse 38. Did you notice that verse? Are thou not that Egyptian which before these days made us an uproar and led us out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? The word murder here is kawari, sakari, murderers. There was a man who was a noted man and of course he was a very famous man. He had 4,000 people who would follow him into the wilderness, you imagine that. And there was a society of men who were adamantly opposed to the Roman people. And anyone, anybody who would dare to help the Romans in any way or even work for them their life was in danger. These were bandits from Judea, terrorists. They carried a carved dagger which was the sign of this brotherhood and a bitter hatred for the Romans as I've indicated. They would infiltrate crowds and then stabbed victims who were corroborating with the Romans. One person who was a famous person, he was the son of the high priest, Annas. His name was Jonathan. He lost his life in this particular manner, in this way. Here this man reckoned that he was the great prophet of the Jews, but he was a false prophet. although he had, of course, this zealousness for the Jewish people. The chief captain thought that he had captured a prize. This was the man! But of course, Paul quickly dispels this and says no, and in verse 39 he says, I am a man, a Jew of Tarshish, and explains who he was. So the final picture that you'll see here, in this point, is he's incarcerated. Here's the beginning of prison for the Apostle Paul. Very rarely will you ever find the Apostle Paul from this time without leg irons or chains upon his hands. It's a sad thing, isn't it, to see this man in this particular point, in this remarkable life that we've viewed together. Now, how would he react? Remember I began with that this morning, rather beginning the message. How would he react to this? How would he react to this false accusation which were lies? How would he react to this unfair treatment when he was trying to fulfill the law himself? And how would he react to imprisonment in his life after such freedom to be used of God? Most remarkable when you think about this and you consider it yourselves and you have to question how would we react if we're in that sort of situation. And sometimes we do find ourselves in that sort of situation. Oh that you and I might react correctly and properly. So this morning we've seen first of all the chains he bore, he was bound with two chains. The charge that he bore, these false charges. And the final thing that I want you to notice is the courage that he bore. Remember he must have been weak through the beatings that he had. I'm sure that he was discouraged and he was disappointed that no help came from others who supposedly were close to him. And no help at all. And now we see him on the stairs of the castle. They have to carry him. Now they have to carry him because of the beatings that he had already received. But when he gets to the stairs of this castle, and we could go into what this is and what it isn't, but it isn't really the point of the message. It's interesting what happens. You know, God is at work. And the Apostle Paul is going to be a good witness for the Lord. And God in his providence and in his power is at work. He lifts his hand. Now I tried to speak to you about this mob and about all the people. You could imagine in your mind what an awful mob it must have been. If any of you have been to a sporting event where there are thousands upon thousands. Do you think by lifting your hand you could quieten that mob? You couldn't. And they're not there to do mischief or hopefully they're not. But these people are. They're intent on the death of this man. He lifts his hand. And there is complete silence. There's a ready listening. God is at work and God is doing that. You see we have a sovereign God, don't we? And of course sometimes he allows us to go through trials and tribulations in our lives, but God is still in charge. He's still over and above everything else. And He can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think. Because He's the Sovereign God of the skies. And that's the God that we believe in. And so Paul lifts his hands and he has a ready listening. And what he does is that here he is, a prisoner with two chains upon his hands. Surely he must feel sorry for himself. Surely he must be disappointed and discouraged. Yes, of course. but he uses it as an opportunity. Sometimes when we're down ourselves and we have things go against us, we don't use it as an opportunity, do we? But we moan and groan about it, instead of looking for the opportunity that must be there. He uses it as an opportunity for testimony. And remember this, a testimony is always powerful. You may not be able to preach, you may not think that you've got gifts that other people have got, but if you're saved by the blood of Calvary, if you have given your hearts and lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, you have a testimony. And if you have a testimony of the grace of God, then surely you can tell others about who saved you. And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul does in this following chapter. I read a story about a soldier who was dying on the front line of battle. A doctor was called and came to him, bound up his wounds and helped him in the best way that he could. Called for a field ambulance to take him to a field hospital that would save his life. And before the soldier went, he just said, tell me your name. And the doctor said, my name doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who I am. Yes it does, he says. I want to tell my wife and I want to tell my children the name of the man who saved my life. And surely you want to tell the world the name of the man who saved your soul for eternity. That's what a testimony is. Let me just go through just briefly with you. In chapter 22, first of all, he gives identification of who he is. Look at verse 3. I am verily a man who am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God as ye all are this day. You see, here is a man who is speaking to this mob. And somehow, first of all, the first thing he does is identification. Not only with himself, but with them as well. He speaks about his background, who he is. And what he really is saying, I'm just like you. I'm exactly the same as you. I'm a Jew. I was controlled by Judaism. identification. Then he speaks about his education. Mention of Gamaliel, no doubt, would bring something special out of the people who were there. It was a high privilege to be taught by Gamaliel, just like it used to be from Oxford or Cambridge in this country of ours. Gamaliel was the greatest teacher of the day. So he says, listen, I'm a Jew just like you. I was brought up in Judaism. I taught Judaism. I was taught by Gamaliel, the greatest teacher of the day. And then from identification and education, now comes dedication as well. Because he says, I was zealous for God, zealous for the Jewish law, zealous in persecution. speaking of people that he put into prison and so on. And even the high priest, he said, is witness to this. He gave me letters to Damascus that I might hail people into prison. What he really is saying is, I'm just like you. I was loyal and I was enthusiastic. Isn't that how we begin a testimony? When we speak to a person who is outside of Christ. Yes, we were just like them. We know what it means to sin. We know what it means to go down into the depths. of despair without Christ. We know what it means to be discouraged in our lives without God. We know what it means to go astray and have no one to really turn to. And that's exactly what the Apostle Paul was saying here. And then he speaks about his conversion. And you can read again about his conversion. We dealt of course with his conversion when we spoke about it in Acts chapter 9 and so on and later on in chapter 12. And there are three occasions where he mentions his conversion in this book. That's how important it is for all of us that we should be able to say when we were saved and how God saved us. It was by revelation of Christ, a great light, and Christ revealing himself and the response that Paul had, because he's on his knees, isn't he, on that Damascus road. And then he speaks about the role of Ananias. this godly man, this faithful man, this man who's ready to be used, this man who's full of compassion and showed Saul of Tarsus the way to become Paul, the great evangelist. And God bless him. We all have someone who helped us in our lives. We all have an Ananias. And yes, it's good that we should give God the glory and give credit where credit is due as well. And so he then speaks about how God called him to minister to the Gentiles and to go and preach the gospel so that men and women may know that there is a saviour who is able to save unto the uttermost. Once he was controlled by Judaism, but now he is controlled by Christ. But what happens? Well, we know that there was rejection, so conversion comes to rejection. In verse 22 of chapter 22, and they gave him audience until this word. What word? Well, the word before it says depart, but I will send the Farhands unto the Gentiles. Jews never thought that they should go to Gentiles. This law must never be taught to the Gentiles. They were outcasts as far as God is concerned. So when he used the word Gentiles, that did it. Oh, look at these now. And so it says, then lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. What an angry mob, content for the gospel, unbelief as far as God and Christ was concerned. Rebellion against God's way of salvation. What a sad commentary on Jerusalem of that day. Little wonder judgment came just a few years afterwards in A.D. 70. And in A.D. 70, not only the temple was torn brick by brick and became nothing and never has been since, but the whole of Jerusalem was made to be ploughed up like a field. Why was it? Because of the rejection that they had of Christ and indeed of many of God's servants just like the Apostle Paul. Oh how remarkable this is. But Satan was behind all this of course. And it was Satan that stirred up these people to do these things. But the Apostle Paul was firm and stood firm for the testimony which he brought. How would you react then if you found yourself in such a situation? And even if people reject it, and even if people ignore it, are we still prepared to go on to preach the gospel and to proclaim that Jesus saves? How do we know that he saves? Because he saved us from our sins, bound with two chains.