Hey everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the daily Bible podcast. It's a Saturday. What's up. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully you're enjoying the weather, man. The weather has been perfect. This is the time of year to live in Texas right now. But only this time, the rest of the time. I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Th this is the time of year when you can have your windows open, though. Which is a game changer. Yeah, my wife reminded me the other day. She was like, we lived in Southern California where we could have our, we. The sliding glass door in our bedroom. And we could leave that open all day, most of the year. And it was amazing. Yeah, especially at night because it would cool off at night. Out here it's during the summer. It's just more like darkie. It's just right. Yeah, we keep our, keep our stuff close even then, because there's, there's, you know, there's lots of debris. We're next to a concrete processing plant and another plant across the outer loop. So even with that, there's some of that stuff that we keep track of. So we have, we have those air filters in our house. Uh, to help. To purify some of the air. I'm sure we're still getting a lot of that stuff, no matter what, but. We keep our windows closed most of the time. Yeah, but we still go outside. So we get some, some outdoor time. We found that we were getting some of that in our office the other day. We walked in and there was a black charcoal pieces all over the, the furniture on the floor and stuff. I found out that there was a vent to the outside, just open up and. The brief was coming in and filling up our filters and our filters were like, here's all the charcoal that you guys need in your office now, but we got to fixed it. Thankfully. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, let's jump in. Uh, actually for 15 and 16, actually for 15 and 16 in, and this is where again, the chronological plan comes in. So helpfully, because in acts 15, we're turning now. Uh, to Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabas have been out on their missionary journey. They finished up their missionary journey. And in the context they're in and throughout that time in Antioch and other places, They were sharing the gospel with unbelievers, with Gentiles, and these Gentiles were coming to faith in these Gentiles who were responding and becoming Christians. Well, They were left with the question of what do we do with the Gentiles and the law? How do we handle this? How do we address this? And we're going to get to Galatians. Uh, in the coming days here and in Galatians, that's kind of what Paul's writing about. He's running about that same thing. Hey, what do we do with the Gentiles in the law? And they didn't know in what may seem so obvious to us where we sit. You know, some, almost 2000 years later was brand new to them. The law was such an integral part of what it meant to be a Jew in the first century Israel. And so here you have these non Jews coming to faith in Jesus who didn't know anything about the law, they weren't circumcised. They didn't have the 10 commandments. They didn't know. And the question from the Jews was w what should we do? And yes, there were some nefarious groups that were going out, trying to impose. Uh, the, the law upon these early Christians when, when they shouldn't have, and, and Paul's going to write against them specifically in Galatians, but here, this is just them trying to figure it out. They're there real time. The book of acts is unfolding. Here's the early church, and this is what's happening in. Luke's giving us all these details. As they're really just trying to get to the bottom of how do we, how do we do this? How do we follow Jesus? What's our new relationship to the law and that's what's going on here. In acts chapter 15. Uh, as it opens up in verses two through three, um, the, the issue is big enough that it posed a threat to the whole unity of the church. Um, If not handled appropriately, this may have led to the first degree schism. And we see that there, it says after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension in debate with them. Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem and the apostles and the elders to bring about this question. So being sent on the way to. By the church, they pass through Phoenicia and Samaria. Uh, describing in detail, the conversion of the Gentiles brought Graigewood all the brothers. So th this is people are choosing sides on this. Yes, we need to do this. No, we don't need to do this. Yes. A Gentile convert needs to do this part. No, they don't need to do this part. And so this had to be handled well, otherwise this post a threat to the entirety, in fact, that the very existence of the church as a whole now. We know the rest of the story, so we know it's going to be resolved, but at this point, this is a big deal. This is a massive deal for them. In verses eight through 11, when the issue is brought before the council. Uh, Peter stands up and testifies to God's saving of the Gentiles under his ministry, just as he had saved the Jews. And he'd given them the same spirit that he'd given to the Jews. And then he concluded this, this, uh, testimony in front of the council here. Uh, by exposing the, the main issue, which was why put a yoke, which is the law on the Gentiles that even the Jews could not bear up under the, in that God himself had, had not given them to bear. In other words, Paul is going to say this in Galatians. He's going to say, why would I restore a rebuild that which was torn down? Uh, and, and that's what Peter's point is here. He's saying, look, the law was never meant to, to justify. None of us could bear up under this. And so why would we require something of these Gentile converts that even we ourselves. Uh, can't bear up under, uh, in, in, in our own efforts here. And so Peter gives that testimony. And then in verses 12 through 21 here in chapter 15, Uh, Paul. In Barnabas, both give more. Uh, testimony of their own experiences and, and James is the one that issues, the final decision. James being the head of the church, we just read the book of James. And so again, this is why this Chronicle chronological plane is so helpful. The half-brother of Jesus. He stands up and he cites Amos nine, 11, and 12. Amos nine, 11 and 12 says in that day I will raise up the booth of David that has fallen and repairs breaches and raise up its ruins and rebuild the days of old that they may possess the remnant of Edam in all the here's the word nations, goyim, Gentiles, who are called by my name declares, the Lord who does this. And so James is saying, look, this is in fulfillment of what God has been saying. He's going to do the whole time. So he rejected the notion that the Gentile believers needed to be saddled with the law of Moses and suggested instead that they should be instructed and what they need to do abstain from things that previously had been part of their, their culture maybe. And so that's kind of the, the, the Jerusalem council in a nutshell. So one of the reasons why we just read James yesterday is because the belief is that James would not have ignored this conversation in his book. Had this have taken place before he had written. So the reason we read all of James is because we believe James can be for this event, even though we're read chronologically, you probably could have deduced that, but it's important because here James, one of the, the leaders, if not the defacto leader in the Jerusalem church, Uh, it seems to carry the kind of weight that not even Peter has here. He's he gives it a final definitive word. And James slash Jacob really is the one who says all these things. He closes the subject. He says, this is my judgment. This is what I think we should do. They listen to him. But again, it's not mentioned in his book. And if this happened before he wrote his book, it seems like he might've said something about this. Uh, there are some questions though. Uh, talk about why he says, so we understand abstain from things polluted by idols, sexual morality. Obviously. What about the things that have been strangled and from blood? Oh, this clearly is not new Testament law. That seems like it's alluding to old Testament law. So what's that about? Yeah, I think. With the blood side, probably the connection to idol worship and some of the other. Uh, you know, ceremonial cultural issues there. Um, things strangled. I'm not sure. I don't know that I've ever looked into that specifically to, to land on, on that one. So I'd love to get your, uh, your thoughts, what you've you've come across in that. Uh, it seems like it's a way to not offend the Jewish people. Uh, as, uh, I mean, uh, Um, mangled body. And not that there's necessarily inherently anything wrong with that, but it's a way to say, look, we don't want to offend. Unnecessarily. Uh, the Jewish heritage that we're receiving from. So I think that's really the tenor of these things. Obviously some of this is law, sexual morality. Don't don't do that. Don't. I don't engage with idolatry, but the idea, the gist and my estimation is that he's trying to say, look, don't cause unnecessary offense, which I think is a good thing for us to take today. Yeah, absolutely. It is. Yeah. And that, that does make sense here. And so what happens then in, in verses 23 through 35 is, is the, uh, the. The council there, dispassionate Paul and Barnabas back with this letter. And so they take the letter back to the Gentile believers and they share that with them and say, look, this is what we're doing. And I got to imagine since one of the stipulations was not in circumcise all your mails to. It's probably a lot of relief and celebration going on in any Antioquia when they came back with that, that letter at that point. Um, From here they go out on their second missionary journey. So versus a 36 through 41, really the S the second journey is going to be ax. Uh, 1536 all the way through acts 1822. And here is where we revisit the issue of John mark. Uh, end of chapter 15, Paul and Barnabas separate, even though they split because. Barnabas and wants to take John mark. And Paul says, no. Paul says this guy abandoned us on our first missionary journey and I can't trust him on the second one. I can't trust that. He's going to stick with us on the second one now. They're going to reconcile in the future, and we're going to see that in future Pauline epistles. But for right now. John John mark. And Paul had a severed relationship that led to a several relationship with Paul and Barnabas. It's just a reminder that mint sin still exists in the church and I'm not calling out one of the other, but just the brokenness of human relationships can. Can creep into the church, such that. The situation with John mark, John Mark's decision to, to leave in the first missionary journey now leads to a separation and a split up of Paul. And Barbus even in this point. I mean, that's, that's, that's hard to, to, to deal with here because Paul and Barnabas had a good thing going, they were doing well now. Things are going to be okay. God is going to use this still because Barnabas is going to go on with John mark and he's going to do things. And then Paul's going to leave and pick up a guy named Silas, who we first find out about there in acts chapter 15. Back in the previous section being sent with, uh, with Paul and Barnabas and the letter. So Silas is there. Silas is going to be a key player in the second missionary journey. And then as chapter 16, turns the page, we right away get introduced to another key player that Paul is going to pick up because he doesn't have Barnabas and he doesn't have John mark anymore. And that is Timothy and we know Timothy well, because Timothy is going to receive two letters. Timothy is going to become a pastor in the early church. He's going to plant churches for Paul. So Timothy shows up here in verses one through five while Paul's there visiting Derby. Uh, Paul and Silas pick them up and, and Timothy is a young man here who. Uh, was brought up in the faith and he was, uh, was known as, uh, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer. And we're going to find out in Paul's letters to Timothy, just what influence his mom and even his grandma had on his life's a lady's Timothy is a result of faithful, godly women instructing this, uh, this young man and pointing them to Jesus. So. He picks him up. And he does something interesting Pescara thoughts. We just talked about. The law doesn't apply. And yet in 16, three, Uh, politics, Timothy and has him circumcised so that he can take them with him on his journey. What gives here? How has this not contradictory? Yeah. I think the motivation behind the circumcision is really at the heart of this whole thing in Galatians chapter two or Paul prohibits this idea. It's not because he's saying. Uh, it's not for the same reason that he's doing it here. He's saying circumcision as a means of justification is, is inappropriate. It's not good. It's not fitting. That's not the basis of our right. Standing with God. However, when it comes to circumcision for the sake of not causing offense and not adding an unnecessary obstacle to the gospel. Uh, it's fascinating that he's saying, yeah, let's do this. This makes it's, it's the right thing for the right reason. And that's really the whole shebang there when it comes to the things that we do or don't do as Christians. Part of the question has to be, why am I doing this? If I'm doing it as a means to earn or Curry favor with God and a salvific sense. Through a means of justification. And then it's wrong. But a lot of the things that we would tell people not to do to earn their justification, we would say definitely do for your sanctification. Uh, as we're going to tell people, like, don't go to church too, to be right with God. But if you're trying to be sanctified, you better go to church, go to church. Uh, if we're telling people, look, don't read your Bible to be right with God. We're going to tell Christians, Hey, read your Bible, stay close to the Lord. Draw near to him. Pray, memorized scripture. We can talk about a million different things that we're going to tell Christians they should do as Christians. What the motive being. I want to love my neighbor. I want to love my God. I want to love my church that are totally inappropriate when it comes to, should I do this as a means of. Earning my position before God. And of course the answer is no, absolutely not. So that's what you see here is something that we all need to learn. Well, it's inappropriate for salvation is not inappropriate when it comes to sanctification, at least in this particular sense. And that's, that's so good. And we're actually going to talk about that on Sunday, because Jesus is going to tell his disciples. I am the vine abide in me. And so one of the points that we're going to make on Sunday is he says, I am the vine it's, uh, it's our standing with God. The, the root of our fruit has to be a relationship with Jesus. He doesn't say, you know, going to church is divine. He doesn't say reading our Bible is the vine. He doesn't say that, you know, Knowing doctrine and theology is, is the vine, are those things good? Yes. A hundred percent. Those things are good. And we wouldn't say avoid any of those things. We would say you need those things. That's part of your significant sanctification and your growth in Christ likeness. But your standing before God, that's about Jesus. That. That's connected to him. And so, yeah, you're right. It still does apply to us today with our pursuit of sanctification. For sure. Verses six through 10. Then this is an interesting situation because here we see that the holy Spirit's instrumentality in guiding and directing this missionary journey. Um, Paul, it says he was forbidden by the holy spirit to speak the word in Asia. Why. I don't, I don't know. I'm not sure. We may find out eventually in eternity, but we're not given a reason here other than it was abundantly clear to Paul. Don't go to Asia. Okay. So where do you want me to go? Well, he provides this vision, which is this Macedonian call, which is a man of Macedonia, which is the region of Philippi, which we're going to see here. And Amanda standing there saying, come over to Macedonia and help us. And so policies, the vision understands it to be the voice of God directing him. And so he goes, and he ends up there in Macedonia, which is Philippi. And he's gonna meet two individuals there. He's going to meet Lydia. And he's also gonna meet the, what was going to meet a lot more than two individuals, but two main individuals, Lydia in the Philippian jailer. And those are going to be two of the people that when he writes the book of Philippians, I mean, these are some of the people that he has in mind as he writes that letter. So the first person up is Lydia and she's found there in Philippi, which was a leading city, Roman colony, significant port there, or region there. Uh, in, in the region of Macedonia in verses 16 through 14, Paul comes upon her and she's kind of leading a local Bible study there on the Sabbath. And so the Lord opens Lydia's heart. Again, his sovereignty here. To hear and believe the things said by Saul or by Paul rather. And so the, the, the Macedonian call, when, when God said go here, it's because he had a divine appointment ready for Paul and Lydia. And so he preaches the gospel to Lydia. And then in verse 15, it says even her whole household also, it says when she was baptized and her whole household as well, she urged a seeing if you've judged me faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. Uh, okay. Pastor, rod, I was listening to somebody recently, uh, give it a fence for infant baptism and I. I was unconvinced. Uh, but one of the things they did is they pointed to this passage and they said, look, after she was baptized and her whole household as well, she urged the saying, if you've judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So they point to that and say her whole household was baptized. And so this is why there's at least. Uh, a possibility that the scriptures argue for infant baptism. And this would be called a typical argument from silence. You're adding much more into the text and is what then what is said. Uh, so the, the arguments. A little more fully is certainly in any ancient near Eastern household. There's going to be a variety of ages. And certainly there are kids there, kids and infants and small people that really don't have the ability. To say yay or nay when it comes to the reception of Christ. And we're going to say the, the text. Doesn't tell us that they're baptizing babies. In fact, we're going to come across another household soon and Silas. Uh, well, not Silas, the Philippian jailer, where you're going to see another household that's baptized, but there's a critical turn. And what Paul says that makes it evident. He's not talking about children. So hold that question and we'll take a look at this again, in a few moments. Speaking of that they go on from here and there's a, a. Uh, a man going through the city with, with this servant behind her and the servant begins to cry out. Hey, these people are serving to the most high God and include the, she is possessed by a spirit that is able to discern these things. And so Paul, it says greatly annoyed terms and cast the demon out of her and the, the, the man is going to lose money because she was telling people's fortunes, so to speak. And that was demonic in this instance. It's not always demonic, though. It is always dark. I would say. Uh, sometimes it's just fraudulent here. It was some demonic thing going on here and that the man realizes I've lost my money. So he trumped up charges. He gets the city in a tizzy and they arrest Paul and they throw him in jail now. Uh, Paul and Silas are there in intimidate in jail and they are, they're not disturbed. They're like Peter, there are singing. And they're they're, they're worshiping and they're, they're praising the Lord and there's a great earthquake in all the doors are open everyone's bonds are unfastened and the jailer wakes up thinking what everybody else would think, oh no, the earthquake happened. All my prisoners escaped I'm dead. And so in order to spare himself, the execution from the Romans that would surely come at the heels of this, he went to go take his own life. Paul stops him says don't hurt yourself. We're all still here, which speaks to again. Just that the power of what God was doing in the life of Paul and Timothy, because in silence, because not only did those three stay, but they were able to convince everybody else, all the other prisoners, not to go anywhere at this point. So the jailer's amazed. He recognizes something's going on here. Verse 30. He says to them, In in just abject humility. He says, SIRS, what must I do to be saved? Which is interesting that he immediately asked that question. Which tells us that Paul and Timothy and Silas had probably been talking to him. About why they were there and what they were doing at that point. I don't think he's going to earthquake happens randomly. Oh, look, all the prisoners. Are there, SIRS? What must I do to be saved? He, he knew because they'd been talking to him why they were there in prison. They respond verse 31. Believe in the Lord. Jesus, you will be saved. And here's uh, I think pastor, rod, what you're saying here. This phrase here at the end of verse 31 at you and your household. And then verse 32, they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all those who were in his house. That's right. And you'll notice here that way commands in verse 31 is the imperative that we had command. All people now believe repentant belief, but re belief. Believe. So he's talking to the entire household and saying basically to those who have the ability to believe belief. You can see this again in verse 34, they rejoiced, he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. So it stands to reason that those who responded favorably to the gospel call were those who were capable of believing. And then consequently, we're baptized. So it's really hard to argue here. Well, obviously includes babies. Babies would have been thrown in there and dipped, and we would say along with Dr. Mohler friend, put that baby down. That's not, it's not appropriate. There's no babies here. A baby can't believe in. Therefore a baby can not be baptized. Yeah, I would agree. Wholeheartedly with that. In the morning then after the jailer cleans them up and, and bandages their wounds and other things like this. Uh, the, the magistrates, the city officials come to release them and the jailer goes to Paul and says, Hey, you guys can go. But Paul here is going to flex a little bit and he's going to, and this is interesting because it's not the culture suffers. Believers is not necessarily the call to be a doormat. And here Paul appeals to Roman law to kind of turn the tables a little bit on those that had persecuted him. Because he says, no, no, we're Roman citizens and they need to own up to what they've done. And so for a Roman citizen to be mistreated the way that Paul and Timothy and Silas had been here was, was a huge, huge problem. And so. That's why in verse 38, the police reported these words to the magistrates and they were afraid because what they had done was illegal and they could be held accountable to these things. So they came. They apologized profusely. They take them and ask them to leave the city. And when they went out to the prison, they visit Lydia and then they go on to encourage the others and then they depart. So, uh, kind of a w for Jesus here at the end of, of Philippians chapter 16, or acts chapter 16, rather. Uh, in Philippi where they say, Hey, no, you need to come in and escort us out of prison here and own what you've done to us. Which goes to show that there are times to use the law when it makes sense. There are times to utilize your citizenship when it makes sense. And it certainly speaks of stewarding the stewardship that you have. And then Paul, as a Roman. Flex because he had the rights that were afforded him as a Roman citizen. We're American citizens now. And we just recently flexed our citizenship by voting. Now, granted, it's a bit of a process in terms of how it applies to. Uh, to, to whoever is elected in the office, but certainly see the point here. Paul was not afraid to utilize his natural citizenship in order to support his heavenly citizenship. You and I have to think the same way about that should not be thinking only tan poorly. Uh, we don't want to get so invested that we become, you know, simply political talking heads. That's certainly a danger. But do notice here that Paul utilizes his political leverage when it makes sense. And certainly we should be thinking strategically about using ours in the same way, when it makes sense for the kingdom. Yeah. Let's uh, let's pray. And then we'll be done with another episode of the daily Bible podcast. God, we thank you so much for these. Uh, these chapters chapter 15, chapter 16 of the book of acts. How we see you moving and building your church there. Even just the direction of Paul and Silas and Timothy on this missionary journey, you redirecting them away from Asia and over to. To the region of Macedonia to the Philippines to meet Lydia and the Philippian jailer as those of us who are in Christ. Think back on our own lives, you brought people into our lives to share the gospel with us. You've got people that you're going to bring into our lives, presently that we are now the ones to share the gospel with them because you want the gospel communicated. Uh, in such a way. And so we were grateful for that. We're grateful for your sovereignty. Also, as I've said, many times before, thankful that we don't know. Who is, and who is not part of the elect and that we get to go out freely and proclaim the gospel to as many people as we possibly can. So give us that passion, that desire. And a fruitfulness in that endeavor as well. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Hey, keep it in your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast. Bye.