Don’t Call the Chains a Curse | Acts 21:27–36 | Alex Sands

Welcome to the Kingdom Life Podcast.

What if the thing you're asking God to remove is actually something he intends to use?

In Acts 21, 27 through 36, Paul is surrounded by a crowd that believes a story that is not true.

Assumptions become accusations.

Suspicion turns into violence.

And before Paul can even explain himself, he is seized, beaten, arrested, and bound in chains.

But there is something happening beneath the chaos that the crowd cannot see.

In today's message, Pastor Alex Sands challenges us to recognize how easily prejudice can make suspicion feel like despair.

And while we must never treat our assumptions like facts.

And when we are misunderstood or falsely accused, the question becomes Will we fight to defend our ego, or will we trust God enough to defend the truth?

Because the chains themselves are not good, but God is still suffering over the chains.

Sometimes what feels like an interruption may become the very thing God uses to defend his purpose.

So before you call a difficult season a curse, before you assume God has a band in you, remember your knowledge is partial, but God is perfect.

Whether you're joining us from Subseville or listening somewhere across the world, lean in, quiet the distractions, and allow God's word to challenge the way you see your circumstances.

Now, here's Pastor Alex with today's message from Acts 21, 27 through 36.

Alright, well, guys, we're getting ready to get into the word today.

We are in Acts chapter 21.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 21 is where we are today, verses 27 through 36.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

And uh, as many of you know, I had a birthday this past week.

Glory to God.

And I'm not ashamed to say I turned 56 years old on this Wednesday.

56 turns around the sun, revolutions around the sun.

God is good.

I shouldn't have made it this long.

And you know, think about it is it wasn't one of those like milestone birthdays, but I could feel it.

I no, no, no.

I'm telling you, I feel it now, man.

I do.

I woke up, I woke up in the morning, my knees were a little tight and everything, and my even putting on buttons and stuff.

It does feel a little bit different.

But, you know, the number still sometimes takes me by surprise.

I'm at the age where you go to a restaurant and you get two menus.

Some of you have no idea what I'm talking about because you hadn't gotten there yet.

First time it happened to me was last October.

I was going to Charleston and for a morning meeting, I was early and I decided to stop at an AHA.

It was good.

Oh, it was good, it was good.

And the waiter comes and he takes me to a seat and he puts down two menus.

Now, normally, when a waiter puts down two menus, I'm thinking to myself, one of them must be the specials.

Like the special French toast with like cream, cream-filled French toast, or you know, specials for it.

That's not what this was.

It was the seniors menu.

And what caught my attention was all the items that were on this menu, they weren't any different than anything that was on the big menu.

I said, What what meaneth this?

And the waiter didn't even hang around.

He put the two of them down, he just walked on by.

I'm like, what mean this?

There's been a mistake.

I looked at the fine print and it said, 55 and older.

He was right.

He assumed I was a senior citizen, looking at some of the salt in my hair.

And Sherm, I see, man, you got it too, right?

I mean, we all got some of the salt, and then Terrence said, I don't, but he took care of that a long time ago.

But he assumed I was a senior citizen, and he was right by two months.

By two months, he made an assumption and he was right.

And you want to know something about it too?

I ordered off the menu.

And you want to know something else?

It was good.

You know why?

Because it was cheaper.

Man, the pancakes smelled great.

I mean, everything was just yummy and delicious.

One of the best meals I had at AHA.

So, yeah, I look for senior discounts now.

I'm looking, yeah, I'll give you a card or something.

I am 56.

I am.

But again, the waiter made an assumption.

He made an assumption with confidence, and he was right.

The thing about assumptions is you can have all of the confidence in the world and your assumption and be totally wrong.

You can be 100% confident that what you are assuming is true.

It has to be true.

I mean, it's self-evident.

It has to be real, but be dead wrong.

You could see two people walking in together, and you can make an assumption and be totally off base.

You can hear a fragment of a conversation and assume you know what the conversation is about.

You can read a fraction of a text message and then ignore the other half.

Some of you have done that and gotten in trouble.

Just took a quick look at a one little line on the text and assume you knew what it is.

Assumptions.

We can make assumptions, but our assumptions are not always accurate.

And if we're not careful, because we're so assured of our assumptions, if we're not careful, we can treat our assumptions as if they are facts and behave ourselves accordingly.

Assumptions.

Some are true, some are false.

Today we're gonna see that played out as we uh look at Acts chapter 21.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

We're gonna see a situation where we have uh the Apostle Paul and uh we have the Apostle Paul, and he is in in Jerusalem, and we're gonna see the effects of a false or a number of false assumptions.

And I don't want us to look at it from the perspective of, well, Paul's opponents were wrong and they're always wrong.

I want us also to see that they they his opponents came into a uh stumbled into a common human form of reasoning where we forget we never have 360 degrees view of information.

It doesn't mean our assumptions are always wrong, but it means our um our assumptions of situations are never with complete understanding, they're never with complete knowledge, and so often they are influenced by biases and prejudices.

We see one piece of information as true, another piece of information as true, and we connect them with an assumption they came from bias.

And we can draw conclusions that are totally false.

The kingdom truth principle that I want us to keep in mind, and remember when I say kingdom truth, I mean a theological core theology, sometimes scripture about God, about man, etc.

This is the key truth, kingdom truth.

By the nature of God, God knows all things perfectly, and our knowledge is always partial.

God is omniscient, He knows everything.

Let that sink in.

God is never learning, God is never growing, God is never puzzled, He's never bamboozled.

You think about Jesus as he walked the earth?

He was the smartest human being, not only during that time, but who has ever lived.

Einstein had nothing on Jesus.

Quantum mechanics, theory of relativity, do you ever think about Jesus in that way as being brilliant?

He was a carpenter by choice, he could have been anything.

Jesus being fully God and fully man, intelligence off the charts, because as being fully God, he willingly relinquished that when he left heaven and came to earth, that total, that omniscience, but in terms of everything that he knew, he chose things that he said only the Father knows.

But one of the core elements, again, of God's nature is he knows everything, past, present, and future, because he made time.

Therefore, he's not subject to time.

He can be in the past, present, and the future.

When you make something, that's why we don't we don't have to stress about whether or not we can see God.

He created matter, he's not made of what he has created.

So out of the very fact of that, that is his existence, who he is, he doesn't learn.

He's not learning, and he can never make a false assumption.

That's him, but us, we are finite, our understanding is limited.

God does not have faith because everything, he sees all things.

We don't see everything, we have to exercise faith.

We make assumptions sometimes, and they can be valid.

We can make assumptions and assessing all of the facts that we have, and we can also make wrong assumptions.

The key for us is to evaluate why we're making the assumptions that we're making and always hold our conclusions with humility.

We don't know all we think we know.

Can somebody say amen to that?

We don't all know what we think we know.

Psalm 147, 5.

Great is our Lord and abundant in power, his understanding is beyond measure.

Isaiah 46, verse 10, declaring the end from the beginning.

Isaiah 46:10

That's God, not bound by time.

From ancient times, things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.

He is the only being who can say, Everything I have said will come to pass.

Omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign, he knows all.

1 Corinthians 13, 12.

But now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

Now we know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Paul stating the truth.

We see things dimly.

So as I said, we're gonna see this play out in Acts chapter 21, verses 27 through 36, is where we are.

Acts 21:27–36

And just as a recap, Paul has finished his missionary journeys.

He's finished his third missionary journey, and his third missionary journey, much of it was consumed with collecting an offering from Gentile churches to be given to the poor Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.

He collected over the course of years, collected an offering, and went along and traveled with representatives from the various Gentile churches and brought this large offering to the church in Jerusalem before the leaders and and everything else as a, yes, to assist, to meet needs, but to go deeper than that, to show the unity in the body of Christ.

That you have Gentiles blessing Jews that they had never met before because they're no longer Jew, Gentile, they are brother and sister.

The blood of Jesus has torn down all the walls that divided.

We are one in Jesus.

It was a mission that the Holy Spirit had birthed in his heart, and he could not let it go.

Even though he knew chains and imprisonment, all of that awaited him, he still went.

They arrived.

We studied that last week.

The group arrived in Jerusalem, at the church of Jerusalem, and they they met with James and the other elders, and it was there that Paul was informed that a pernicious lie had spread within the church, the believers in Jerusalem, in that area.

The pernicious lie was that Paul was going out in the diaspora where the Jews were scattered all around the world.

Paul himself, being a Jew, was telling other Jews to neglect the law of Moses.

Don't circumcise your children.

Don't participate in any of the feasts.

Paul never said that.

What he said was those festivals, those customs, the law of Moses could not save.

But he didn't say deny your heritage and all that your upbringing.

He just said, just understand, it won't save you.

You can circumcise your sons, but it doesn't save them or save you.

That's what he said.

But this lie had spread.

The danger of the lie was so many people believed it, there was a threat that the offering would have been rejected.

And if the Jewish Christians rejected the offering and sent it back to the Gentiles, you can keep your dirty money, the division between Jew and Gentile would have never been torn down.

Even though Jesus had done it, they would never have lived the effects and benefit of it.

This law had to be dealt with.

And the leaders in Jerusalem had an idea, a proposition.

They said to them, Listen, we've got four men who are completing a Nazarite vow.

And at the completion of a Nazarite vow, there were certain sacrifices that had to be made at the temple.

They said, Paul, you pay for all of their sacrifices, and then also you start your purification process because you know he had been in Gentile territory and you need certain washings and everything else, being a Jew to get all of that off of you.

You do that.

You pay for their all their offerings as they close out their vow.

Go with them to the temple and do that.

It will prove that those that that word is going forth, it's a lie.

It will prove to everyone.

It was a sacrifice, financial sacrifices.

We shared last time about$12,000 to$15,000.

That's how much.

When you add up all the sacrifices that were required, and then the grain offering, everything else, it was a huge investment that Paul paid to make that statement.

Wasn't just though about money.

People wanted to kill him.

He had opponents everywhere who wanted to kill him.

But in order to begin the purification process, he had to present himself at the temple.

And the purification process took seven days.

So he had to make appearances in front of people who wanted to kill him.

And as we pick up today, in verse 27, it happened.

Before he was able to complete the purification process, he was spotted by some familiar foes.

Verse 27, when the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia.

Oh.

The Jews from Asia.

That's speaking of Asia Minor, where Ephesus, the main city uh in Asia Minor, that's where Ephesus was located.

And if you remember, there was a whole lot of stirring and ruckus in Ephesus when Paul was ministering in Ephesus.

He posted up in a lecture hall, and every day, every day for three years, he would just open himself up for questions.

He said, Y'all know where to find me during siesta time, 11 to 4, I'll be right here and I'll be answering any Bible questions you got.

He was telling people about Jesus.

And the word says, Luke tells us in Acts that everyone everywhere in Asia heard the word.

It spread.

But you know, when you level up in the gospel, taking advantage of platforms God has given you, as you level up, the enemy levels up.

Yeah, that devil you faced on level two?

You thought he was hard.

Wait till you get to level five.

That's why God gives you level five grace.

You got some special weapons.

If you're a video game, video game player, you know, you got some extra tools at your disposal.

You got some extra, extra uh weaponry at your disposal when you get to level five.

But the enemy ramped up, he built a had opponents, and there was a big uh people tried to kill him, and you can go back and read about how he had to leave Ephesus, but this is Pentecost.

When back to verse 2 to chapter 21, this is Pentecost season, which means Jews from all over the world have descended upon Jerusalem, and some of them are from Asia, and they spot Paul in the crowd outside of the temple area, the temple complex.

They spot Paul.

Because he was, you know, he paid the dues of the sacrifices for the four men.

They probably, many of them were like, you know what, he's okay, he's alright.

But not everybody felt that way.

For many, it wouldn't matter what Paul did, because that's what prejudice does.

Whatever the false assumptions, it doesn't matter what they do.

You still are going to believe the worst.

Some Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, seeing him, amongst the crowd.

They stirred up the whole crowd.

Stirred them up.

Stirred up the whole crowd, laid hands on him, and crying out, men of Israel.

Help.

He's one man.

Men of Israel, help.

This this this cry, this appeal, listen, it goes right down to the core of their identity.

Men of Israel, if you're a man of Israel, you need to come on and rise up.

Why?

Because this Paul, this man, I didn't even want to call him by name.

This man who is teaching everyone, everywhere against the people and the law and this place.

This is the man who was teaching everyone everywhere, every place against the people, the law, and this place.

That's exactly the charge that had been leveled against Stephen all the way back in Acts chapter 6.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Exact charge.

Twenty plus years later, here it is again.

Moreover, though, they add to it, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.

Mercy.

Lies.

But they stirred up the crowd.

And they stirred up the crowd with this accusation.

And here's the man who's telling everyone not to obey the commands of Moses.

And not only that, he has brought Greeks, meaning Gentiles, into the temple.

Understand the way the temple was constructed, there was an outer court for the Gentiles.

Think of concentric circles.

The outer court, furthermost court, is where the Gentiles could be, but there was a wall, a barrier.

And once you get past that barrier, Gentiles were not allowed.

And the Romans, they were like, all right, if you do that, we'll turn an eye because no one should be crossing, no Gentile should be crossing that wall anyway.

So this was a serious charge.

We've seen Paul, here's the man, and we have seen him bring Greeks into the temple, cross the barrier, whether or not to go.

He should die for this.

Now, saints, that's a lot.

Listen to verse 29.

They had previously seen Trophemus the Ephesian.

Remember where I said Ephesus was located?

He's an Ephesian, meaning he's from Ephesus, and Ephesus was in Asia.

Trophemus was a known entity.

He was somebody that was known well.

They had seen Trophemus, the Ephesian, with him in the city.

And they what?

Supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

Not that they saw him do it, they supposed that he did it.

They supposed.

They assumed.

Now listen.

They saw Paul in the city.

That is true.

They saw Trophimus in the city.

That's true.

They saw Paul at the temple.

That's true.

But they never saw Trophemus in the temple area outside of the court of Gentiles.

They never saw him cross that barrier.

They supposed that.

They took the facts, the evidence, and then took what they supposed to fill in the gap between the facts and their desired conclusion.

They wanted a reason to condemn Paul.

And they took some facts.

They didn't have enough facts to accuse him of that, but they filled in the gaps.

And that, friends, is what prejudice will do.

What prejudice, bias, and I'm not just speaking about race.

I'm speaking about bias toward an individual, a group, whatever.

I'm speaking in the general term.

Prejudice deciding in advance about somebody, a group, prejudice will cause you to fill gaps with assumptions rather than facts.

It'll cause you to check the facts at the door and fill in the gaps with assumptions.

And many times those assumptions have been crafted by prejudice that may have been formed by prior experiences or what someone else may have told you.

It's a danger.

It's a danger because listen, we can take our assumptions and twist them into fact.

And when we have an idea of what we think a person is or a group is, we get that firmly planted in our minds.

There isn't anything that person can do that we won't see outside of the prism of that view, that perspective.

If we think that a person is shady, it doesn't matter what they say or do, you're going to think it's deceptive.

If you think somebody is always lying, it doesn't matter what comes out of their mouth.

You're going to see them in that way.

That's what prejudice will do.

If you think someone doesn't respect you, then everything they will say you'll take personally.

They're disrespecting me, disrespecting.

Be careful of what's in your heart.

Evaluate yourself.

Question your questions before you begin to question somebody else.

Where's the basis of this coming from?

The word says Proverbs 18, 13, says, if one gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame.

James chapter 1, verse 19.

James 1:19

Know this, my beloved brothers, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

Anger is the last thing.

Slow to speak, excuse me, quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

This group, they were quick to anger.

They were just the opposite of what James said.

Quick to anger.

Prejudice can make suspicion feel like discernment.

Don't let your assumptions Don't let your assumptions be more than your trust become greater than your trust in God.

But you understand that without making without having evidence to support it, but they make suspicions.

Prejudice can cause you to make suspicion feel like discernment.

Aren't you glad Jesus doesn't judge that way?

Aren't you glad that Jesus doesn't look at the outside, but he sees the heart?

Man looks at the outside.

Remember the whole scene with David?

Man looks on the outside.

God had to tell Samuel.

Don't judge based on what you see.

Man judges on the outside, but God looks at the heart.

And as believers, we are no longer to look at what we see on the outside.

We are to consider what's on the inside.

Paul said it in 2 Corinthians 5.

We used to view Jesus that way just based on what was on the outside.

We don't do that any longer.

That's not how we are.

As believers, we care more about what is true than about having our suspicions confirmed or validated.

Truth.

Paul said, Don't pronounce judgment before the time before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart.

Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

Paul said, Stop judging others.

Look, he said, it don't matter what y'all think about me.

It's a very small thing what you think about me.

I don't even bother judging myself.

That's a good word for somebody this morning.

Stop judging yourself all the time.

Because you won't give a good judgment.

You will always see the worst.

View that you're understanding you can throw your judgment out the window because only God's judgment in view of you matters.

But Paul says, don't make quick assessments of where people are spiritually or even their motivations, because you don't know with 100% accuracy what someone's motivations are.

You may see a pattern, but your pattern isn't based on 24-7 data.

So you can always, you always need to put a pause in it.

I can only know what I see, but what I've seen so far is this, this, this.

Don't go too far.

God is the one who's going to judge perfectly.

And I'm thankful that the Lord sees everything, the good and bad in us, and that the blood of Jesus is sufficient to cover it all.

If the Lord didn't have perfect knowledge, we couldn't trust Jesus' sacrifice was perfect and sufficient.

God might not have seen all of our sin.

We might have been able to get away with something.

And then it come out, and we would never have peace, never have confidence.

But because God has 360 knowledge, because of his omniscience, we can trust that his grace is sufficient.

Because he has seen it all, knows it all.

We don't know all the sin we're gonna get into.

But God does and still says, I sent my son.

Before the foundation of the world, I chose you and I would do it again.

Just when you think you couldn't be any worse.

One of the best things that can happen in your life is you do something you said you would never do, and realize you're just as bad a sinner as everyone else.

That's one of the best places to be at.

Because you realize how amazing grace really is.

That grace covers them as it covers you.

Always, always be careful with assumptions.

Don't treat assumptions like facts.

Always put it to the test.

What you're thinking about a situation, put it to the test.

Evaluate.

Don't react.

Husbands, wives, don't react to a fragment of what you hear or some a fragment of something that is that you read or said, don't read into it.

Communicate.

Ask so you can put it to bed.

The enemy loves secrecy.

He loves to get you in the dark and whisper in your ear.

It's just like what happened with my sister, my cousin.

He acted the same way to her and such and such, such and such.

Hey, get it out.

Don't allow those assumptions to fester.

Bring it to the light.

But don't run away with fragments.

Or you can do irreparable harm to your marriage.

In the workplace.

Don't react so quickly and send the email to everyone in the plant or in the department.

Before you make sure all of your boxes are checked.

You may end up with the one on an egg on their face.

You might be the one who everybody's looking at.

Don't treat assumptions as facts.

Understand God is the only one who has perfect knowledge.

And Lord have mercy.

Please, when you get online, don't repost everything that just looks good right to you at the moment.

You better do some background and make sure that post is legit.

There's a whole lot of false stuff out there that's made for you to repost.

The algorithms brought it just to you.

So you can see it and repost it and get mad.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

All right.

Look at verses 30 and 31.

Listen, look how far this thing goes.

The city was stirred up.

We're talking about all we're talking about thousands.

The city was stirred up, and the people ran together and they seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple.

Seized and dragged.

Wow.

Seized him, dragged him.

Understand that's not comfortable.

That's violent.

In fact, dragging means to pull or to haul someone by force.

Think about what has transpired.

No witnesses have been presented.

Trophemus has not been found standing in the temple.

There's no evidence he's even around anywhere.

Who knows where he's at?

And Paul hasn't had a word of defense.

Don't even let him say a word.

They seize him and drag him based on false assumptions, and they drag him out of the temple, and at once, at once the gates were shut.

The irony of that, the irony of that is Paul had the word from the Lord.

And they shut him out of the temple.

Get him out of where God is to be glorified and worshiped, and in your relationship with him strengthened.

Threw him out just like they did to Jesus.

Crucified.

Outside.

Same way they do this to Paul.

The gates are shut.

And as they were seeking to kill him.

Drop down to verse 32.

When they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

They're seeking to kill him.

And they were on their way to doing it.

Now, in all of this, one thing that we we don't see in verses 30 and 31 here, one thing that we don't see, Paul has been seized and taken and drugged and being beaten.

One thing that we don't see, or don't read about, is anything that Paul said.

We don't read about anything that Paul said.

Now, the thing is, we can't read into that and say he said nothing.

And we can't say that it would have been wrong for Paul to say something, because he will make an address, as we'll see next week.

He will address the situation, he will address the crowd.

But what we can conclude from this is Paul has not reacted out of character.

He doesn't act out of character.

He acts just like Jesus.

Jesus, we read about 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 23.

1 Peter 2:23

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return.

When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Jesus answered accusations.

Paul is going to answer accusations, but we read it here that Jesus did not open up his mouth.

He didn't open up his mouth to defend himself or right, to to like vindicate or to uh to slander or to condemn.

As a matter of fact, he's he he said, have forgive them, Father.

He'll know what they're doing.

The key is Paul remains in character.

He knows who he is because his character has been formed in secret.

If your character is not formed in your secret time with God, your entered, your day-to-day relationship with him, you won't respond right in public when you're challenged.

Your heart has to be formed during those quiet times and during the times that you're praying.

Even when you're in public, you're praying.

That relationship with God has got to take place.

And that enables you to respond in a Christ-like way in situations like this.

Because understand, we live in a fallen world, and we will be, at some point, someone is going to make false accusations against us.

That's part of being in a fallen world.

Even if you do right, someone's going to see wrong.

How are you going to respond to it?

This is the word of the Lord in Psalm 37, 5, and 6.

Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday.

When you're reviled for Christ, you are blessed.

You are blessed.

So saints, when falsely accused, choose to defend the truth, not your ego.

And I say that to say some people's view of you will never change.

And I know we we want to uh uh have a healthy reputation with others, but please understand we're not in control of that.

We can't control people's view of us.

And therefore, depending on the group you're in, you can't control your reputation.

Because again, if people have a preconceived idea of you, they'll take some fact but sprinkle in some lies if that's what it takes to defame you.

But you and I, we want to live consistently amongst unbelievers, that someone with an honest objective view can discern the lies from the truth.

But if you try to live your life to control the narrative that others, you will you will wear yourself out.

So when I say defend the truth, I'm saying defend what you know is true and not speak the truth.

If someone asks, you speak the truth.

If you have to give a report, report on the truth.

When it says be silent, doesn't mean Christians don't ever say that something is wrong.

We're called to be light in a dark place.

That means often we have to speak up, but we're speaking up to defend truth, not self.

We're not on a rampage for vindication.

God is gonna do all of that.

Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not to us.

It's not in our job description.

Why?

Because we don't have 360 information, therefore, all of our judgments, all of them, are incomplete.

Because they don't have full knowledge.

So we can't give a full assessment of what's happened and therefore a correct judgment, we leave it to God.

All we can say is what God has said.

He said, This is true, this is true, and based on what we've seen, this is what I'm seeing is wrong that you're doing or what has happened.

But don't think it's about me.

I just want things to be right.

Can you understand what I'm saying?

Am I making sense?

Defend the truth, but don't make it about yourself.

Ego, wounded pride.

Even though wrong has been done against you, don't take that as justification to act sinfully.

Because that's what the flesh wants to do.

Oh, they sinned against you, now it's on.

I tried to be godly.

I tried to give you my best.

I I had some good days.

I came in this workplace, I was on, I had the arm of God.

To the crowd of my head, I was arming up.

I was, and you just took it off me.

You stripped it off me.

Now you gonna get it.

You show up like on Esther.

You show up, you showing out you ready now.

You gonna get it now.

You you gon' get it now.

No.

Just coming to where you fish eye.

Oh boy.

You have to be a certain j I told you I'm 56.

Just because wrong has been done to you doesn't mean you are justified to retaliate.

It's not in your job description, it's not in mine because we are not qualified.

Repeat that self to yourself.

Maybe you know, sometimes you just need to repeat that self to you to yourself daily.

I am not qualified.

I am not qualified to do that, to say that, I leave it to God.

Quote scriptures, 1 Corinthians 4, 5, however, whatever it needs to, just respond with wisdom.

Some people will still misunderstand you, regardless of how much you try to explain.

But with all that is within you, live at peace with all men.

Alright, let's finish.

Verses 32 through 36.

He at once, now look, oh, I went too fast.

As they were seeking to kill him, look, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

Looky here.

Now watch, this is the most important part of the message.

We're talking about false assumptions.

Paul is being beaten.

They're intending to kill him.

He's not dead yet, but they are beating him.

And there was a fortress that would over that was that overlooked, there was a fortress that overlooked the temple complex.

And particularly during festival days, like Pentecost, the Romans would be extra vigilant because those were times where there would be rebellion.

If there's any time for an insurrection, it would be around Passover.

It would be like Pentecost.

All the Jews gathered and they're remembering their history and reciting it.

If there was ever time for a rebellion, that would be it.

So they were hyper-vigilant.

So they're all on the lookout and they notice, they look down and they see a rush of confusion and mass of humanity.

And this man runs down with soldiers and centurions.

He doesn't go by himself.

He brings some muscle with him.

He ran down to them, and when the Jews saw the tribune and the soldiers, what did they do?

Of course they did.

They stopped.

And the beating ended.

God saved Paul, didn't he?

I mean, isn't God sovereign?

Do you think it was it was it was just by you know chance the the guy was looking over in that part of the temple complex?

Do you think it was just by eyes?

He just went and got some soldiers and some muscle.

No, this is this was God intervening.

But notice he didn't do it by parting a Red Sea.

He didn't do it by causing walls to fall down.

He didn't bring the wasp and the hornet and everything else as you read, you know, Old Testament.

He brought civil authorities, the dreaded Romans, went and saved Paul.

That's God right there.

They stopped beating him.

Then the tribune came up and arrested him.

He hadn't done anything wrong.

But you know, there's one of Paul and then hundreds of others.

This is gonna get Paul.

Put an end to this whole thing, get the one.

And read the rest for me.

And ordered.

Read that again?

He inquired who he was and what he had done.

And some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another.

And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, that's the crowd for you.

They don't even know why they're there.

They don't know why they're beating him.

There's one thing, there's another.

And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

Looky there.

Bound with two chains.

And put into the barracks.

Do you remember what that prophet dude Agabas said was going to happen to Paul?

Do you remember that dramatic prophecy of Agabas bound his own hands with Paul's belt?

This is what's going to happen to the man who owns this belt.

You remember all that, right?

Well, you remember the reaction to all of that, right?

All of Paul's partners and friends, they started weeping.

No, Paul, don't go to Jerusalem.

That's terrible.

You don't want to be bound up and chained.

You don't don't you don't want that to happen.

But is it a bad thing that he was arrested?

Are the chains a bad thing?

The chains saved his life.

And the prison cell was the best place for him.

You know, if I had been in the group and and I had seen Agabus do that dramatic thing, I would have immediately assumed that's going to be a horrible thing.

Paul, don't go.

Do you get what I'm saying?

This they had the right vision, but the conclusion was you're better off on the run.

The reality is the chains are your salvation.

The jail is the best place.

Because, see, God has 360 knowledge.

He has 360 knowledge, and he would know this is the season for Paul to be bound because the opposition is too high.

Now it's too hot.

He will never get his freedom.

The rest of Acts, he's not going to be free.

God is going to get some of the sweetest fruit out of Paul's ministry during that season in which he doesn't have his freedom.

Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, those are prison epistles.

We benefited from him being bound.

We think of chains as being horrible, but in God's plan, it was protection.

Now again, you know how I always like to say, don't hear what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying it was a good thing that happened to Paul.

It wasn't good that he was beaten, and it was wrong that he was arrested with no charges, not having a chance to defend himself.

It was wrong.

All of that was wrong.

Evil is evil.

But what I am saying is God will work evil.

Because he works all things together for good, even the evil that the enemy plans and thinks he's going to have the best.

Put them all to shame.

The cross, an instrument of torture and execution, God turned it around to being a tool, an instrument, a picture of freedom and grace.

We look at the cross now and we see freedom, deliverance.

We see that there is life after death.

What it had meant was excruciating torture and death.

We see it different now because God has changed the story.

And the chains that Paul was bound with, it was the best thing for him.

I can just go ahead and just tell you tell you this right here.

Oh, I hope this doesn't get to too many.

Okay.

I'm just going to try to be as vague as possible.

There was a very difficult job I had in my past.

Very difficult.

I had a very difficult manager.

I found out I was the one who, I was the one, I reported to him, and I learned that he uh no one had made it as long in the position as I had.

I had prayed for that job.

Got it, and then it wasn't what I thought it was gonna be.

Anybody can testify that almost like they did a switch, you got you got bamboozled, you get you had to flip, and yeah, it's kind of like that situation.

Man, I tried my best to get out.

But don't you know God kept me right where I needed to be?

Because sometimes you may not like that particular position, but if you were out of it, you would like that far less because you might be out there without a paycheck or any benefits.

We can complain that the paycheck isn't what we deserve, but you know what?

We have never lacked.

Always had food on the table, got clothes in your closet and everything else.

The the the the you know, the the benefits may not be all of that, but you got a 20-year-old HVAC unit.

It's still running, it's still running and going.

And then when it came time when someone told you you needed a new car, you got a second opinion, and then all it's just one little part.

It'll be$1,200.

I got so many stories I could tell you that somebody said it's gonna be X thousands of dollars, and then someone else said, Well, all you gotta do is steal this up, that'll be$750.

Uh Charlotte can tell you better than I can.

And she would say, Boy, the Lord is all over you.

You must be some kind of God is just all hallelujah.

We can have a praise fest in the house.

Because even if your the money isn't what you want on the paycheck, God can make what you got last longer.

Man, look here.

You still got some old Steers Montgomery ward appliances in your house.

Them things should have died a long time ago.

But God sustained it like He did for the Jews.

Their shoes didn't wear out for 40 years.

Oh my goodness.

And we would have complained they're not in style anymore, but God gave them shoes, sandals that didn't wear out.

What we may think is confining may really be liberation.

Be careful about cursing your chains.

Remember, okay, you all remember the story of Joseph when he reveals himself to his brothers, uh, Genesis chapter 50, verse 20.

Genesis 50:20

As for you, you meant.

Y'all read it to me.

Read it.

Go ahead, read it.

You meant but God meant.

You meant God meant.

That's why we don't need to worry about false accusations and all of that stuff.

You meant but God meant.

You meant God meant.

It means if we understand all of that, we need to be humble and not try to flip the script and we say things don't need.

But here's the other part.

This is the main part of this, of the whole, whole lesson.

I know we come a long way, but this is it, okay?

I've talked about false assumptions.

I've mainly been talking about false assumptions about people because that's what this is about.

I'm here to challenge us all about false assumptions of God's providence.

We can look at events and say that closed door must mean God doesn't want X, Y, and Z to happen.

You know, God is orchestrating because He's blocking this.

Or you know what?

Sometimes people have this false assumption about God that He stops loving us and stops caring.

We can make false assumptions about what's around the corner and think it's negative and end up cursing what's really going to be a blessing.

We just don't have full knowledge of it.

And that's where Saints God challenges us this morning.

Will you trust my character when you don't understand my ways?

Have I not been good enough?

Haven't I kept you at this to this point?

What more do I have to do for you just to say, I believe it's going to be okay?

I don't see it all yet, but I I believe these are chains, and I'm going into the barracks, but I believe I still believe God has good for me.

I believe where he's taking me is better than where I have been.

And I will trust him.

Don't fall into false assumptions about life, about God's providence, and certainly not about his omniscience and his omnipotence.

And as you are in the barracks or are as you are chained, remember Paul's words or Jesus' words to Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9.

2 Corinthians 12:9

He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you.

My power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Brag about your weaknesses.

Satan is going to remind you about your weaknesses, flip it.

Oh, yeah, you're right.

I ain't all that.

That just shows to everybody God is all that.

And more than a bag.

That's why it's so awesome what God is doing.

It's not me.

That's how I'm so happy about it.

Thank you, Satan, for reminding me about how bad off how I am so ill-equipped to do what I'm doing.

Because I'm not sufficient of myself to think of anything as coming from myself.

My sufficiency is from God.

Thank you for giving me a reason to praise him.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Thank you, Lord.

Yeah, I'm not qualified for this and I'm not qualified for that, but God qualifies those he calls.

So whoever he calls to a position, he's qualified and is qualifying.

Trust him.

Trust him.

Even so much so that the psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 71 it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your.

Psalms 119:71

And so let's get to this here real quick about the last kingdom life principle.

Life life last life application is don't be quick to call a chain a curse.

It could be your liberation.

Let him put the period at the end of the paragraph, not you.

Let him have the final word in your story in your story.

Not you and not anyone else.

Verse 35 and 36, 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.

God even brought these soldiers to pick Paul up.

Just picture him, carrying him over their heads above the crowd so he could get out.

God could have caused Paul to levitate out.

Y'all know that, right?

I mean, I think that would have been awesome.

That would have been like a Marvel movie, you know?

Everybody trying to beat him, and all of a sudden he.

That might be how you and I might do it.

It would show it off.

Hey, God is God.

But you know, when you think about it, isn't this better?

It's almost better.

I think it is better that God worked it out, that the muscle came down along with the tribune.

Enough muscle to pick Paul up, put him up in the air, and carry him out.

How much how that must have been infuriating?

But God, He works all things together for good.

Amen.

Let's stop there.

We'll pick up next week.

Excuse me.

And just want to uh just kind of uh this this story really piqued my interest this week.

You know, there were a lot of primaries and and uh you know various elections taking on this week, going on this week, and and in in Wisconsin, and I'm I think it was the Democratic governor's primary, um, I think that's correct, but it was in Wisconsin, and you had one candidate.

She was about seven, by most of the pollsters, she was seven points ahead of her opponent in the polls leading up to uh Tuesday.

But there was like this one group that said she was 20 points ahead.

Well, it turns out she lost.

Not only was she not seven points ahead, she she wasn't, had she lost.

Which led to all kinds of questions.

Well, it came to find out that that group, that polling group, that said she was 20 points ahead, they came out and said they made up the data.

Y'all ready?

Did you hear that story?

They made up the data as part of a social experiment, they called it.

Because they wanted to see who would take the bait.

And a lot of the prominent kind of news sources and all, they ran with that 20% number because it was so eye-popping, they didn't vet it.

They didn't vet it, and they just assumed that this agency they hadn't heard of had all the qualifications and such and such as the establishment did.

They ran with it and got egg on their face, and the group said we did it on purpose because you all are looking for a story.

And you're looking for clickbait.

That's that was something that kind of me.

I was thinking about the message and that story.

How people make those false assumptions.

Some people stayed home and decided not to vote because they thought she had it in the bag, but never vetted, never considered.

Be careful about what you assume is true, be careful about sources and everything else.

These guys that we read about brought up this, this made up the story about Paul.

But if somebody really just dug into it, it made no sense for Paul to even do this.

He brought his partner from Ephesus.

Why would he have it?

Because not only would Paul have been killed, Trophemus would have been killed too.

I mean, why would Paul have done all of this and gone through the trouble of purification and paid expenses for others and then do that?

Makes no sense.

But sometimes you want a narrative so bad you fill in the gaps with false assumptions.

Be careful.

Be careful of doing it.

Understand when it happens to you, don't lose your character.

Trust God, and then be careful about how you assume things are working out in your life based on how things worked in others' lives or what you presume.

Be careful.

Let's all trust everything, put everything in God's hands.

Lord, we thank you today.

Uh, we praise you for being the one who is omniscient.

We confess that we are not.

We confess, Lord, everything we know, everything we see, we see dimly.

Everything that is true is because you are true.

There's no truth outside of you.

So thank you, God, for your grace and the ways, Lord, we've been uh prideful and assume that we've known more than we did.

Forgive us for that.

Forgive us of the things that we've said, thought.

Have mercy, Lord, and thank you for your mercy.

Help us, Lord, to continue to be a people who walked like Jesus walked, spoke truth in love, didn't seek to vindicate.

He just pointed everyone to you because he was sent, Father, by you to be our Savior, to be our substitute.

So, Lord, thank you for today's lessons.

Thank you for the example that we've seen in Paul.

We want to walk it out before a world that needs to see you.

Help us, Lord, to get out of the way so that others may see you.

In Jesus' name, amen.