Paul, the Wrecking Ball

Let's pray and then we will get into our study today. Heavenly Father almighty and everlasting

God, we come before you in humble awe. You are the one true God, there is no other like you. Come, we pray, bless our hearts and minds as we study your word.

Send your Holy Spirit into our lives so that we may grow in love and grace and that we may go forth into all the world, proclaiming the good news, so that others may learn of your saving grace through Jesus Christ our

Lord, amen. All right, as is our practice, any questions as a result of the sermon today?

We looked at the Mount of Transfiguration. He's learning, he can be taught.

It was pretty straightforward. No telling how long that'll last. Yeah, we'll get two minutes into the study and you never know where we're gonna go.

I make no promises. You can see the letters. I know, I know,

I saw it. And it turns that slight shade of gray and it's like, uh -oh. Yeah, and then when you start to see smoke, you know you're in trouble.

Well, I have some of that in my house, too. I'm sitting too close to the camera.

Okay, let's do this. If you remember when we last left off in the Old Testament, Numbers 6, we were looking at the

Mosaic Covenant's requirements as it relates to those who take a Nazarite vow.

We did an excursus into the story of Samson, who is the worst

Nazarite ever. I'm scared what just happened.

It's a little tiny apologetics question. Oh boy, and thus it begins.

No, I'm kidding. Okay, so in the epistle reading for the day, Peter said in his eyewitness account, in the epistle reading,

Peter says that he heard the voice of the Lord say, this is my son with whom I am well pleased. But that was God's pronouncement at the baptism of Christ.

The gospels record, this is my son, listen to him. Is this just one of those, we assume

God said both at both places and it got written down differently? So the idea here is what we don't do with the scripture is we don't woodenly take eyewitness testimony and force it into this kind of stiff, wooden word processor precision type of language.

So for instance, when you read the gospel accounts, so you got four gospel accounts.

We know that Matthew is an eyewitness account. We know that John is a straight up eyewitness account.

Church tradition tells us that the gospel of Mark is, these are the preaching notes of the apostle Peter as he's traveling around.

And then Luke, Dr. Luke, who wrote Luke Acts, he interviewed the eyewitnesses and composed his gospel together.

And you're gonna note something here is that each of them has a different audience in mind and different bits of Jesus's healings, miracles, teachings that they're trying to emphasize in what they're doing, which was what you would expect.

And so there are critics of Christianity who will sit there and say, these things don't, they do not dovetail perfectly in their language.

The reality is is that that's what you would expect in eyewitness testimony because when in a court case, you have eyewitnesses and they're all saying the exact same thing verbatim, word for word, you know they've cooked the testimony.

The fact that there are, that each eyewitness account will pull in what they're trying to emphasize and they'll say it in their own words, but restate the truth of what they heard, that does not mean that one account is true, the other account is false.

That's just a consistent pattern you see in eyewitness testimony. If it were not the case, then you would know that these guys had sat down and cooked their stories together to make everything jive, right?

And so these tiny little differences that you will see, you'll note that what

Peter is emphasizing here is the focus on Christ, where if you look at Matthew's gospel, the voice of the father ends with listen to him, all right?

And then Luke's account is the only account that in the Greek actually says that Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus regarding his exodus.

And so each of them have little details that they're putting in and other details that they're omitting, but again, that's to be expected in eyewitness accounts.

Does that make sense, all right? And that's your apologetic answer for the day. Well, those snarky atheists who aren't seeking the truth, they just wanna tear it and destroy your faith.

Correct. This is exactly the kind of line they throw at you. Right, have you read Haley's work,

Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible? No, but I'm writing it down. It's in the public domain, and that's the classic work on this.

Haley's Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, you can grab it from Google Books. It's also available if you wanna purchase it.

Some people have republished it. That and Gleason Archer's Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties, those two together combined are the greatest works that are available as it relates to so -called alleged discrepancies in the

Bible. You're referencing faster than I can Google faster. We're recording it.

Oh yeah, technology. Yes, ma 'am. Could we make the wheel a little bit bigger?

Sure, sure, I can do that. Like that? Or the other one, that one. Which one, this one?

Yeah, what language is that? Hebrew, that is Hebrew, yeah. And it reads this way.

From right to left? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so in numbers then, we're back in numbers.

I just wanna remind you of the requirements regarding an Azarite vow, and I wanted to show you signs in the scriptures in the

New Testament of this practice as it relates to taking an

Azarite vow. Again, number six, Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel.

Say to them, when either a man or a woman makes a special vow or the vow of the Nazarite to separate himself to Yahweh, he shall separate himself from wine and from strong drink.

So during the time of your Nazarite vow, you can't be drinking. Now, again, I always point out, and this makes the

Norwegians uncomfortable, that if you're gonna have some time that you're separating yourself from wine and strong drink, that means that you can rejoin it later, and that's not a sin.

So I just point that out because some people, they say, it's a sin no matter what. No, actually, it's not.

And if it was a sin to drink alcohol, then Christ himself is a sinner because he came eating and drinking, and they said of him that he was a glutton, a drunkard, and a friend of sinners.

That Jesus, man, he drank. So he shall, what was the question?

That blows the kind of modern fad of saying that all references to wine are just grape juice.

Yes. Okay, again, historically, grape juice is an impossible thing to make until the technology of pasteurization.

Again, in the summertime, or you can do it now, I guess they do sell grapes year -round because they ship stuff up from Argentina during the wintertime here.

But next time you buy a cluster of grapes, look at the outside of the grape skin. You'll see this really fine, powdery -looking white glaze on the outside of the grapes.

What is that? That's yeast. And to make wine in the ancient world, all you had to do was stomp on a bunch of grapes, take what was created from that, put it in a bin, and keep it at a particular temperature, and the yeast was already added because it's in the wine skins.

And that yeast takes root, and it grows, and it feeds off the sugars that are in the grape juice, and that creates the fermentation.

That's the fermentation process. The only way to stop that, and I mean the only way to stop it, is pasteurization.

You have to take that juice, and you have to get it up to a boiling temperature, and then drop the temperature very quickly just to kill off that yeast in order to make grape juice.

Grape juice is a modern -day invention. It was not possible until pasteurization. So when people try to tell you, oh, all references to wine, it's grape juice, you don't know what you're talking about.

You just don't know what you're talking about. I always like to point out along these lines, too, that you'll note, when we read in 1

Corinthians, there's a lot of correctives that Paul has to give to the church at Corinth. This was a church that had some issues.

Their church council meetings, I'm sure, were really fun. But one of the things that was going on at the church at Corinth was that the wealthy were despising and mistreating those who were not wealthy, who were poor, within the congregation, or were part of the slave class.

And the way they did it is they kept them from having the Lord's Supper, and the way they did it is they consumed all the elements.

And Paul even points out that some of them were getting drunk on the communion wine. Well, I would note, it's pretty hard to get drunk on Welch's grape juice, all right?

I notice inebriation is never a thing that I'm suffering from when I have Welch's grape juice. But I just point that out.

So it's definitely wine. It's definitely wine. So you note here in the Mosaic Covenant, then, that a

Nazirite can separate himself from wine and strong drink, which means he can come back to it later while he's having his

Nazirite vows not to drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink, shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes fresh or dried.

Again, you can't do it without the yeast. And the days of his separation, he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grape, by not even the seeds or the skins, no raisins for you.

So, which, by the way, I think is a holy thing because I can't stand raisins. I think they're from the devil. But that's a different thing altogether.

Worst thing ever was like when my mom would serve me raisin bread for breakfast when I was a kid. It's like, oh, this is horrible.

I'd rather have liver. Anyway. All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head till the time is completed for which he separates himself to Yahweh and he shall be holy.

He shall let the locks of his head grow long. All the days that he separates himself to Yahweh, he shall not go near a dead body, not even for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister.

If they die, shall he make himself unclean? Not he shall not because his separation to God is on his head.

And all the days of his separation, he shall be holy. If any man dies very suddenly beside him and defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing.

On the seventh day, he shall shave it. And you're gonna note, again, the point here, and this is the point we made in the story of Samson, is that with a

Nazirite vow, it's kind of a sacramental theology, and as long as Samson had hair, he was still considered, the

Lord still operated through him. When he had no hair, there was nothing for the promises of God to hang on to, if you would, because the sacrament is the taking of the word of God and combining it with actual earthy things, water.

For instance, we can't baptize somebody with dirt, okay? Baptism is a washing of water in the word.

That's kind of the idea. So when Samson had his head shaved down to the nubbins and there was nothing there, he lost his strength, but then when he had razor stubble on his head, he was able to once again, because again, his head is where the consecration is.

So on the eighth day, he shall bring two turtle doves, two pigeons, and we notice then that coming out of the Nazirite vow can be quite an expensive thing because of not only the sheer number of sacrifices, but also particular sacrifices that are, how should we say, expensive in nature.

These are not cheap animals. So coming out of a Nazirite vow is expensive.

And it's in that context, and I would like to take a look at a couple of things. In Acts chapter 18, it says this regarding the apostle

Paul. After this, Paul stayed many days, this is 1818, stays many days longer and took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him

Priscilla and Aquila. If you remember Priscilla and Aquila, these were believing

Jews who the apostle Paul became fast friends with, and it was

Aquila and Priscilla who corrected the false baptismal theology that Apollos had.

So when Apollos shows up on the scene, he is able to refute the Jews from the scriptures and prove to them that Jesus is the

Messiah, but he didn't even know about Christian baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he only knew of the baptism of John the

Baptist, and it was Aquila and Priscilla who took him aside and corrected him privately, and let's say took his baptismal theology, which was originally all wet, and then cleaned it right up for him.

So I write my own humor. I'm just glad you groaned, because I was thinking that was just gonna fly over everybody without a response.

I was so thankful you did that. It is the glory of love to overlook an offense. Okay, so it then says this, at Sencreia, Paul had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

So you're gonna note kind of an interesting thing. In the time of the apostles, so all of Jesus' apostles, they're

Jewish, and in this kind of moving from the Old Testament into the

New, that they felt freedom to be able to exercise parts of the

Mosaic Covenant as Jews, and to exercise that freedom from the

Mosaic Covenant, and do so in such ways, and they were using that for the purpose of assuring the

Jews that Christianity wasn't a break from the Old Testament, but was the fulfillment of it, and then the moving on of where Christ was going with things.

So that's kind of the idea. And so you're gonna note that Paul uses this, uses the

Nazarite vow here, kind of in that way, and he himself let his hair grow out, and he had been under a vow, and he himself breaks that Nazarite vow.

And it's in that context, and I would consider a different text along these lines. And that is that when you read the book of Acts, you have all the missionary journeys of Paul, and then when you get into the later chapters, you have

Paul arrested, and the ordeals that he is going through as a result of the false accusations being leveled against him by those who are vehemently opposing

Christianity, and opposing the message that Jesus is the Christ, that Christ rose from the grave, and that God himself, that the

Messiah, would suffer, bleed, and die on the cross. And for the Jews, this is a scandalous thought, and Paul lays it out.

One of the reasons why is because the idea of the Messiah being cursed, because scripture says, "'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'"

And that's the way in which Christ dies. So that's the way

Christ dies, he hangs on a tree. And so for them, it's a stumbling block, it's a scandal, it's difficulty.

And so when Paul goes on his missionary journeys, and he preaches the gospel, what ends up happening is he goes to the synagogues first, and he reasons with them on the

Sabbaths, Saturday after Saturday, until they don't put up with him anymore. And what ends up happening is that you always have a group of people who are believing, and then you got another group who are really incensed.

And so what Paul has successfully done on his missionary journeys, aside from planting churches all throughout the

Mediterranean and the Roman Empire, he's also, well, how should

I say this? Created enemy synagogues against him, all right? And it makes me wonder if this is kind of Luther's idea, where Christ sets up a church, the devil sets up a chapel.

And so a good way to think about it, wherever Paul planted a church, wherever the gospel goes out, in that same town, there was probably left a very angry and upset synagogue.

Because their synagogue has now been split between those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah and those who don't.

And the guys who are not believing in Jesus, the Jews who are not believing in Jesus, they owe

Paul a grudge. And the things that they're willing to do in the name of getting this guy dead is actually quite fascinating, because there are so many commandments of God that they're willing to break for the purpose of getting

Paul arrested and killed. That's really kind of the idea. And so as Paul is heading towards Jerusalem at the end of one of his missionary journeys, we'll pick up in Acts 21 .7,

and again, this has to do with a view of the Nazarite vow, but I wanna actually pick up on the story itself because it's helpful.

Acts 21 .7, when we had finished the voyage from Tyre, who's the we? That would be

Luke. Luke, okay. So you'll notice in the book of Acts, there are sections called the we sections.

Luke is the author of the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke, he's also the author of Acts. And in the book of Acts, when he says we,

Luke is along for the ride. And because of Paul's close association with Luke, the evangelist, church tradition in history tells us that the gospel that Paul favored in his preaching was

Luke's. So the gospel of Luke is the one most associated with the preaching ministry of Paul.

That's good to know. So the next day, so when we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemaeus, and we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.

And the next day, we departed and came to Caesarea. And we entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. While we were staying for many days, a prophet named

Agabus came down from Judea and coming to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own feet and hands and said, thus says the

Holy Spirit. This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the

Gentiles. When we heard this, we and the people of there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

So Paul answered, what are you doing? Weeping and breaking my heart, for I am ready not only to be in prison, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the

Lord Jesus. And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, let the will of the

Lord be done. And after these days, we got ready and went up to Jerusalem, and some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Nason of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom we should lodge.

And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day,

Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. So you know, at this time,

James is really kind of the head of the church in Jerusalem. Not Peter, but James.

And all the elders were present, and 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, 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.

So here we get a picture, then, of the narrative that was created.

There's some truth to it, and there's some stuff that shows a complete lack of understanding of what

Paul is preaching and teaching. And so they see Paul as a renegade Jew who's basically saying, forsake

Moses, leave Moses, all that kind of stuff. But here's the thing. Does Paul require

Gentiles who are believers in Christ to be circumcised? Nope, not at all. Does Paul require

Gentiles who are believers in Jesus to observe the

Sabbath, to travel to Jerusalem for the Passover? Does he require them to celebrate the

Feast of Booths, the Feast of Weeks? The answer's no. So Paul rightly understands that the ceremonial laws of the

Mosaic Covenant are all fulfilled in Christ, and he says so. He doesn't require circumcision because he recognizes that circumcision has its ultimate fulfillment in baptism.

That's teaching that we see in Colossians chapter two. And so the idea, then, those who hear the gospel from Paul and believe, they rejoice.

Those who refuse to believe, persistence in an unbelief, and refuse to believe that Jesus is the

Messiah, they've created this narrative that Paul is just a wrecking ball and preaches against Moses.

And so they know the false narrative, and so what James and the elders are gonna recommend he do is, by his actions, demonstrate that their false narrative isn't true.

But that's not gonna really work. It's not gonna really work at all, the false narrative.

You gotta note something, and that is that when somebody believes a false narrative, the thing they will not allow to be challenged is the false narrative in either word or deed.

And so this is kind of the setup here. And by the way, in Christian history, early on, the first heresy that Christianity faced was the

Judaizing heresy, and that was to mix works and grace. The Judaizing heresy comes up with regularity in Christian history.

And the next real iteration of it was a heresy called the Ebionite heresy, and the

Ebionites had an interesting name for the apostle Paul. They called Paul the man of lawlessness, which is interesting when you think about it.

That's all into this narrative. So what then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you've come.

Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. And so you're gonna note there, in the church in Jerusalem under James, you've got four men who are under a

Nazirite vow. Four guys, and they're gonna break their vow, but for these four guys to be able to break their vow, the monetary requirements are gonna be huge.

And so they're gonna need some help. So take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads.

And so here we can see what kind of vow they're under. They're under a Nazirite vow. There's an appearance of it. 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

Torah. So there it is. We want you to, by your actions, challenge their false narrative, which is based on half -truths and misrepresentations.

Now, we all know what happens. This doesn't go well. Let's keep reading. 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, from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.

Yes? Can you reconcile that with the teaching about food, meat sacrificed to idols in Romans?

Okay. Because there's an apparent contradiction. So what's the context here? So the church in Jerusalem is writing to the

Gentiles, the Gentile -believing diaspora that's been spread out. Why?

They should abstain from food sacrificed to idols. For what purpose?

Doesn't say, well, okay, in context, the purpose is to not offend the

Jews. There it is. Which is the, thank you, never mind, I'm good, because that's the other part of the teaching in Romans.

Yeah, the teaching in Romans, and also you see it in 1 Corinthians. The idea here is that I have freedom in Christ.

If I live in a town where the only food that is available is food sacrificed to an idol,

I have complete freedom in Christ to go to the grocery store and purchase that meat. Where does that freedom end?

When somebody makes it an issue, either believer or unbeliever. So if somebody were to invite me to their house, and let's say they worship

Vishnu or something like that, they're Indian, all right, and so they invite me to their house, and we're sitting down, we're having a meal together, and of course, me and Curry don't get along that well, but I'm gonna suffer through this, and in the midst of the meal, halfway through, my host says, oh, and by the way, that steak that you're having, we sacrificed that animal to Vishnu three days ago.

Bummer, man, now I can't have any of it. Why? I was free up to that point to consume, and at that point,

I was no longer free. Why? Because he's the one who made it an issue. Okay, then for his sake,

I can't, all right? Now, conversely then, the New Testament also teaches, let's say, same scenario, we're living in a town where people, the only food you can get is, meat that you can get is from food that's sacrificed to idols so we've got somebody new to the

Christian faith and they wanna go out and have a meal and ask questions and as they're kind of wrestling with the

Christian faith and in that situation, they're still very kind of new and weak in their faith.

If I were to have a steak from that meat market, it would cause their conscience grief and cause them to stumble, and in that situation, although I have freedom to eat that steak,

I do not have freedom to destroy the conscience of a fellow believer. So, the kingdom of God is not about food or drink.

So, in the same way then, there is no absolute prohibition against alcohol, but if it's gonna cause your brother to stumble for real and it's gonna destroy his faith, save it till when you get home, you know?

Yeah, you should. I will.

Join me. Can a

Christian believer take this to the nth degree just to have their way?

Yes, right. So, here's the issue. So, it says in the text about those who are like this and Paul uses the analogy of meat eaters versus those who eat vegetables, okay?

That the man who eats vegetables, he has a weak faith, but what can happen then is that somebody sits there and goes, well,

I have a weak faith. You can't eat meat. You just better stop it altogether.

Now, we have the tyranny of the weak conscience, okay? And the tyranny of the weak conscience brings in a different set of rules altogether.

When somebody's using the tyranny of their weak conscience to then domineer over you to take away your

Christian freedom, you are required to disobey them. Let no one take you captive, right, all right?

So, and this is the kind of thing that Paul called Peter on the carpet for.

In the early part of Galatians, he talks about how Peter had visited a group of Gentiles and he had no problem eating with them, until.

Until some guys from James came and then he withdrew and came back. And of course, he doesn't have a toothbrush, so he has bacon on his breath, you know?

You know, and James shows up. You know, the guys from James show up and he's withdrawing, and what does

Paul do? I mean, Paul calls Peter, the first pope, out on the carpet in public, okay?

And basically says, you know, I got a question for you, Peter, you know? You know, we who are Jews by birth and not

Gentile sinners, you know, we know these things. He says, how come you, a Jew, are requiring Gentiles to do the things that we can't even do, all right?

And it's like, he calls him out on the carpet and it's like, one of those awkward moments, but, you know, which, again, sets an example for us.

But I digress. All right, let's keep working our way through this text, though.

So, let's see here. Where am

I? All right, so, all right, so. So, the idea here, then, the prohibition against food sacrifice for idols is so that their freedom doesn't become a stumbling block to people who are

Jewish. And the blood from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is part of the moral law, though.

That's gonna be your sixth commandment. So, then, Paul took the men. The next day, he purified himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them.

So, he's doing Jewish Nazarite vow -breaking duty here when seven days were almost completed.

So, you can see, he goes to the temple and it's like first day, mission accomplished. There was no turmoil.

Maybe, just maybe, the false narrative against me is gonna blow over. And when seven days were almost completed, the

Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, laid hands on him, crying, men of Israel, help, help!

This is the man who is teaching everyone, everywhere, against the people and the law and this place.

Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.

That's just straight out a breaking of the eighth commandment. He didn't do nothing of the sort. Now, a little bit of a note here.

From the first century, there's very few artifacts that remain from Herod's temple.

The whole thing, the Romans in 70, I mean, they sieged Jerusalem.

They were lobbing 100 pound stones from their trebuchets into the city itself.

I mean, that was the ancient world's version of artillery. And when they finally broke through the wall, got in, the

Herod's temple that was there had a lot of gold in it. And they set fire to the temple and the flame burned so hot, all the gold in the temple ran like a river out of the temple.

And then it ended up getting into the cracks in the stones on the temple mount and within the temple itself.

So they tore that temple down piece by piece in order to get at that gold. And then all of that being said, there's nothing that remains of that temple except for off to one side of the temple mount in Jerusalem.

There's just a rubble heap today. That used to be Herod's temple. Those stones are still there. Well, I should say what's left of them because a lot of them people would like go, you know, that's a good looking stone.

I'm gonna use that on my house. But yeah, so the good ones got to say repurposed is a good, they got repurposed.

And so, but one of the things we have is an artifact from that time. We actually have,

I think at least two of the signs that were used in Herod's temple regarding the outer gates.

And the signs basically said, if a Gentile crosses this portal, they enter this gate, they will be killed, all right?

And so, I mean, that is an immediate death penalty on the spot kind of offense.

If a Gentile comes into, if they go past a particular gate that you're not supposed to go into.

Only Jews are supposed to be in that one section. And so the claim that they're making is that Paul has completely, he lost his mind.

He's so opposed to the Mosaic Covenant and the traditions of our people that he's even brought a

Gentile, he's crossed the threshold, he's brought them into the very midst of this. And so they're stirring up everybody for the purpose of having this guy killed.

Didn't they circumcise? Is it Timothy who went with him? Yeah, but not in the, not, yeah. But I thought

Timothy actually got circumcised going. Later, yeah, later. That's after this? Yeah, I think so.

Okay. Now, I don't know if it was after this. Later than it was mentioned, so.

Yeah, because at one point he says that not even, you know, was it Titus was, yeah,

I'd have to look. But Timothy eventually was, for the purpose of him not being an offense.

Because he had to serve a mixed congregation in Ephesus. So. So here we got it.

So here's the lie. He's even brought Greeks into the temple. He's defiled this holy place.

For they had previously seen Trompheus the Ephesian with Paul in the city. And so they suppose that Paul had brought him into the temple.

It's like, so their false narrative now is that every little thing that they see, it gets woven into the narrative.

He's completely opposed to Moses. And he's now brought Gentiles into the temple.

So all the city was stirred up. The people ran together. They seized Paul, dragged him out of the temple.

And at once the gates were shut. Why? Because the goal here is, he's about to assume room temperature.

And they were seeking to kill him. Word came to the tribune of the cohort that all of Jerusalem was in confusion.

So Roman garrison there gets a phone call. You better get over to the temple quick. There's a riot breaking out.

So he at once took soldiers and centurions, ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating

Paul. I'm surprised he was lucid after that.

I mean, it doesn't take too much of a beating. So the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains.

He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some of the crowd were shouting one thing, some another.

And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd. For the mob of the people followed crying away with him.

And as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, may

I say something to you? And he said to him, do you know Greek? Are you not the

Egyptian then who recently stirred up a revolt and led the 4 ,000 men of the assassins out into the wilderness?

So apparently, we get an idea there was some kind of an event here. And the Roman soldier thinks that Paul is this

Egyptian who had led a revolt. Paul replied, I'm a Jew. And you can see him going, what?

You are? I'm from Tarsus in Cilicia, citizen of no obscure city.

So he lets it drop that he's a Roman citizen here too. So I beg you permit me to speak to the people.

And when he had given him permission, Paul standing on the steps motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in Hebrew saying, brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.

And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet.

And he said, all right, so now he's gonna address these people, see if he can calm them down because they've been stirred up by this false narrative.

He says, I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, which is like the most prestigious

Pharisaical rabbi at the time. According to the strict manner of the law of our fathers being zealous for God, as all of you are this day,

I persecuted this way to death. And the way is what the name of Christianity was early on.

Binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

Brothers and fathers, so hear the defense that I now make before you. And when they heard that he was addressing them in the

Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. All right, so he's making his appeal here to settle them down.

And Paul in his defense is going to, how shall

I say it? Pour salt on an open wound in the

Jewish psyche just a little bit here. And it relates to the belief in the resurrection of the dead.

Now it's important to note just like today that in Paul's time there were people who are believers in what the scriptures say and there's people who find very clever and liberal ways of denying what the scripture says.

And so into that vein, you can kind of overlay today where you have those who believe the scriptures and those who go through the religious motions and deny what the scriptures say, although they have churches and things like this.

Same thing was going on in Paul's day. And the Zadakim, these are the Sadducees.

These are the people very closely associated with the service of the temple and things like this.

And they've got their own ruling council. The Sadducees as a whole, the Zadakim, they are deniers in the resurrection.

They deny that the resurrection will take place. They do not believe in the raising of the dead. The Pharisees believe in the raising of the dead.

And so Paul's gonna play on this a little bit. But it's a necessary thing for him to do because it seems like every time

Paul is given the microphone, who does he preach about? Jesus, all right?

So he's even gonna use this opportunity to proclaim Christ. And it's gonna divide up the people who are having their spat here.

It says, I'm a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, brought up in the city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.

I persecuted the way to death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness.

From them I received letters to the brothers and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me and I fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me,

Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And you notice the red letters here.

Who's talking? Jesus. So Paul is now an eyewitness of the resurrection.

So I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom you are persecuting.

Now those who were with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

I said, what shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, rise and go into Damascus and there you'll be told all that is appointed for you to do.

And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me standing by me and said to me, brother

Saul, receive your sight. And at that very hour I received my sight and I saw him. And he said, the

God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the righteous one, to hear a voice from his mouth, for you will be a witness for him to every one of what you have seen and heard.

And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins calling on his name.

And I always like to point out, this is a great text for pointing out what baptism does because remember, we say the same thing in scripture when it comes to baptism.

So we can say a baptism is a washing away of our sins. Indeed. It's kind of sad when the movie

Brother, Where Art Thou has better baptismal theology than a lot of churches today. So, you haven't seen that movie?

Okay, it's a good one, yeah. All right, so when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple,

I fell in a trance and I saw him say to me, make haste, get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me.

I said, Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another, I am in prison and beat those who believed in you.

And when the blood of Stephen, your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving, watching over the garments of those who killed him.

And he said to me, go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. Up to this word, they listened to Paul.

Then they raised their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live.

And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust in the air, the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging.

What a great way to examine somebody. Which, by the way, is not legal for them to do to a

Roman citizen. To find out why they were shouting against him. But when they had stretched him out for the whips,

Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?

And so when the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, what are you about to do?

This man's a Roman citizen. So the tribune came to him and said, so tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He said, yes.

The tribune answered, I brought this citizen, I bought this citizenship for a large sum. Paul said,

I'm a citizen by birth. So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him and immediately, and the tribune was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a

Roman citizen and that he had bound him. But on the next day, desiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the

Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

And looking intently at the council, Paul said, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.

And the high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

Then Paul said to him, God's gonna strike you, you whitewashed wall. That's a nice comeback.

Dang, he's going all Clint Eastwood here. Yeah, but he sinned in doing so, unknowingly.

Are you sitting to judge me according to the law and yet you're contrary to the law, you order me to be struck? He's pointing out that it was contrary for the law for him to be struck, so those who stood by said, would you revile

God's high priest? And Paul said, I didn't know, brothers, that he was the high priest for it was written, you shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

But indeed, the high priest had acted unlawfully. I love this story. Has anybody in America read that verse?

No, especially the people who hate Trump. People weren't voting on Obama before him.

Yeah, I agree. It's the whole country. It's a football, it depends on whose team's winning at the time or who's playing offensive defense.

All right, so looking intently at the council, Paul said, brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.

And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him. We got that part. All right, so let's see, next passage.

All right, so I didn't know. Now, when Paul perceived that one part of the Sadducees and the other

Pharisees, he cried out in the council, brothers, I'm a Pharisee. This is really shrewd.

I'm a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I'm on trial. And so when he said this, a dissension arose between the

Pharisees and the Sadducees. I always like to point out the Sadducees, they don't believe in the resurrection. That's the reason why they're sad, you see.

I write my own material. No, actually, I stole that one. Anyway, and so the assembly was divided.

For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the Pharisees acknowledged them all, and a great clamor arose.

And some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply. We find nothing wrong with this man.

What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him? And when the dissension became violent, now they're fighting among themselves.

The tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn into pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

And then the following night, the Lord stood by Paul and said, take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me and Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.

It's a great story, but you know, it goes on. But as you read this, the remaining account, what ends up happening, you got a bunch of guys who are gonna take a vow that they're not gonna eat any food until they kill

Paul. Okay, forget the commandment that says, thou shalt not murder, okay?

You know, in the name of God, we're gonna plot murder. You know, against a guy who hasn't been rightly tried or anything like that, this is just, it's just crazy.

What's really interesting to me out of what you just read was when Paul was first addressing the crowd out in public, he talked about persecuting the faith, they listened.

Yeah. He talked about having a vision from the Lord. And they still were listening. And they still listened.

Yep. He talked about sharing God's good news with those evil, dirty, stinking other people.

Those Gentiles. And they lost their wigs. Kill him, kill him!

So it was the moment we talked about it, you know, evangelizing, you know, the goyim, the nations.

And yet, in the law of Moses, there's supposed to be a light to the nations.

And this is one of the scandalous aspects about Christianity very early on. And still to this day, it can be scandalous.

Because for whatever reason, oftentimes our identity is caught up in our ethnicity.

All right? And so, and this can become sinfully toxic. And so in the case of the

Jews, and we know this by reading the Gospels, they are racially prejudiced.

And I'll be blunt, Jews still are to this day, okay? But so are other people.

They were racially prejudiced against Samaritans, against the Gentiles, and they considered themselves superior to others because they had received the

Torah. And so, you know, what had happened is, is that rather than seeing that they were to be a light to the

Gentiles, that God had revealed his word to them for the purpose of everybody in the world, hearing the wonder and the power, the might, the mercy, the grace of God, instead, they've received the law and they say, well,

God gave it to us because we're so cool. And you guys are just not, okay? And that's not how this works.

And so this gets really embedded in their culture, but then also understand that in the intertestamental period, that whole period is just racially and ethnically challenging as a time.

Because with the loss of their autonomy as a nation in Israel, after the

Babylonian captivity and then going into the Maccabean period, the guy who rises up in the Maccabean period is

Alexander the Great. And Alexander the Great, he conquers the whole world and makes the whole world learn

Greek culture. It's called the Hellenization of the ancient world. And so the

Jews are under the subjugation first of the Greeks. And if you know anything about Greek culture,

I mean, they're polytheistic. They worship idols. They exercise naked.

There's strange things that they do, okay? That's what, by the way, gymnasium. If you say you're gonna go to the gym in the ancient world, that means you're gonna go get naked, okay?

Because that's, gumnas means naked, okay? So, and this is really, really just chafing for the

Jews. And so, as they are being tormented, persecuted by their

Hellenizing emperors in Rome, not Roman, but emperors and kings and magistrates, they're trying to fight against it.

Read about the Maccabean War and what happened in that period. And you can see what's going on. And then, to make matters worse, if they didn't like the

Greeks, well, after the Romans took over, it was worse. It was just way worse.

And the Roman tax system was just full of graph. And so, then taken to the mix, their hatred of the

Samaritans. And so, the Gentiles are their oppressors. They're their enemies.

What they want for them is for God to strike them all dead, throw them into Hell, and then tell them how good they are because they're

Jewish. But the thing is, we're tempted along those same lines, too, all right?

I thought I read somewhere in the Old Testament, maybe once, to love your enemies.

Stop. We gotta get rid of that verse. Yeah, love your enemies.

No, they don't wanna do that. So, they're hating their enemies. Their enemies are the ones who are keeping them in abject poverty.

Their enemies are taking all of the produce of the land. Their enemies are idolaters.

They want their enemies to be killed by God. And what does Jesus do? He comes and he's forgiving everybody, right?

He's eating with tax collectors who are complete traitors. He's forgiving prostitutes and sinners and stuff like that.

And now, Paul comes along and says, that same Jesus, he told me to go preach the good news to the

Gentiles. Kill him. Doesn't deserve to live, right?

Doesn't deserve to live. This is just, this is silly. It's sad when you think about it because, yeah, we do have oppressors, we do have enemies.

And they may even, at times, be ethnic. But at the end of the day, there is only one race on this planet.

It's the human race. We all come from the same stock, you know?

How's the old song go? Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world, whether yellow, black, or white, they are precious in his sight, right?

That song preaches truth. I don't care where you came from. Jesus bled and died for you.

But for the Jews, that's a stumbling block. That's a stumbling block. And their whole, they had made it, if a non -Jew comes into certain parts of the temple, you're dead.

The whole false narrative that they created about Paul was that he had brought a Gentile into the worship center.

He didn't. All right. We will end.