Sunday, May 25, 2025 AM

Prayer for Grace, Mercy, and Communion in Christ

Heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us here today. Thank you for the answers to prayer that we have rejoiced in this last week. And we lift to you again our our concerns and our desires, knowing that you are a heavenly father, knowing our needs before we even ask.

We are in need of need of your grace and your mercy today. We ask that as we read your word and submit ourselves to this truth, that you would reveal to us your son, Jesus Christ, that we would get a good look at him in this word, that we would look like him in this world, that we would be to amen on earth of your will that is in heaven.

You would lift us to yourself in joyous communion. We worship you today. We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased. Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 21.

Acts 21, we're going to be looking at verses 15 through 40. And if it sounds like a lot of verses, it is. We have reached the stage in the book of Acts where everything is going to be moving at a very fast clip.

These stories about the latter days of Paul's ministry are meant to be taken in their full chapters, in their full sections as we see God's purpose for his apostle Paul being worked out on the stage of the ancient Roman Empire as the church begins to spread and expand into new places.

The question for us this morning is what kind of communion? What kind of communion? When we've been reading through the book of Acts and we've noticed that every time there's a clarification about who the people of God are, who makes up the church, it seems to come by way of separation from others.

That in the communion and in the peace of the church, that that shines brightest when there's been a sifting and a separation from those who are not. For example, the church comes together at the beginning of Acts because of Judas' betrayal.

Judas is separated, and so the church comes together to seek God's will for a new apostle. The preaching at Pentecost saw a divergence between those who had the Holy Spirit and those who did not. The persecution of the church and the fear that was caused by Ananias and Sapphira's deaths clarified a separation.

The full Gentile membership of the church was first explored and then settled. The old covenant saints who knew the preaching and baptism of John the Baptist immigrated all the way into the new covenant.

And repeatedly, we have the gospel being preached in the synagogues throughout the ancient Roman Empire for a time, and then a separation occurs in which the church gathers to themselves rather than stay in the synagogue.

And now we come to a passage in Acts which I think could be considered the last great attempt at full peace between Christians and religious Jews, the last big attempt, the last gasp for common communion between Christians and religious Jews.

And in fact, in our passage, there's even proposed a dual way forward for Jewish and Gentile Christians, and it brings to question the mind, what kind of a communion does Christ call us to? What kind of a communion does God call us to?

I invite you to stand with me as we read a portion of God's word this morning. I'm going to jump right into the middle of the action to let you know where we are heading. Verse 30, 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 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.

This is the reading of God's Word. Praise be to God. You may be seated. In the late 1900s, some of you that's 94, 97, in the late 1900s, there was an ecumenical initiative known as ECT, Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

And this was followed by the unimaginatively named sequel, Evangelicals and Catholics Together 2. Articles were published in Christianity Today, endorsed by big politically minded names in evangelicalism, folks like Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, Bill Bright.

The initiatives would have been better named, I think, Evangelicals Compromise Altogether, and its sequel, The Papal Antichrist Rides Again. The efforts to find common communion between evangelicals and Catholics were fairly successful from Rome's point of view as evangelicals again and again gave up the evangel.

And in the wake of all of this fervor and with folks like the aging J .I. Packer signing on to ECT, others like R .C. Sproul were passionately opposed to such a communion. In fact, it found him at one point on his knees on a conference table begging those who had turned away from the gospel to return to this one truth that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Together, right? Evangelicals and Catholics together. What kind of communion does Christ want us to have? Is it Christians and religious Jews together? What kind of communion does Christ want us to have and at what cost?

Because communion costs something. Communion, true communion with God, true communion with one another in Christ, cost the death of Jesus Christ. Cost the blood of Jesus Christ. And it costs something of us as well.

It costs a lot of things. It costs us our pride. It costs us our selfishness. It costs us our expectations, our bitterness and our fear. And if we don't spend those, if we don't lay those aside, we will find ourselves without communion.

But if the cost of communion is truth itself, what kind of communion actually remains? Decades later after ECT, it was R .C. Sproul who said, truth is too important to kill it in the streets for the sake of.

Peace.

He knew something about that and the cost of tending it. When we look at the story here in Acts 21 verses 15 through 40, we're going to begin the story by seeing many efforts that go the extra mile to try to secure peace.

But then the question comes, at what cost? As we pursue peace with all men, we need to remember that God is true, though every man a liar. We need to remember that we are like Luther's drunk on the donkey, and we're often going from one side to the other.

Sometimes we are falling into prideful schisms. Sometimes we are falling into man-pleasing compromise. And the answer is not some sort of third way synthesis. It is to say no to every form of pride and to hold fast to Christ.

He's our rally point. Now, verses 15 through 26 shows us all the labor and thoughtfulness that went into play for the sake of peace there in Jerusalem. This particular story is intriguing because of, as I read earlier, how everything went sideways and everything fell apart.

And generally, when you hear reports that things blew up and things went bad, often the first instinct is, well, who's at fault? Let's find out who did what wrong and in what way. And if we can identify it, that means that we're not them.

So we're off the hook. And then maybe we'll learn what method they used that was wrong, and then we'll avoid it, and then that won't happen to us. Lots of questions here. And is that the right approach?

What kind of mistakes were made? What kind of malice was involved that we have this big blow up in Jerusalem? Was it a trap? Was it just poor prudence, poor eyesight? We begin, if it's a matter of peace, we begin with a promising start in verse 15 through the first half of verse 20.

Notice it says, and after those days, we packed and went up to Jerusalem. Remember that Paul has been warned by many that going to Jerusalem means he's going to suffer and be arrested. And he has said that he's willing to do that to go and die for Jesus Christ.

So he's on his way to Jerusalem, and they're departing from Caesarea, heading that final leg of the journey to go to Jerusalem. Verse 16, also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with him a certain Manassin of Cyprus, an early disciple.

Some translations say he's an old disciple. Perhaps he's both. And they were going to lodge with whom we are going to lodge. Verse 17, and when they had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.

We're off to a good start. Verse 18, 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. James is something of a fixture. James, the brother of Jesus. James, the author of the book we know is James in the Bible. James was something of a fixture here in Jerusalem, a pastor among pastors.

We don't know where the rest of the apostles are. Christ has sent them forth to preach the gospel. We assume that that's what they're doing. James and the elders are here, and they are pastoring the church in Jerusalem.

And they are glad to receive Paul. They rejoice in his news about how the gospel is going out, and the Gentiles are believing. Churches are being planted. The glory of Jesus Christ is being declared among the nations.

We remember that James, along with Peter, had given the right hand of fellowship to Paul and his company when they had come to Jerusalem more than once. And James and Peter had agreed with Paul at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.

And there's no merit to putting anything else on anyone, Jew or Gentile, some sort of burden that you can't bear, like circumcision or following the laws of.

Moses.

And so James should be understood as someone who, at the very core, is in agreement with Paul, in agreement with Peter, and they've all said the same thing and are laboring for the same thing. So it's a promising start.

Good news is being exchanged. How are things going? It's going well. Gospel's being preached. It's a promising start at this Christian conference. But I think it must be a Reformed conference because there's rumors, offense, and factions, and drama, beginning with the second half of verse 20.

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 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. So James and the elders hear the praise report from Paul. That's wonderful. We have wonderful news as well. There are myriads of Jews who also believe, and they're zealous for the law, which means they're a little concerned about you and the things that they have heard.

Now, we don't know how many of these Jews who believe are actually Jews who are born again, who have entrusted themselves to Christ alone for their salvation. I mean, the demons believe and tremble. Belief in saving faith is more than the appreciation of facts and the approval of truth.

It is the apprehending of Christ as Savior. This is the kind of belief that saves, and there's an ambiguity about these myriads of.

Jews.

Many among them undoubtedly are trusting in Christ alone for salvation, but perhaps others were not so clear. A sifting was needed, and a sifting is about to be provided, where there's going to be a clear split in Jerusalem, and who's who is going to be very obvious.

This expression, zealous for the law, could mean they like Bible study. I mean, it's the Torah, right? It's the first five books of the Bible. It's the instructions. It's what Moses had to say, and there's no better student of the Bible than Jesus Christ himself, so zealous for the law could mean that.

But it also could mean that they are really lovers of the law. They are in love with the law. They've friend-zoned Christ, but the law is the one whom they're really into. They've got the law's poster on their wall, and they go to sleep with it at night.

What is about to happen is going to clarify who it is who is truly believing in Christ and who those who like to think of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, but he's here to help me be all the more lawful.

And notice the rumors. They have been informed, James and the elders say to Paul, they have been informed. Well-placed sources report. Studies show, you know, sometimes what you hear through the grapevine is sour and rotten and not true.

The Anon accounts are complaining. They're saying, we've heard that you're out there amongst the Jews and Gentiles throughout Macedonia and throughout Asia, and when you preach, you say that the Jews who live among the Gentiles should unhitch themselves from Moses entirely, just give up on every single last aspect of Moses, and you are forbidden from doing anything that smells like Moses, looks like Moses, sounds like Moses.

This is the rumor that is being spread, and so when Paul shows up, he's a definite crowd draw because all of these Jews who are believing and zealous for the law are going to show up and they're going to want to confront Paul for being so unbiblical in his preaching.

What was actually going on? When Paul preached to the Gentiles, he preached to Jews as well. That happened all over the empire, in the synagogue first and also in the marketplace. So Jew and Gentile are getting the same instruction, the same preaching of the gospel, which, of course, emphasized the obsolescence of the old covenant.

It is obsolete. It is ready to pass away, and he preaches the supremacy of the new covenant. We're not going to put new wine into old wineskins, folks. We're going to have new wine in new wineskins. And just as Moses preached Christ, and as Christ said, listen to Moses, he proclaims me.

So also Paul preached Moses and showed how Moses proclaims Christ. If you want to check up on this, you can see that Paul keeps this custom all the way to the end of the book of Acts in Acts 28, the very last passage.

You're going to see Paul under house arrest preaching to Jews and Gentiles in Rome, preaching to them from the Old Testament, from Moses, and saying, behold, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the risen Son of the living God.

Trust in him. Paul is not saying to the Jews who live abroad, forsake Moses. He is not forbidding even circumcision and customs per se. He strongly warns against either Jew or Gentile relating to the laws and fixtures of the old covenant as their righteousness, as their eternal life, as their salvation before God.

Hey, if Jews wanted to circumcise their sons, if they wanted to feast on a regular basis, if they wanted to fast twice a week, if they wanted a Sabbath once a week, if they wanted to live out their rich heritage, have at it as a matter of conscience, but not one of salvation.

How are the Jews and Gentiles going to get along when they have such different customs? Well, that's what Romans 14 and 15 are for. How we bear with one another and accept one another in Christ. One man regards each day as the same.

Another one says this day is very special and sets it apart. How are we going to love one another? Bear with one another. This is what Paul taught. This is what Paul preached. But the rumor mill made it sound like Paul was going out and saying to the Jews who were abroad among the Gentiles, you must forsake Moses, unhitch yourself from Moses, have nothing to do with Moses.

Well, Paul, as this lightning rod arrives and controversy is beginning to stir, James and the elders are meeting with Paul and they can't go one meeting without saying, look, we're going to have to defuse this bomb.

We're going to have to get this lid off the pot before it boils over. We're going to have to turn down the heat. We've got a problem on our hands. Now, perhaps some amongst these zealous Jews would look at James and the elders meeting with Paul as a sign that James and the elders were compromisers, that even talking to Paul means that they are not to be trusted.

Perhaps some who were with Paul look at James and the elders and say, the fact that you even bring this up as an issue means that you don't really understand the gospel and what are we doing wasting our time with you here?

I would say beware ecumenical compromise 100 percent, and also beware of the kind of fundamentalist schismaticism which demands us for a no more communion or a frozen chosen.

Communion.

Far too often in the late 1900s, and especially recently, the mantra among the saints with too much internet on their hands is, the friend of my friend is my enemy, and so now I'm not too sure about my friend.

Now, notice the approach of James and the elders, what they suggest to Paul, what Paul agrees with and goes with. And I would say that their possible solution muddies the water, but Christ will clarify the water.

I would say that what we have in Acts 21 verses 23 through 26 is going to be the consistency of an Oklahoma catfish pond, but by the time we get through all of the fireworks, I think we'll have the clarity of an Oregon glacier lake.

First, the muddy waters, verses 23 to 26. 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 also 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, and from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

So 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, let's take this suggestion in love. Let's practice receiving this odd suggestion in love. What good is James and the elders? What are they trying to achieve here? We should think the best of them, think the best of Paul.

We don't have to approve of the rumors in basic support of the spiritual leadership.

Here.

What are they doing? They're trying to gain peace, and they don't see a way forward in just talking, but in some kind of practical, generous action that would catch the attention and diffuse the tension around the city.

So, Paul, why don't you help these four men who have taken a vow? Paul himself had taken a vow and gone to Jerusalem, we read about in Acts 18, and Paul was not against observing Jewish customs, though he would be the first to negate their saving value or even their sanctifying value.

So why would Paul even involve himself in stuff like this? Well, he says why he gets involved in stuff like this. 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 32, Paul says, Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, they may be saved.

So Paul says, okay, I'll bend over backwards. I'm in this to preach the gospel and see sinners saved. That's what he wants. Now, the elders and James, I think they know that nothing so immediately vaporizes misunderstanding like an act of kindness.

So Paul's free and loving actions towards these four men would certainly go a long way to unburdening all of this misunderstanding. Turn down the flame. It'll uncover the pot that won't boil over. This is going to work out well if you just show kindness in this way that shows that you are not anti-Moses.

Worst case scenario, worst case scenario is that James and the elders have begun to slip into a way of thinking that maintains a grace-eclipsing priority on the law for the Jews. And they clarify, yes, we're in agreement with the council back from chapter 15.

We're not going to ask Gentiles to do any kind of Jewish customs at all. But as far as the Jews go, they ought to be supported in their zealous adherence to the law as much as can be considered consistent with their faith in Christ.

Now, that's not exactly the wrong side's bolt, but I think it's cross-threaded, and I don't think any amount of leverage on that is going to make the situation any better. But perhaps if we had more time and could sit with James and the elders, we would see exactly what they're on about and see the good of it with all clarity.

Paul is willing to go along with this. He's very willing, very willing. His heart's desire and prayer to God was for Israel that they may be saved. He said, I am zealous for them. They are zealous for the law without understanding.

I'm zealous for them and for their salvation in Christ. In 1 Corinthians 9, he at length talks about what he's willing to do to minister to those who were brought up under the law, who consider themselves to be under the law, how Paul would say, okay, I'll come alongside you, and I'll live as under the law even though I'm not, and I will live under the law just like you so that I can preach the gospel to you too.

He was willing to do this. As much as it was possible, Paul was willing to live at peace with all men, as Hebrews 12 says. But there was something that James and Paul and the elders missed. If it was a matter of mere misunderstanding, their course of action is very good.

And yet, this was not mere misunderstanding. Yes, misunderstanding was involved, but this is not mere misunderstanding. This was spiritual warfare. And no amount of loving actions or careful delineations are going to deter the diabolical sowing of discord among the brethren.

Spiritual forces of darkness had captured the heavenly places. The demons were in the temple, and they were diabolically opposed to Christ. They were raging against Christ. They were murdering the saints.

They were drinking the blood of the saints. And so there was no manner of clarification that was ever going to make this make sense. Paul had many enemies in Jerusalem because Christ had many enemies there.

Wolves from without and from within were at work. And at some level, it's not really important that we deconstruct the diabolical and know every move that they made. In our toddling obedience to Christ, skinned knees come along with increased understanding and strength.

And we can trust as the children of a heavenly Father, we can trust that God is shepherding all of the elements and events, all of the people and predicaments into the fold of His.

Glory.

I will say this. I don't think that I would do as Paul did. I think he far outclasses me in grace and humility and kindness. Do you see that he goes the extra mile for his enemies? He goes an extra three or four miles for his enemies.

Imagine this. He hears all of these rumors from overly sensitive, sheltered Jewish believers who haven't stepped a Sabbath mile from the temple to preach Christ to any Gentile ever, and he's supposed to pony up for four vows and spend a week publicly serving, demonstrating to all these hypercritical eyes that he's Jewish enough for their tastes.

Oh, I'm out. I'm not doing that.

Like, no.

I'll cite, I'm not a fearer of man, and I'll say I'm more spiritually mature than that.

I'm out.

But Paul doesn't do that. And to add to that, Paul's been warned by the Spirit repeatedly all over and over again throughout this entire last half of the third missionary journey. He's been warned in every city he comes to by the Spirit how the Jews are going to treat.

Him.

They're going to abuse him. They're going to cause him suffering. They're going to hand him over to the Roman authorities. And then you have all of the past history of how the Jews have treated Paul. I was in Paul's shoes.

I don't see me going with his plan. And what that does is that puts me into a mindset ready to critique James and Paul and the elders, because I get to see the whole story. I see fallout. I see pain and suffering.

I see failure. And then I can lean back in my armchair and say, well, if I were the coach, I wouldn't have called that play, which is a signal that more humility is needed. It is the humility of Christ that we find so absolutely essential for our communion, that this mind should be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, that he did not consider his own interests above the interests of others, but he laid down his own life for us.

He took upon the person of God the Son, took upon humanity in full, humbling himself to the point of death, even on the cross. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so what Paul did was very humble, what Paul did was very sacrificial, and even though it didn't get close to the amount of humility and sacrifice of Christ, it was certainly of the mind of Christ.

Well, for the sake of peace, are we willing to pay some costs? Yes, but what about the killing of truth in the streets? What if it costs that? This, of course, is attempted, the killing of truth in the streets is attempted in broad daylight, right here in Acts 21 verses 27 through 40.

The False Accusation Against Paul in the Temple

So notice the false accusation in verses 27 through 30. 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 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. Notice that Paul's opponents from Asia, probably from Ephesus most likely since they recognized Trophimus, they turn into holy berserkers and get the entire Jewish crowd.

And how many of those amongst this crowd constitute the myriads of Jewish believers? Not clear whether they're Christians or not. All of them get stirred up. And if you're wondering how a crowd like this could get stirred up that fast, it's because it had to do with their big, stone, gold-covered idol called the temple.

This was the most precious artifact of their worship. This was their big, fat, golden idol, and they worshiped the temple. And if you ever spoke against the temple, they'd kill you. For a word against the temple, they killed Jesus of Nazareth.

For a word against the temple, they killed Stephen, the deacon. And for a word, a supposed word against the temple, they are ready to kill Paul. It's an easy lie, very easy. They had seen Trophimus with Paul in Jerusalem.

They knew this Gentile from Ephesus. For them, the dividing wall was still up in the old covenant temple. No Gentiles allowed. Do you remember what Paul wrote to the Ephesians? The dividing wall is broken down in Christ.

We have a new covenant temple, one made with living stones, and built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles with Christ as the cornerstone. And those who were far off have been brought near, and we have communion together, oneness in Christ, oneness in the Spirit.

That's the kind of communion Christ wants us to have. But this was an easy lie to tell to these Jews, and they were easily deceived. All the people of the city run together. The temple had been desecrated.

Oh, they have to act. This lie was so easily disproven. All you have to say is, oh, really? Where is Trophimus? Oh, I don't see him. You say that we've defiled the temple because we brought a Gentile in here?

Could you point him out to me, please? But it didn't matter. This lie was not about an actual offense. It was about activating offense. It wasn't about a misunderstanding. This was malice. And so they drag Paul out of the temple, and immediately the doors are shut.

Imagine, after all these humble concessions, all that careful labor unto peace, all for naught, Paul is dragged out of the temple. They slam the doors. They cast out Paul the heretic and say, you are no longer welcome here.

Silly Sadducees. Paul is a living stone in the true temple. And so it doesn't matter how far you throw him or how hard you beat him. You'll never get him away from Christ, and you'll never get Christ away from him.

But notice their frenzied anger. Verses 31 through 36,. Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Another day, another Jewish riot.

I imagine him as a very old, tired cop who says, oh, here we go again. They actually had to put the garrison of soldiers next to the temple because all the riots seemed to happen there. He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them.

They got to run downhill from where their fortress is. And they run down to the riot. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. So this is their response. They're just going to beat Paul to death.

Verse 33,.

But 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 one thing,.

And some another.

That reminds you of Jesus' trial. So when they 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!

That's all the anger without actual understanding. You know that just getting riled up doesn't equal righteousness. And in fact, it usually doesn't mean righteousness. The wrath of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

And that anger is like alcohol, hard to manage and hold well without it taking over and sweeping you away. And yet we remember there was another time when the temple was in an uproar and anger was involved.

But Christ has always held his wine. Shiloh has never had a problem with too much wine or too much anger. In all righteousness, he had cleansed this very same temple and warned them of a judgment to come and they still are not listening.

At the very last, we should note this because it sets us up for the next story, the next chapter of the story, Paul's testimony. But notice verses 37 through 40. 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 came some time ago,.

Stirred up a rebellion,.

And then led 4 ,000 assassins out into the wilderness? But Paul said, I'm 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 motioned with his hand to the people, and when there was great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying, Now, this cop is eager to close the case and put away an outstanding security issue.

Everyone seems to want Paul dead, so if he executes him as this Egyptian insurgent, then he'll make all the people happy, and then he can report to his superiors that he solved the case. So it's going to work out great for him.

But then all of a sudden, Paul starts speaking, and he's got like three or four languages that he's talking in, and the centurion knows, okay, the commander knows, this is not who I thought it was.

Paul says,.

I'm a citizen, and that means a great deal in the Roman Empire. Paul was not shy of talking about his citizenship and using it to the fullness of its potential to serve Christ.

And so,.

The Roman commander gives preference, deference to Paul,.

And says,.

Okay, you can speak freely. And what Paul was not allowed to do during the Ephesian riot, he gets to do here in the Jerusalem riot, and he addresses those who are murderously angry at him. And again, just think about this.

Paul was just mobbed, he was dragged and beaten by a bunch of wild Templeites who were riled up by zany false claims that he dared insinuate something bad about the Temple, that somehow something icky got close to their big golden idol and they're ready to kill him for it.

And now,.

Paul is imploring the commander to just be allowed to preach the gospel.

To these people who hate him.

So I hope that you see that truth remains in the street. Truth remains in the streets. It even remains in a street fight.