Well good morning Gospel City. My name is Mitch Helmkamp and it is an honor to be on staff here. It’s a privilege to open God’s Word with you this morning. So open your Bibles to Acts chapter 21, Acts chapter 21. And we’ll be starting in verse 1. But what we’re going to see in our text today is the conclusion to an era that is a monumental era in world history. What we’re going to see today is Paul’s conclusion to his third and final missionary journey.
And so it’s been twenty years since Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus in blazing glory brighter than the sun. And twenty years have passed. Twenty years later, three missionary journeys later, God has changed the world through Paul. So there’s a church just about in every major city on the eastern side of the Mediterranean. What God accomplished through Paul in the last twenty years, even secular historians admit that he is one of the five to ten most influential people in the history of the world.
But this global impact has not come without a cost. Paul has suffered a lot for the name of Jesus. He has been beaten and stoned and arrested and left for dead after he was stoned. He has been slandered and rejected by his own people. He has faced opposition from Satan and opposition from the world. It has cost Paul a lot. He has suffered a lot.
But despite all the suffering Paul is still following Jesus. Paul is still living for the name and the fame and the glory of Jesus. In our text today we’re going to see Paul still following Jesus even though he knows the suffering that awaits him. So we’ll see Paul go to Jerusalem even though he knows what is waiting for him. And before we dive in, I want us to ask ourselves, just consider in your heart, what is it costing you to follow Jesus? Is there anywhere you wouldn’t follow Him? Is there any price too high to pay?
Because as we dive in, we’re going to see the courage and the conviction and the devotion that Paul has to the Lord Jesus. And my prayer is that it would encourage our hearts, that it would stoke a fire in our hearts, to desire to follow Jesus no matter the cost, for He is worthy. So get your eyes on a copy of God’s Word. Last week we were in, we saw Pastor Micah, he was taking the Ephesian elders, Paul was talking with the Ephesian elders in Miletus. So if there is a map on the screen, I wanted to show. Because the first part of the text we’re going to see, we’re going to see Paul go through a lot of cities. He’s going to sail a lot.
Last week he was talking to the Ephesian elders here in Miletus. And what we’re going to see in the text is he’s going to sail hundreds of miles straight towards Jerusalem. But first he’s going to stop in Caesarea and there’s going to be a little bit of another warning about what’s going to happen to him when he gets to Jerusalem. So he’s going to sail hundreds of miles and the Holy Spirit is testifying to him that bonds and afflictions await him. And yet he is still headed toward Jerusalem.
Because what it looks like right now for Paul to follow Jesus is to go to Jerusalem just as the Spirit is leading him. So let’s dive in. Let’s look at verse 1 of chapter 21. And when we had parted from them (“them” is the Ephesian elders) and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. And having found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload its cargo. And having sought out the disciples, we stayed there for seven days. And through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.
When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais, and we greeted the brothers[b] and stayed with them for one day. On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied. While we were staying for many days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is how the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” Paul was the one who owned that belt. When we heard this, we and the people. So notice we. Luke is including himself. We and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. (Acts 21:1-12)
So there’s a lot going on here, but I want you to see two things in the text. One, Paul is headed straight toward Jerusalem. His face is set to go towards Jerusalem. Two, people keep wanting him. But what’s going to happen when he gets there? And yet number one remains true.
So if you look at verse 8, Paul is staying with Philip the evangelist in Caesarea. And so this is the Philip that we know of that shared the gospel with the Ethiopian eunuch. This is the same Philip who was made a deacon back in Acts 6. This is the same Philip who was spreading the gospel, sharing the gospel, all over Samaria. So it’s been twenty years since we’ve seen this Philip, but interestingly enough Philip was in Jerusalem. That’s where he lived. And yet he had to flee Jerusalem because of the persecution from a guy named Saul, Saul the Pharisee.
And so now here twenty years later Paul has a place to stay in Caesarea because of what he did twenty years ago. Only what he did twenty years ago was persecuting the man that he now stays with. Isn’t God’s sovereignty amazing? That’s just one example of Philip, but the places that Paul stayed as well, the churches are there because of the persecution that was started by Paul.
So God used Paul to plant churches through his preaching and God used Paul to plant churches through his persecution as well. But so Paul is staying with Philip the evangelist. And Luke adds this little detail that Philip had four unmarried daughters that prophesied. And so this little point is funny because it doesn’t add a lot to the narrative. But Paul, or Luke is pointing out that Philip was blessed with four godly daughters who were devoted to the Lord. And early church historians even suggest that they were very valuable resources for Luke as he was writing his gospel and writing the book of Acts.
And so just typical to Luke he likes to elevate women. So he adds this little footnote telling us about Philip’s daughters. But while they were there at Philip’s house, a man named Agabus shows up. And he ties Paul’s belt around his hands and his feet and says, This is what’s going to happen to the man who owns this belt when he goes to Jerusalem.
I want you to notice that Agabus does not say, “Do not go to Jerusalem.” He is just telling Paul. This is just another warning from the Holy Spirit of what is going to happen to Paul when he gets there. It’s the other disciples who hear the prophecy and then conclude, therefore Paul, don’t go. And so this is the same thing that’s happening in verse 4. Even though it says “Through the Spirit they were telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem,” this is not the Spirit telling Paul to go to Jerusalem and not go to Jerusalem. The phrase could also be translated, “Through the exercise of a spiritual gift.” That’s kind of the meaning there.
And so what’s happening is the disciples are receiving a vision from the Holy Spirit of what’s going to happen to Paul when he gets there. And then they conclude, therefore, don’t go. But remember if we remember just a chapter later or just a chapter earlier in Acts 20, Paul is saying, “I am bound by the spirit headed to Jerusaelm, and he testifies to me that in every city bonds and affliction await me.”
So right now at this point what it looks like for Paul to follow Jesus is to go to Jerusalem even though he knows what’s going to happen to him when he gets there. So that brings us to our first point. I want to encourage us to follow Jesus even if it cost you your life, for He is worthy. So we’re going to see here in the text Paul’s response to his friends urging him not to go.
So if you look at verse 13 it says, Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Now we can’t rush past this. This is not hyperbole. Paul is willing to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. And it could be easy for us to minimize this and just think, Well yeah, this is apostle Paul. He’s a super Christian. Of course he is ready to die, and to not really be moved by it. But I want you to consider Jesus’ words back in Matthew 16:24-25. Jesus told His disciples, If anyone would come after me. In other words, if anyone wants to be my disciple, if anyone wants to follow Me, if anyone wants to be a Christian, to be like me, to be a little Christ, this is what he must do. Let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.
That cross only has one purpose, death. So this is not just for super Christians. Jesus saying that if you want to follow Me, if you want to be My disciple, you must consider Me more precious than life itself. If you want to be My disciple, if you want to follow Me, you have to consider that I am worth denying all of your worldly pleasures. I am even worth dying for.
And Jesus makes this explicitly clear in the next verse. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:25) So brothers and sisters, how much is Jesus worth to you? Is He more precious than life itself? Are you picking up your cross? Are you denying yourself daily, picking up your cross, following Him no matter the cost? Let me even ask you, are you even ready to die for Jesus?
As twenty-first century Americans, we don’t really have to ask that question. It doesn’t cost us much to follow Jesus in our culture. But that is not the case for most Christians around the world. It has not been the case for most Christians throughout the history of the church, and it’s not guaranteed to us tomorrow in this country.
So I want us to consider a testimony from one of our ARA missionaries. Hopefully you’ve heard of Africans Reaching Africa. It’s one of our mission partners. And they have missionaries who are ready to die for Jesus. They have missionaries who are following Jesus no matter the cost because they believe He is worthy. I can’t share their names or where they are working because where they’re working is illegal to be a Christian. It’s just that dangerous.
But I want you to consider this testimony. Just a couple of years ago our ARA missionaries were working and sharing the gospel and dozens of people were coming to Christ. Dozens of people were forsaking Islam and coming to Christ. And so they were planting house churches. They were discipling these Christians. And a local Muslim man hated what was going on. So just as we see in Acts, every time that God moves, every time that there are people getting saved, that Satan always responds by opposing Him. So that was not just the case in Acts. So here with our missionaries God was moving, people were coming to Christ, and Satan wants nothing of it. So Satan tries to oppose Him.
He incites this local Muslim man and this Muslim man hated what was going on so he turned them in. He turned our missionaries in to a local terrorist group, a local extremist. And so what he did is he made a voice recording and he sent it to the terrorist group telling the peopel the ARA missionaries’ names and where they were working. And he said, “If we do not stop these men, they are going to turn the whole country away from Allah. They’re going to turn the whole country towards Christ.”
And so if you remember what Demetrius said in Acts 19 in Ephesus, that’s what was happening there as well. He said they’re turning the whole, all of Asia, away from idols and to Christ. So it’s just amazing. That’s an amazing testimony from the lips of a pagan that these men were having such an impact.
And so that voice recording actually circulated around a like group chat of the terrorists, which I think is kind of funny to think about terrorists having a group chat. I wouldn’t want to know what they talk about. But as it turns out, one of the men who was still in that group chat had become a Christian. And you know, if you become a Christian you’re in that group chat you’re not going to say, I’m no longer in the group chat. So he’s still in the group chat, just kind of, he probably muted it.
But so he gets the voice recording and he knows a guy who knows a guy who knows our ARA missionaries and he’s able to warn them. Hey, you’ve got to get out of there because these guys are coming for you. They have been warned and they hate what you’re doing and they’re coming for you. I mean, these are Islamic extremists.
And you know what our ARA missionaries said? They said, as they’re talking to Bill and Jen and talking about what to do, they’re like, “Bill, how could we leave our sheep without a shepherd? How could we leave these new Christians as soon as the first signs of danger come? What would that say to them?”
All they did was say, “Pray for us. We believe that the Lord will protect us. And if He doesn’t, that must mean that these Christians are ready to make more Christians without us.” So they stayed. And that was a few years ago, and God has protected them and they have made dozens and dozens and dozens more Christians in church plants. House churches are being planted and God has protected them.
I just want us to consider these missionaries and consider and ask ourselves, What does it take to have that courage? What does it take to have that condition to live for Jesus even if it is going to cost you your life? What does it take to love Jesus so much that you’re willing to die for Him?
This is a question that all disciples need to ask. If anyone would follow Christ, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus. So I want to spend a couple ministries and consider a few things that can help us be disciples who are ready to die for Jesus, help us be disciples who consider Jesus more precious than life itself.
So number one, we need to deepen our doctrine. Disciples who are ready to die for Jesus have deep doctrine. So many people are not willing to live for Jesus because the Jesus they believe in is not worth living for. And so some people view Jesus as just their personal hell insurance agent. They believe hell is real and they hear that believing in Jesus is the way that you don’t have to go to hell. And the great thing is signing up for Jesus as hell insurance is free. Because all the other religions make you work for it. And so it’s a great deal. This is a great deal. You just believe in Jesus, you just say a prayer, you come to church every once in a while, you acknowledge Jesus exists, but it doesn’t change your life. You go on living for you because you know however you live, it doesn’t matter because you are going to go to heaven when you die.
But think about it. If Jesus is just your hell insurance agent, He doesn’t mean much to you. We have car insurance agents and house insurance agents and we’re thankful for their services, but you don’t live for them. You’re definitely not going to die for them. The Geico gecko, he’s pretty cute, but you’re not going to die for him. The Aflac duck, he’s annoying. No one would die for him. And if Jesus is just your hell insurance agent, you’re not going to die for Him either. You’re not going to live for Him. You’re definitely not going to die for Him.
In order to be disciples who are ready to die for Jesus, we need to believe in the biblical Jesus. Other people just view Jesus as a spiritual banker. You only go to the bank when you need something. You don’t think about your banker. You don’t live for your banker. You go to the bank, you need something, and then you leave and you got what you came for. But it wasn’t the banker; it was what he could give you. And then you leave and you don’t think about your banker anymore. You don’t live for your banker; you definitely don’t die for your banker.
And if Jesus is just your spiritual banker that you only go to when you need something or you follow Him not because you love Him but because of what He can give you, then you’re not going to be ready to die for Jesus. You’re not even going to live for Jesus. So if Jesus is just our spiritual banker or hell insurance agent or you name it or spiritual Santa Claus, genie, whatever our culture conceives of Jesus, you’re not going to live for that type of Jesus.
So we as disciples need to believe and need to know the biblical Jesus. Because the biblical Jesus is the Creator of the universe. All things were created through Him and by Him and for Him. He is not only the Creator of the universe, He is the King of the universe, the sustainer of the universe. For He upholds the universe with the word of His power as He reigns from His cosmic throne.
He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the image of the invisible God. No one has seen God but Jesus. He has made Him known. He is the God-man who lived a perfect, sinless life. He is the greatest preacher, the greatest teacher, the greatest lover of people, the greatest servant, the greatest man the world has ever known. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He’s not just a man. He’s not just a great man. He’s the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God.
And he didn’t just die on the cross. He rose on the third day defeating sin and death and the devil. He didn’t just pay for our sin; he reversed the curse and removed all the effects of our sin, defeating all of our diseases, wiping away every tear. He is the defeater of the curse of sin.
And the poetic beauty of the gospel is if you believe that God rose Jesus from the dead, then you too will be risen with Him. And so how can we not live with Him even if it costs us our life? If we believe what we say we believe, then death cannot separate us from the love of Christ. And nothing in all of creation can either.
But Jesus didn’t just come. He didn’t just die and then rise again and then leave us. He ascended to the right hand of the Father where He is our great high priest. It is hard to live for Jesus in this world. It takes courage. It takes strength. But He is our great high priest interceding for us. He knows what it’s like. There’s not temptation that is overtaking us because our great high priest has suffered like we are. Our great high priest knows what it’s like to be hated by the world. Our great high priest knows what it’s like to have it be costly to follow the will of the Father.
But it doesn’t end there. Jesus is the Creator King of the new creation. Behold, He has left. He is gone. He is preparing a place for us where we will live with Him around, gathered around, His throne singing His praises forever and ever. And if you believe in Christ, if you trust in Christ, if you believe that He is even worth dying for, then you will be there with Him no matter what happens to you in this life. For He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord of glory, the great I Am. He is the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the King of Kings. Jesus is Lord, and that’s all that matters.
You see in the text Paul says, “I am willing to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.” He is Master. He is King. And if He says, “Take up your cross and follow me,” then we take up our cross and follow Him because He is Lord and He is in charge and we are not. But He is a good Lord and He is trustworthy and He is so precious. He is worth living for. He is even worth dying for.
So brothers and sisters, do you believe in that kind of Jesus? Do you have, do you believe in the Jesus that the Bible has revealed? For He is beautiful.
Number two, we need to deepen our affections. Because here’s the thing. Paul had deep doctrine. But Satan and his demons would ace any theology test. So deep doctrine is not enough. We need to not just know about Jesus; we need to love the Jesus we know. Which begs the question, how do we cultivate deep affections for the Lord Jesus? How do we take what we know in our heads and believe it with all our heart?
Pastor Mark Vroegop answers that question in a way that has really helped me think about it. So imagine it’s a clear summer night and there’s no moon. You’re out in the middle of nowhere. You’re in a field in the middle of the night. If you look up you’re going to see a beautiful sky full of stars. You might even be able to see the dust of the Milky Way. It’ll be amazing. It’ll take your breath away.
Imagine that same night you get in your car and you drive into the middle of a big city. Still the moon is not out. Still a clear night, still not a cloud in the sky. You look up. What are you going to see? You might see a star or two, but you’re not going to see what you just saw a few hours ago out in the middle of nowhere. The point is this- the city lights blind us from seeing the stars just like sin blinds us from seeing and savoring the glory of God. It is sin that separates us from our God. It is sin that blinds us from tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. It is sin that numbs our affections and causes us to love this world more than the one who created it.
So let me ask you, if you know a lot about Jesus but you struggle to live for Jesus no matter the cost, I want you to ask yourself, “What are the city lights in your life that are blinding you from seeing and savoring the Lord Jesus? Consider the tv you watch and the music you listen to. Not just the content, but the amount of it. Consider the amount of time you spend on your phone. Consider what you do on your phone, when you’re on your phone.
Consider the language you use, how you treat your family, how you treat your friends, how much you gossip about your neighbors and your co-workers. Consider how you spend your money. Consider why you want to make money. Consider what you want to do with your money once you have it.
All of these things, there are so many things in this life that even if they’re not inherently sinful, if they’re just morally neutral and yet we crave them or desire them more than we love our own King, then they are numbing our affections. They are blinding us from seeing and savoring the Lord Jesus. So is your life full of things that cultivate deep affections for the Lord Jesus or is your life full of city lights that blind you and numb you from seeing and savoring who He is?
I had a professor who couldn’t even say the name of the Lord Jesus without smiling. The name Jesus, you could tell it just tasted like honey on his lips. That’s because Jesus wasn’t just an academic idea to him. He wasn’t just a religious idea. Jesus was his Lord, and he couldn’t even say His name without almost coming to tears.
So do you love Jesus that way? Who could say? I mean, do you love Jesus that way? If not, then we might need to flee. We might need to flee the city lights of sin so that we can behold the beauty of Jesus through the clear skies of holiness. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And if we are in the clear skies of holiness and we look up and we see who He is, then we will see that He is worth living for and He is even worth dying for.
SPLIT HERE
Lastly, we need to deepen our dependence. So as I’ve been thinking about this question, Am I ready to die for the Lord Jesus? And the answer is in my flesh, absolutely not. I’m a coward. Just recently I was trying to share the gospel with someone and it got a little uncomfortable and I shrunk back. And I didn’t proclaim the whole counsel of God’s Word. I was afraid of what he might think of me. It was uncomfortable.
And if I shrink back in that, how would I not shrink back at facing the threat of something far greater than having a severed friendship? And so what I want us to think about is loving Jesus is having deep doctrine, having deep affections, is not a formula that automatically produces Christ likeness. It’s not a formula where you just need this and you need that so you don’t need God anymore. Every step of the way to follow Jesus we need to rely on the Holy Spirit every step of the way. So the same Spirit who led Paul into Jerusalem was the same Spirit who gave him the courage and the boldness and the conviction to be able to die for Him.
And so as we are disciples of Jesus, we might in our flesh we think about, Yeah, we don’t have the courage to die for Jesus. But are you living for Him today? Are you denying yourself little by little? Do you look more like Jesus today than you did yesterday? As we live for Him and as we grow to be more like HIm, as we become more holy, as we behold more of the beauty of who He is, we will deny ourselves more. We will deny ourselves more. We will take up our cross and follow Jesus.
And if that day comes where we are asked to die for Jesus, if we’ve been living for Jesus, then that same Spirit who is helping us put off the old self and put on the new, that same Spirit who is helping us die to our flesh will help us if He calls us to, if we trust Him. So deepen your dependence where Jesus is worth living for for the sake of the name.
That brings us to point number two. We’re going to fly through this point. Follow Jesus even if it costs you your reputation, for He is worthy. So look at verse 14.
And since he would not be persuaded, we ceased and said, “Let the will of the Lord be done.” After these days we got ready and went up to Jerusalem. And some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us, bringing us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we should lodge. When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly. On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. So this is James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, James the lead pastor of the Jerusalem church. James, the one who wrote the book of James in our Bibles. And he’s with the elders in the Jerusalem church.
After greeting them, he related (that’s Paul) one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry (third missionary journey) . And when they heard it, they glorified God. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.
What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.
But as for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality.” Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them. (Acts 21:14-26)
So what’s going on here is Paul cannot be persuaded even though his friends try to tell him to not go. So he goes to Jerusalem. And once he gets there, he gives a report to James and the Jerusalem elders about what God has done through his missionary team on the third missionary journey.
Can you imagine hearing that report? I mean we have a lot of it here in Acts, but there are a lot of details that we wouldn’t have had. So Paul would have been saying, God did this through me in Ephesus. God was doing miracles. God was performing signs. I was preaching the Word. Maybe, then I wrote the book of Romans. At least I would include that detail. I wrote the book of 1 Corinthians. Paul did a lot on this past third missionary journey. Maybe even opened the book of Romans and preached the whole book to them. Because here these elders, these pastors, had never even read the book of Romans.
But anyways, so they give glory to God for what God has done through Paul as all these churches are being planted and strengthened. But the Jerusalem elders, they have an issue in mind. They have a problem that they really want to talk about. Because rumors are swirling around Jerusalem that Paul has been teaching Jews all over the ancient world to not be Jews, to forsake Moses. The literal word forsake in verse 21 is “apostate.”
So the rumors are saying that Paul is teaching Jews to be apostates from Moses. And this is a blatant lie. Paul was in fact teaching Gentiles that they do not need to become Jews in order to be saved. But nowhere do we see him teaching Jews that they don’t need to be Jews anymore to be saved, as long as they’re not trusting in their Judaism to be saved.
And so if you remember back in Acts 15 the Jerusalem council, they were settling the issue that Gentiles did not need to become Jews. So here the issue is a little different. It’s a tangling of culture and theology, and Paul was clear that only Christ saves you. None of your works save you. But as long as you’re not trusting in your Judaism to save you, there were so many things about the Jewish culture that were just ingrained in who they were. It wasn’t saying that they didn’t need to circumcise their children. If you remember, he even circumcised Timothy back in Acts 16.
But the problem is, even though they’re rumors, the Jews are believing it. Even a lot of Jews in the church, even a lot of Christian Jews here in Jerusalem. So this is a big problem for James. As Paul is coming to town, he is going to be seen that he is associating with this Paul and thousands of people in his own congregation are saying, Hey, that guy is an apostate. That guy is teaching people to forsake the law.
And so as we read, the solution for the Jerusalem elders is, hey, Paul, why don’t you take part in this Jewish custom and go up to the temple in order to show people that you’re not anti-Judaism? And so Paul submits to his elders and he does that. But can you imagine being Paul going into the city of all your own people where everyone hates you because of what you’re teaching about the Lord Jesus? Where everyone, there are rumors spreading about you and people are against you because of how you are following Jesus and how you are teaching others to follow Christ?
I mean the Jews, this is where Paul was raised, being taught to be a Pharisee. This was his home almost. Can you imagine going there with thousands of people hating you because of how you’ve been living for Jesus? Paul’s reputation had been ruined because of what he was doing to follow Christ.
So I want us to think about this. It can be hard for us to relate to having to die for Jesus. We’re not asked to die for the Lord Jesus. But are you willing to live for Jesus even if it cost you your reputation? We can certainly relate to that. So think about your school. Think about your family. Think about your unbelieving family or friends. Are you living for Jesus amongst your classmates, amongst your co-workers in a way that it is costing your relationship? Or when the fork comes in the road where you have to choose between following Jesus and fitting in or following Jesus and doing what the world is doing, what do you choose? Which fork in the road do we choose?
Are we living for Jesus even when it costs us our reputation? Or are we trying to follow Jesus and save our reputation at the same time? If the world hated our master, how can they not also hate those who serve Him? And so if they hate our master, if we’re living for our master, then they’re going to hate us too. And so if we think that we can live and salvage our reputation among the world while we follow Jesus, then we might not be living for Jesus. So brothers and sisters, follow Jesus no matter the cost, even if it costs you your reputation, for He is worthy.
All right, our last point for today, follow Jesus even if it costs you your freedom, for He is worthy. So when the seven days…this is verse 27. Look down at verse 27.
When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!” (Acts 21:27-36)
So Paul takes part in the vow just like the Jerusalem elders asked him to. And as he’s in the temple, the Jews see him in the temple and they start crying out, Look, this is the guy who has been teaching against Jews. So they’re saying he’s anti-Jewish even though he’s a Jew. they’re saying he’s anti-law, even though Paul just wrote in Romans 7, “I love the law of God.”
They’re saying he’s anti-temple even though he’s in the temple. And so these are all lies. They even add and say he has brought a Greek into the temple with him, which would have been punishable by death. There were signs all over the place saying that if a foreigner enters into the inner courts that he is responsible for losing his own life. So that’s a lie too. Paul would have known that. Paul wouldn’t have brought one of his friends in there knowing that it would have gotten him killed. But even so, they’re still accusing him of it.
And then they start a mob and they actually drag him out of the temple because apparently they thought that was a much more honorable place to kill someone. And so they drag him out of the temple, the temple doors shut. Verse 30, they shut and that’s the last we see of the temple until it’s destroyed in 70 A.D. And so that shutting is not just physical. They denied Jesus, they denied all the prophets. And here’s the last prophet sent to preach the gospel, their last chance, and they deny him too. The doors are shut and God punishes them for it.
But all of this, even though they’re lies, all of it leads to a riot. A riot breaks out and the Roman soldiers know what’s happening. They go down to stop the riot. And so then they bind him. They assume that Pual is guilty, so they arrest Paul and this is where Agabus’ prophecy comes true. They bind him. They pick him up because the Jews were trying to rip his arms off trying to kill him as they’re taking him out. They lift him over their heads, they bring him out of the temple, and this is the last we see of Paul as a free man. This is the last we see of Paul as a free man. He’ll live the rest of his days in prison until he will ultimately be executed.
Now that doesn’t mean that the ministry of Paul ends. Just in prison he writes the book of Ephesians, he writes the book of Colossians, he writes the book of Philippians. I was reading in Philippians just chapter 1 he’s like, Actually, my imprisonment has really served to advance the gospel because all of the Roman guards know the gospel now and are saved.
And so Paul did more, I mean he did more as a prisoner than a lot of people do with a lifetime of freedom, which is convicting. But as we close and this is kind of the closing on Paul’s three missionary journeys, the conclusion to his ministry as a free man, I want to take a step back and to consider the life and ministry of the apostle Paul and why Luke is going into detail recording the ministry of the apostle Paul. because there are eleven other apostles and Luke could have followed the ministries of any one of them. He followed Peter a lot in the first half of Acts, but really this is all devoted to Paul even though the other apostles are out sharing the gospel as well.
So what is Luke doing as he’s recording for us the life and ministry of the apostle Paul? It would be easy for us to just go through. We’ve been going through these missionary journeys the last few months. It would be easy for us to conclude, Wow, Paul, what a guy. He was brave. Thanks Paul. Because of him we have all these books in the Bible. Because of him, the gospel was spread across the world. Thanks Paul. And then just kind of leave it there and not be moved by it.
But what Luke is doing is so much deeper than that. Luke is going out of his way to show that Paul is what it looks like to follow Jesus. He is an exemplary disciple of Jesus. In other words, Luke is saying, Follow Paul as he followed Christ. And the way that Luke is doing this is he’s showing parallel after parallel between the life of Paul and the life of Jesus. There are tons of parallels just in this passage. You might have noticed a few of them. So let’s consider the parallels to consider how Luke is saying, Follow Paul. be like Paul. This is what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus.
So here are some of the parallels just in this passage. So remember in his gospel in Luke repeats over and over that Jesus had his face set towards Jerusalem. Like his Lord, Paul has his face set towards Jerusalem. When the disciples heard Jesus’ plan that He was going to go to Jerusalem, suffer many things and die, Peter pulls Him aside and says, No you’re not. No you’re not.
And Jesus says, “Get behind me Satan. You are a hindrance to me.” Well Paul is a little nicer to the disciples who did that to him, but in this passage likewise they hear he is going to go and he’s going to suffer. And he says, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? You’re a hindrance to me. The Lord has called me to do this. I’m going to do this.”
Before Jesus got arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed, “Not my will but your will be done.” And you see right there in verse 14, what does it say? “Let the will of the Lord be done.” That was right before he got arrested.
Jesus goes into Jerusalem, He gets arrested and the crowds scream in a furious rage, “Away with him! Away with him!”
Look at verse 36. Likewise, Paul goes to Jerusalem, he gets arrested, and they scream, “Away with him! Away with him!”
The parallels continue throughout Acts. Both Paul and Jesus endured three trials. Both were declared innocent at all three trials. Both are unlawfully beaten. Both respond to their unjust judges and say, “The judge of all the earth is going to justly judge you.” Both are screamed at by the crowds. Both are victims of the Jews plotting to kill them. Both are accused of things that the witnesses cannot prove.
And here’s my favorite one. The book of Acts begins with Jesus concluding His ministry teaching about the kingdom of God. And the book of Acts concludes with Paul concluding his ministry teaching about the kingdom of God. And so the parallels go on, but as we consider what Luke is doing with Luke in Acts, what he’s saying is that Pual, the life of Paul, the ministry of Paul, is what it looks like to follow Jesus. This is what it looks like to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Jesus.
So brothers and sisters, let us consider the last few months we’ve been considering the missionary journeys of Paul. Does your life look anything more like the apostle Paul’s than it did when we started? That’s a tough question. But if we’re going to be hearers of the Word, or if we’re going to be doers of the Word and not just hearers, then we need to follow Paul as he followed Christ. We need to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Christ. We need to be telling the world about who Jesus is, the true Jesus, and what He has done. We need to follow Jesus no matter the cost, for He is worthy.
And if you are here today and if the Spirit is stirring your heart and you realize that you’ve never followed the real Jesus, you’ve been following a Jesus of your own imagination, then let me tell you. Today is the day you can repent and trust Christ. You can follow Christ for the first time. You can put your faith in the biblical Jesus. You can put your faith in the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And no matter the cost, it will cost you something, but He is worthy. So let’s all follow Jesus no matter the cost because He is Lord. Let’s pray.
Dear Father, we thank You for Jesus. We thank You for sending Him Lord. We thank You for the way that He lived a perfect life and died the death He didn’t deserve to die. We thank You for raising HIm on the third day so that whoever believes in Jesus can be raised with Him, so that no matter what happens to us in this life, no matter the persecution, no matter the suffering, no matter the trials, no matter the famine, no matter the sword, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ because He has defeated death. He has defeated sin. He has defeated the grave.
So even if we live for Him in a way that we die for Him, we will be reunited with Him forever and ever where we will be gathered around His throne singing His praises. And so Lord I pray that you would help us to flee the city lights of our sin that is blinding us from seeing who Jesus is. I pray that You would help us to go out into the clear skies of holiness to be holy as You are holy so that we can see and savor that Jesus is beautiful and that He is worth living for and that He is even worth dying for.
So I thank You for this church, Lord. I thank You for the disciples who are in this church. I pray that You would help us to follow Jesus no matter the cost for He is worthy. Amen.
Luke 2:4-14
So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.
He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”