Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
And we're going to go ahead and get into the word here this evening.
You have your Bibles turned to Acts 21.
Has anybody told you, again, I always have to preface this with
don't raise your hand because I don't want any.
Call anyone out.
But has anyone ever told you that what you're doing for the Lord
is a bad idea?
I can say that.
I have had people say, what you're doing is a bad idea, and I
won't tell you specifically what it was.
But there have been times in my life where people said, I know
that you feel like God is calling you to do this, but this
doesn't seem right.
And so what do we do in those times?
Well, we're going to look at Paul here.
Paul is being called by God.
We're going to look at how the phrase says, bound in the Spirit
to go to Jerusalem.
Paul knows that he is being called by God to go to Jerusalem,
but there are people that come in his path that say, hey, God has
told us that there's going to be danger, so don't go.
You shouldn't go, Paul.
You should stay away.
And even God spoke to Paul earlier on and told him, there's
going to be some issues when you go to Jerusalem.
So Paul could say, you know what?
I don't want to face these dangers.
Other people are telling me not to go to Jerusalem.
So you know what?
It makes sense for me not to go.
But I want you to see, going back to Acts chapter 20, we're going
to be in Acts chapter 21 tonight.
But in Acts chapter 20, if you look at verse number 22, Paul is
explaining about this call that he has to go to Jerusalem.
And in chapter 20, verse 22, it says, and now behold, I go bound
in the Spirit unto Jerusalem.
And I like that phrase, bound to the Spirit, meaning the Spirit
has a hold of his heart.
And if the Spirit has a hold of our hearts, the Spirit has a hold
of everything else in our lives.
And so what the Bible says here is, he says, the Spirit has
convicted me.
The Spirit has guided me.
The Spirit has taught me to go to Jerusalem.
But then he says here, not knowing the things that shall befall
me there.
So there's uncertainty in Paul going to Jerusalem.
He says, I don't know what this is going to be like.
I, I, I might have a, you know, a smooth time there in Jerusalem.
But most likely, as we're going to see here in a few moments,
he says, most likely it's going to be difficult.
But I'm bound in the Spirit, he Sundays.
In verse 23, he says, Save that the Holy Ghost witnesses in
every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
He says, I have been told by the Holy Spirit everywhere I go,
that I'm going to be facing some difficulties when I go to Jerusalem.
He says that there's going to be bonds there.
There's going to be a time when I'm taken into captivity.
I mean, it says here that there's going to be afflictions.
I'm going to be persecuted for my preaching.
But verse 24, he says this, this is his testimony.
He says, but none of these things move me.
None of these things can shake me.
None of these things can deviate me from what the will of
God has for me in my life.
How is the Spirit leading me?
The Spirit is leading me to Jerusalem.
And so he says, there nothing can move me.
Neither count I my life dear unto myself, meaning life's not about
me.
Life's about the will of God.
Life's not about me.
Life's about the way of God.
So he says here so that I might finish my course with joy.
He says, even if I go to Jerusalem and they kill me, I'll
still have joy.
Because why, he says, I'm doing the ministry.
He says, I'm going to finish my course with joy and the ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel
of the grace of God.
He goes, I don't care what it takes.
I am called to testify.
I am called to proclaim the message of the gospel, the message
of the grace of God.
And so think of that in mind when we get to chapter 21.
Because Paul is looking at the situation and he says, I'm not sure
what's going to happen when I go to Jerusalem.
There's uncertainty.
There's going to be other people that tell him, Paul, we have
been told by God that there's going to be some danger for you when
you go to Jerusalem.
And so the truth is, is that Paul is going to face difficulty.
And really the truth is, is that all of us are going to face
difficulty if we follow the will of God.
In our lives.
There's going to be times in our life when the Holy Spirit leads
us to a place of uncertainty.
There might even be times in our life when the Holy Spirit leads
us to a place of what people would call danger or difficulty.
And so Paul goes with that testimony of, hey, nothing that's
going to happen is going to shake me from what God has called
me to do.
He's certain in that he's confident in that he's convicted
in the leading of the Holy Spirit.
And so when the Holy Spirit reveals something to us in His Word
and through way of circumstance in our life, really
the truth is that nothing, no one should be able to talk us out
of what the Holy Spirit has convicted us to do.
There's been times in my life where I have felt so convicted about
something, but someone has talked me out of that conviction.
You know what?
I really don't think I should be doing that.
Oh, come on, we all do that.
Come on, that's not a big deal.
And the truth is that we can allow that conviction of the Holy
Spirit.
And the Bible speaks of having a seared conscience to basically
reject the Holy Spirit's conviction because of other circumstances.
And so very easily Paul could have said, you know what?
After all of this, I've got some really good friends that are
telling me not to go to Jerusalem.
Therefore, hey, there's wisdom in a multitude of counselors.
So therefore, I need to follow that.
But if the Bible lays out very clearly for us the truth of God and
we are convicted by the Holy Spirit, we cannot let anybody, whether
they're Christians or not, talk us out of what God has called
us to do.
And so that's what we're going to see here in chapter 21.
So Paul, remember, is leaving the Ephesian elders.
He goes and he ministers to them and they minister to him.
And they're sad because Paul basically says, this is probably
the last time I'm gonna see you.
And.
And they're weeping and they're taking some time to pray
with each other.
And then it says in verse one of chapter 21, and it came to pass
that after we were gotten from them, so they left the Ephesian elders
and had launch.
So they launch out.
We came with a straight course on unto Coos and the day following
unto Rhodes and from thence unto Pataro.
So you said, what's.
What's that talking about?
It's just essentially talking about their path that they're taking.
They.
They separated themselves from the Ephesian elders.
And this is not an easy parting.
Sometimes partying is difficult.
But Paul poured his life into those Ephesians, and now he knows
that God.
He commended them over to God.
God's got it under control for them.
So now Paul is taking the next step of ministry.
And so he's passing through these different cities, verse 2,
and finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia.
We went aboard and set forth.
And so they're just touching these different cities.
And then we get to verse number three, and Paul is going to
be warned here in the city of Tyre not to go to Jerusalem.
Now, when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand
and sailed into Syria and landed at Tyre.
For there the ship was to unlade her burden and finding disciples.
And so they come to this place of Tyre.
And we don't know much about the history of the church there at
Tyre, but there were disciples there.
And this speaks to the growing number of Christians in this region
of the world.
And we know the power of God was spreading the Word.
So they come across some disciples here.
And when it says disciples, it's not specifically Talking about
the 12 that were around Jesus.
This is just talking about committed followers of Christ.
Verse 4, and finding disciples.
We tarried there seven days.
So they spent some time there with the disciples.
They wanted to encourage them and be encouraged by them.
And then it says this.
Who said to Paul through the Spirit that he should not go up to
Jerusalem?
Now, some of you might read that and say, wait, I thought the
Holy Spirit led Paul to go to Jerusalem.
And now they're saying that the Spirit told them not to go, for
Paul, not to go to Jerusalem.
Well, sometimes commentators will debate about this, but I believe
that what's happening here is the Holy Spirit is revealing to these
individuals what is going to happen to Paul.
And they're putting their human interpretation upon that to
say, don't go.
And so they're being.
We know that in the book of Acts, God is working in supernatural
ways and revealing things to different people for different reasons.
And I believe that the truth of Paul's persecution is being told
to these individuals.
But yet they're taking it upon themselves to say, paul, you shouldn't
go.
Why?
Because there's gonna be persecution.
And sometimes that's what can happen in our own lives.
We can see what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do, but we
can interpret it a wrong way.
So, for example, if I came up to you and said, okay, you know,
you're gonna serve in this ministry, but there's Gonna be some
difficulties.
That doesn't mean that we shouldn't serve in that ministry.
It just means be ready for those difficulties.
And so what's happening here is that Paul is being told by these
disciples not to go.
They said, the Spirit is leading us to tell you this, verse
5.
And when he had accomplished those days, we departed and went
our way.
Paul does not heed their warning to stop.
And so we would know that it would be difficult for Paul to hear
from the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem and then hear from someone
else, hey, you know what?
You shouldn't go to Jerusalem.
And the Holy Spirit is telling us this.
And I don't believe that Paul is in direct rebellion to the Holy
Spirit here.
I believe Paul is so convinced about what God has called him to
do that whatever human interpretation comes about the truth
of his persecution, it doesn't matter.
He's going to move forward.
Now, some commentators would say that Paul is in rebellion, that
Paul says, I don't care what God says, I'm going to Jerusalem.
I don't really see the spirit of that with.
With Paul's actions here.
But nonetheless, there's different interpretations here.
But my interpretation would be that these individuals, they saw
that Paul was going to face persecution.
And trying to save Paul from pain and suffering, they said, you
shouldn't go.
So let's look at verse five.
He departs.
And when he 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.
This was actually a common practice of the day.
Anytime there was a traveler leaving, all the families would go
with those travelers to reach the end of the city.
And they would basically send them off.
It was kind of how my grandma used to come outside every time we'd
leave her house.
She'd walk out onto her front porch and she would wave to us all
the way down the road till we lost sight of her.
It's just a way to send people off.
And so they did that there with Paul in his company there.
And actually it goes further.
It says, until they were out of the city and we kneeled down on
the shore and prayed.
So we see that not only did they wish them farewell, but they
also prayed with them as they left.
And then verse six, it says, and when we had taken our leave one
of another, we took ship and they returned home again.
So there's not a lot of theology in that verse other than
the fact that there were some individuals that told Paul not to
go and he didn't listen to them.
He felt like he was bound by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem,
and they sent him away.
So we get to verse number seven, and he's going to get to this
place called Ptolemies, and there's going to be an interesting
thing happen here.
Verse 7.
And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemy
and saluted the brethren and abode with them one day.
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, some of you that have been tracking the Book of Acts, you
are familiar with that name, Philip the Evangelist.
If you go back to Acts, chapter 8, verse 40, this was Philip
talking to the Ethiopian eunuch.
And it tells us that whole story of him leading that individual
to Christ.
And so I love how he's called here in, in.
In verse number eight, Philip the Evangelist, that describes his
character.
His character was someone who wanted to lead people to Christ.
And so Philip was known for being that person who would lead
people to Christ.
And we see that he stays there in Caesarea, and so that's where
he left when he got done leading the Ethiopian eunuch to the
Lord.
And we know that many years later, he's still there in Caesarea,
ministering, leading people to Christ.
And so we see him meet Philip the Evangelist, which was one of
the seven, and abode with him.
And so we can see here in this case, that he is staying faithful.
Philip the Evangelist is staying faithful, and he's presenting
the good news of Jesus Christ.
That's what an evangelist does.
An evangelist is gifted in leading people to Christ.
Now, we all are called to be evangelists of some sort, but some
are gifted in other ways than others.
And so someone who is gifted in the gift of evangelism is going
to be gifted in clearly presenting the Gospel and leading
people to Christ.
And so we see him here, and then verse nine.
And the same man had four daughters, virgins which did prophesy.
And so we see that there's these four young girls who are.
And essentially prophesying just means speaking forth the truth.
So they're speaking forth the truth of God.
And what do they say?
Verse 10.
And as we tarry there many days there came down from Judea a
certain prophet named Agabus.
And when he was come to us, he took Paul's girdle.
And so we can take through context that these.
These people are all prophesying the same thing, because
it all culminates here.
With.
With this guy named Agabus.
And so they wait, and this guy who's a prophet is named Agabus.
He comes and it says that he's going to do something visual to explain
what God is telling him.
Verse 11.
And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle or his belt
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 so he says, God is telling me that whoever owns this girdle,
whoever owns this belt is going to be bound in Jerusalem and
given over to the Gentiles.
And so all of these people are prophesying to Paul, don't go, don't
go.
There's going to be danger here.
And so we know that ultimately Paul is going to make a decision,
and it's the decision to follow what the Holy Spirit originally
told him.
So he says, hey, be careful, verse number 11.
And I find this interesting because it's in the spirit of the
Old Testament, because a lot of the Old Testament prophets would
have a visual in their prophecy.
And so that's what he's doing.
He's doing a visual here.
And so the prophecy of Agabus was true.
He's not a false prophet.
And I believe it was genuinely from the Holy Spirit, but to the
true word of God is this, yes, you're going to face persecution.
I don't think it was the word of God to try to stop Paul from going.
And so verse 13.
And Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?
What is he talking about?
Well, in verse 12.
And when he had heard these things, both we and they of that
place.
So Agabus, the virgins who were prophesying, all those people
at that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.
So again, you see how it's a secondary thing.
They said, hey, Paul, we know that you're going to have persecution
there.
And even this guy Agabus comes out and does this awesome visual.
You know, whoever's belt this is is going to be bound in Jerusalem.
But then they take it a step further and they say, because of
this persecution, don't go, please don't go.
What is Paul's answer?
He says, what mean ye to weep and to break mine heart, for I am
ready not to be bound only this is a man.
I read this a lot this week and I even today I read this about
10 times.
Because what he's about to say is so impactful.
Because they're like, Paul, you're going to go to Jerusalem and
they're going to bind you up, they're going to take you into captivity,
they're going to put you in jail.
What does Paul say?
He says, why are you crying over me?
Why is there this broken heart goes, I am ready.
You see how God ordains this, right?
I wasn't sitting around this week going, okay, I want two sermons
to say, are you ready?
And it just so happened that in Romans 1, Are you ready?
And Acts, chapter 21, Paul says, I am ready.
It's Paul's theme.
Paul's like, I'm ready.
I'm so ready.
And that's the ordination of God that he brings us all together.
When we started Romans and Acts, we're in chapter 21.
If I plan that out, I'm a lot smarter than I actually think I am.
Okay?
But the truth is that he says, I am ready not to be bound.
Only he goes, I'm ready to be bound.
But more than that, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name
of the Lord Jesus.
That's how serious Paul is about what he is doing.
He says, the Holy Spirit has called me to do it.
I don't care about going to jail.
I don't care about persecution.
I don't even care about dying.
Why?
Because it's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I will do anything.
And that's the kind of conviction we as Christians are supposed
to have.
It's hard because we live in a society today that tells us self
preservation is the best thing.
It's all about you.
It's all about you surviving.
It's all about you keeping face.
I mean, and there's even people that preach a different teaching
than the Bible that says basically this.
The ends justifies the means.
So for you to survive, you can lie, you can cheat, you can steal,
you can do whatever you want to do.
Well, Paul says this.
No, remember what he said in chapter 20 says, I'm not living.
For me, it's not about me, it's about the Lord.
So he says, I don't care what happens to me.
I'm going to do what's right.
And so when we go back to that idea of conviction of the Holy Spirit,
how can these martyrs go to the stake to be burned?
How could Peter be crucified upside down?
How could all of these people go and do things that are beyond
our comprehension because they were so convicted by the Holy Spirit
that that is what God had them to do, that they were living for
him and not for themselves.
I'm going to tell you, even today, it's not talked about in the
news very frequently, but there are people in this world that
are going to die and are continuing to die for their faith
in these foreign countries.
It's not happening in the US Right now.
But the truth is that that's true conviction.
There's a while back there was these individuals that I don't know
if you guys remember that video, and I'm going to be tasteful
when I do this, but they marched out these guys onto the beach
and basically said, hey, recant your faith.
Say something against Jesus Christ.
And they said, we won't.
And eventually on video to the families, they sent out the video
of them being put to death.
But they were willing to go to the end.
As Paul says, I'm willing to die for my faith.
Now, let's not talk that we talk about in American Christianity,
because the American gospel is not about dying for your faith.
The American gospel is I'm going to get persecuted.
Someone's going to cut me off on traffic, right?
And that's our big area of persecution for the day.
I mean, some of the worst persecution I've ever faced is someone
just telling me that, hey, get out of my face and I want to hear
the gospel.
And, and, and so, folks, I, I, I'm not here to make us feel guilty.
I'm not here to put you on a guilt trip to say you should have
more persecution.
We should be thankful that we don't have that type of persecution.
But the truth is, is that how many of us as believers here in 2025
would be willing to say that if it went to this, I'm gonna still
stand for my faith.
I'm still gonna do what the Holy Spirit had called me to do.
I think about that a lot.
I think about all the time.
If the government came in and said, hey, you know what?
Churches cannot preach these truths anymore.
I want to say that I would get up and say, you know what?
I don't care.
I'm preaching the gospel, but what if the stakes got higher?
You know what the truth is, is that we all have to come to a place
in our life, like Paul, to say, you guys are worried that I'm
going to be bound.
I don't care if I'm bound.
I'm willing to go to my death.
And so that's A beautiful testimony in Paul's life.
He says, I'm willing.
I am ready.
Verse 13 of Acts chapter 21, he says, I am ready not to be bound
only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord.
And I think that's important to understand here.
He says, I'm not just doing this for a wasteful cause.
I'm not doing this just to go down in the books of history.
I'm doing this for the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the
will of the Lord be done.
And I love this here.
And if you don't catch this, you might miss exactly what's happening.
So remember, there was people there at Tyre, the disciples at Tyre.
Then you get to a place where there's Philip the Evangelist and
his four daughters who are prophesying the truth.
And then we have a guy named Abacus.
And then you have.
And it even says in verse 14, it says, and when he would not be
persuaded, we ceased.
Now who's the human author of Acts?
Luke.
Luke is there with Paul on his team.
And so what we can tell through context here is that Paul's
team, the guys who are with him every day that were traveling
with him, were like, paul, maybe we shouldn't go.
We're trying to talk you out of this.
And they said, okay.
When we saw that he was not going to be persuaded from.
From all these people trying to stop him, Luke says, we ceased
saying, the will of the Lord be done.
And really that's the culmination of everything that we
have in our life.
The will of the Lord be done.
Remember Jesus, nevertheless, thy will be done.
And at the end of the day, I think that's how we should end all
of our things here.
Agabus has stopped.
All these people are saying, stop.
Even Paul's team says, hey, stop.
He says, no, I'm going to push forward.
And what they realize is that Paul is following the will of God.
So the will of the Lord be done, whatever the will of the Lord
is.
And so it even shows that Luke, Paul's traveling companion,
tried to persuade him, but that was not enough.
Paul had received many, many people telling him to stop, but he
knew that it was the will of God for him to go.
And so Paul's insistence on going to Jerusalem, despite the dangers
was an obedient response to the Holy Spirit.
I'm bound in the Spirit, obedient to the Spirit.
And I know that sometimes within our Christian circles, especially
within Baptist churches, we're nervous to talk about the guidance
of the Spirit.
Why?
Because we're afraid that we're going to leave scripture and
go into more of a charismatic pool.
But what I will say is that there is nothing more valuable than
the call of the Spirit in our life, the leading of the Spirit.
Now, the Spirit will never contradict what the Word of God says.
So you might hear someone say, well, I believe the Holy Spirit's
leading me to do this.
But then if it contradicts with scripture, it's not the Holy
Spirit.
Okay, the Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word of God.
But what I will say is that, you know, sometimes people ask me
questions as a pastor, and they might ask you the same questions.
How do I know this is the right decision for me?
Well, the very first thing I say is check the Word.
Does the word of God say anything about this?
No, it's whether or not I move to this city or this city.
Okay, well, there's really nothing in the Bible that says, thou
shalt live in Middletown, Delaware.
Thou shalt live in Odessa, Delaware.
It doesn't really say that.
So what do we do then?
Well, we say, well, if there's not anything moral about this, now
we need to go with the leading of the Spirit.
Am I walking in obedience to the Lord?
So someone comes up to me and says, well, I don't see anything
in Scripture, and I've been living the life that I want to live,
and I'm not really fellowshipping with God and I'm not
really obeying God, but I really feel like God's speaking to
me in this area.
Do you see the contradiction there?
If I'm not walking with God, if I'm not fellowshipping with him,
if I'm not communicating with him, most likely what I'm making
this decision in is my own flesh, my own desire.
So what we have to do is we have to take some checks when we
are thinking about the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Number one, what does the Bible say?
What does the word of God say about this?
Number two, where am I at in my life?
Where do I stand in my fellowship with him?
And am I obedient to him with everything that I am so that I'm
able to perceive and discern the leading of the Spirit, the conviction
of the Spirit, the comfort of the Spirit?
God works in many different ways.
And so for me, some of the decisions that I have made have been
because I've had great comfort in the Lord knowing that I've sought
him in prayer, that I've fasted that I've talked to godly
counsel and that I have comfort in making this decision.
But other times, the Holy Spirit leads in conviction.
There's some times in my life that I've had to make a decision
because I've been convicted about an area.
There's other times where I've realized that it sometimes, even
though the Holy Spirit is the comforter in the conviction, he brings
me to a place of discomfort in my life.
Why?
Because the sin that I'm harboring does not align with the
Holy Spirit's guidance.
Therefore, I'm either going to be uncomfortable or.
Or I'm gonna get it right with him.
And so these are all decisions that we have to make when we come
to a sense where people might say, well, why are you going to that
church Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night?
Why are you giving money to that church?
Why are you serving in those capacities?
There's so much more you could do, right?
You've heard people maybe even say that to you.
Why are you doing this ministry?
No one's even noticing what you're doing.
You know, the enemy will speak to us in many different angles.
It could come from different people.
It can come from our own minds.
It can come from circumstances.
And so no doubt, Paul probably wrestled at first with this idea
of, well, it doesn't really make sense for me to go to Jerusalem
if I know that this is what I'm going to face.
But then he had to come to a point where he said, I am convicted.
Nothing can change what's going on in my life because I know
that the Holy Spirit has me here.
It was told to me this way.
The safest place to be is in the will of God.
I think about those guys.
If you've ever heard the story of Nate Saint and Jim Elliot, if
you haven't heard that story, you should look it up.
I'm trying to remember the name of the book, but you can look.
You can just search.
Nate St.
Jim Elliot.
Okay, These were missionary guys that went down to South America,
and they went down to South America to minister to these individuals
that were, you know, totally what we would call uncivilized.
They did not have, you know, anything.
They basically were living off of the land.
They had been uncontacted.
And they go and they try to preach the gospel to them.
And through a course of different events, essentially the
Indians killed him, killed both of them, killed all them that
were in the party.
And you know what I think about people like that?
I think about, like, how in the face of danger, can they continue
on just pressing forward the gospel, then?
Believe it or not, Jim Elliot's wife went back to that same
tribe and won the people to Christ that actually killed her husband.
And they came to Christ.
And just how can that be?
How can we do that kind of stuff?
Well, you have to be convicted in the Spirit.
You gotta believe that what you're doing is worth it.
It has to be real to you.
It has to be real.
And so for Paul, it was real.
The call of the Spirit was a real thing.
So the warnings from the Holy Spirit were.
I don't think we're there to stop Paul.
I think the warnings of the Holy Spirit were there to prepare
Paul for what he was about to face.
And there's been some times in my life where I have felt a sense
of warning, whether it be through godly counsel or through
the conviction of the Spirit, or the guidance of the Spirit, open
or closed doors.
And it's not about stopping sometimes.
It's about just preparing me for what I'm about to go through.
There was a pastor that was preaching at our Christian school
years ago, and it stuck out to me when he.
When he preached this, because I was really wrestling with, do I
really want to make this thing called Christianity and faith my
life, or do I want to just kind of do my own thing?
And he got up and he preached and he said, life's all about trials.
And I'm like, trials?
That doesn't sound very fun.
He says, you're either in a trial, you're going into a trial,
or you're just coming out of a trial.
And I'm like, that sounds like a terrible life.
I don't want to be doing that.
And it got to a point in my life where I had to realize that
regardless of me being a Christian or not a Christian, that's
the truth.
Okay?
Even if I'm an unsaved person, trials are going to come.
And that's just reality.
The truth is, do I want to face the trials with someone, the
Creator of the universe, guiding me, or do I want to face
those trials on my own?
Well, we see what the world does when they face those trials
on their own.
They turn to everything else outside of the truth.
But when we have Jesus Christ and we go into these trials, we understand
that no matter what might be the cost, we're going to go forward.
And so God prepares our hearts for this.
And so to suffer doesn't necessarily mean that there's something
wrong.
To weep over a hardship does not mean that there's something wrong,
to go through a difficulty in our life, to go into loss, to go
through a loss in our life and to feel that pain.
And it doesn't mean that we're doing something wrong.
I would venture to say that no healthy believer ever chooses suffering.
I don't think so.
I think that there might be some people that are messed up in
their minds and they're looking for suffering.
But the truth is, is I don't think any Christian that's healthy
in their thinking like wakes up in the morning going, what kind
of suffering can I face today?
But a healthy Christian does choose the will of God, which might
lead us to a place of difficulty.
But regardless, we have Jesus with us.
And so what does Paul say?
He thinks about his Savior.
And when he thinks about his Savior and what his Savior has done
for him, he says this, he says, it's worth it.
He paid the price for me.
I'm willing to give him everything.
And so he thinks about the motivation behind it, the motivation
behind the message.
And so Paul's companions realized that it was the will of
God.
And so these warnings of danger came from the Holy Spirit.
But again, they were there to prepare him, not to turn him away.
It is an easy thing to do though.
And sometimes a source of our weakness when we add interpretation
or even what we would say is like application to what has been
given to us from the word of God or through a source of the conviction
of the Spirit.
What we do is basically we try to self justify.
And so if the Bible very clearly tells us to do something
and we look at that and we study it and we say, yeah, but.
And then we try to make our own interpretation on top of that.
God doesn't say this.
Maybe you've heard this before.
God doesn't say to have joy in tribulation.
He just says having joy in the outcome of the tribulation.
I've heard people say that that's not true.
The Bible says, have joy in the tribulation.
Why?
Because you know that tribulation is working patience and
patience, experience and experience hope.
And so a lot of times people will try to humanize the message
of God and try to make it more palatable for our people today to
understand.
God does work all things together for good, for our good,
say, no, no, no.
He works together things for his good.
And he doesn't really care about us.
No, he cares about his children.
Now how does that reconcile with my pain and my suffering?
I don't have the answer for that.
But what I can say is that God is a good God and cares for us.
And so Paul says, I'm going to go.
Verse 15.
And after those days, we took up our carriages and went to Jerusalem.
I like that.
So even Paul's resolve, even Paul's decision affects others around
him, right?
Because Paul's not going alone to Jerusalem.
So.
So his stance in the will of God affected those other guys who
were trying to talk him.
Hey, Paul, let's just stay here.
Let's not go.
Let's not go to Jerusalem.
Paul says, no, we're going.
And he led these other guys there with him.
And so there was.
There was risk there, but they followed.
And so they.
They took up their carriages and went up to Jerusalem.
There went with us also certain of the disciples of Caesarea,
and brought with them one Manson of Cyprus, an old disciple
with whom we should lodge.
You say, what?
What's that all about?
That's all about just the impact that Paul had on those that
were around him.
What an amazing truth that is.
Paul's resolve affected others.
And our resolve, our conviction for the Holy Spirit, our
conviction for the Gospel will affect others around us.
People will notice.
Not everyone will understand.
Not everyone will support.
I can tell you there was a time in my own life when I knew,
without a shadow of a doubt.
I don't know how to explain it, other than just a certainty that
God had me to move to Delaware.
I remember not every single situation that God works out is so
clear, but I remember the time in the place when God opened that
door in my heart to say, this is where I want you to be.
I remember that time, and I remember telling people around me
that that was the decision that I was going to make.
And it was a tough decision, I can tell you.
Not that Delaware is a bad place, but it was away from my family.
It was away from what we knew.
It was away from everything that was familiar to us.
And there were people that said, hey, you can serve God here
in Florida.
I said, I know I could serve God anywhere I want, but I want to
be where God has me to serve.
And even some people that I felt really close to and loved, and
I think they had good intentions, and I love them to death
to this day.
And I will go to my grave protecting them.
But they were like, I don't know if you're ready.
I don't think you're ready.
It was probably true.
Probably true.
I wasn't ready.
And I'm still not ready for.
For what God has for what in front of us.
But what I will say is this.
There were well intending people who were trying to understand
it through their lens and say I just.
Because the call wasn't for them.
And so at the end of the day, I had one dear person who I love
a lot tell me, you know what?
I don't understand why you'd want to go.
And I don't want you to go.
But I'm not going to get in the way of you going because I know
that's the will of God and that's the best place to be.
And that was really good confirmation in my heart to say,
okay, this is something that I know is the right thing to do.
Now I say all that to say it would be a beautiful story if I just
said in every single moment from that point on, I never doubted
any second of the day.
But I will tell you that there have been times where I did doubt
that.
What am I doing?
I made a big mistake.
I.
I messed up.
It's overwhelming.
This is too much.
And then what do I have to do?
I don't go back to that circumstance that I'm facing.
I go back to that call.
I go back to my Savior.
I go back to what he has called me to do in my life and to
know that there is an open door, therefore, I'm gonna walk through
it.
And that is the story of following God.
That is the story of obeying his will.
For some of you, it's not about moving to a distant land or
changing your location.
For some of us, that's just changing direction within our own
life.
Maybe it's changing a pattern.
Maybe it's doing something, not doing something.
God, if he's calling you and there's all these really witty phrases
where he guides, he provides, where he leads, he feeds.
You know, there's all those, right?
And it's interesting though, because it is true.
Where he's going to lead you, he's going to provide.
He's going to give you the strength.
There's a passage of scripture that often gets misquoted.
Philippians 4:13.
I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.
That doesn't mean I can do whatever I want to do.
So, like, I wake up tomorrow morning and I say, okay, you know
what?
I just feel like it's.
I want to be a professional basketball player.
So I'm gonna wake up tomorrow and I love God enough, He'll make
me a professional basketball player.
That's not what.
That's, that's, that's a misunderstanding of that verse, what
that verse is talking about.
If you read the whole context of Philippians, chapter four, it
says this.
Basically, you're going to go through ups and downs in your life,
but if God has called you to do it, he's going to give you the
strength to get through it.
He's going to allow for the gift of grace to be put upon your
life, to give you the wisdom and the strength and the patience
to go through the trials that you have.
And it might not be the same for you.
It might not be the same for me.
I'll look at people all the time and go, I don't know.
And maybe you've said this.
I don't, I don't know how that person can go through that and still
love Christ.
I don't know how they're.
And the truth is, is that we, we don't understand because we haven't
experienced that specific grace for that specific moment.
God is gifting them in that area.
And we won't understand until we go through that next trial.
And so Paul says, okay, we're going.
And people go with him.
So Paul comes to Jerusalem.
Let's, let's look at it here.
We're going to.
I wish I could tell you, Paul goes.
And God says, paul, by the way, I was just testing you.
This was all a test.
Everything's gonna be okay.
But that's not what he says here.
That's not what happens.
Verse 17.
And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received
us gladly.
You might say, well, wait, I just thought you said, well, it's
coming.
Okay, the trial is coming.
But initially everyone receives Paul and his company with
gladness.
And so they arrive there in Jerusalem, Paul meets the leaders
of the church.
And we're going to see that when he gets there, everything seems
to be okay.
Verse 18.
And the day following, Paul went in with us into James.
And James was the leader there at the church at Jerusalem.
And so Paul goes in with all the leaders there, and all the elders
were present.
Verse 19.
And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly, what things
God hath wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry.
And so what does he do here?
He essentially gives them a report, a missionary report.
We have this happen within our own churches.
You know, we send people out, they come back, they say, hey, this
is what's happening out there in the mission field.
They didn't have technology back then.
Well, they had technology, but not digital technology where they
could send messages across the water.
So these people were totally in the dark until Paul got back to
know what was happening.
And so essentially what happens here is he's reporting all
the different things that's happening.
And he tells them, as it says there in, in great detail, it says
he declared particularly that that just means he detailed out everything
that that happened.
He recounted every little thing.
And so Paul told the people there in Jerusalem what, what was
going on in his missionary efforts and what's the result of
this verse 20.
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said unto
him, thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are
which believe.
And they are all zealous of the law.
So we're going to see that they're all excited that Paul is
reporting that there are people that are being saved.
But the elders of Jerusalem were happy for what God was doing
among the Gentiles as well.
But yet in Jerusalem, the Christian community was almost completely
Jewish founded, having Jewish backgrounds, Jewish traditions.
And so the Christians there in Jerusalem were almost to the point
where someone had to become a Christian, but also a Jewish Christian.
So add that phrase there, zealous of the law.
And so the idea was that, hey, Paul, hopefully that you're making
these people more like us in this case in verse 21.
And they were informed of thee that thou teachest all the Jews which
are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses.
So you might not catch what's happening here, but they're basically
accusing Paul of doing something.
What are they accusing him of?
That they, that he's teaching all the Jews.
So these are Jewish converts which are among the Gentiles.
So they're living with the Gentiles in these various cities
to forsake Moses, to forsake the law.
They said.
So we've heard you're going in and preaching Jesus, but you're telling
them to forget the law of Moses, just totally wipe it away.
And by the way, that's not what Paul is doing.
By the way, Paul is essentially very much still encouraging
people to stay in the law if that's what they need to stay in.
But that's not what saves them.
Paul's not going to tell them that that's what saves them.
But what they're saying is that, hey, it's a classic misunderstanding.
Essentially what they're saying is since you're preaching
Jesus only, you must be preaching against the law of Moses,
saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither
to walk after the customs.
So they said, paul, we're glad all These people are getting saved.
But we heard this rumor that you're telling people not to do what's
important to us, I.
E.
The circumcision.
That is the traditions.
And that is not the case.
So the Christians there in Jerusalem heard rumors about Paul.
They're false rumors.
And this is showing us how dangerous gossip is and how dangerous
it is not to get the full story.
They heard that he was basically an anti Jew, okay?
He was against their Jewish culture, he was against their Jewish
customs, that he basically is now telling Jewish Christians that
it was wrong for them to continue on in any of their customs.
And he's not saying that now.
He's telling the Gentiles that they don't have to become Jewish
people to be saved.
But he's not telling the Jewish people to just throw out all
their customs.
All right, you know, don't.
You don't have to.
That's not what.
What Paul was saying.
And based on Romans chapter 14, and we'll get there in our Sunday
morning services.
But according to Romans chapter 14, Paul did not have a problem
with Jewish Christians who wanted to continue observing the
old law and the old customs.
And it even seems like in some ways Paul even joined in, in many
of those things and even spoke to certain individuals who were saved
and became Christians, that they would actually need to follow
those things to reach the community for the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
And so what happens here is they're going to spread this lie
about Paul.
And so verse 22, what is it?
Therefore the multitude must needs come together, for they will
hear that thou art come.
So in King James English, it's basically saying this, Paul, you've
been a very controversial figure.
The people want to hear about it.
We need to get this all figured out.
You need to speak your case.
Essentially what they're saying here.
And this is where we will leave off here tonight.
We're going to talk next week about how this eventually turns south,
so to speak, and how the prophecies are fulfilled were Paul
is taken into captivity.
And Paul is going to give a testimony of what God is doing in
his life.
And so after all of that, after.
After Paul comes in and commits himself to the will of God
and says, lord, I trust you.
The people are going to turn on Paul, specifically one group of
people.
And then there's an uproar.
And so the leaders of Jerusalem make a recommendation to
Paul.
Paul then is going to accept this.
It's basically, can you help out these guys who are part of the
Jewish purification rituals?
And Paul says, okay, but then there's some Jews from Asia who are
going to stir up a mob against Paul.
So Paul is going to be betrayed here in Jerusalem.
And I don't look at this and say, well, all the people in Jerusalem
must have been bad people and hated Paul.
I just think it was a misunderstanding.
But we know how a small misunderstanding can eventually become
something even greater and in many ways lose control.
And so God's going to have to do his work here, which we know he
always does.
And so that's.
I don't want to get ahead too far, but what can we learn from this?
Tonight?
It's this.
If God has called us to do something, and we know that we're
not contradicting the word of God, we're not contradicting the
will of God, we're not contradicting the guidance of the
Holy Spirit, we're living and walking in unity with Christ.
It really doesn't matter what other people say to us.
And I know that sounds bad because that kind of sounds like,
hey, I'm a rogue agent for Christ.
I'm not saying we should avoid godly counsel.
Godly counsel is a wise thing.
The Bible actually talks all about godly counsel.
But godly counsel is only limited to individuals and their
opinions and their perception.
They're not walking in your shoes.
One day when we stand before our Savior, we can't say, well, someone
else gave me this advice and I followed it.
And, you know, at the end of the day, we are responsible for our
decisions for the Lord.
And so, yes, get godly counsel.
But again, make sure where that godly counsel is coming from.
You know, when I was again going back to when I was a young
person in high school, if I wanted to get advice, you know who
I would go to for advice?
I should have went to my parents.
I should have went to my pastor.
I would go to my friends in my class.
What do you think I should do about this situation?
Like they had any better advice for me.
They were going to just lead me astray because they was like the
blind leading the blind.
Right?
And that's sometimes what we do instead of going to someone when
we go for godly counsel.
We need to be very careful on where we're getting that godly counsel
from.
I will tell you that today in our society, many people are getting
godly counsel from the Internet.
They're going to type in a box on their phone or on their laptop
or their computer.
What does the Bible say about blank?
What should I do about blank?
And I'M not saying that the Internet's a bad thing, but what
I'm saying is that that should not be your godly counsel.
Your godly counsel should come from people who are grounded in the
truth of God, who are trustworthy, who have a testimony
of obedience to God.
But again, at the end of the day, godly counsel isn't the final
authority.
The final authority is the leading of the Holy Spirit and the
Word of God.
And so what I would say to you is this.
If God has you to do something and believe something and you can
match it up to Scripture, and God is leading you in that, stand
strong in that, no matter what might be the case, and it might be
someone trying to take care of you.
You know what?
I just don't know if you want to go through that right now.
Well, none of us want to go through suffering.
But the truth of the matter is that sometimes God's will takes us
right down the lane of suffering, suffering central.
And we don't want to exalt that, and we don't want to praise
that suffering.
But what we do want to say is, you know what?
Like Paul said, I'm ready not just to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem
for the name of the Lord Jesus.
And so we're going to talk more about this next week.
We're going to talk more about that confusion.
And by the way, just for the sake of understanding, and we'll
get more into this next week.
Paul did not expect Jews to just throw away their culture.
He had no problem with them keeping the dietary laws.
Paul had no problem with them following the Jewish customs and
traditions and even, you know, reading the Torah and following the
law.
What the problem was, and you can read all about in the book of
Galatians, the problem was is that people thought that that made
them more spiritual, that made them more of God's people.
And what the Bible speaks of very clearly is that you don't have
to follow those things to become Christians.
But.
But Paul was never throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
But all it was was that Gentiles don't have to follow this
path.
And people got upset.
And we might have a hard time likening that today because none
of us probably are struggling with the Jewish laws in here tonight.
Okay?
None of us are offended by that, but we are in some ways held
up with other traditions that we're so used to that we think must
be done to be.
They must be done for church to be happening.
They must be done for a Christian to be Growing.
And that's the idea of legalism.
Legalism isn't always, you got to do this to be saved.
That's how sometimes it's framed.
Like, we don't believe that you have to work your way to heaven,
but we believe that after you're saved, you got to work for
your spiritual growth.
You got to do all these things, you got to look this way,
you got to do this thing.
And the truth is, is that at the end of the day, yes, there will
be an outward change that happens in our spiritual growth.
But that spiritual growth does not come from following a list of
rules.
The change comes from a changed heart that eventually does
align with the will of God and the word of God.
But what we've tried to do over the years, and we're going to
talk about this next week, is we've tried to look out there and
we try to look at the outcome of spiritual growth, and we've tried
to basically fabricate that in people's lives by putting rules out
there to make them look like Christians.
The problem is, is that if I tried to say, hey, you know what,
if you just talk this way, dress this way, go here, don't go
here, do this, don't do that, you'll be a great Christian.
But if there's zero connection with the Holy Spirit, it's all done
just through a list of rules.
It's just the same as the law of Moses that could not save.
And so what we have to do is we have to talk about that true interchange
that's happening, and we'll get to that more next week.
So let's go ahead and close with a word of prayer, and then we
will have a few announcements, and then we'll be dismissed.
Lord, I thank you for this time that you've given us.
I thank you for this opportunity here this evening to
look into your word, to study this heavy topic of conviction of
the Spirit, guidance of the Spirit, comfort of the Spirit, conviction
of the Spirit.
Lord, we know that the Holy Spirit had bound Paul to this.
And though there were individuals like Agabus and others
that tried to talk Paul away from what you'd have him to do, Lord,
we know that you led him into that truth and even into that difficulty
for your gospel, for your glory.
So, Lord, I pray that you be with us this week.
Lord, help us to understand what it means to follow you, obey
you.
Lord, I pray that you can protect us this week as we profess
your word to the world.
So we thank you and we love you.
We ask all these things in Jesus name.
Amen.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for for you.
If you would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh Massaro Middletown BaptistChurch.com
if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow
along for future podcast and updates.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.