52 "Representing Christ When Others Misrepresent You" Acts 21:20-40 | Sunday, June 14, 2026

You can take your Bibles and turn to the

book of Acts, chapter 21.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

We'll be in Acts, chapter 21, continuing

Acts 21 · chapter mention

in our series this morning through the

book of Acts.

Last week, it was just fitting for the

Lord to have us in [snorts] a particular

text on our celebration Sunday of Paul's

report of what God had done through his

ministry among the Gentiles. And we

spent some time last week celebrating

the work that God has done here through

Boulder Valley Baptist Church. And we

give him all the glory for it. God gets

the glory because God does the work.

That's what we saw in chapter 21 17- 20.

And we're going to pick up our reading

in verse number 20 and cover through the

end of the chapter. And from this moment

on, the rest of Acts will detail Paul's

defense of his ministry.

uh before the people in the next chapter

before the Sanhedrin or the Jewish

religious court before the governors

Felix and Fesus and the king Herod he's

going to be testifying before ranking

rulers of Jesus Christ. And so the end

of Acts for us is going to take on

really a final encouragement

to witness in the face of suffering.

We're going to see a lot about that here

over these final chapters as today we

consider Paul's arrest and imprisonment.

Let's begin reading in verse number 20.

Speaking of Paul's report,

they James and the elders, it says,

"When they heard it, they glorified the

Lord and said unto him, thou seeest,

brother, how many thousands of Jews

there are which believe, and they are

all zealous of the law, and they are

informed of thee, that thou teachest all

the Jews which are among the Gentiles,

to forsake Moses, saying that they ought

not to circumcise their children,

neither to walk after their customs.

What is it therefore? The multitude must

needs come together, for they will hear

that thou art come. Do therefore this

that we say unto thee. We have four men

which have a vow on them. them. Take and

purify thyself with them, and be at

charges with them, that they may shave

their heads, and all may know that those

things whereof they were informed

concerning thee, are nothing. But that

thou thyself also walkest orderly, and

keepest the law. As touching the

Gentiles, which believe, we have

written, and concluded that they observe

no such thing, save only that they keep

themselves from things offered to idols,

and from blood, and from strangled, and

from fornication.

Then Paul took them in, and the next

day, purifying himself with them,

entered into the temple to signify the

accomplishment of the days of

purification until that an offering

should be offered for every one of them.

And when the seven days were almost

ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when

they saw him in the temple, stirred up

all the people, and laid hands on him,

crying out, men of Israel, help, this is

the man that teacheth all men

everywhere, against the people, and the

law, and this place. and further brought

Greeks also into the temple and hath

polluted this holy place. For they had

seen before with him in the city

Trophamus and Ephesians, whom they

supposed that Paul had brought into the

temple. And all the city was moved. And

the people ran together, and they took

Paul and drew him out of the temple, and

forth with the doors were shut. And as

they went about to kill him, tidings

came unto the chief captain of the band

that all Jerusalem was in an uproar who

who immediately took soldiers and

centurions and ran down unto them. And

when they saw the chief captain and the

soldiers, they left beating of Paul.

Then the chief captain came near and

took him and commanded him to be bound

with two chains and demanded who he was

and what he had done. And some cried one

thing and some another among the

multitude. And when he could not know

the certainty for the tumult, he

commanded him to be carried into the

castle. And when he came upon the

stairs, so it was that he was born of

the soldiers for the violence of the

people. For the multitude of the people

followed after, crying, "Away with him."

And as Paul was led into the castle, he

said unto the chief captain, "May I

speak unto thee?" Who said, "Cencest

thou speak Greek? Art not thou that

Egyptian which before ledest uh before

these days madeest an uproar, and ledest

out into the wilderness 4,000 men that

were murderers."

But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew

of Tarsus, a city in Cissia, a citizen

of no mean city, and I beseech thee,

suffer me to speak unto the people. And

when he had given him sil license, Paul

stood on the stairs and beckoned with

the hand unto the people. And when there

was made a great silence, he spake unto

them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, and

we'll stop our reading there. Next time

we'll cover what exactly he said. But I

want to speak to you a message this

morning entitled representing Christ

when people misrepresent

you. You ever experienced that before in

your life? I think we read through three

different times Paul was misrepresented

by people and yet all along the way he

just kept representing Christ. That's

what we're going to look at today. Let's

pray. Father, I ask you to please help

us to understand your word. Help me to

make it clear. And I pray that all of us

would have hearts that are ready,

prepared to listen and understand your

word and apply its truth to our lives.

We ask in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you

for standing in honor of God's word. You

can be seated.

>> [clears throat]

>> How do you respond when people

misrepresent you?

See, it can be incredibly frustrating

when people twist your words to to say

something that you never meant just to

prove their point. That's irritating. It

can be very hurtful when people

mischaracterize you as something that

you know you're not. when rumors swirl

about you that you know are unfounded

and untrue.

And it can be irritating when people

misidentify you or associate you with a

person or with a group that you have

little to nothing to do with. [snorts]

But as Christians living in an

increasingly secular and godless

society,

this is the lot that we draw.

We are often mislabeled as hateful,

bigoted, at times even racist.

Some can mischaracterize Christians as

unintelligent,

as weak, a as radical even. And

sometimes we can be grouped in with

certain politicians or certain extremist

groups that we fundamentally disagree

with and have nothing to do with. that

can happen to us all as Christians. The

question is how do we respond when we

are misrepresented?

Well, I think in our flesh there are

certain ways we would like to respond

that it's easy to try to prove them

wrong. It's easy to try to fight back.

It's easy to try to get back at people.

But what we really need to know is how

Christ calls us to respond.

And it's fitting that the way that we

are called to respond is the way that

Christ responded when he was

misrepresented.

And that's exactly what Paul does in

Acts 21.

This is his first week back in

Jerusalem.

He's strived to get there by Pentecost

to maximize his time in ministry and in

witnessing there. And yet what happens

when he arrives is he realizes that

there are false rumors going around that

he is teaching the Jews around the world

to abandon their heritage to forsake the

law of Moses and their cultural

practices.

And then you have this. While Paul is

right in the middle of fulfilling a

Jewish custom, he's dragged out of the

temple by a mob who mischaracterizes him

as anti-Jew, anti-Moses, and

anti-temple.

He's falsely accused of bringing a Greek

into the inner court of the temple,

which was strictly forbidden and even

punishable by death. He's he's

misrepresented.

mischaracterized

and then when he's arrested and he's

brought into the castle, he is

misidentified as an Egyptian assassin.

Did you notice all these things? It's

like nobody really knows who Paul is.

Everybody is flailing false accusations

and misrepresentations of him. And of

course, we know that none of these

things were true. We know that Paul's

heart for his people according to the

book of Romans is that they all might be

saved. That he would even wish himself

accured if it meant the salvation of all

of his people. He loved the Jews. We've

seen in the book of Acts that Paul has

followed cultural customs that he has

had vows himself and shaved his head.

And so we know that he's not teaching

the Jews everywhere else to abandon

those customs.

And of course, we know that Paul's not

from Egypt. He's from Tarsus in Cissia.

He's a Jew. In fact, he was a Pharisee.

That's who Paul really is. And yet, what

we find in this text is that Paul is

constantly misrepresented. And yet, he

never retaliates.

He never lashes out. He never becomes

invictive. He never turns to violence.

Rather, when people mess misrepresented

Paul. Paul continued to represent

Christ.

And how Paul responded to these

mischaracterizations and

misidentifications is the same way that

we must respond to it today. That when

people misrepresent you, you must

respond

by representing Christ.

But what exactly does that look like? I

think we see it in Paul's life here. In

this passage, Paul represented Christ in

three ways that I hope to show you.

Number one, Paul died to self.

He died to self. Number two, Paul

absorbed suffering. He absorbed

suffering. And then number three, he

looked for opportunities to testify

of Christ. And that's how we are to

represent Christ today.

The first way that we represent Christ

is by dying to self. Beginning in verse

number 20, we find that Paul gave the

report to James and the elders. And he

is informed at that time of these

swirling rumors that have the potential

to create a very serious rift in the

church at Jerusalem.

See, while Paul was or God was doing

great things through Paul among the

Gentiles, he's informed in verse number

uh 20 uh verse number 20 that he can see

how many thousands of Jews there are

which believe God was continuing to do

an amazing work among the Jewish people

even as the the work was sent the

witness was sent to the far reaches of

the earth. The word translated many

thousands, it it literally means tens of

thousands of Jews have converted to

Christ. We saw that early in Pentecost

where 3,000 at one time converted and

another time when 5,000 converted. And

the implication is here that the work

just continued to go on even while Acts

is focused on Paul's ministry abroad.

But what I want to draw our attention to

is what it says at the end of verse 20.

and they are all zealous of the law.

Now, this may seem strange to us.

Why are new covenant Christians

zealous for the old covenant customs?

For us as non-Jews, that seems to

contradict what Jerusalem ruled back in

chapter 15. But we must remember that

that ruling and those letters that were

sent were to the Gentiles. That they

were not compelled to keep all of the

customs of the law. They gave them this

list of only a few things and that was

for the sake of ministry among the

Jewish people. And so why is this seemed

to be painted as though it's a good

thing? Well, the reality is the fact

that they are zealous for the law is the

fulfillment of God's new covenant

promise [music] to the house of Israel.

That he would put his spirit in them who

would cause them to keep his laws, obey

his statutes, and walk in his ways. God

promised to bring a transformation to

Israel through the spirit that would

enable them to obey God in ways their

nation never had before.

This is evidence that God's new covenant

has come.

But here in lies the problem. It says in

verse 21, they are informed of thee,

that thou teachest all the Jews which

are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses,

saying, they ought not to circumcise

their children, neither to walk after

their customs. Now Paul has had a

predominantly gentile ministry, but he

has gone among the Jews. But word has

spread from Asia and from Macedonia as

though he is teaching the Jews not to

keep the customs. And so what they see

here is a potential divide in this great

work God is doing among the Jews. And so

in verse 22 they say this to him. What

is it therefore? Another way of saying

what's to be done about this? The

multitude must needs come together for

they will hear that thou art come. So

James and the elders understand this.

When the Jews that are zealous for the

law hear that you have come, there's a

potential for division.

But we must do something that will keep

the multitude together.

The unity of the church must prevail in

this matter. And so their solution is

given to us beginning in verse 23.

Do therefore this that we say unto thee.

We have four men which have a vow on

them. Them take and purify thyself with

them and be at charges with them that

they may shave their heads. Now what is

this [clears throat] talking about? This

is likely talking about a Nazerite vow.

We've covered that in the book of

numbers that a Nazerite vow is when

someone uh volunteers to dedicate

themselves to the service of God for an

unspecified or for a specified amount of

time, whether it's a week or two weeks

or 3 years or a lifetime, whatever it

might be. And so, while they take this

Nazerite vow, they're to let their hair

grow out. They're never to cut it.

They're to abstain from eating or

drinking anything that has to do with

grapes. and they cannot touch a dead

corpse, which even means burying their

own family should they die. They're

wholly dedicated to the Lord. At the

conclusion of their vow, they would

offer a very costly sacrifice and then

they would shave their head completely

and offer their hair along with the

sacrifice on the altar. That's the kind

of vow that's going on here. And these

these four Christian Jews have made a

Nazerite vow. And James and the elders

see this as the perfect opportunity to

prove the doubters wrong to silence the

rumors by evidential proof. And so they

tell Paul, "Here's what we want you to

do. We want you to purify yourself with

them." Now Paul, not to our knowledge,

Paul doesn't have a vow on him right

now. And so he's he's doing something

that he's not necessarily obligated to

do. They say, "We want you to purify

yourself with these four men, and we

want you to be at charges with them."

That means pay their expenses.

Now, when you value the animals and the

materials that were offered for this

offering, modern equivalent, would equal

out to about $2,000 a person. This is

not a cheap offering. When you're

talking about Paul doing it for himself

and for these men, you're getting close

to $10,000 that Paul is to spend on

this. Why? Because of rumors.

Because people are talking about him

incorrectly. Because people are

misrepresenting his ministry among the

Jews. And yet it becomes so important to

them that it says here uh that if they

will if he will do this in verse 24 all

may know that those things whereof they

were informed concerning thee are

nothing but that thou thyself also

walkest orderly and keepest the law.

Here's what they're saying. Paul,

we're we we glorify God for everything

he's doing through you among the

Gentiles. God's doing awesome things

here among the Jews as well. and they

are zealous for the law. But there's

potential because of these rumors to

split the church here and divide over

this matter. We want you to spend great

expense to prove the rumors are not true

so that the church stays together on

this. Now question, does this mean that

all Christians must follow the Old

Testament customs of the law? Well, no.

Because in verse 25 they they remind us

touching the Gentiles which believe we

have written and concluded that they

observe no such thing and it gives those

stipulations that they had written to

them about back in Acts chapter 15. And

Acts 15 · chapter mention

so this doesn't mean this applies to

everyone. This is strictly for the sake

of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem.

And notice what Paul does in verse 26.

Then Paul took them in and the next day

purifying himself with them entered into

the temple to signify the accomplishment

of the days of purification until that

an offering should be offered for every

one of them. Listen, Paul was under no

obligation to do any of this.

But what Paul does in this moment is he

puts self on the shelf for the sake of

the church.

That he's willing to pay great expense

for their sake. He's willing to set self

aside. Like he could have he could have

said, "No, those rumors are false." He

could have said, "James, elders, you you

know me. You should be on my side of

this. They should trust your word." He

could have he could have lashed out at

them for believing these false rumors

instead of speaking to him directly. But

in this particular moment, the the need

for unity

overruled Paul's demand for liberty.

He had to come to a place where he sets

his Christian liberty to the side and to

bring himself under these customs

so that the church could go forward

coming together.

And from this what what I want to draw

our attention to is that when Paul was

misrepresented

he died to self.

He said this isn't about me.

This isn't about my money, no matter how

expensive this cost may be. This isn't

about defending my ministry. He could

have insisted on his liberty. He could

have argued the rumors were false. He

could have called people to his side,

but instead he surrendered his life for

the spiritual good of others. He laid

down his life for the good of the

church, much like Jesus did.

So if we are going to represent Christ,

we too must be willing to die to self,

we too must be willing at times to put

self on the shelf for the sake of the

church.

See, we have our own ways of setting up

our own cultural or preferential customs

as measuring rods. And these customs

often yield divisions within the church.

Think about some of the hard lines that

have been drawn within Christianity over

the years. Whether or not women should

wear pants, whether or not pastors

should wear ties, whether you should use

himnels or screens for your music. We've

drawn hard lines about whether there

should be pews in a church or chairs in

a church. And people have fought and

churches have divided over things just

like that. Hard lines have been drawn

over the very century that your music

comes from in church. It's it's been uh

there's been divisions over whether

Christians should go to movie theaters

or have TVs at home. or when I was in

Bible college, we did debate over

whether it's right or not for Christians

to go to ballparks and watch sports

events, you know, and so there I'm just

saying that there are things within

Christian circles that we can have this

tendency to draw hard lines where the

Bible is quiet

or even silent

and we allow those things to become

serious sources of division within

Christianity.

But what we find taking place in this

text is that when it comes to matters

where the scripture does not lay it out

clearly for us, there's some room for

liberty. There's some room for

difference of opinion. There's some room

for the Holy Spirit's leading in

someone's lives.

But here in America,

we tend to be very opinionated people

because of our freedom of speech. that

we have the right to say whatever we

want. And so therefore, sometimes we say

what we should not and it can create

division.

And in these preferential customs on

which the Bible is quiet, people will

misrepresent

you. You will have people on the

spiritual conservative side of the aisle

who will call you a spiritual liberal,

so to speak. And then you'll have people

who are more liberal in their theology,

more liberal in their preferences, who

will call you an ultra-conservative,

and you're like, I'm just trying to find

some balance here and follow Christ and

do what he wants, that's all. You know,

but people will mischaracterize you.

People will talk of you as if you don't

really believe the Bible anymore.

They'll they'll attack you for for not

uh for not doing what what you've always

been told and not following these

preferences and following these these

traditions of life, people will

misidentify you and mischaracterize you.

And it can cause great division within

the church.

But when Christ prayed to the father for

his disciples in John 17, what did he

pray? That they might be one.

You think those 12 disciples were

different men?

Well, they were fishermen, tax

collectors, political zealots. Some of

them were completely Jewish. Some of

them had some helenized Greek

background. And and they came from

different cultures. They came from

different lifestyles, different

occupations. And yet Christ brought them

all together. And his prayer for them

was that they would be one. But you know

what else? Jesus prayed in that prayer

not only for them but for those who

would hear the word from them. Do you

know what that means? Jesus was praying

for you.

That you who read this book that's

recorded from their hands, you are

hearing the word from them. Jesus was

praying for you. And you know what he

prayed for you? That you would all be

one. You would all be one.

See, biblical churches are going to have

a multicultural feel to them. You're

going to have people that are from the

Philippines and people that are from

Korea and people that are from uh

America and from Mexico and and from all

over the world. And I pray that as we

have people that come here from

different nations that our church just

assimilates and becomes one.

Christianity is the only place where you

can have people from a multiplicity of

cultures set all of that aside and come

together to focus on one belief system

and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's

one of the few places that brings

tremendous unity out of diversity and

that is Christ's plan. That was his

prayer. And what that means is that when

you are misrepresented by somebody even

within your church or within Christian

circles, how do you respond?

Well, what does Paul do here?

He doesn't get resentful.

He doesn't fight back. He doesn't lash

out. He doesn't get invict vindictive.

He doesn't turn to violence. No, he

[snorts] places limitations upon

himself.

He spends a very costly sacrifice.

He's willing to put self on the shelf

for the sake of church unity. And there

are going to be times in our lives and

in our church when we're going to have

to prioritize unity over our liberty.

And so that means there may be certain

things that you believe that you have

license from the Lord and a and a

freedom to be able to to do or to

participate in or to refrain from.

But because there are others who might

be offended by that, our calling is to

set self to the side and to bring

ourselves under limitations for the sake

of unity.

That may mean that sometimes you just

keep your opinion to yourself because

the Bible's not very clear on it. Even

if you think it is, there might be some

different views on it. And so you just

keep your opinion to yourself and you

continue to learn and grow a and thrive

with your church.

There are times that you might defer.

There are times when you might

set yourself to the side so as not to

cause a rift within the church. And so

whenever rumors are swirling and when

you're being misrepresented as Paul was

or mischaracterized,

do whatever is necessary to keep unity

within God's people so that it may

continue to move and go forward as a

church even if it does cost you

something.

And so rather than demanding your

rights, you represent Christ because you

know what Christ did? He laid himself

down on a cross for the sake of the

church. He had himself crucified that we

might be forgiven and we might be

brought together as one new man in

Christ. That is what he did for us.

And so for the first way for us to

represent him is to die to self.

But sometimes those misrepresentations

can take place outside the walls of the

church. And sometimes those

misrepresentations can bring hurt and

pain and suffering into your life. Well,

what do you do in that case? That brings

us to number two. Absorb

the suffering.

Absorb the suffering. Isn't that what we

see Paul do in this next section?

Beginning in verse 27, it says that when

the seven days were were almost ended,

the Jews which were of Asia, when they

saw him in the temple, stirred up all

the people and laid hands on him. The

Jews which were in Asia, this could be

talking about Ephesus. When Paul was

teaching in the synagogue at Ephesus, it

said that he did this for several weeks

and then the the Jews, he saw that

they'd become so hardened at that point

that he started teaching in the school

of Tyrannis. And likely Jews were

hardened all over Asia because that's

what you've seen throughout Paul's

ministry. And what happens is they're a

little familiar with Paul. They're a

little familiar with some of the new

believers there in Ephesus. And when

they see Paul there in the temple, they

stir up the crowd. They lay hands on

him. They arrest him. And it says in

verse 28, they're crying out, "Men of

Israel, help. This is the man that

teacheth all men everywhere against the

people and the law and this place."

Their first misrepresentation

is that Paul is anti-Jew.

He is anti-Moses and he is anti-temple.

But then to add insult to injury, they

say this and further brought Greeks also

into the temple and hath polluted this

holy place. What is that about? Well, in

the in the the second temple era when

Paul is living that you would go in and

there would be an outer court called the

court of the Gentiles. and anyone from

any nation could go into the court of

the Gentiles. And then there was about a

4 1/2t tall wall that divided the court

of the Gentiles from the court of the

women. And what it signified was that

the Gentiles had to stay outside. They

could look, they could be interested,

but they could not draw near. Why?

Because they weren't Jewish. this this

barrier called the wall of partition. It

was not in God's plan for the temple. It

was not in David's blueprint or

Solomon's blueprint. It was something

the Jews had manufactured to keep the

Gentiles out. And so you had this

barrier and then the court of the women

and then the court of the men was the

holy place. That was where the offerings

were offered and where any of the Jewish

men could go in. So you've got these

three courts and they are accusing Paul

of bringing a a Greek people through

that wall of partition through the court

of women all the way into the holy

place. Now why is that a problem?

Archaeology shows that on that wall of

partition,

there were signs written in the color of

blood that essentially said that the man

who walks through this takes his life

into his own hands and will be punished

by death. It was a very serious charge.

Why are they accusing Paul of doing

this? Notice their reasoning in verse

number 29.

For they had seen before with him in the

city Trophamus, an Ephesian whom they

supposed

to temple. Trophamus is one of the men

from Ephesus who came with Paul on this

journey to bring the collection offering

from the saints in Macedonia and Asia to

the saints at Jerusalem. So, Troamus has

made this journey. But notice what it

says here. They just saw him walking in

the city.

They didn't even see him bring him into

the temple. It's a presupposition.

There's no facts. It's untrue. It's

unfounded. And yet, they hurl this

deadly accusation at him. And notice in

verse 30, it says, "And all the city was

moved, and the people ran together, and

they took Paul and drew him or dragged

him out of the temple and forth with

shut the doors. And as they were about

to kill him, tidings came unto the chief

captain of the band that all [snorts]

Jerusalem was in an uproar, who

immediately took soldiers and centurions

and ran down unto them. And when they

saw the chief captain and the soldiers,

they left beating of Paul. And so here's

Paul

fulfilling Jewish customs,

living with self-sacrifice

for the betterment of the church. And

out of nowhere, he is assaulted by these

men. And he is misrepresented,

mischaracterized by them over two

different matters. And now he is being

beaten relentlessly in the streets. The

only saving grace he had actually came

from the enemies, the Roman soldiers.

There was a fortress there on the

northeast corner of the Temple Mount

called the called Antonia, named after

the emperor Mark Anthony. And so they

had this castle here, this fortress

where this chief captain who was called

a Roman tribune, he was in charge of

about 600 soldiers. They had six

centurions under him over those uh each

over a hundred soldiers. And so you've

got a battalion of of men here, a band

as it's called. And they all resided in

that fortress and had this tower that

overlooked the whole Temple Mount. And

what happens evidently is one of the

guards up in that tower sees the

multitude coming together and the riot.

And they see them attacking and beating

this man. They send word to the chief

captain. He goes out there and as soon

as the Jews see them coming, they stop

beating Paul. And now Paul is there

bloodied and wounded and bruised and

they bind him with chains and they carry

him into the castle and they're trying

or toward the castle and they're trying

to figure out who this man was and what

he has done. And the Bible says that

some said this and others said this and

he knew I'm not going to be able to get

a straight answer. And so they start

bringing him into the castle, but the

crowd continues to follow and mob with

violence. And they're crying out just as

they did with Jesus years prior, "Away

with this man. Away with him." The

soldiers had to carry him hurriedly into

the castle because of the violence of

the mob.

What we find is that Paul is

misrepresented,

[snorts] mischaracterized,

slandered,

blasphemed,

and yet we don't hear one word come from

Paul's mouth.

He absorbed

the suffering.

He took the beating

as silent as a lamb to the slaughter.

Does that sound familiar?

Well, it should because years prior in

Jerusalem, Jesus Christ had been mobbed

and he had been arrested in the Garden

of Gethsemane. And he too had been

dragged into the temple court to stand

before the Sanhedrin who blasphemed him,

mocked him, spit upon him, beat him, and

and railed false accusations. And that

crowd couldn't get their story together

of why they had brought Jesus there. And

yet Jesus suffered for nothing that he

had done because Pilate declared him

innocent. King Herod said there was

nothing in Jesus that was worthy of

death. The thief on the cross said he

had done nothing wrong. And the very

centurion who oversaw Christ's

crucifixion said certainly this was a

righteous man.

four testimonies in Luke's gospel that

Jesus suffered silently and done justly

just as Paul does here.

But Jesus did not suffer for what he had

done. He had suffered for all that we

had done because this did not happen by

an accident. God sent his son to pay

redemption's price for all of our sin.

Because all of our righteousness is as

filthy rags is what the Bible says.

Every good thing we can do, every moral

performance that we bring to the table,

it's all tainted by our sin. We can do

nothing, not enough good going forward

because of the sin of our past. But you

know why Jesus came? He suffered for

every sin that you've ever committed

even to this day. Because he was the

sinless son of God. only he could be a

perfect spotless righteous sacrifice to

atone for all of man's sins for all of

eternity. That is what Jesus did. But

three days later after he suffered on

the cross, he rose from the dead. He

proved his power over death, hell, and

the grave. And he is able to give life

to any and all who believe. And listen,

friend, that includes you this morning.

That no matter what you've done in your

past, Christ paid for it. He took the

nails. He bore the crown of thorns. He

took every blow. He absorbed all of our

suffering in his body upon the cross.

Satisfied the wrath of God against you.

And friend, if you'll believe on him,

you can be saved today. See, Jesus

suffered immensely. And you know what

the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter

1 Peter 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 21? To believers, for even

here unto were ye called, because Christ

also suffered for us, leaving us an

example that ye should follow his steps,

who did no sin, neither was any guile

found in his mouth. When he was reviled,

he reviled not again. When he suffered,

he threatened not. But he says he

committed himself to him that judgeth

righteously

who bear in his own body the sins of

many. It goes on to say in first Peter

the chapter 2 that that we being dead to

sins should live under righteousness by

whose stripes ye were healed. For ye

were as sheep going astray but now are

returned to the shepherd and bishop of

your souls. Christ came to reconcile

sinners back to their God. How did he do

that? Through the suffering of death.

And Peter says he calls us to follow his

steps.

To suffer so that others might be healed

by the same stripes that healed us. To

bring others to the same man who bore

their sin and their shame on the cross

of Calvary.

We are called to absorb suffering just

like Jesus did and just like Paul did.

We will be misrepresented in this world

just as Jesus was and just as Paul was.

We are already misidentified

as hateful bigots, religious zealots, a

hindrance to modern progress.

We are already painted in modern TV

shows and movies as psychopaths and a as

abusive and controlling entities and

oppressive religion.

You might be falsely labeled as anti-th

this or anti- that as a political

extremist or a Christian nationalist or

whatever other kind of label we're

coming up with uh uh today. And our

natural inclination when that happens is

to retaliate.

It's to issue threats.

It's to it's to get upset and angry or

perhaps to shrink back when hostility

ramps up. To go silent when tensions are

on the rise. But listen friends, we are

called to follow in the footsteps of

Jesus Christ. We are called not to seek

out suffering but to absorb it should it

come.

P uh Paul went down silent in this

moment, beaten, bloodied, and bruised,

following in the footsteps of his

savior. Truly, as he said to those

Ephesian elders, and as he said uh to

his disciple friends on the way back to

Jerusalem, he was ready not only to be

bound, but to die for the name of the

Lord Jesus.

We must absorb suffering to proclaim the

gospel so that others might be saved. It

doesn't mean you seek it out. It doesn't

mean you put a target on your back. But

should suffering come, the way we

represent Christ is to simply absorb it

for their sake.

And so when people misrepresent you,

just keep representing Christ. How?

Number one, deny yourself. die to self.

Number two, absorb suffering. But then

finally, testify

of Christ. Testify of Christ. Would you

look with me at verse number 36 or verse

37?

And as Paul was led into the castle, he

said unto the chief captain,

"May I speak unto thee?" Do you catch

that?

What is Paul's condition in this moment?

Beaten,

lashes across his back,

black eye, bloody nose, swollen lips.

Paul has been ruthlessly beaten in the

streets. And they were trying to kill

him. Isn't that what the Bible says?

They're trying to kill him. They were

good at capital punishment.

Whether it was with stones, whether it

was with bats, or whatever it might be,

they were beating him ruthlessly. And

yet, when he has to be brought chained

into the castle, he does not seek

medical care.

He does not seek deliverance. He does

not beg for his freedom. The first

concern to come out of his mouth is

this. May I speak unto thee?

What do you think Paul wanted to say to

that soldier? I imagine it's the same

thing he wants to say to everybody else.

That Christ is king, that Christ is the

savior, that he could be saved just like

that Philippian jailer who had bound him

before in Philippi. That he knows this

tribune can be saved if he will trust in

Jesus Christ. He wants to speak to him.

But notice the tribune is taken aback.

He said, "Tast thou speak Greek?"

He didn't expect him to speak such

fluent Greek as Paul did. In fact, what

we find is he expected him to speak

Aramaic or a form of Egyptian. Well, why

would he expect that? It says there in

verse 38, "Art not thou that Egyptian

which before these days made an uproar

and ledest out into the wilderness 4,000

men that were murderers." You know what

that word murderer means? Assassin.

What is this about?

The historian, Jewish historian

Josephus, a non-Christian voice here,

attests to what this man is talking

about. that in the days surrounding this

time, there was an a false Jewish

prophet that came up out of Egypt and he

led thousands of soldiers from the

wilderness to the Mount of Olives to

wage war against the uh Romans. But at

that time, the governor Felix that we're

going to be introduced to here in a

couple chapters, he soundly defeated

that army, but the Egyptian man escaped.

These assassins were known to go into

the crowds with these curved knives. And

when Roman uh pol politicians were in

town, they would assassinate them in a

crowd quickly and then escape suddenly

away. But Felix defeated him. The ring

leader escapes. And evidently the chief

captain presumes that Paul is that

Egyptian man.

But Paul of course says in verse 39, I'm

I'm a man which I'm a Jew of Tarsus.

That's that's not who I am. Another case

of mistaken identity. He's mislabeled

with a group that Paul has nothing to do

with. Perhaps even one that Paul knows

nothing about. And yet he is directly

associated with him. But Paul says, "I'm

I'm a Jew of Tarsus, a city of Cissia, a

citizen of no mean city. I don't come

from an insignificant place like Egypt."

See, the Romans look down on the

Egyptians. But they looked very highly

upon Tarsus. It was one of the most

prominent cities in the Roman Empire.

Granted the highest rank of freedom that

a citizen that a city could have. It was

a very welleducated city. And so Paul

appeals to his citizenship in Tarsus.

But notice he does not appeal to his

citizenship for deliverance.

He does not appeal to his citizenship in

this moment to try to gain favor

necessarily in the man's eyes. Would you

look at what it says in verse 40 or ver

at the end of verse 39 he said I beseech

thee suffer me to speak unto the people.

Paul just wants to testify of Jesus

Christ

and he's given license to do just that

which is what we'll see in the next

chapter.

But I want you to under to understand

this. When Paul was misrepresented as an

unfaithful Jew, when he was falsely

accused for polluting the temple and

perverting the people, and when he was

misidentified as an Egyptian assassin,

Paul just continued to represent Christ.

He died to self. He absorbed the

suffering and he kept testifying of

Jesus whenever and however he possibly

could. I want to say to you today,

believer, that this world's

misrepresentation of Christianity is

often times an attempt to intimidate you

into silence,

to make you believe that it's dangerous

to speak up for Christ,

that it is hateful to speak up for

Christ, that it is wrong for you to

impose your beliefs on somebody else.

That's what it is. their their scar

tasted tactics, desiring to stop your

witness and discourage your testimony.

But listen, we are called to be

witnesses of Jesus Christ. Why? So that

the world might believe on him and be

saved. That's the whole point of us

still being here. Why doesn't God just

uh take us out of here home to be with

him the moment we trust on him? It's

because he leaves us to be a witness to

this world. to testify of Jesus Christ.

And therefore, we ought to seek every

opportunity, even as Paul did in the

midst of suffering, to tell people about

Jesus. Let me just say to you, it

doesn't matter what the world says. It

doesn't matter what the world thinks. It

doesn't matter how they paint us or what

labels they try to stick to us. We know

who Christ is and we know who we are in

Christ and we know where the truth lies.

So go on and testify.

Don't let this world scare you from

speaking up for Jesus.

Rather, we ought to give our lives as he

did for us that others might be saved.

We ought to put it all on the line as

Jesus did and as Paul did. But I

encourage you to share your testimony

about how Christ transformed your life.

[snorts] How he delivered you from sin,

how he gave you eternal life, how how

you get have a role in his kingdom and a

place in his presence forever. You can

declare to them how Jesus suffered

unjustly. So, not for his own crimes,

but for all of ours, for mine, so that I

could be forgiven. So that I could be

saved.

Declare what Jesus has done. How he rose

from the dead. Promises eternal life to

all who will believe. Post it online. We

need to preach it in the church. And we

need to proclaim it in the city. Christ

has come. Atonement has been made.

Salvation is possible if you will

believe. So believer, I say one more

time, when people misrepresent you, keep

representing Christ,

die to self, [snorts]

absorb

suffering,

and seek every opportunity to speak of

Jesus Christ.

If you're here this morning, you don't

know who Jesus is, allow me a moment to

tell you, he's the eternal son of God.

He came to earth leaving the glory of

heaven to take upon himself human flesh

to fulfill God's law to a tea perfectly

and without sin. He placed himself under

the same sufferings that we experience.

See the sufferings that we experience

are the result of sin. And because we

are all sinners, we have all fallen

under the curse of sin. But Jesus has

never sinned. He voluntarily came under

the curse of sin. Why? To live perfectly

through it like we never could. Why? To

be a sinless sacrifice

that atones for all of our sin. What

does that word atonement mean? If you

spell it out, it's at onement.

It's to make you at one with God. Once

again, the Bible says we are dead in our

sins that we are estranged from God,

alienated from him, without hope in the

world until Jesus came. And when you

believe on Jesus Christ, he takes you

who was estranged from God. And as Peter

said, he returns you unto the shepherd

of your soul. That's almighty God. And I

want you to know today that if you will

believe on Jesus Christ, if you will

call upon his name to be your savior,

you can leave today with your sins

forgiven, your slate wiped clean, and

knowing that in God's sight, he sees you

perfect. He sees you righteous, and

therefore, he will accept you into his

presence for all of eternity. Would you

trust in him today? Believers,

let's just keep representing Christ.

No matter how we're misrepresented,

no matter who we are grouped in with, we

know the truth.

Don't let the lies bother you. Just keep

representing Christ. How do I do that,

pastor? Put self on the shelf.

Live your life doing everything you can

to maintain unity within the church of

Jesus Christ.

When suffering happens to come your way,

absorb it faithfully as Jesus did.

And when you're given the opportunity,

testify,

share the gospel, tell others about

Jesus, and keep representing him. Let's

pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful

for your son Jesus and the way that he

absorbs suffering for us, the way he

denied himself for us, the way he sent

his witness that we might hear it and

believe it today.

And now we are called to follow in the

steps of your son. And we know that it

is beyond our own power in our flesh to

live like Jesus.

But we believe what your word says

that in those moments, the spirit

will keep us faithful. The spirit will

give us the words to say. He is the one

who helps us live like Christ.

I pray that we would all yield to him. I

pray if [music] there's anyone here

today who does not know Jesus as their

savior that they would believe the

gospel today and call on Christ. Would

you please work in our time of response?

I ask in [music] Jesus name. Amen.