Welcome to Bible Believers Fellowship in the ministry of bbfohio.com. I'm Pastor Greg, and I welcome you to our study in Acts chapter 21, verses 27 through 32, titled, This is the Man. All right, so we're gonna continue our study in Acts 21, as Paul faces the prophesied persecution by the Jewish leaders, religious leaders of his day. And we've talked about that in previous studies. And it takes us right up to where we're now reading verses 27 to 32. I'll have you join me in the evens. So I'll begin in verse 27. And 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. crying out, 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 also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. for they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus, an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was moved, and the people ran together, and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple, and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, Tidings came unto the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in an uproar, who immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down unto them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of paw." Wasn't that nice of them? Amen? Paul has arrived in Jerusalem and we saw last week he became as a Jew to appease the legalists and semi-transitional apostles. At this point, Paul's the only apostle that we've seen outright make this transition from law to grace. The other apostles, including Peter, who Galatians tells us Paul had to confront to his face for still going along with the law instead of teaching that Jesus fulfilled the law. He didn't destroy the law. We're not against the law. The law shows us of our need of salvation. It's our schoolmaster to show us that need of our Savior, Jesus Christ. But we also then recognize that in Jesus Christ, the law has been fulfilled. And so you and I, if we're honest, we know we've broken the law. We've broken numerous of the laws, as listed in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20, 1-17. And we know we cannot ever keep the law, even as hard as we try. There's always going to be... That human sinful nature is going to expose our need of a Savior. And the apostles wanted to have their cake and eat it too, as the saying goes. They wanted to preach the gospel, how that Christ died for sins according to Scripture and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to Scripture. But then they'd turn right around and say, but you still need to do this and this and this and this. And we got a lot of Christians today who say that. A lot of Christians say, yes, you need to believe the gospel and be baptized. You need to believe the gospel, but also be baptized and be a member of our church. You need to believe the gospel, be baptized, be a member of our church, and keep the sacraments. Whatever it is, when you say you need to believe the gospel and, with those three words, the word and, you've gone too far. you believe the gospel, then you work not to be saved, but because you are saved. You work out your salvation, as Paul said. He didn't say you work for your salvation. Some of you have heard these things over and over and over. Some of you maybe haven't thought about these things. I never take for granted that anybody here knows these things that we've talked about many times through the years here. but it's also important for you to be reminded because you then need to be able to express those things to others. You become preachers outside of these walls. Now that you're saved, born again in the true sense of the word, Bible-believing Christian, you go out those doors and you're to be preaching the gospel and taking a stand for righteousness. Amen? Okay, if you're doing that, you're going to find resistance, may even be to the detriment of your job, where you live, your friendships. They could even try to get you thrown in jail or kill you. And that's what Paul is facing right now in our text. But Paul's attempt at appeasement as he goes along with some of these things, shaving his head and going through the purification rituals and all that, it kind of blows up. He's arrested by the mob. The temple then is shut down. It's one of the most extreme responses And it's on record as rarely ever happening, but they shut down the temple. The mob was so out of control, and so he faced his killers. And Paul wrote about this in his epistle to the church at Rome and elsewhere, but I want to turn over to just a few pages to your right there in your Bible, in the end of the epistle to the church at Rome, Romans 15. So when you're reading through Paul's epistles and you see this kind of thing, don't just buzz through it. Remember the book of Acts. Remember this is real. This happened to him. Beginning in verse 30, he says, Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Folks, when it really starts to hit and you really start to suffer for the Lord, Your prayers, you won't have to try. You'll strive in prayer. And Paul was striving in prayer, and he's asking others to strive in prayer. We've added 2 Timothy 3.12 to our Bible memory. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. That's an emphatic statement. And read 31 through, all the way to the end there, 31 to 33 with me. That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints. That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God of peace be with you all, amen. Look at verse 31. He's talking about his circumstances, his situation right here in Acts 21. Those who don't believe in Judea included the temple and Jewish priesthood and leadership in Jerusalem. Right there in verse 31 of Romans 15. So Paul's greatest opponents were his blood brethren. How many of you can say that the people who have resisted you the most as a Christian share your DNA? And if not, you probably don't live near them. Unless your whole family is saved, you know, maybe you got a whole, you know, everybody you know is saved, that's different too. But Paul here is arrested by the mob, it's his blood brethren. Verse 27, and when the seven days were almost ended, he's almost through this purification ritual that he had submitted to. The Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him. The mob. If you've ever watched Gunsmoke, you know this ain't good. The mob, they're driven by emotion, adrenaline, hate, rage. And then on gun smoke is a lot of liquor. In this case, I don't know that the liquor is involved. But then verse 28, crying out, men of Israel help! Trying to stir up the whole group, everybody there, just get the whole crowd. This is the man! Isn't that emphatic there? He doesn't just say, this guy over here, this is the man! Like there's one guy in Jerusalem right now doing the right thing. Sometimes that might be you. You might be the only person doing the right thing. Do you realize how many times through the years Christians have backed off because there wasn't a bunch of people with them taking a stand? You need to think ahead of time and be ready and willing to take a stand alone, to take the right stand. I was in a church in my early 20s and took a stand against Freemasonry, and even the people who agreed with me weren't willing to stand with me. And everything I preached was documented fact. The Freemasonry teaches a false Jesus with a false gospel. Basically taught what we talked about with Jimmy Carter's funeral. They teach all paths lead to God. You can be sworn in on a Bible or a Koran or whatever your holy book is, the Bhagavitas or whatever. It doesn't matter. Bhagavad Gita. That's how you pronounce that. The Hindu books. And all I did was stand up here and preach the truth. I didn't hate anybody. I didn't damn anybody. I just preached the truth. And the Masons came after me, and all the non-Masons and people who knew what I was saying was the truth, including a couple of preachers who knew what I was preaching was true, refused to stand with me. But I want to tell you, it was tempting to just say, I'm sorry. But I knew what was right. And I said, I'm not going to apologize for telling you the truth. I even said, let's have it open. You bring your Mason stuff, I'll bring my documentation. Let's talk about it in the open." Of course they wouldn't. Shipped me out and there's a lot more to that story, but this is the man. I know how that, I'm not the Apostle Paul, but I'm telling you, I know how that feels. There were people like, he's that young preacher they're talking about. I went to the denominational, local, regional, whatever conference. And I go walking in, and the first time I went, everybody said, oh, young preacher, oh, hallelujah, praise the Lord, good to see you. This time I walked in, and you thought, you know, I'd been sprayed with a skunk. Some of you know what I mean when I say that. And I just kind of walked in, and it was a couple of guys talked to me, but you could tell they were nervous even talking to me. If you haven't been there before, you stick to the book, you stick to the Word of God, you stand for the Word of God. You're going to feel that sometime, if the Lord tarries long enough. But what they accused him of was half-truths and lies, and that's another thing I've experienced in that situation. Half-truths and lies. This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people? No, he didn't. And against the law? No, he did not. And against this place? No, he did not. At no point did Paul teach against those things. What he did do was explain them in light of the truth. So it's a half-truth, I guess, in that. And then it says, furthermore, Greeks also entered the temple. That's a lie. He did not. Isn't that something? Get ready for it. You take a stand. They won't deal with the truth. The Masons didn't come at me with truth. They tried to smear me with everything else under the sun. And that's going to happen. Of course, we've seen that. That's how they deal with conservatives in the news all the time, no matter who it is. It can be a politician or an actor or somebody, but if they take a stand for what's right, they smear them. Half truths and lies. It's a satanic tactic. So Paul is the victim of assumptions, dishonest accusers, and hysteria. I don't even have to tell you what that's like. If you've lived through 9-11 and COVID, you know what hysteria is like. Not that there wasn't something real going on, but man, the way people responded and reacted, look out. So the temple shut down over this. The temple is the most sacred place on planet Earth. You'd think it would never shut its doors unless it was forced to. But they got so out of whack over this. They're in verse 29. For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus and Ephesians. Okay, they saw him together in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. No one saw it. That's why if you ever go to court, they'll have to produce if it goes to court. Now, the mob doesn't need evidence. But in court, you have to have eyewitness testimony that can't be undermined. I love unsolved mysteries. Unsolved mysteries. You might be able to help us solve a mystery. I love it. What was his name? Robert Stack, I think was his name. I love that guy. And Jenny gets a little creeped out about some of them. But there's this one we watched last week where the fellow was accused of committing a crime by a couple of eyewitnesses. There were five, I believe, eyewitnesses who said he couldn't have done it. We saw him in front of his house working on his motorcycle at the time of the crime. And these were people who Only two of them knew him personally. The other three just knew who he was because they lived in the town. So you have at least three, as they call it, disinterested eyewitnesses giving him his alibi. And you know, he'd been in prison by the time they'd made that show. He'd been in prison for several years. The jury convicted him. Even with that kind of, that's scary. Now, the guy looks like the kind of guy, and he had already had a record he'd gotten in trouble before. But listen, each crime stands on its own. You've got to convict him on each crime. You don't just convict a guy because you know he's trouble. He has to have committed the crime. And if you've got eyewitness testimony like that, and then when they went back and talked to the prosecutor and other people involved, they all admitted it bothered them. And here that guy is in jail. And the update was? He'd lost his appeal. Just sad. Now, I hope that guy gets saved in jail. And then he goes to heaven, and he'll say, ah, at least I'm here. We were talking about it earlier. You heard about that guy who threw away a hard drive he thought was blank? Turned out that was $750 million worth of Bitcoin on it. True story. In the news right now. He thought it was a blank, he threw it away, found out it was the one where his 8,000 Bitcoin were on, and they're worth $750 million. You can look it up. Out in a dump somewhere. Jesus saves and so should you, amen? Better back up your tartarites. But back to our text, what they claim, Paul had not taken Trophimus into the temple. He would never have done it and he didn't do it. And so then verse 30 says, and all the city was moved. Moved with what? Hysteria. And the people ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple. Violence in the temple. I'm so glad we've never had to do that here. We've had to tell a couple people to leave. And they were loud about it. But we never had to use violence or force to get them out. One guy, I believe, was devil possessed. Well, both of them probably were. One of them, I could smell the liquor on him. And, you know, we're just not going to allow anybody to come in and cause trouble and that kind of thing. Paul wasn't causing any trouble. There's nothing in here about Paul actually doing anything. They just made something up and used violence to take him out of the temple. Now, we love this building and we try to show great respect, but this is not some sanctuary. How many of you have gone to church and they call the place the sanctuary? That's a totally false use of that word. Auditorium, meeting room, there's plenty of things you can call it, but this is not a sanctuary. The sanctuary was the temple, the place of holiness, the presence of God. In a general sense, we could say God is here because He's everywhere. God is in you, amen? If you're a born again Christian, the Holy Spirit is in you. You are the sanctuary. The building is a nice building and we're thankful for it. How many of you have been to churches where it's like this is the Holy of Holies? And we've had people come in and visit, and they'll see somebody over there eating on a cracker, or somebody with a cup of coffee, or a dog. And they're like, what in the world? What kind of place is this? Now don't get me wrong, some of you are slobs. And you ought to pick up after yourself. Today there was like two full cups of coffee sitting around and everything. You know, quit being a baby. Pick up after yourself. I don't even know who you are, but whoever you are, start looking underneath and make sure you didn't leave a pile. Amen? Amen. It doesn't have anything to do with the sanctuary. status of the building. We just believe we should show respect. If you go to someone's house, I hope you don't act like that. You know, clean up after yourself. And that goes for the bathrooms. I'm not going to get in. I'm not going to go any further into that, but some of you need to be shown how to go to the bathroom. And I say some of you, I'm extending that to all of humanity. We see it here once in a while. But man, oh man, if any of you have ever, I've worked in maintenance at a movie theater and a restaurant when I was younger. People are gross. And all the city was moved and the people ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the temple and forthwith, the doors were, boom, shut. Man, I mean, if you understand the temple, that's just major overreaction. And of course, comparable to what we've seen even in recent years here with things going on. But from all evidence, it seems that this was an extreme and very rare thing to do, closing the temple doors in the middle of the day. But Paul wasn't just kicked out. He had his life threatened. as we see facing killers there in verse 31. What's the first words there? And as they went about to what? Kill him. Now, I had those Freemasons come to my house. They threatened me. And I just said, get out of my house. Well, you better take me seriously. You better shut your mouth and get out of my house. You want to threaten me? With what? Heaven? I'm sorry, but that's how... I'm not being Mr. Macho. I believe this book. I believe I'm saved. I believe I go to heaven. You kill me, I'll go to heaven. You're a murderer. You're going to go to hell. We didn't stand on the street corner preaching. And I've told you some of the stories. One day, a full beer bottle flew right past my ear and smacked the stop sign right behind me. And I'm telling you, if that had hit me in the head, it would have caused even more brain damage than you know. But I've hit my head hard a couple of times. So maybe that explains it. But that beer bottle hitting me in the, if it had hit me in the head, I mean, it would have really done, because he was flying down the road. It was a 35 mile per hour zone, but he was going about 45 mile per hour, whipping that thing. And when it went by, it was like a bullet. And it hit that stop sign, made a noise, sounded like a bomb going off. And I've had other instances. You know, Jenny and I were down here on High Street, and a fellow ran up on the sidewalk, tried to run us over. That was the day they legalized gay marriage. It's all about love. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band that all Jerusalem was in a uproar. Had the whole town. Like something out of a John Wayne movie. Why? Because we're getting ready to see, here comes the cavalry. Look at verse 32. Who immediately, the chief captain, immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down under them. And when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left off beating a paw. And here they come, I'm out of here. Just like you see John Wayne or Randolph Scott or whoever you're watching there. And they were going to beat Paul to death. Ain't no doubt. The Bible says they were going to kill him. Now to be killed by beating, that's bad stuff. You know, they stone people to death. Sometimes the first two or three rocks to the head would knock them out and then they would, you know, bleed out really. A lot of times they die. It's like gunshots, you know. Usually you die from the bleeding. And, you know, I've heard the stories of guys who were beat almost to death and they actually wished they had died as a result. We don't know how badly Paul was beat here, but I believe he was beat up pretty bad. But here's, I want you to see this, in our world of memes. Biblical Christianity, if they don't want to kill you, you're not doing it right. Amen? That doesn't mean everybody. I mean, there's some people who are Christians and others who are kind of on the fence and they're willing to talk to you and everything. But if you're taking a strong stand at some point in your life, you're going to come across people who are just going to be raging. And of course, if you do door-to-door work or street preaching, I mean, that's really going to open you up to that kind of thing. Well, I mean, we could go through the Bible. We don't have time to do that, but we go through the Bible and show you person after person. All they did was take a stand for what was right, and they wanted to kill them. They didn't succeed all the time. They did sometimes. I just put it this way. If it was law that preaching the gospel was illegal, and we just kept doing what we do as a church, y'all would be getting thrown in prison or killed. unless you're willing to compromise and go along with the world when they pass those laws. Now I'm thankful that we haven't had to do that, but if Kamala had won, I think we'd be looking at that. Because it's their agenda to shut down all who oppose their anti-Christ globalist system. You're at the wrong rally, amen. But don't be fooled. I mean, Donald Trump coming in, he's no Bible-believing Christian. And he's got some bad characters he's bringing along with him. But I don't think it'll get as bad as it would have under Kamala by far. But then state to state, you know, state laws can get you in trouble and locked up. I just, I'm waiting to see if one of the first things he does, of course, is pardon the J6 hostages. and the pro-lifers that Joe Biden locked up. I want that to be the first thing he does, and the longer it takes him, or if he doesn't do it, that will worry me. In America, that should not have happened. As Pilate testified before Jesus was taken to die on the cross, look what they said about Paul, Earlier in our reading, in verse 28, this is the man. Now we don't want to be the only guy in town, but what if you are? Paul was, and of course Jesus was. Behold the man. You remember that? Well, just in case you don't, go over to John 19. John 19. Beginning in verse 1. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. They're mocking Him. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote Him with their hands. Just like Paul, they're beating Him. Verse 4. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Read verse 5 with me. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. You see, the thing is, Paul was innocent, but he wasn't sinless. And you and I are the same way. We may be innocent, but we're not sinless. But here you're talking about a man who is sinless, a sinless son of God. But he is the man because when he went up on that cross, the Lord poured out our sin on him. He died in your place and paid for your sin if he is your Lord and Savior. The moment you believed on Christ and made Him your Lord and Savior, receiving His death as payment for your sin and His resurrection as the victory over sin and death on your behalf, at that moment, your sin having been laid on Him, His righteousness then was laid on you. The great transaction. And if you reject Jesus Christ, you go before God on judgment day, having no righteousness of your own, having no clothing of Christ, you stand in sin, condemned before a word is even spoken. But the judge will then outline your condemnation, pronounce your condemnation, and perform your condemnation, and cast you into an everlasting lake of fire. That's it. That's the reality. Whether someone likes that or not doesn't change it one bit. And Jesus died on the cross. Behold the man, when the chief priest, therefore an officer saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, take ye him and crucify him for I find no fault in him. Isn't that amazing? He was sinless. He was truly innocent on all counts, but he died for you and I. Over and over they set out to kill him. Matthew 26, three to four, then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people under the palace of the high priest who was called Caiaphas and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety and kill him. Mark 3, 6, and the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. Luke 22, 2, the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him, for they feared the people. John 5, 18, therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath by their account, but said also that God was his father, making himself equal with God. And what did Jesus tell us to do? More than that. But praying is important. Go to Matthew 10. Let's look at it. We'll close here. Matthew chapter 10. As we face whatever comes in opposition to our standing for the truth. Matthew 10, 24. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, basically call them, tell them they're devils, how much more shall they call them of his household? That's us. Read 26 with me. Fear them not therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. He says, what I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light. He didn't say anything about cowering, being silent, running, hiding. He says, what I tell you in darkness, speak ye in light, and what you hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. Today, we do that with radio and internet. Read 28 with me. And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body and hell. Amen. Father, we thank You, Lord, for this Word. For Paul's example and for the knowledge of what Jesus Christ has done for us and what He has taught us, may we be counted among those who are faithful. Whether we die as martyrs or we live as martyrs, may we be faithful witnesses, loving not our lives unto the death. And may we always do so with a desire not to glorify ourselves, but to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. the only one who deserves glory, honor, and praise. Christ Jesus, our God and Savior, we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, let's sing in 636 in the hymn book. There's not a friend like the lonely Jesus No, not one, no, not one None else can heal our soul's diseases No, not one, no, not one Jesus knows all about our struggles He will guide till the day is done There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus No, not one, no, not one No friend like Him is so high and lowly No, not one, no, not one And yet the friend is so meek and lowly No, not one Jesus knows all about our struggles He will guide to the day He'll stand There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus No, not one, no, not one There's not an hour that He is not near us No, not one, no, not one No night so dark, but His love can cheer us No, not one, no, not one Jesus knows all about our struggles He'll look right to the thing He's done There's not a friend like the Lord in Jesus No, not one, no, not one Dear, never stank by this friend forsaken No, not one, no, not one For sin by many would not take him No, not one, no, not one have a Was there a gift like the Savior given? No, not one! No, not one! Will He reduce us all in heaven? No, not one! Yes, amen to that.