Greetings and welcome to Witnesses of the King. Witnesses of the King. We're going through the Book of Acts, chapter by chapter, looking at the major things that happened, trying to get a better understanding of this gospel that was preached by the early church, how it was that the Holy Spirit of God spread the church across the known world at the time. It is foundational to our understanding of our own faith and the gospel and the salvation that are available in Jesus Christ. So, we're going to pick it up this week in Acts chapter 21. Acts chapter 21, we're going to start at verse 17 and carry through to verse 26. We're going to look at a very interesting situation that people have, that Paul the apostle is dealing with. We're going to begin just by looking very briefly at the prior verses to what we're looking at. Verses 15 and 16 here. We see that Paul is coming to Jerusalem with a great company of people. And in fact, if we look further back at Acts chapter 20, there's a great deal more people with him than we think. And a great deal more people than usual. And the thinking is that there were more people than usual because he was carrying quite a large offering. for the help of the poverty stricken believers in Jerusalem and the surrounding area in Judea and this was a collection from many churches that he had ministered to across Asia Minor and into Europe and many representatives from those churches are accompanying Paul to deliver this to Jerusalem and that's why there's so many people with him and as we go into Acts chapter 21 verse 29 shows us that indeed their companion Trophimus who is mentioned back there at the beginning of Acts chapter 20 is still with them so indeed this does hold that they are going there with a great number of people and he's going to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast we believe the feast of Pentecost he was hoping to be there in time for And here we're going to see today what first happens when he arrives in Jerusalem. So let's start with verse 17 here and follow it through and see what we can learn. It says, when we had come to Jerusalem, so this is a wee passage with Luke accompanying them, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you, that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law. But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you so much for this scripture. We pray, Lord, that you will use these scriptures today to mold and shape us, to give us examples to follow and examples to not follow, to teach us your ways through the revelation of your servants. We thank you for your word. We thank you, Lord, for the ministry of Paul. We ask you, Lord, to help us to understand and to have clarity this day. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, there you have an interesting passage as Paul comes to Jerusalem. It initially begins, of course, with a great welcome. They're welcomed, you know, very heartily. It says, the brothers received us gladly. And so that is a part of the good news. The good news continues, and this is a good news, bad news kind of sermon. We're going to look first at this good news. The good news is that they were received and that Paul got to tell of all the good things indeed that happened in his ministry. So it says in verses 19 and 20 there, after greeting them, he related one by one the things. So he goes through a detailed account of what had happened that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God. So Paul's focus is what God has done. This traveler, Paul, has been rarely seen by those in Jerusalem. And he has great things to tell. And I'm sure they eagerly awaited these things. Now, they're in Jerusalem, which is kind of the epicenter of Christianity at the time. And so there's no doubt they received news from all around the world, especially from those who would be coming to observe the feasts in Jerusalem. So those believers that that still would travel to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts and everything, would bring news of what was going on with Christianity in the rest of the world. So, as they come, they heard some, but now they're going to get a first-hand account from the Apostle Paul himself, whom they had met years earlier, whom they had endorsed in their ministry. and yet rarely had face-to-face with him. So their response to what they heard, as you can see there at the end of the verses, is that they glorified God. You see first the unity here, that Paul's focus is what God had done, and their response is then to glorify God. Now this is good because if we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3, this is what Paul taught. This is the proper attitude that we should have toward all things done in the church. Here's what it says. It says, Paul says, I planted a pollis water but God gave the growth. The context there is that there was great division in the Corinthian church, and some were trying to follow Paul, some following Apollos, some following Cephas or Peter, and so they all had their favorites and they were almost in danger of splitting into factions over which person it was that they followed. But Paul reminds them, no, no, no, it's God you follow. You know, look at verse 7 there. It says, so neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. And so we see the believers in Jerusalem glorifying God for what had happened through Paul's great ministry. This is where our greatest unity lies. It's in the glory of God. It's for the purpose of the glory of God that Jesus was sent. It's for the glory of God that we were made and that we were redeemed and that we are sent. It is all about God's glory. And glory is connected to unity in this way. When Jesus prayed for us in John chapter 17, listen to something very interesting that he says. He says to the to the father. He says the glory that you have given me I have given to them That they may be one even as we are It's the glory of God that unites us now. This is important because we're about to see some Potential division in the church here. Yeah, that's the bad news that I'm talking about and the bad news is simply this that he had rumors circulating about it. I want you to notice a great contrast here. First of all, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem get a first-hand account of what God is doing through Paul and they glorify God for it. However, others had received a second-hand account of doctrinal error concerning Paul and they criticized and they spread rumors. Let's take a look at those verses. as we get back there so the nature of the rumors is simply this the elders had received Paul, they believed Paul, they had previously endorsed him and then this happens he says In verse 20 here when they heard it they glorified God and said to him and then they said to him I mean it just comes like immediately right after hearing this right after glorifying God They immediately go into these rumors that they have and he says you see brother How many thousands are among the Jews? of those who have believed they are all zealous for the law and they have been told about you and that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs. So that's the accusation here. That's the bad news. That's the rumor. But it's obvious that the elders, that James and the others there in the leadership of the Church of Jerusalem, don't believe this. They simply state that this is what's being said but if they believe this about Paul they would be talking to him about that very issue but they never do they just say this is the rumors going around and here's how I think we could best remedy the situation best help squash these rumors so they do not entertain these and this is important that they don't Because all things, according to the Bible, should be established by two or more witnesses. This is a principle in Deuteronomy, and this is something that's repeated in the New Testament. And as Jesus explained how we ought to handle conflict in the church, in Matthew 18, verses 15 through 20, he says, if someone sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. And then if that doesn't work, then you would take it to the congregation. And so this is the proper procedure for addressing something. So if Paul is teaching something wrong, he ought to be confronted by that, by those who would accuse him of such a thing. The accuser should not go about the business of just spreading their accusations to others. That accusation needs to come first to that individual. And then if that individual will not repent of it or there's no resolution, bring other brothers along with you. and then finally just take it before the elders of the church and in the congregation as a whole. This is the right way to do things. We should not entertain rumors about people, and we should not spread gossip or rumors about people in God's church. Listen to how Paul advises Timothy here, and maybe he had kind of had this situation in mind, among others I'm sure, when he said it, he said, do not admit a charge against an elder. except on the evidence of two or three witnesses and so a rumor is not a witness there has to be an individual willing to testify to some type of wrongdoing and so this is right that they don't address this, that they don't believe this and they want to then have the opportunity just to make things better with Paul Another principle in biblical law that's reflected in our own laws today, at least in this country, is the right to face your accuser. And we're going to see this in the coming weeks as Paul's trials will often depend upon this very issue, the ability to actually confront and discuss with an accuser. I don't want this to be overlooked. This is a major and important point of this passage here is that we do not entertain rumors about our church members or any of the people of God or our leadership or or anyone else for that matter. If we hear such a rumor, we can investigate it to see if it's true, but we cannot act on a rumor alone. We cannot spread a rumor because that would be gossip. Paul's opponents within the church are committing a sin. There's no question about that, that this is a rumor that it continues to develop, but yet Paul has never been confronted with the issue, it's never been handled in any kind of a formal fashion, means that this is people acting sinfully. So what is actually the nature of this bad news? Well again, let's go back to verse 21 there. We'll take a look at it. They've been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to his customs. Well this is obviously false. Paul never taught this. You can look through the book of Acts. You can go through all of Paul's letters and you'll see he never teaches this. You'll find that this is false and But it sounds very much like what unbelieving Jews say about Paul. It's the same thing that they said about Stephen, the same thing that they said about Jesus. The accusation that they're telling that the message is that the law is unnecessary and should not be followed and Moses and therefore the temple and everything else should just be forsaken in summary let me tell you what Paul really taught on the issue let me do it by way of two very simple points here as a gentile convert this is a summary of what Paul teaches because I don't want to get into all the details I've given you cross references in your notes that you can follow to see more but as a gentile convert you were not under any obligation to participate in the customs of Judaism. You remember Acts chapter 15, when so many Gentiles were coming into the church, the church there at Jerusalem said, okay, we got to figure this out and tell these Gentiles how to behave, because it's a real problem for us Jews. And they boiled it down to four things, which are actually mentioned here in chapter 21. Four very simple things. They weren't told to observe the feasts. They certainly weren't told to do any of the sacrifices. And they weren't told to become then a Jew or to be circumcised or anything like that. None of those kind of things were put upon them. They were under no obligation to participate in those things. Now it's very clear from the New Testament that doesn't mean we're free to live how we want to. We must still love God, we still must love our neighbor as ourselves, and we still must love one another in the context of the church. And that covers many, many things. But as far as the traditions, customs, things like that, They were not, and we are not to this day, under any obligation to do those things. We're not under any obligation to go to the feasts, to celebrate the feasts, to even observe the Sabbath. We're not under obligation to do those things. But we may do those things if we so choose. And as a Jew, they were not under any obligation to stop participating in the customs of Judaism. And so the answer was very simple. For the Gentiles, it was addressed in Acts chapter 15. They didn't have to partake in all the customs of the Jews. And for the Jews, it was simple. They didn't have to stop doing their customs. And they could choose then for themselves how they ought to worship God. Now much of this is solved for the Jewish believers in A.D. 70 when the temple was destroyed and fulfillment of the words of Jesus that the temple was destroyed. Now that whole aspect of Judaism was gone at that time. They had no option to give any kind of sacrifices. They had no incentive really to even go to Jerusalem for the feast because the temple wasn't there. The city had been destroyed and many of the Jews scattered. And so some of this gets decided for them shortly in the future, shortly after this meeting here with Paul. But before that happened, Paul was already warning the Gentiles, don't get wrapped up too much in Jewish religion. And he was already telling the Jews, and he never told the Jews, that it was wrong to celebrate their customs. As long as, and this is important, they didn't believe that the rituals and customs were saving them. And that is important. And he also did not, if you read Romans 14 and 15, Paul made it clear he didn't want any of those rituals or customs to be a test for fellowship. In other words, do you observe the the feasts and someone says no and then they say well you can't come to our church then you have to go find another church to go to because we do the feasts here and if you don't like it then you're just going to have to leave. Now it was clearly not the intent of Paul and his teaching and the teaching of the New Testament. So As usual, as we see with Paul, no evidence is brought before. No charges are formally made. There are no witnesses to his teaching that are coming saying what he's teaching. There are no copies of his letters presented as evidence that he was teaching these things that he's accused of. Now the evidence for Paul's defense is abundant. If they wanted to mount a defense they could, and they would have people testify to the fact that Paul did things like have Timothy circumcised just for the sake of the Jews, that he took a vow in Corinth in Acts chapter 18, that he indeed is right there in Jerusalem to celebrate the feast, and so he's obviously still observing some of the law. And even though this is a baseless accusation, the leaders request Paul a fairly simple request and it says this they say do therefore what we tell you we have four men who are under a vow now this is probably the Nazarite vow you can learn about that in Numbers chapter six He they say take these men purify yourself along with them and pay their expense So that they may shave their heads thus all will know that there's nothing in what they have been told about you But that you yourself Also live in accordance, in observance of the law. And so they wanted to make it clear and they wanted to make a statement. Paul, if you do this, they'll see that you're observing the law. And it's a good one to pick because this is like an optional thing that these men were doing in Nazarite vow. It was an optional vow in Judaism. It was something they could do if they so wanted. And Paul is going to join in them with that means that he's celebrating this law with them. He's not taking the vow with them. He's going to pay their expenses for the vow, so to speak. In other words, to kind of assist them in their devotional act of this Nazarite vow. And so then the question is, well, how will Paul respond? What does he do here? This is when it gets very interesting. This is when it gets very educational. And I think this is really the main thing we're going to pull out of this today. They come with this suggestion that he should go along with something to make a demonstration that he is observant of the law, that he is not saying to do away with the law, that he respects the law. And this is very important to the Jews. in a principle I think they're acting on, is simply this, that actions speak louder than words, and indeed they do. No doubt they could have Paul refute these things publicly, no doubt they could make statements, and they could write letters, and they could do various things to put down these rumors, but what better than an actual demonstration of Paul going into the temple with these men to observe these things, Because then what you've got is you've got, it's self-explanatory. You don't need to say anything at that point. Because people would see him going into the temple and say, I thought Paul taught against the law. I thought Paul didn't observe the law. And somebody would say, well, that's obviously a false rumor. Because look, there he is. And he's with so-and-so. And so-and-so, we know them. They're good fellows. They observe the law. And there's Paul right there with them, observing the law. So this is a great idea, a wonderful demonstration. It's going to bring Paul into the temple on multiple occasions to be seen by the people and observing this optional vow. So if I were Paul, I might have responded to this in a number of ways and this is when it gets really interesting because I might have had the response, look who are these armchair preachers criticizing me from the sidelines? Don't they know who I am? This is the Apostle Paul they're talking about here. Don't they know what I've done? I guess they can't see that far reclining here at table in Jerusalem when our Savior told us to be witnesses to the end of the earth. So those of us out there getting it done are easily criticized by those sitting at home on their principles. Look at all the churches I've planted. Look at all the hundreds of miracles I've performed. I'm responsible for more conversions than the entire church here in Jerusalem. I've appointed more elders and, yes, trained more pastors than the leadership here in Jerusalem. Therefore, who are they to question me? They're just jealous of my success and my faithfulness to God. They just wish they were me and That's the end of this. I'm not going to give any kind of a response. These are baseless rumors and they can go pound salt. That's what I wanted to say on behalf of Paul. That's what I might have said if I were in his position. But hopefully not. Hopefully I would have been faithful like Paul. What does Paul do? He humbly submits to their proposal in verse 26. Paul took them in. I mean there's no discussion. There's no debate. There's no contemplation revealed here anyway and he takes a man and he purified himself, went into the temple and then gave notice when the days would be fulfilled and presented the offering for them. And so he humbly does this. He recognized the authority, the wisdom of the elders in Jerusalem and he complied with it. And this is what I call then the outreach. And the outreach is very important here. Paul had taught, and Paul consistently taught, that secondary issues involving the practice of our faith should not cause division among us. And here Paul is practicing what he preached. Paul knew This was optional. He did not have to do this kind of worship. And he didn't have to join with these men in this kind of worship. But he does it in order to maintain the bond of peace. And like I said, this is a vow they're undertaking. The Nazirite vow. Numbers chapter 6. Go there if you want to learn about it. But what Paul did was according to the book. according to the Bible, according to the revelation of God, according to many of the things that he would later write down for us in Scripture. He lives them out wonderfully. Look at this in Ephesians chapter 4. The first three chapters are all about everything Christ has done for us, then the last three focus on, but still reveal more about what he's done, but focus on our walk with the Lord. And he says here in Ephesians, I therefore, prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. And then he goes on to describe what that manner is. What is that worthy manner to walk in? With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of of peace. He's bearing with these other believers in their weaknesses, even in the fact that they are sinning by believing, by entertaining these rumors and perhaps even spreading them. He is coming to them and he is showing that these are false rumors. Rather than be blustery about it, rather than rebuke them, he is simply doing something to reach out. This is him maintaining the bond of peace, unity in the Spirit. This was so humble what he did because he didn't have to prove anything to these men. He was not under their authority. He wasn't under the authority of the leaders or even James. They were peers. They were called by Christ, all called to be apostles. And so he did not get his gospel from them, nor his commission from them. And yet he yielded to them. He humbled himself to do this thing that he was under no obligation to do. This is Paul's outreach and this is really kind of the crux of the point here. He had taught the secondary issues involving the practice of our faith should not cause division among us. Well, what can we take out of this? What we can take out of this is very simply this. We first of all should maintain unity through humility. Maintain unity through humility. Look how Paul gives this example to us. In order to maintain unity, he humbles himself and he does what they ask. And this being an outreach to bridge the gap between them, to erase all ideas that he is teaching against the law. And it's tough. When there's accusations, when there's misunderstandings, when there's even persecution, it's tough to stay on the straight path. It's hard to do the right thing. It's hard to not let our pride get in the way. But as much as it depends on us, we must be at peace with everyone. On important matters, however, do not give in. I want you to notice, as you study the writings of Paul, as you look at what he did here, he does not compromise the gospel message. He never denies the gospel. He never compromises the character of God. He does not, by doing this optional vow, say that you must fulfill all the law of Moses. And so this is consistent with what he has been preaching. Now we cannot do this compromise, this outreach that Paul did when it comes to essential doctrines like salvation. like the doctrine of God, that He is Spirit, that He is Trinity, that the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the nature of the Bible. We cannot compromise on certain things, and we shall not compromise on those things. Compromise is not neutral ground on these issues. On issues of important doctrines, on the basics of the gospel, on things like that, we cannot compromise. And he doesn't here. He does not compromise the gospel message by what he does. Now we don't know if what Paul did here actually worked. Paul, as we can tell from the letters, still faced this kind of opposition. according to the content of what's in those letters. There were obviously people accusing him of these things, and in the letters he writes more defense, which is why I've given you so many cross-references, where he clarifies these kind of issues. But that's not really the point. The point of this passage is Paul humbly chose to reach out rather than to defend himself at this moment and cause further division. The accusations were false. They were gossip. But he turned the other cheek. He swallowed his pride. He submitted to the church. And in order to do that, the most important encouragement is this. Remember that it is the Lord Jesus Christ whom you serve. These people that heard these rumors and believed these rumors about him, they were not the enemy. These are believers. And yes, they sinned by entertaining the gossip, by entertaining or believing unsupported accusations. But it's very hard not to, isn't it? It's very hard not to believe something that's told us by someone, especially if it's someone we basically trust. But the problem is very often these accusations and these rumors come to us unsubstantiated. They've been started by somebody with a bad motive, a selfish motive, an evil motive. and they have spread to someone we know and trust, and so somehow, through the chain there, it crosses over into those that we know and trust, and when it comes to our ears, we tend to believe it. But that not ought to be so. But yes, they sinned by doing this, by entertaining this gossip, by unsupported accusations, but here's the important thing. That means that they are just like us. Those people out there right now that are saying bad things about you within the context of the church, the unbelievers. Hopefully you're doing enough in your Christian life that unbelievers are saying bad things about you. But when believers are entertaining rumors about you, when they question your integrity, when they question you yourself, or even your salvation, you have to understand this. That just means they are exactly like you. A sinner saved by the grace of God. no better than you, and certainly no worse than you are. This is really the key to Paul's humility. See, those other people that were saying these things that had sinned against Paul, we're going to give them the benefit of the doubt, as I think Paul did, and say they're believers and they've been misled by false rumors. They've wrongly entertained these rumors. They've heard these things. They can't unhear them. And so they tend to believe them and we're going to give them benefit of the doubt and say they're believers anyway. Do you understand? If that's the case, that means Jesus bled for them. Jesus bled for them. The very sin that they have committed against Paul by spreading these false rumors, by believing the false rumors, without them being substantiated, without these things being rightly established, that very sin was paid for on the cross in our Lord Jesus Christ, just like your sins and my sins. And so when someone sins against us, we have to understand if that person is in the body of Christ, that sin has been atoned for on the cross. What does that mean? That means that Jesus chose to forgive it. Jesus chose to forgive it. Who am I to not forgive it? See, that is how this makes sense when Jesus says that if you don't forgive, you cannot be forgiven. Sounds interesting. It is a conditional clause exactly how it sounds that you cannot be forgiven if You do not forgive others That means you can't have received the forgiveness of God You can't really understand this whole forgiveness thing if indeed you are still holding out on forgiving other people Because if you unrightly understood what your debt was against God, then you would rightly understand that that you are in need of grace, just as they are in need of grace. And you would extend that grace, not wanting to put yourself above God in the judgment of it. This is why the Bible says, Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay. That's because it is up to Him to take vengeance. It is up to Him to decide whether someone's sin is forgiven or not. He will decide that and it's decided upon the cross and it's up to us then to first forgive. And this is what Paul does. This is his humility. He chose to forgive them and Jesus chose to forgive them. We err when we think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. Remember, it is the Lord Jesus Christ whom you serve, who did not answer his accusers, who, like a sheep led to slaughter, stayed silent about the accusations against him. And in fact, the only things that he did say during his trials gave them further cause to accuse him of blasphemy, although he was telling the truth. So let us consider these things before we open fire on the opposition. Let us consider these things before we act too rashly against those false rumors against us, and let us then instead find a wiser way to go. Let us find a way that our actions will speak louder than words. Follow this example of Paul and humbly submit to the Church's position on these things, to the judgment of Christ in these things. And doing that, we will be blessed. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you so much for these encouraging verses. We thank you for the plentiful forgiveness that is available in Jesus Christ. And I pray this day, Lord, that each and every one of us will find that, will seek and find forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And Lord, I then pray that we will extend that forgiveness, that benefit of the doubt, that grace to others as we walk humbly before you. May we now go on our ways and may we, Lord, consider those around us better than ourselves. May we consider ourselves as only Christ. Lord, I pray that indeed you will work mightily in all those who have heard to bring about conviction of sin, to bring about a conviction of the truth of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That, Lord, they may believe and themselves be saved we thank you in jesus name amen and amen and thank you for joining me today and if you want to study more please look up the notes you'll find many cross references that will help you confirm what i have said my encouragement to you is always search the scriptures to see if what i have said is true well, that does it for now. And what we want to do is we want to give you our contact information. I encourage you that at any time if you have questions or comments or even concerns about what you've seen here and learned here, contact us. Find out more about us at whitesrun.org or you can email us at whitesrunbaptist.gmail.com. God bless you.