Paul's Final Journey to Jerusalem

[00:00:00] Let's go to acts, chapter 21. [00:00:05] Acts, chapter 21. [00:00:11] We will read verses one through verse number 16 tonight. [00:00:24] Acts, chapter 21, verse number 16. This is Paul's final journey toward Jerusalem. [00:00:34] In Jerusalem, Paul will be arrested, he will be turned over to the roman government, the roman powers, and he will be sent to Rome, where he will spend the rest of his days. [00:00:47] Verse one. The Bible says, and it came to pass that after we were gotten from them and had launched, we came with a straight course unto cosmos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence to Petara. And finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia, we went aboard and set forth. Now, when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand and sailed into Syria and landed at Tyre. [00:01:13] And there the ship was to unlaid her burden. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days. Who said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And when he had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way. And they all brought us on our way with wives and children, till we were out of the city and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed. And when we had taken our leave of one of another, we took ship, and they returned home again. [00:01:43] And when we had finished our course from Tyre we came to Ptolemais and saluted the brethren and abode with them one day. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea. And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him that he that besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the will of the Lord be done. [00:02:55] After those days we took up our carriages and went up to Jerusalem. There there went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea and brought with them one nason of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should lodge. Let's pray together. [00:03:14] Father, we thank you, first of all, thank you for your word and the treasures that are in it, Lord, the things that can help us. Lord, we have no idea how you might use these things in our life in the future and why we need them. And these examples that you've recorded permanently in the scripture for us, Lord. But they are here for a reason. And so, Lord, we're going to give our attention to it with your help. And we ask that as we commit this time to you, that you would truly work in our hearts and instruct us and teach us your ways. Help me, Lord, to know what to say to your people and how to say it. Help your people, Lord, all of us to receive with meekness the engrafted word in Jesus name. Amen. So Paul's on his way. And what you see is as he makes his way by ship from where he is speaking to the ephesian elders in chapter, chapter 20, he's on his way. And now that's in the area of what is now Turkey, but he's following the coast now going toward Jerusalem. And notice, the first thing I want you to notice as we get to what I want to say a little bit later is notice what Paul does at each stop. At each stop, if you look at verse number four, the Bible says they landed at Tyre. [00:04:34] And the Bible says, and finding disciples, we tarried with them seven days. [00:04:39] And then you drop down to verse number seven. [00:04:43] They came to, from Tyre to Ptolemais, and they saluted the brethren and abode with them one day. And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea. So this is the third place they've been. And we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist went, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. You notice at each stop, Paul made it a point to find the people of God. [00:05:14] In other words, when I know this is not a vacation, but when Paul's taking a vacation, he's not looking for a way to get away from God, but in fact, he's seeking out the people of God in the various places that he's going to. And I appreciate Brother Vernon and his wife and all of you know this, but whenever they go to Hunting island, they go there regularly. It's like clockwork, right? They have a place. They go. They like going there, right? But they have a place. They go where they get. They. They go see the people of God. And those people know them by now, I'm sure, right? They know who they are. So. Oh, there comes that old deacon causing trouble. No, but they go there. And because the people of God is not. Look, the church is not something we're trying to get away from. [00:05:57] It's something we're trying to get into, trying to get with. And listen, the work of God is not just about this church. [00:06:05] The work of God is far bigger than just this church. [00:06:08] And I, for 01:00 a.m. Thankful to God that there are people of God and sometimes people of God, of different groups and denominations and such that I would not agree with on some points. But I'm glad that there are people of God, children of God, that are serving God and trying to live for God and in other places as well. And it's a blessing to me. And Paul made sure that he stopped by and he saw the people of God on his journey. You know, you would do well when you travel to make sure that you go, you find a church you can stop in at. It will bless you. [00:06:47] It will bless you. Why? Because you stay here. We're all here week in, week out, week in, week out. And we, we don't ever, you know, because we're here and this is where we live and this is our church. We don't see other churches and we don't see the people of God in other places. But by seeing them, it broadens our perspective of what the Lord is doing in other places. And it's really helpful as missionaries traveling to different places. We'll have missionaries come this week, and you know what they'll do? They'll see a church in Greenville, and they'll meet you and they'll get to know you, hopefully. And they'll learn, hey, and they'll be blessed by knowing, hey, there's a group of people there that love God, children of God there. And you know what? I'm glad to have met them. [00:07:34] And it's a great blessing. But, you know, there's another point that this, this reminds us of is that there's a certain, if I might say it like this, a universality of the children of God in every place. And those of you that have traveled, especially having traveled into other countries, you see people with whom you have immediate kinship when you meet the people of God there, even if you can't understand each other. But all you got to do, listen, all you got to do when you meet those people is come down to one point, who is five, Jesus and what do you do for us? [00:08:13] It's really that simple. And you'll find people. And of course, in Cambodia and in Bulgaria and in all, you know, in China there's people like that. In Korea, there's people like that. There are people like that all over the world who say, hey, we know who Jesus is and we're trusting in Jesus and what he did for us. And that will bring you, and it will bring them rejoicing, because there is an immediate connection between ourselves and those people. In fact, doctrinally speaking, this truth is evidence. It's a practical proof of the doctrinal reality that we all, all of the children of God, all of the world have the spirit of God in us. Because we have the spirit of God. We are one body of Christ. That's what Ephesians says, right? And because we're the one body of Christ, we're one family. [00:09:08] That's why when you go to those places and you meet those people, you rejoice. And they rejoice because you have met your brother and your sister in Christ, even if in every other way you are different. [00:09:21] But you know what? To put a little zinger on the end. This is only true if those people that you meet, and of course, you yourself are true children of God. [00:09:40] Not just playing church. I want to tell you something. [00:09:43] Some churches are filled with people who just play in church. I'm just. Be honest with you. They're filled with people just playing. They're just members. [00:09:50] It is not an essential part of their life. They go and it's a social thing or whatever. Whatever their motives are, I can't speak to that. [00:09:59] It's not integral to who they are and their faith. They're just playing. It's part of society. It's part of being a good member of society, kind of going your church, doing your thing, making your appearance. But there is no, like, connection. And a large part of the reason of that is they're just playing church. There's nothing there. [00:10:19] And that's what I'm saying here is not true in that case. And I've been around some. I've been around some like that, and that's cold, dead. It is unfriendly. That connection is not immediately there, but this here is a proof of the. Of the truth of the spirit of God who indwells each and every one of us. And spiritually there is a connection between us. Look at verse number five. [00:10:47] And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way. And they brought, they all brought us on our way with wives and children till we were out of the city and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed. You know, this is a minor detail in this story. Why did the Lord tell us that the husbands, wives and children accompany Paul to the ship? You know, many times in the Bible, the Lord doesn't give us those details. He just hurries on through the story to get to the main point. But here the Lord intentionally adds these details. [00:11:29] This is. Did you know this is the first time that children in the church are mentioned in the book of acts? [00:11:38] In fact, in the New Testament, as far as the church is concerned, this is the first time children are mentioned. [00:11:45] Maybe this is a reminder to us as husbands, as parents, to include our family in the service of God and to not leave them out, because we all know, many of you, you know, meet our parents or have been parents or you're still parents, but you know what I'm saying. You have kids that are grown or whatnot. [00:12:09] When you have little kids in tow, and even as. Even a wife, you know, as a husband, you know, a wife, with each person you bring along with you, there's a certain kind of. It gets more cumbersome and difficult and expensive, right? You want to go out to eat. You can't just go out to eat. What was once $10 is now $60. For my family, it's knocking on $100 just for them going. Just for them going out to eat. But listen, in the service of God, we need to make sure that we don't leave our families out of it because the investment in them is worth the return. [00:12:47] And sometimes, as husbands in particular, husbands tend to want to do things on their own and not include their families. [00:12:57] But listen, we know this is true. But, you know, you have the three main institutions that God has instituted, right? You have the family. That's first. Then you have the government, and then you have the church, right? Those are the three institutions. [00:13:13] The family was the first that was instituted. And really, the church is built upon that foundation, that foundation. We should be as much as possible serving the Lord together with our kids. We should not be leaving our families out of our service to the Lord where it's possible. It is that important? [00:13:35] It's that important. Yes. It is difficult and cumbersome to take the wife and kids. And like these people did, they brought them out. They left town. They went to where the ships were, all of them in tow. They're probably scraping their knee and falling down and, you know, getting muddy and messing up their clothes. And, you know, they probably had to stop and feed them and all these things. But listen, it was worth it so that they could kneel down with the apostle Paul. I mean, at this point, he's very well known. And they could make that impact upon their kids in something as important as this matter of their spiritual walk with the Lord. [00:14:16] And you see Paul's practice to kneel down and pray with those from whom he was departing. Look at acts 20 right there. Probably on the same page in your Bible, acts 2036. He did the same thing with the ephesian elders. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. [00:14:33] This was a public Christianity. Listen, this is on the beach. Everybody can see it's not in a room, not in, not in a church building, not under a pavilion, not out in the woods hiding from everybody. This is publicly in a society that is not necessarily friendly to them. And here they are kneeling down, praying in front of everybody. Would that embarrass you? [00:14:55] We were out in evangelism and we met Christine. [00:14:59] I like Christine. I like Christine. Little short, skinny lady. [00:15:06] What church did she go to? Somebody remind me. [00:15:10] Anyway, whatever it was, she said that she lives almost a stone's throw from what used to be the watch. The kingdom hall in Berea there. Y'all know where I'm talking about. If you've lived in Berea any length of time, you know where the kingdom hall is. [00:15:24] And she said that when they would have special meetings that she would go down to the kingdom hall and put gospel tracts in all the cars by herself. Little, short, skinny lady. She was pretty feisty. [00:15:38] But you know what she asked us to do? [00:15:40] She asked us to stand in her driveway and hold hands and pray together before we left. [00:15:48] What would people think? They'll probably think you're praying. [00:15:53] This is what they were doing. It's biblical. It's absolutely biblical. Now, we didn't kneel, but we could have done that. [00:15:59] What was interesting is because of that apparently there's some Jehovah's witnesses that live right near to them on that same street. And they get visits from the Jehovah's witnesses twice a month. [00:16:11] Twice a month. [00:16:14] I thought it was crazy, but she's done her part now it's shut down. So, you know, they have the masonic lives there now. [00:16:20] Anyway, this was a public Christianity, an unashamed Christianity. Kneeling down on the beach and praying together. Didn't care who saw. And this is the way our Christianity should be. Look at verse number nine. [00:16:35] We get down or verse eight, rather. And the next day, we were of Paul's company, departed and came unto Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist. Now, this is not the evangelist that you might be thinking of. That would be more like a revivalist, somebody who preaches special meetings at churches. This man wasn't preaching in churches. This man was preaching out. He was evangelizing. That's what a biblical evangelist does. He gives the gospel to people that are not saved. And he was one of the seven. So not only was he an evangelist, he was also a deacon, one of the original deacons, with Stephen and the others there in the earlier part of acts. And so Paul stayed with Philip in Caesarea. And the same man, verse nine, had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. Now hold your finger here and go back to the book of Joel. [00:17:26] Joel, right at the end of your Old Testament. [00:17:32] Joel, chapter two. [00:17:34] And this, brother Ari, this relates to something we were talking about earlier or yesterday. [00:17:40] Joel, chapter two, verse 28, says this. Everybody find it having trouble? [00:18:00] Just put your finger in the search bar on your Bible and just type in Joel, and it'll pop right up. [00:18:08] Chapter two, verse 28. And it shall come to pass after. Now this is Paul's. This is a prophecy. [00:18:15] This is a prophecy. Okay. And it shall come to pass afterward that I, God speaking, will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh. [00:18:26] And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids. In those days will I pour out of my spirit. Notice that. I want you to note in these two verses the word all flesh. See that? [00:18:49] There's no. The Lord says he'll pour out of his spirit on everyone that is rich, poor, bond free, male, female. Notice that. [00:19:01] And then in the same verse it says, and your sons notice, and your daughters shall prophesy. [00:19:09] Verse 29 says, upon the servants and upon the handmaids, those are ladies. [00:19:15] In those days will I pour out of my spirit. So what you have here, this is the prophecy of the coming of the Holy spirit, which was fulfilled. [00:19:26] Come on now. Don't leave me hanging at Pentecost. Pentecost. Acts, chapter two. But notice, the Lord said he would pour out of his spirit a reference to the indwelling of the spirit of God. [00:19:39] Right. He would pour out of his spirit without any regard to the status of that person, whether they were a man or a woman, bond or free, rich, poor, whatever the king, down to the lowest servant, the Lord said he would pour out of his spirit upon all of them. You know what that does? That kind of sort of equalizes a certain thing. Especially. What I'm trying to say is, in this case, especially in this society, the original prophecy in Joel was given not only to the men, but also to the women. [00:20:16] The women. And to this day, you are, if you are a lady, you have the spirit of God just as much to the same degree is any man among us, and there is no difference. [00:20:29] You have the spirit of God. You are a child of God in full measure, just like any man. So in that way, there's no distinction that the Lord made. Now imagine in a time in which women in society were not considered equals. In that way, the Lord made a promise that they would be equals, that they would be equals, and this fact greatly elevated the status of women. Now, you might think I'm getting political here. I'm going, no, no, I just want you to listen. In a society where women, where women were not, in other words, this was not God's original plan. Now, sometimes you might look at the society in the Old Testament, and you might think, well, this is the way women were. Women were just like property or whatever chattel, you know, they were just property. No, it wasn't like that. The Lord did not intend that at all. And you see some high points and you see some low points, do you not? But just because it's recorded doesn't mean the Lord approves of, you know, men, you know, treating the ladies in their life just like nothing. [00:21:33] You see it. But that doesn't mean the Lord approved. In fact, God gave Adam his wife as a gift to him. It was a gift special made for Adam to be his companion, because without her, he was lacking something even in the way God made him. It is not good that man should be alone. Is that what it said? Right. [00:21:59] I have carpenter ants jumping all over this pool. Where are carpenter ants coming from? [00:22:05] It's like they're dive bombing the pulpit here. [00:22:12] So by the Lord giving his spirit to the ladies in the same measure as the men, he elevated their status. [00:22:19] Now, we know, I think this goes without saying among us. We know that in a family there are different roles. [00:22:27] In a church, there are certainly roles. [00:22:31] There's as far as a lady's place in teaching and those kinds of things. [00:22:38] But that's not what I'm talking about. Look at one more place. Look at Galatians chapter three, and then we'll be back in acts, chapter 21, Galatians chapter three, verse number 26 says this, for ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. See that for as many as of you as have been baptized into Christ, that's an operation of the spirit of God have put on Christ. There is neither jew nor greek, there is neither bond nor free. [00:23:30] There is neither male nor female. You see that, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Now, I know, I'm very aware that some people use those verses to throw out every other verse in the Bible that deals with women in authority in the church and women, their role in family and all those kinds of things. I know that's what they take those verses and they throw it. They just blind themselves and gouge their eyes out to every other verse in the Bible that deals with it. We don't do that. So when we see Philip and his four unmarried daughters, first of all, they're fulfilling the prophecy. Because in Joel chapter two, the Bible plainly says that the daughters would prophesy. [00:24:15] But that doesn't necessarily mean that there's a bunch of women preachers running around and, you know, with deep voices like you see on the tv. [00:24:24] That's not what's happening at all, but it is a prophecy. And it does demonstrate that they had a significant role in the work of God in some way. In what way? It just says they prophesied. But in what context, we don't know. [00:24:36] But they did have the spirit of God and that elevated their role and their importance in society. Who was it? Who was it that was chosen to first see the risen Christ? [00:24:54] It wasn't Peter and it wasn't John. It was a woman in a society, remember, in which a woman's testimony was not a legal testimony in a court of law. [00:25:07] And yet the Lord chose to reveal himself and to show himself alive to women. 1st. [00:25:15] 1st knowing full well it wasn't a legal thing. It wasn't legal at all, but it was indicative of what was coming with the spirit of God. And so now, as I said, we know there are different roles and responsibilities in the family and in the church, but as far as it concerns the body of Christ, as far as it concerns the children of God, there's no difference between a man and a woman. There's no difference in the measure of the spirit of God. [00:25:43] There's no difference at all. [00:25:48] Now let's continue here. [00:25:52] Verse number ten, we meet Agabus. [00:25:55] Agabus was a prophet who was mentioned prior in acts chapter eleven, verse number 28. And in acts eleven, Agabus prophesied. He foretold that there would be a famine. And in acts eleven, verse 28, the Bible says that his prophecy came to pass in the days of Claudius. [00:26:14] All right, what is that? What does that tell us? If Agabus gave a prophecy and then it came to pass, that tells us that Agabus is a what? [00:26:23] He's a true prophet. Right? He's a true prophet. [00:26:30] Now that's going to be important in just a minute. [00:26:34] Now, the last thing I want to get into before I conclude is this question, because in acts chapter 20, the first part of acts chapter 20, the most significant part of this is this question, was Paul out of God's will when he persisted to go to Jerusalem despite the warnings he was given? [00:26:59] That's an important question. Let's look at that very quickly. [00:27:03] Remember Agabus, though. Don't forget Agabus. [00:27:08] Verse number four. [00:27:09] And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through the spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem. [00:27:21] See that? So there's one case where God, by divine inspiration, by inspiration, God says to God records in the scripture that when they told him, do not go up to Jerusalem, it was not they speaking. It was not their, their words of these people in the church here, but it was the spirit of God telling him directly not to go. [00:27:44] Okay, then go down to verse number, verse number eleven. Speaking of Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle. That's basically a sign, and bound his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost. Now, at this moment is Agabus speaking his own words. [00:28:05] Help me now. Help me now. [00:28:07] Whenever a prophet of God prefixes what he says with thus saith the Lord, it is no longer his words. It's the words of the Lord. Or else he's a false prophet. But Agabus is not a false prophet because he's already demonstrated that he, that his prophecies come true, making him a true prophet. Thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver him into the hands of the gentiles. [00:28:33] All right, so you have that point. Number two. Agabus by the mouth of the Lord tells Paul that he will be arrested and turned over to the Romans. Verse twelve. [00:28:47] Then you have the church piping in. And when we heard these things both, we listen. Now, that's the people traveling with Paul. That's Luke. Notice we. That's first person plural. That is, including Luke himself. [00:29:02] Right. [00:29:03] Who's the writer? [00:29:05] Both we and they of that place, that's the church where they are, besought him that not to go up to Jerusalem. And Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? So you see, not only did they beg Paul, please don't go to Jerusalem, having heard what Agabus said, please don't go to Jerusalem. They're crying. [00:29:27] They're crying for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem. For the name of the Lord Jesus. [00:29:40] Now notice, it seems evident from the scriptures that the Lord was telling Paul not to do as he intended to do. Right. I think that's pretty clear. [00:29:59] It seems very plain. [00:30:01] They spoke through the spirit. In verse four, a true prophet Agabus was speaking from the mouth of the Lord when he said, thus saith the Holy Ghost. And number three, the people of God were also urging him not to go. So their perception of the matter was, Paul, you're doing the wrong thing. Stop, please. Not only that, it wasn't just about him doing the will of God that they were concerned with. They were actually personally concerned with his own welfare, his safety. [00:30:28] To the point they were weeping, begging him not to go. [00:30:33] Those are three powerful indicators that what Paul is trying to do is not what the Lord wants him to do. [00:30:41] That's interesting. So the apostle Paul was doing something the Lord did not want him to do. [00:30:48] Not only that, it is also perfectly clear that when Paul persisted in going to Jerusalem, he did so. Now, this is another zinger. He persisted in going to Jerusalem with the highest and purest of intentions. [00:31:08] That's what you see in verse 13, the reason he's going, why is Paul going to Jerusalem? [00:31:14] Somebody help me. Why is he going? Why is he persisting despite this opposition? [00:31:22] Wonder? Well, that's one. But that's not the primary reason. What's the primary reason? [00:31:29] He had one primary goal. He wanted to give the gospel to the Jews. That was in his heart, that was driving him. And Paul probably took these warnings that we read in verse four and from Agabus here as not as warnings, but as simply an indication of what was to come. And so his answer was, fine, I'm good with that. I've lived half my life in jail anyway, rather than a prohibition. [00:32:02] So listen, now hear me think about this. This is unusual. [00:32:07] Can someone do something that is not as the Lord is directing them, but do so with the best of intentions? [00:32:20] Apparently that's what Paul is doing. [00:32:26] Now, in this case, who is right? [00:32:33] Hmm, well, the Lord is right, obviously. Good spiritual answer. [00:32:39] I think the church is right. [00:32:41] I think Paul's mistaken. [00:32:44] I think that's evident. [00:32:49] But here's another couple points to think about. The matter of his going up to Jerusalem did not involve any violation of scripture. [00:32:58] Think about it. [00:32:59] Had it involved any violation of scripture, this would have been a completely different conversation. [00:33:05] Right? Because scripture is supreme. [00:33:08] But beyond that, in cases where the scripture is not in question, right. Then, now we're dealing with a matter of personal and individual direction of the Lord. And you know what? That is somewhat subjective, is it not? How you. And how I perceive and understand the will of God for our lives? And this decision and that decision, that is something that is very difficult for me to tell you about, a specific individual, personal decision that you have assuming the scripture's not being violated. [00:33:41] Now, there are things, and, you know, there's all kinds of principles that go into that, but there is some subjectivity to that fact. [00:33:53] So we have to keep in mind that this disagreement between Paul and the churches here is not a matter of scripture. It's a matter of personal and individual direction. And not only that, but just like we read way back in acts eleven, in the case of Cornelius and Peter, the Lord, as back then, was directing Paul by means of the church. In other words, the Lord was using people in the church to kind of give him direction and tell him what to do. [00:34:28] Just like when Peter finished with the whole ordeal with Cornelius, and he went back to the church and he. He rehearsed what God had done with Cornelius to the church. And the church said, what? Well, they glorified God and said, well, I guess the Lord opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, too, and they praised God. They affirmed what Peter perceived to be the will of God. And they all agreed at that point, all right, this was what God was doing. [00:34:54] This is exactly what's happening with Paul. The church, two different churches, three different occasions, the people of God are saying, paul, the Lord doesn't want you to do this. Stop, don't. [00:35:05] And they're begging him. [00:35:10] In this case, the Lord is speaking to Paul not by a voice in his heart, apparently, but directly through individuals in the church pleading with him not to go. [00:35:24] And their motive was pure and sincere. [00:35:30] So, yeah, this is a conundrum. You have a man who is just absolutely driven to give the gospel to those he loves, right? He was in Romans, the Bible says. He said that he would be willing to be accursed from Christ for his brethren, the Jews. He's driven by that fact, and he is persisting in this thing. He's being warned. He is sincere. [00:35:55] Hear the church. They're telling him, please don't, Paul. Please don't. They're weeping, begging him. They're also sincere. [00:36:07] But I want to show you this one point to close. [00:36:11] Look at 21 five. [00:36:15] In verse four, the people in the church told Paul that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And then what do you see in verse five? [00:36:27] Those same people accompanying him to the shore. Kneeling down on the shore and praying with him. Please hear me. [00:36:36] The same people who told him that the Holy Ghost did not want him to go. Are the same people that are accompanying him on the way to go. [00:36:49] Because they did not agree. [00:36:52] Because they thought Paul was not doing the right thing. Did they say, well, fine. [00:36:59] You're on your own? [00:37:02] No, they did not. [00:37:05] You see, they were loyal and faithful to Paul. Even when he was doing something that they perceived to be not exactly what the Lord wanted him to, wanting him to do. [00:37:21] Now, again, you got to remember we're talking about a non scriptural matter of personal direction 21. Look at verse number 15. [00:37:34] Verse 14. They wept and cried to get Paul to not go up to Jerusalem. And verse 14 says. And when he would not be persuaded. We ceased saying, the will of the Lord be done. They say, Paul, you're on your own. We're not helping you. This ain't the will of God. No, they did not. In fact, they sent this man named Nason of Cyprus. So that Paul could stay with Nason in Jerusalem. [00:38:02] In other words, they are helping Paul on the way. [00:38:09] So these disciples in Caesarea did not forsake Paul. Because he persisted in doing something that they understood from Agabus. That this was not what the Lord wanted Paul to do. [00:38:24] Look at verse 31. [00:38:28] It wasn't just the church. [00:38:31] Who was it that told Paul not to go? Who was it? Ultimately, who was it? [00:38:37] It was the Lord. [00:38:39] How does the Lord react to Paul's persistence? Well, in this chapter, verse number 31, there's a plot. [00:38:48] Or rather, there's a tumult. Paul's arrested in the temple. [00:38:54] And here the Lord, through his providence, gets word to the chief captain, who goes down. While they're in the middle of beating him. And probably trying to tear him limb from limb. [00:39:05] The chief captain gets word and goes down there and rescues Paul, literally lifting him up above the crowd to take him into the castle of Antonia. So that he would be safe and they could figure out what's happening. But by doing so, spared his life. That's not all. Look at chapter 21. Down at verse number 40, the very thing Paul wanted in going to Jerusalem, God let him do. [00:39:28] Standing on the stairs, going up to the castle, he was given an opportunity to speak the gospel to the Jews. This is the last opportunity he'll have publicly if Paul's out of the will of God. So why in the world is God still giving him opportunity? Why isn't God just shutting him down and throwing him aside and let him just sit and sit there and rot somewhere? [00:39:54] Look at chapter 23. [00:39:58] This is the kicker. This, to me, honestly, this is, this is unbelievable. Here Paul is, here, Paul is at night now jailed. [00:40:12] Everything the Lord, the reasons for which the Lord told him not to go, he's persisted and done anyway. And now it's all come to pass. He's sitting in jail and the Lord in heaven is crossing his arms saying, told you you're stuck. Now figure it out. [00:40:30] No, he's not. To the contrary, the Lord says, verse eleven, and the night following, the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Here we have this, listen now, please. We have this idea that when we do something and we do something where we're sincerely, but sincerely mistaken and we get ourselves outside of the will of God, that God's just going to cut us off and let us go. He is not doing that. [00:41:08] That is not the way God operates. [00:41:16] That is not the way God. Listen, this is something that is taught in churches all the time. And I have lived it and I have seen it. [00:41:26] Well, if you don't agree with me, then you can just, whatever. Get out of here. I don't want to talk to you ever again. Just cast aside, just utterly forsake people like that. Just throw them under the bus. [00:41:40] That is wicked. [00:41:43] That shows no loyalty and no faithfulness to the people of God. And it is not the example that the Lord set with Paul, even though the Lord told him not to go. But once Paul was in Jerusalem, what's God going to do? Oh, well, and this is what, this is what, listen, this is what christians think they're supposed to do because someone doesn't. Someone does something that they perceive is not the right thing. And so what do we do? Of course, in this case, we're not even talking about a scriptural matter. We're talking about a matter of personal decision making. [00:42:14] We say, oh, well, you married her and I'm gonna shun you for the rest of your life. Or you did that, I'm gonna shun you for the, that's not what the Lord does. When Paul got to Jerusalem, you know what God did? He was with him in Jerusalem. You can't deny it because verse eleven of chapter 23 says it. He was with him, gave him opportunities, protected his life, opened a door for him to preach the gospel. The Lord is not in to cutting someone off as soon as they step out of what, what the will of the Lord is for them. Exactly. That's not the way the Lord does it. [00:42:49] He is too good for that. [00:42:52] You know, it could be that some point after this Paul realized, hmm, maybe that wasn't the best idea, but it wasn't because God hung him out to dry. [00:43:12] God is faithful to us. [00:43:17] He is faithful to us. [00:43:20] Are you faithful to people that sometimes do the wrong thing as you understand it? [00:43:30] And you know what? You might be right, but are you faithful to them and loyal to them like the Lord is? [00:43:39] Listen, I've gotten outside of the will of God before. I've made dumb decisions. [00:43:45] I've made dumb decisions. [00:43:47] But you know what? When I did that and the rope got a little bit long, the Lord didn't just cut it off and let me go flying. [00:43:56] No, he didn't do that. That's not what he does. [00:44:03] He corrects us and he works with us and sets us on the right way and teaches us. But you know what? See here, I've spent far too long on this. But just here's the way we view it. This person does something that we think is not right. [00:44:18] And you know what? We might be correct. [00:44:20] So they do something that's just, we think is not right. And it's really hard in these matters that are really subjective, like what we're dealing with here. [00:44:31] So they do something that's not right. And so we say everything from this moment forward is cursed. [00:44:41] Paul, you persisted to go to Jerusalem even though I warned you. And now, because you did that, everything from this moment forward is going to be under the evil eye of God and he's going to watch over you for evil. Is the Lord doing this though? He is not doing this. Paul ends up in Jerusalem. You know what the Lord does? He says, paul, I'm with you. [00:45:04] I'm going to lead you from this point. I'm leading you at no point. And am I going to take a step back from you in the least. [00:45:13] That doesn't excuse what Paul did at all. [00:45:16] But it does tell us something about the Lord and his faithfulness to us. [00:45:24] And this is the kind of faithfulness that we should have to one another, because the truth is, every one of us is going to step outside of the will of God at some point or another. [00:45:36] We can't always go back to the original point of departure and insist that everything from that point be undone. You just can't do that. The Lord starts where we are, wherever that be, wherever that might be, and he leads us from that point. [00:46:06] Paul wasn't handicapped. [00:46:08] He wasn't half a servant of God. From this point on, no, the Lord is going to continue to lead him, be faithful to him all the way to the very end, when he testifies before the very emperor of Rome. [00:46:25] I don't know about you, but that's an amazing and somewhat difficult understand, to understand quality of our Lord in his interaction with his people. If the Lord insisted that we all, we dig up the past and go back and try to undo all of our mistakes, there ain't none of us would be able to untangle. It's like. It'd be like getting all that hair that gets stuck in a lady's hairbrush and taking it out and trying to untangle all those strands of hair. Forget it. I've had to try to untangle hair from my wife's necklace, and that's hard enough. [00:47:03] He doesn't do that. He says, listen, I'll fix it. [00:47:06] But either way, I'm going to be faithful to you and I'm going to guide you. [00:47:11] Let's pray.