The Word Made Plain

Narrator: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 21, verses 26 through 32.

Tony Clark: Acts chapter 21, looking at verses 26 to 32. And Father, we are so grateful that we can still get your word out. No matter what, Lord, you have allowed for technology, Lord, to take your word around the world. And so, God, I pray that this word would do just that. That it will do all that you desire for it to do today in our lives and in our hearts. So speak to us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Acts 21, looking at verses 26 to 32. The title of this message is "Making Peace, Part Two." Making Peace, Part Two.

Now, in part one of this study, we saw the great lengths the great Apostle Paul went through to make peace with some Jewish Christians. They heard through some rumors that Paul was telling Jews around the world to forsake the Law of Moses and that they no longer needed to circumcise their children, which was considered blasphemy in this particular time, according to verse 21.

The church in Jerusalem told Paul to take four men in verse 24 and be purified with them and to pay their expenses. This would show the Jewish Christians that those rumors about him aren't true and that he walked orderly and kept the law as well.

So, did Paul submit to this, or did he just say, "Man, get out of here with that stuff"? Well, we pick up the story in verse 26. Look what it says there. 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.

So, as we can see, Paul agreed to listen and obey what the leaders in the Jerusalem church told him to do. He took the four men and was purified with them. This says a lot about the great Apostle Paul because he didn't have to do this, but just like he would later say in First Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 20, he says, "To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews."

Paul knew that going through this purification would not violate his conscious nor violate God's word in his life, so he did it. He was thinking, "If I have to do this to bring peace between me and these Jewish Christians believing these rumors about me, then I will do it." Why, Paul? Because Paul will say, "Because I want to see them saved."

Now, this whole concept is referring to removing any barriers or walls that people have up that will keep them from accepting Jesus Christ. Whether you believe it or not, there are a lot of people in your life and my life that they have certain walls that they have up that's keeping them from Jesus Christ. And this is referring to jumping over walls or jumping through hoops in order to see people come to know Jesus Christ.

And I just have to ask us, what are you willing to do to see people saved? I'm not talking about violating our conscience or disobeying the clear teaching of God's word. In other words, do we have a heart to see people get saved to the point where we are willing to go to great lengths, remove any barriers, jump through any hoops to see them saved? Oh, this was the heart of Paul. This was his heart for sure.

The end of verse 26 said that an offering should be offered for each one of them, which marked the end of their seven-day purification process. Now, we know that Paul would not submit to offering up a sin offering when he would clearly write later on to the church in Rome, in Romans chapter 10 and verse 4, which says, "Christ was the end of the law to everyone who believes."

He probably offered up the peace offering or offered up a consecration offering, which speaks of having fellowship with God. We know that Jesus was the fulfillment of all of these offerings when he died for us on Calvary's cross in order for us to have peace with God. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death." So, we're all born into sin, so we're all separated from God.

So the cross, Jesus paying the price for our sin on Calvary's cross, brought peace between us and God, because the wages of sin is death. Jesus paid the price for our sin. Therefore, now because of the cross, we have peace with God. So, with this in mind, do you have peace with God today? Are you far from God? Listen to me out there, are you far from God?

You can have peace with God through the cross of Jesus Christ. This is what Romans 5:1 says, "That therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Or because of Jesus going to the cross, paying the price for our sin. That should have been us on Calvary's cross. He paid the price for our sin.

Now, because of that substitutionary death of Christ on the cross, we can have peace with God when we repent of our sins and accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are justified. That word "justified" was a judicial term. It means to be declared innocent. So, because of what Jesus went through for us on Calvary's cross, we have been declared innocent before a just and holy God.

If you don't know or not sure, you can pray a prayer at the end of this message to make sure that you have peace with God today. And maybe you're here, maybe you're out there, and you have peace with God. You're like, "Hey, I got a relationship with the Lord." But watch this. But you're not experiencing the peace of God.

Philippians 4:6 and 7 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." And here it is, verse 7, "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." I just want to just to ask you this simple question, because it can happen to any of us, especially during the crisis time that we're in right now.

Have you allowed worry to rob you of the peace of God? See, when worry comes in the front door, the peace of God goes out the back door. Normally, worry comes as a result of a lack of prayer, according to these verses. Verse 6 says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer."

So, when worry comes in the front door, prayer goes out the back door. In other words, worry comes in our hearts as a result of a lack of prayer. We can't worry and pray at the same time. We cannot worry and be in prayer. Nope. When we are praying, we're not worried. You can't have both. Worry comes in the front door, prayer goes out the back door. And this is very clear in the pages of Scripture.

This verse says, "When we pray, the peace of God would act as a garrison around our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." This word, it was a it was a military word. It means to to it was to set a garrison, a protection. So, when we are in prayer, God will allow the peace of God to be to surround our hearts to keep worry from coming in, to to keep fretting from coming in.

It will set a garrison around our hearts, and we will have a peace that the world didn't give us, and the world can't take it away. We will have that peace guarding our hearts. Notice, notice, it will bypass our minds. It says it says, "Be anxious for nothing, but everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and mind."

You will not realize why it is that you have a peace when your mind is freaking out. You will have that peace because you're a person of prayer. Even though you don't understand it, you're a person of prayer and you know that God is on the throne. God is in control, that he's going to take care of you. And so here that peace of God surrounding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So, most likely the offering Paul offered up was a peace offering or the consecration offering. Now, the real question is, did this appease the Jewish Christians Paul was trying to make peace with? Well, look at verses 27 to 29. It says, "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 has 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." As we can see from verse 27, after the seven days of purification had ended, the Jews from Asia, and we know that that is modern-day Turkey, who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, saw Paul in the temple with these four men he was purified with.

They stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him as if to make a citizen's arrest. And we know that these Jews were from the city of Ephesus, that Paul spent three years ministering in that particular city. We know from verse 29 that they were from Ephesus because Paul's traveling companion at the time was a man by the name of Trophimus, who was from Ephesus, and these folks who stirred up the crowd, they recognized Trophimus.

So, this shows us that they were from the city of Ephesus. They stirred up the crowd by crying out in verse 28, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place." These were some very serious charges against Paul. They said, "Number one, Paul was anti-Semitic." They said, "He spoke against us as a people."

Then he said, "Number two, that he spoke against the law," referring to the Law of Moses. And finally, they said, "Number three, he spoke negatively about this place," referring to the temple. These were serious charges in the Jewish community, but they were false, they were only rumors. We could say today that all of this was fake news. That's what we would term all this today.

And Paul didn't do any of these things, but these were the rumors circulating throughout the Jewish community about him. Oh, let me just pause and just say this, we can't stop what rumors are said about us. But we can control how we respond to them. If you know that the rumors aren't true, then allow the Lord to vindicate you. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, like Exodus 14:13 says.

Allow the Lord to fight your battles. This is hard. This is oh, this is so hard to do because you want to defend yourself. It's tough. You want to defend yourself, and allowing the Lord to fight your battles is tough. The reason why I say it's tough is because sometimes we think God is taking too long. And that we can do it a little bit faster than he can. We can search it down a little bit better.

Allow the Lord to fight your battle. Stop trying to chase down every rumor and who said what and when. You will spend all of your time trying to get to the bottom of who started the rumor about you. And especially with social media, oh, you trying to chase all that down? Oh, good luck with that. Because you will be all day, all night, constantly chasing down, and it's gone viral now.

You don't know where it started. And hey, let me tell you, allow the Lord to fight your battles. Then they accused Paul of defiling the temple by bringing a Greek into it. See, the Gentiles, or non-Jews, were allowed in the temple in that part of the temple designated the Court of the Gentiles. Luke, the author, gives us a parenthetical phrase in verse 29 to give further clarification on these false claims.

They had previously seen Trophimus with Paul in the city, whom they supposed that Paul brought into the temple. However, even if he did, let's just say Paul did, Trophimus was allowed in the temple in the Court of the Gentiles. See, there is nothing worse. Please hear me, hear me when I say this. There is nothing worse, and this is for people who've been walking with the Lord a little while.

There is nothing worse than a religious, critical, judgmental spirit. There's nothing worse. This is Jesus had his harshest words to say to the religious leaders of his day, those who were critical, religious, judgmental spirit, where we're upset when we see a Trophimus at church. Someone who is an unbeliever.

Woe be unto us when we're upset when we see anyone we don't like at church. Someone from another race. If you got that in your heart, listen to me, if you got that in your heart, that's even worse. The Jewish people were just like this. That if you got some kind of issue because someone is not the hue of color of skin than you are, you got some major issues. Major problems.

And you'll be critical, you'll be judgmental about that sort of thing. See, please, please be careful of this kind of spirit. Greeks or unbelievers were allowed to go to the temple, but because of the Jews' hatred for non-Jews, put it this way, by the time Jesus came on the scene, the Jews hated non-Jews so much that they said the only purpose of Gentiles, non-Jews, were to keep the flames of hell burning.

They despised non-Jews that much, and that they were appalled to even see anyone that was a Greek near the temple, let alone in the temple. Beware if you see an ex-spouse, an old friend, an old boss come to this church when we gather together again. Woe be unto you. If you have this kind of spirit. If your heart is like this, then you're no different than these Jews who were trying to stir up the crowd against Paul.

Calling up folks, "Girl, you'll never believe who was at church today." Hey, we we deal with that kind of spirit. That is a religious, critical, judgmental, satanic spirit. I'm telling you, we're going to see all kinds of folks flood into the church when all of this is over. And woe be unto us, sinful. We come, "Oh, somebody was in my seat," or, "Can you believe who showed up?"

"They they should have been there, or I'm surprised the roof didn't cave in." Hey, watch yourself. Watch yourself if that's you. If that's your kind of heart, I'm telling you, you better get it right before we all begin to gather together again, because this is how they were in this particular time.

Look at verses 30 to 32. 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.

Now, not only did this group stir up those in the temple, but it spread quickly to the point where verse 30 says, "And all the city was disturbed and in a mob mentality ran together, seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the temple guards, which consist of the Levites, immediately closed the doors." They didn't want this mob to kill Paul in the temple and thus defile it.

Oh, but it was okay for them to kill Paul right outside the temple, as long as the doors were closed. Oh, what what hypocrisy we have here. But but there's something else I would like to draw to your attention and that is, once they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, the last part of verse 30 says, "Immediately the doors were shut."

Let me just talk to us for a few minutes here. Sometimes we must realize, recognize, and here's the last part, and accept when the doors are shut for us to do a certain thing. You protest and say, "But Pastor Tony, I want to do it so bad." We need to pray that God will give us eyes to see when the doors are shut. Revelation 3:7 and 8 says, "God opens up doors no man can shut, and he shuts doors no man can open."

When the door is shut on a particular job, when the door is shut on a particular position or relationship, stop trying to kick the door down. Realize that this chapter in your life is over and move on. Somebody out there needs to hear that. Somebody needs to hear that. The door is closed. So move on.

I had to do this in my own life. I wasn't even going to share this. I had to do this in my own life. When I came here over 26 years ago, I longed to go back to California. Longed to. I mean palm trees, you know, sunshine, beaches. You know, it was just oh, it was nothing like where I grew up. And I longed to go back.

It took 12 to 15 years. Each year I would go back for a pastor's conference or gathering. I would just say, "Oh, look at this sunshine, this weather. Oh, it was so good. I wish I was back here." You know, back in Virginia, they're freezing, and I got this sunshine. Look at these blue skies and the and the water. Oh, this is just so great.

And the Lord finally had to say, "Stop. Quit fooling around. This door's shut. You ain't coming back." "What what what what are you talking about?" "You ain't coming back." "What?" "You can come back to visit, but you ain't coming back." And I had to realize that that door was shut. It took 12 to 15 years for me to realize that door was shut. That door was shut.

And I had to settle it in my heart that that chapter of my life, no matter how good it was, is over. That I've been here now 26 years. That door is shut. Somebody needs to hear that today. That door is shut. That person, he or she has moved on. There's no need to mourn over that. It's it's enough. That that door's shut.

That door is shut. That position is gone. That job, that opportunity is not it's not there anymore. Let it go. Let it go. We sometimes we we we we like to stew in our own stuff when God is saying, "That's done." Give it a proper burial and move on. And somebody needs to hear that today. The door's shut.

Paul had to realize this. You know what Paul had to realize this? Because no matter what, Paul wanted to reach his people. He wanted to reach the Jewish people. And yes, in in in Acts chapter 9, it talks about how he'll be a witness to the nation of Israel. But see, he had to realize, God had called him to reach the Gentiles. And he wanted to reach the Jews so much.

He said, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel that they might be saved." He said, "I wish that I was cut off. I was accursed," is that Greek word for accursed. "If it will mean that my people would be saved." But every time he tried to go after his people, there was a riot. A mob tried to kill him. He had to be chased out. He had to be snuck out by nighttime.

Every time. Paul wanted to be the apostle to the Jews. And God said, "I will let you witness to them." But Peter is going to be the apostle to the Jews. I'm going to send you to the Gentiles. Paul, I know he protested and said, "God, I was a Pharisee. They know I used to persecute and kill Christians. I need to be an apostle to the Jews."

And every time he tried to be an apostle to the Jews, then just being a witness to the Jews, there was a riot that broke out. They tried to kill him. They tried they did what they can to do away with such a man. They constantly plotted to take his life. And he had to realize, he had to come to a place where the Lord had to speak to him in a in a vision, in a trance, and say, "Hey, look here, bro."

"They're not going to receive your testimony. So it's time for you to go and be what you're called to be, what I've called you to be, which is an apostle to the Gentiles." And I'm telling you, I know that Paul was bummed about it, but he had to realize that door was closed. Not only was it closed literally as they drugged him out of the temple, and they closed the doors, but the door for him to be an apostle to the Jews.

That door's closed. He he he was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles. Now, once the crazy mob was outside the temple, it was Rome's responsibility to get involved. Verse 31 says, "As they were seeking to kill him," referring to Paul, "God intervenes by allowing the news to come to the ears of the commander." We know from Acts 23 and verse 26 that the commander was Claudius Lysias.

Now, commander comes from a Greek word, chiliarchos, which means a thousand. So, he was a commander of a Roman cohort, which consisted of a thousand soldiers. He was told that the whole city was in an uproar. So, the commander in verse 32 immediately took soldiers and centurions. Centurions were captains or leaders over 100 soldiers.

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