open your Bibles to Acts 21. We'll start reading at verse 15. We're reading a kind of long section today. We'll be reading through chapter 22, verse 21. And after those days, we packed and went up to Jerusalem. Also, some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Manasseh of Cyprus, an early disciple whom with whom we were to lodge. And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. On the following day, Paul went in with us to James. And all the elders were present. When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. Therefore, do what we tell you. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads And that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself walk orderly and keep the law. But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing. except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them. Now, when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the temple, the law, and this place. Sorry, against the people, the law, and this place. And furthermore, He also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place. For they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. And all the city was disturbed. And the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple. And immediately the doors were shut. Now, as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Then the commander came near and took him. and commanded him to be bound with two chains. And he asked who he was and what he had done. And some among the multitude cried at one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. for the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, Away with him! Then, as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, May I speak to you? He replied, Can you speak Greek? Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness? But Paul said, I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people. So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioning with his hands to the people, when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language saying, brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now. And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said, I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our father's law, and was zealous toward God, as you all are today. I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. Now it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon. Suddenly, a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. So I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which were appointed for you to do. And since I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand, of those who were with me. I came into Damascus. But then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there, came to me. And he stood and said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And at that same hour I looked up at him. Then he said, The God of our fathers has chosen you, that you should know his will, and see the just one, and hear the voice of his mouth. For you will be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now, why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. Now it happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple that I was in a trance and saw him saying to me, make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me. So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death. and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him. Then he said to me, Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles." Well, let's jump back to the end of the third missionary journey and look at the time here in Jerusalem. We begin verses 15 and 16. We have this traveling, this last stage to end the journey. Remember that Paul has a band with him of people who were sent to represent the churches, to have the goods that were taken for diaconal care, that effort to relieve the church in Jerusalem because of its persecution. And so, they are traveling. They pack up, they go to Jerusalem. They stay with Manasseh of Cyprus. They at least travel with him, forgive me, going on to Jerusalem. and then they lodge with him. Then in verse 17 we have the time in Jerusalem. So when he had come to Jerusalem, when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. Now remember the we's indicate that Luke is there as a part of it. This initial glad reception, the joyous greeting, is what I'm sure Paul was hoping for. He'd been looking forward to this time to come. He'd been looking forward to bringing this help to the saints there, and so receiving, being received gladly, would I'm sure have been a balm to his soul. He has been hearing about all the persecution he will have when he arrives at Jerusalem, and so to have the brethren greet him, I'm sure, was an encouragement. Then, verse 18, on the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. So now he's meeting with the elders and with James. And there's a discussion of a distinction here between these elders being gathered together and then the assembly and being able to call together the rest of the saints. That's verse 22, the idea of the assembly meeting. And that basically the heads of household wouldn't be involved in a discussion about what's going on. So verse 19, when he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles. So this would obviously involve the bringing in of the Gentiles into churches, the formation of churches that is occurring, the work that's occurring there, the fruitfulness, the way in which those churches are growing in breadth and depth, and the ways in which they are overflowing in their generosity and giving to be able to go to Jerusalem. So, Paul is presenting this gift here now as well. It will be a part of the work. So, what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed. So you see here the beginning of this response. There is this concern. Yes, what has been done among the Gentiles is great. They praise God for it. They're thankful for the mercy that God has given to them through the Gentiles and through the ministry of Paul there. But they move quickly into their own troubles. Paul has been talking and they move quickly into their own troubles. You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed. So there's a Jew versus Gentile concern here. And they are all zealous for the law. Now, when we talk about being zealous for the law, we all have a duty to be zealous for the law of God, but the concern here is zealous for the law in terms of the old administration. But they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses. So, this idea that the Jews are being told they must stop, that they should stop doing the old ceremonial laws. Now Paul is certainly preparing them for the reality that these things are the old and they're passing away, but he is not forbidding and in fact has even circumcised one of his own disciples to help to avoid offense. We see that with Timothy. But he is not forbidding them, not commanding them to forsake the old customs He is preparing them for the time of the ending of those things, but he is not commanding them to forsake it now. The rumor is that he's saying they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. Now, we know that Paul, for example, has just had a Nazirite vow that he's coming to Jerusalem and will be finishing out his own purification in the Nazirite vow. So this is silly, but this is what the rumor is. Verse 22, What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. So there's controversy about you, about the law, and we need to have a gathering together to deal with this. So there's a need for a public meeting to deal with this. That's appropriate, that's good, but then they have a way of trying to prepare for that assembly that puts burdens on Paul now. Therefore, do what we tell you. So they've got a plan. We have four men who have taken a vow. Take them and be purified with them and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads And that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law." So this request is that Paul put himself on public display along with these four men. So that will make him more conspicuous. since there is already a tendency for his persecution and many Jews have been persecuting him from many towns. And now is a obligatory time to get together. Remember, Paul was concerned about being there by Pentecost. So people are coming in from all over from the synagogues all over the empire. And so they would all be there. It would be likely as occurs. The Jews from Asia see them. They're the ones that have been persecuting him and they recognize him. And so they go after him. And so they're asking him to be put into danger, to be made more conspicuous. They have these four men, and then they ask this, to take them, be purified with them, and pay their expenses. So they're asking for Paul to pay their expenses to show that he is supporting this. But that is obviously asking him, they're volunteering him to pay somebody else's vow. So they may shave their heads. So that's the ending of that Nazarite vow. And that all they know that those things of which they were informed concerning you or nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. So he's willing to keep the old administration ceremonies and is not disorderly in terms of forbidding what God has commanded or forbidding what God continues to allow during that time, and so we see him not, in a disorderly way, putting an end at a time earlier than God has commanded. Verse 25, "...but concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing." So this is not just that the Gentiles are not obligated, but they should not do these things, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality." So those four things, that's from Acts chapter 15, and so you remember those were given in Leviticus chapter 17 and into part of 18 verses 1 to 19, where we have laid out for us the fact that things offered to idols should not be shared in, that blood directly, which we also have back with the Noahic Covenant, there was a forbidding of the, even with the giving of animals to be eaten, a forbidding of the blood being consumed from things strangled. So that's killing animals in a way so as to preserve the blood in it as opposed to taking it out. So the way we butcher animals now, we cut them up, obviously, and we don't keep the blood in them intentionally. And then there is sexual immorality. And that sexual immorality is not just sexual immorality broadly, but it's referring to the laws of affinity and consanguinity, the laws of not being able to marry somebody within certain degrees of blood or marriage. So those are the ceremonial laws. Those were not a part of the original moral law. These four things are a part of the ceremonial laws that are given to both Jews and Gentiles, and they are obligatory upon us now. And so these things are a part of what the ceremonial law of the old administration is obligatory on to Gentiles. But besides that, the Gentiles were not to perform any of the old ceremonies. Now, again, the old ceremonies the Jews are performing now during this time from after Christ died to before the destruction of Jerusalem is some time where these are the days when these things are passing away. With the destruction of Jerusalem they pass away entirely and they're not to be done anymore. But, carrying on, verse 26. So that's the plan. They've laid out this plan and they've put some burdens on to Paul and Paul is going to carry out the plan. He's going to take the burden that's been laid upon him. He's not obligated to do this. He could just say, you should have defended my name against slander. We should just talk about this when we get together in the assembly. I have men who are with me, this whole group of people who came with me to bring goods from the churches that are bringing them to support the Jerusalem Church now. Our care for you, their testimony, the money that we're bringing, these should all be testimonies as to the goodwill that we have. And so you should believe this testimony of these people and not require me to go to the temple to do this thing. Paul agreed to do it, to carry that burden with them, and also it's his intention to be there and put himself at risk anyways. He came there with the intention of accepting the persecution that was going to come because he wanted an opportunity to be there at Pentecost to be able to talk to the Jews in mass. This is his desire. And we've already read how, after his arrest, he gives a speech and is able to explain parts of the gospel to these people. And so, his desire is accomplished in this process. But you can see how this burden being placed upon him is the means by which he ends up being arrested. So, verse 26. Then Paul took them in, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them." Now, this can also be translated the expiration, it can be translated completion. And so there's the ending of this time that they had entered into this vow. and so by announcing it they are preparing for the process as a seven-day process and it ends with another kind of finalization. Now verse 27, Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him. So there's this recognition during this process by these Jews from Asia. So the Ephesus, the Galatian churches there's all sorts of churches that Paul had been going to throughout Asia, and these are Jews from these places that have been opposing him. And Paul has been making enemies all over the place as he's been traveling around these Asian cities. The Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place." So they're laying hands on him. This is basically a statement that they're arresting him. Now, this is an unlawful arresting because they're in the middle of the temple. They're in a public place. There is not some sort of a violent act occurring here. they could easily go to the temple guard and say, that guy over there is a criminal and you need to place him under arrest, we need to put him on trial. There's an action here that is an unlawful citizen's arrest. There are times when citizen's arrest is lawful, it's biblically justified. This is an example of somebody acting to arrest without proper warrant to do so. there's a crying, they cry out, men of Israel help, this is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place. So, teaching all men everywhere against the people, that's against the Jews, against the law, the Mosaic law, the old customs, and this place, the temple. Well, he is a Jew, he is there performing ceremonial law, at the temple so on its face this should seem odd now it continues and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place now at the time we actually have two of them remaining as artifacts at the time there were signs posted around the temple and there was a There was a delegating of the right to have capital punishment to the Jewish authority to deal with executing people who broke in or came in to the temple in the parts that were forbidden from Gentiles. So ordinarily the Jews had to get the Romans to consent to the death penalty for people, but there was a posting of signs and a granting of authority to the temple authorities to kill people who unlawfully came in to the temple, into the places that were restricted for Gentiles. And so they're basically making the claim, we should kill this guy right now. We should kill these Gentiles right now. These people are here unlawfully. Now, as opposed to getting the lawful authorities, the temple guards to do this, they're trying to stir up the crowd to do it. Verse 29, for they had previously seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple. Now, this is supposed to be a guilt by association argument, as well as an argument that because he was with him in one circumstance, therefore Trophimus must be there now. So Trophimus is a Gentile He has been seen with Paul, that gives weight to the idea that Paul is, you know, being polluted with Gentiles, that he is willing to bring Gentiles into the temple, and so he must be there now. Verse 30, and all the city was disturbed. And so, all of a sudden, they just, there's just kind of this breaking out of a riot. There's this, they are disturbed. The people ran together, so they're quickly coming together for this purpose. They seized Paul. So now there's this mob seizure. He's already had hands laid on him. He's already been arrested, so to speak, by this crowd. Now there's this broadening of the group. So it's not just the Jews from Asia, it's now also a bunch of Jerusalem Jews. and dragged him out of the temple." So they've dragged him out of the temple because they're saying, you shouldn't be here because you're polluting the temple. And immediately the doors were shut, so now they're borrowing him out. "...as they were seeking to kill him..." Okay, so again, this is the crowd trying to kill him. "...news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar." Okay, so this is a riot that has expanded very, very quickly. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. So he's the commander. He has soldiers, enlisted men. He also has officers, these centurions. And so we're talking about him gathering a large body of soldiers. Remember, a centurion is responsible for roughly 100 men. And so that means that we're talking about multiple collections of hundreds of men. And so there is this gathering of multiple armed units. They ran down to them. So this is a rush. They're in a rush to go get order established. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Now we have recent experience with riots in our own streets. Do you know what quickly puts an end to riots and unjust violence? It is when the civil magistrate quickly and forcefully demands order. The showing of swords, in this case. The showing of firearms in the threat of defending those who are being harmed. So what you do is you gather the lawful authority. They quickly engage. It takes courage and a willingness to face down a mob. And in this case, this commander had the courage to do so. Now, verse 33. When the commander came near and took him and commanded him to be bound with two chains, okay, so he puts him under arrest to take control of him because he doesn't know, is he in the middle of committing some dangerous act, what's going on, he's being attacked by this mob, he's also being put into custody, so they're both protecting him and protecting themselves from him to then figure out what's going on. And he asked who he was and what he had done. All right, so here, this Gentile commander, a military occupation force, shows more due process than the Jewish people in the temple. Who are you? What have you done? What's the charge against you? Now, it's still not perfect, because it suggests this idea that rather than bringing charges, it's a general question of what's going on, what have you done, the assumption of perhaps guilt. But it is better than the way he's been treated. by this Jewish mob. Verse 34, and some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So the crowd is confused. They don't even have agreement about what they're doing. This should remind you of those Gentile mobs in Ephesus and how they acted. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, disorder prevents truth gathering. If you are desirous of having the truth be known, orderly process for conflict resolution is necessary. And so, when order cannot be obtained, the need to pause things, to stop things, and to reorganize and come back is often necessary. So, when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. Now, what kind of a scenario could make it so you have to be carried? Well, one is people are knocking you over, one is you need to have human shields, the other is trying to hit the legs out from under, and so you can think about tools like swords or rods or shepherds, crooks, being used to to grab his feet. So they're literally picking him up and taking him to avoid this because it would make it so that people have to assault these soldiers, which would be a far more dangerous thing and would lead, of course, to the crowd being harmed by the soldiers. And so they are carrying him, taking him into the barracks. And when he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers, because of the violence of the mob, for the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, away with him." So this rejection of Paul should be a reminder to you of the rejection of Christ by the Jews in Jerusalem. Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, may I speak to you? Now notice here, this is a polite request. Hey, the post is saying, you know, just kind of angrily demanding I have rights, you need to listen to me. He shows him respect as a dignitary and a dignitary who has just saved his life. He replied, can you speak Greek? Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the 4,000 assassins out into the wilderness? So, There are, there's a kind of split in some of the commentaries. Some people think the Egyptian is an Egyptian Jew, perhaps from Alexandria, who could not speak Greek and therefore he's surprised that he can speak Greek. And that would suggest that basically the commander thinks, oh good, I'm getting to capture this guy who's very significant, maybe there's a bounty on his head, perhaps get me fame with Rome because he'll be aware of this rebellion. So this is the guy coming back and that's why everybody's mad. Perhaps he's not a Jew and he's Egyptian Gentile, but then that makes him not speaking Greek seem even more odd. So there's dispute about who this Egyptian is and whether or not he could speak Greek. But in any case, the commander is wondering, you know, oh, you can speak Greek and can you speak Greek? You can speak it well, so you're not this Egyptian guy who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the 4,000 assassins out into the wilderness. So there's this questioning about, so you're not this guy. So obviously the commander has this idea that he was someone different and is surprised to find out who he is. Now, it would be very, very common for people in the empire, especially the eastern portion of the empire, to speak Greek. It would be very common for the Jews to speak Greek. And the issue is we see the idea that there is a speaking in Greek in a way that is more fluent, more complex. So the sentence structure that Paul gives, right, it's polite, the previous one, and then there's the afterwards, him talking more. But so there's something about the way he's communicating that is surprising there. Not just that he could speak Greek, but him being good at speaking Greek. So there's the idea that Paul is learned, is kind of on display here. So Paul says, I am a Jew from Tarsus, therefore not Egypt, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city, and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people. He's asking for the opportunity to speak, to give a defense, and so he is granted that. And this is partly, I'm sure, Because the fact that this commander, who thought that he was a rebel who had been leading 4,000 men who were killing Roman soldiers and resisting the occupation, is not that man. And he is sufficiently satisfied by the way in which he is speaking and the way in which he is engaging thus far and what he's heard. So this is quite the thing to give the opportunity to speak in this way. So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language saying. So notice this. He does not speak immediately when it starts to quiet down. He continues to wait and allows everybody to get the hush for him. He's trying to get maximum attention. There's kind of this building of anticipation. He wants what he's about to say to be heard. And then he begins to speak in Hebrew. And his Hebrew is a Hebrew where he is explaining to them things that they would know about themselves and about the controversy. surrounding the followers of Jesus. And so he uses terms throughout this speech that are kind of talking to the religious Jewish people. So let me pause on that because we don't have time to go through the speech today. But he is going to give a defense of himself as a Jewish Christian to Jews and try to show them that he has strong reason to be listened to, that there is a background and a history here. So much of this is an appeal, not just to arguments in terms of the logos of things, the reason for things, but also an ethos is being laid out here. I am a person with goodwill towards you. There's lots that I've given up. You have reason to view me as a credible witness. And so that gets laid out in the speech. So before we do that, and we'll do that next time, what I want to point out is a few things that occur in the section that we have seen already in terms of the injustice against Paul in the temple. So we saw the charges that were brought against him. He's against the people, against the law, against the temple. And then there's the citizen's arrest. beginning to beat him there's the desire to kill him and so there are several several things that are violated in terms of the law here the desire is to preserve the purity of the temple but there's you're supposed to avoid killing people in the temple, even criminals, because there's this purification process that has to be gone through. And that's one of the reasons they try to drag him out. And so they show greater concern for the temple and for him by not following due process. So think about this. If the temple is polluted by killing people in the temple, that's because you're supposed to show concern to deal with people in a certain way, as opposed to just killing them quickly on the spot in the temple. And so this is a sort of blaspheming of the temple by being more concerned about the temple than for Paul as a human being under the law. Secondly, in their concern to deal with him, they disregard the duty of trial and the duty to be careful to not justify the wicked or to condemn the innocent. Deuteronomy 25 verses 1 and 2 lays out for us the duty to treat people as innocent until proven guilty. Secondly, they fail to have a public trial. They have no trial at all, but they also don't have a public trial of process. Deuteronomy 16 verse 18 talks about the duty of elders to meet at the gates to have public trial. Thirdly, he is punished prior to a trial. He is beaten prior to a trial. The duty of punishment being carefully exercised and avoiding any sort of mistreatment is so carefully laid out in Deuteronomy that Deuteronomy 25 verses 1 and 2 talks about how not only does it require a trial first, But in fact, in order to make sure that there's not an over punishing or an under punishing after the trial, the punishing, if you are beating someone, for example, is to be done in front of the judges. So the judges can see that the punishment is carried out. So he is beaten prior to a trial and not in front of judges because there are no judges because there has been no trial. Fourthly, There was not a thorough investigation. There's confusion. The crowd isn't even quite sure what they are trying to kill him over. There's disagreement. When the Roman commander enters in, he is trying to figure out what the charges even are and who this guy is. And then he's surprised. Oh, so you're not the Egyptian who led 4,000 assassins to kill Roman soldiers in the wilderness? Got it. Check. That happens late in the process. There's a lot of confusion about who he is. And if there's not a thorough investigation, what you end up with, this should remind you very much of John chapter 8, when the woman is brought to be executed for adultery, but no man is brought. That requires that both parties be brought to be penalized. Here, he's supposed to be charged with this bringing Gentiles into the temple. Where are the Gentiles? If he's bringing Gentiles into the temple, there should be Gentiles to grab. Where are the Gentiles? So there's not a thorough investigation, not even an attempt to determine if Gentiles were brought in, simply the supposition because Paul had previously been seen walking with Trophimus. Fifthly, that circumstantial evidence about Trophimus is what is used as the basis without any sort of corroboration of witnesses. Now the Bible lays out a requirement that there are multiple witnesses for there to be any sort of penalty imposed for a crime. And that then should be, for the sake of order, reduced to writing. Job 31 verse 35 gives hints of that. And so this corroboration of witnesses and evidence being reduced to writing to be put into a public record for public trial. Instead, there is hearsay and supposition. Sixthly, once those witnesses are brought forward, the accused has the right to cross-examine the accusers. Deuteronomy 19.18 says this. Also, Proverbs 18, 17 talks about the importance of hearing both sides of a thing because of the tendency to think that someone's right until you've heard the other side. Seventh, there is no opportunity here given to Paul to give a defense of himself. And Deuteronomy chapter 1, verses 16 to 17 teaches us the right of the accused to give a defense. We see this elsewhere in scripture. Even God, when he calls Adam and Eve, to, after the fall, he asks them what happened and gives them opportunity to give explanation before a conviction is issued. And eighth, any witnesses that would have spoken, the ones who are saying, help, this is the man or whatever, all this, there's this yelling together a crowd, you are not to take claims as being testimony usable in a court unless the other party, unless the witness is put under an oath. Testifying under oath is required to use it for penalty. And so this is laid out for us in Exodus 22 verses 10 and 11. So those are all examples of how due process under the law is violated. And all of this was done in an effort to defend the law. So you see the hypocrisy. There's a great danger of moral outrage leading us to commit moral outrages. And so it is important that we are careful to apply the law in terms of process as well as in the end results. That list of those eight points comes directly out of a sermon by Phil Kaiser, who did a great job pulling it together. He has a number of other verses that he supports those claims with in terms of those eight things that are required. He cites other verses in the Bible that teach those things. But I found it extremely helpful. I wanted to share it with you. Some of those things pop out, but again, having the citations. So if you look for Phil Kaiser teaching on this same text, you can find his printout where he actually has all of those citations if you're interested in some of his procedural justice and due process citations. He cites those types of issues frequently when he's engaging with narratives that have to do with persecution, but I always find it helpful. So, all that, are there any comments, questions, or objections from the voting members? Mr. Cordova? Thank you for your teaching. I do find that helpful for explaining the process. You can go to biblical blueprints.com and maybe it's .org, I'm sorry, I'm not sure which, but just Google biblical blueprints, you'll find that Phil Kaiser's site is there. He has his notes from his series on acts, and the notes on this section regarding this, he includes in that a list of these eight points there of ways in which due process was violated in this arrest scenario. So that's where you can find that. Okay, great. Excellent. Mr. Nye? I just wanted to point out, Thank you for your teaching. Verse 29, previously is not in the majority of the text. And you read previously, where they had previously seen Trophimus. Forgive my oversight there. So that was verse 29. It should read, For they had seen Trophimus, the Ephesian, with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple." So the majority text does not have the word previously. Obviously the meaning remains the same, there's no change since it's seen as the past tense. That's certainly the case, but the words matter, preserving the text matters, but in that case that's an example where obviously the proposition is not changed, thankfully. So thank you for pointing that out. Great, and let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word, that you would help us to be concerned for biblical process as well as having a zeal for your law. We ask that you would help us to understand and benefit from, again, this continued teaching and emphasis in the book of Acts on the difference between the Jews and the Gentiles and the removal of the old administration. the way in which during this time, this intermediate time, that there was still an allowance for the Jews to carry out these Old Testament ceremonies. The Gentiles, even then, were not allowed to perform them. And then the way in which these things were brought to an end with the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. And we thank you for helping us to see here, again, Paul's fortitude, the way in which he carries burdens and deals with difficult situations. And we thank you for helping us to see here the way in which he deals with even godless magistrates to communicate with them effectively and to have opportunity to bear witness to your glory and the glory of your son. We ask that you would help us to follow this example in so far as Paul follows Christ and that you would help us to be a courageous, bold, and strong people with your name over us. I pray this in Christ's name, amen.