Chris Sales - Paul's Enemies and Friends - Class 2 - Enemies Within

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1. 0:00

   This is day two of the 2023 Palm Springs Bible School. Our second period teacher is Brother Chris Sales. His general subject is Paul's enemies and allies. Today's topic is enemies within. Brother Chris. Thanks, Brother Jeff. Good morning, everyone. That's good. We're a little bit, it's getting a bit harder to come back from the break.

2. 0:24

   It's only day two, brothers and sisters. And Brother Jeff has told me I can just take whatever extra time, so that's about 15 minutes, I think, that you're late.

3. 0:38

   One thing I didn't do is kind of outlay for you the whole week. We are alternating between sort of friends and enemies. So this is class number two, enemies within. And then we'll do tomorrow friends not in the truth necessarily. And then enemies from without. And then we'll finish on Friday with kind of wrapping things up and bringing it all together.

4. 1:02

   So today is kind of like, I was thinking about this this morning, we're kind of like the anti-Barnabas group today. It's like everything we learned yesterday, these are people in the ecclesia, but they're the exact opposite of Barnabas. So that's where we're going. So just a little brainstorm to get our brains in gear.

5. 1:22

   We know that we have this idea that there are false apostles that transform themselves into the apostles of light. So we shouldn't be surprised that we have struggles in the ecclesia, because we have struggles in our families. There's human nature still there. Just because we're believers, and just because we are all trying to follow Christ, it doesn't always manifest itself.

6. 1:43

   So what are some of the problems that existed in the first century ecclesia that came from within, if you will? Just show them. Problems in the first century ecclesia. Judaizers, the law.

7. 1:58

   Meat offered to idols. Temple worship, paganism. Gnosticism. Knowledge, being puffed up by knowledge. Envy. Okay. Sorry? Strife. Strife. Yes, divisions, factions. Yep. Here's just a list I came up with, and I think we mentioned a lot of them there. We have some specifics. Like there's some said the resurrection has passed. What? Right?

8. 2:32

   That's a weird one. You know, feasting at the Lord's table. Instead of, you know, breaking bread and drinking, having a cup appropriately. Acts chapter 6. Prejudice. Whose widows are being looked after. So these are all natural things. All right? And these are all, you know, ecclesial problems, if you will. So there's this idea.

9. 2:55

   We're going to obviously not do all of those. Again, we're focusing on things that Paul faced directly. So we're going to focus on really just a couple of the first ones there, circumcision and law keeping. It's going to come into the other things as well. So let's get our Bibles open. Acts chapter 10.

10. 3:16

    This obviously goes back. This predates the conversion. Well, Paul's been converted. Acts chapter 9. Acts chapter 10. Peter is sent to Cornelius. And the conversion of Cornelius is perhaps... What's happening here in Acts chapter 9 and chapter 10 are extremely significant events. Like the conversion of Saul we talked about yesterday. Perhaps the most significant thing, event in the New Testament.

11. 3:47

    Certainly in the Acts. After the death and resurrection of Jesus. Acts chapter 10. The gospel goes to Cornelius. This is huge. This is huge. And it should have been cause for rejoicing and joy. I mean, this should have been like, wow. You know, Cornelius should have been like the poster child of how Gentiles come in and accept the truth.

12. 4:09

    Right? And God is working through all these circumstances. Working with Peter. You know, Peter had some serious prejudices of his own, didn't he? I mean, we all come with our baggage. Right? We all do. And part of today is going to be appreciating that. Not judging each other. But appreciating. We all have different backgrounds.

13. 4:33

    We all bring different things to the table. And have a look at Peter's initial response. You know, this sheet is let down from heaven filled with all kinds of unclean animals. And in verse 13, there's a voice. Rise, Peter. Kill and eat. It's like, you're joking, right? So he says, and this is really, really important.

14. 4:55

    Look at verse 14 of chapter 10 of Acts. Peter said, not so, Lord. This was Peter. Right? Don't wash my feet. Don't go up to Jerusalem. Like, he says what's on his mind. I can't do this. I've never eaten anything that is common or unclean. The voice spake unto him the second time, what God has cleansed, that call not thou common.

15. 5:21

    Okay? So Peter really struggled with this. It had to be repeated three times. One of the threes in the life of Peter. Many of them. Okay? But Peter got it. And to his credit, this is one thing about Peter. He spoke his mind. He had that initial reaction. But then once he sees it clearly, he gets it.

16. 5:38

    Now he's going to lose it a little bit later. We're going to see later in our class today. It's going to slip away. But he's got it. And look, he's made the connection here in verse 28. He's now explaining to Cornelius kind of the process of what he came to. And he said, in verse 28, Peter said to them, this assembled group of Gentiles, okay?

17. 5:59

    You know that it is an unlawful thing for a man as a Jew to keep company, or come into one of another nation. All right? You understand that. This is where I'm coming from. Me being here and talking to you and fellowshipping, you know, keeping company with. Like, this is not something I should be doing.

18. 6:16

    And look what he says then. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. So if you're a Bible color like I am, you know, in your whatever color pencil, mine's yellow in this case. Verse 15, what God has cleansed, call not thou common. See those animals in that sheet?

19. 6:37

    Eat them because God's cleansed it. All right? And then a little line over to verse 28 at the end, I should not call any man common or unclean. So Peter made that connection. All right? He's made, he's seen it. He's seen it.

20. 6:54

    So the other thing I want you to show here, so he gets this idea that he's going to go down. He's told, you know, these men are coming to you. Follow them. This is the story, right? Go with them. Trust them. You know, believe them. He gets that assurance from the Lord. Verse 20, arise therefore and get thee down.

21. 7:12

    Go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. And Peter does. He obeys. All right? But Peter doesn't go alone. And this is really why we're here in Acts 10. We haven't come to Paul and his issues yet. And look at verse 23. Then called he them in and lodged them. So these people that come from Cornelius.

22. 7:33

    And on the morrow, Peter went away with them, just like you've been told. And certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. Now that seems like a good idea to me. You know, in the mouth of two or three witnesses. He's not going to do this on his own. He's going to have to give this testimony time and time again.

23. 7:50

    They're going to be like, Peter, what did you do? Well, here's what I did. The Lord called me. I saw this vision. He told me this, you know. But he takes witnesses with him. Seemed like a good idea. We'll figure out later what you think about that. And then the Lord does something amazing.

24. 8:10

    I don't know how you read this. You know, he comes in and Cornelius says his thing. And, you know, Cornelius wants to follow and worship him. He lifts Cornelius up. There's a lot of teaching going on here. And then in verse 34, Peter opens his mouth and said, and he starts talking. He recounts the, you know, the incident about how he got to here.

25. 8:28

    And he's talking, he's talking. I mean, one thing I do when I read the Bible, we ask questions and we do all those things. I try and insert myself there. I'm trying, I'm like Peter. I'm in front of this group, right? And I'm feeling uncomfortable because they're all Gentile. And he's just talking and he's hoping, I don't know where this is going.

26. 8:45

    I don't know if you have that experience. Like, just read those verses. And he's quoting scripture. And he's like, he's like, I don't know. How do I wrap this up? Like, what do I do with these people? Like, they're Gentiles. But he's teaching about Jesus and so on. And the Lord in his mercy.

27. 9:01

    Like, isn't this incredible? Because Peter doesn't know where to go with this. I really believe that. He doesn't know what happened. And as he's speaking, the Holy Spirit falls on those who heard the word. God says, Peter, I'll help you out here. Boom. They all get the Holy Spirit start speaking in tongues.

28. 9:16

    And Peter's like, wow. How can I not baptize these people? The Lord has obviously blessed them. Right? This is the Lord's doing. You know, it's marvelous in our eyes. He says, I don't get it. Okay? And that's what he says.

29. 9:34

    Well, okay. Just a little bit there. We'll come to that. So, verse 44, while he's speaking, it comes on to them now. Okay, we'll come to this. We'll come back. That was mid-sentence there. Who are these people here? In verse 45. They of the circumcision, which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, and the didn't child as the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out.

30. 9:58

    Who are those people? They're the ones that he brought. Right? Okay? To be witnesses. Now, it says they were astonished. Basically, like, they're out of their minds. They're like, what just happened? Now, you've got two responses. Peter, then in verse 46 and 47, Peter says, can any man forbid water that they should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Spirit as we?

31. 10:29

    And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. So, Peter was also amazed, I think. And he took the next logical thing was to baptize these people. This group were astonished, you know, astounded, insane, amazed. Like, they're like, it's not computing for them. And I think this is the start.

32. 10:49

    I got to hear it. This is where it all started. And this is going to be a problem for the first century ecclesia for the rest of the book of Acts. Literally. For the rest of the book of Acts. This is the problem right here. You know, what should have been happening was joy and excitement.

33. 11:07

    You know, at this point when they're baptized, who's rejoicing? Those in the presence of the angels. The angels are rejoicing. But those in the presence of the angels are the Father and the Son rejoicing. They're astonished. We're going to see where that goes. We're going to see where that goes. And it may not always be a good thing.

34. 11:29

    Because, we keep reading, at the end of chapter 10, verse 48, they stayed a few days. Who all stayed? Well, Peter did. I'm thinking a few slipped away. And they hightailed it back to Jerusalem. Remember that yesterday? It's quite a distance. They hightailed it back. So then, the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard, they heard that the Gentiles had received the word.

35. 11:57

    And when Peter finally made it to Jerusalem, they of the circumcision contended with him. Okay, you color in these words? You seeing this? Okay, they started off as witnesses for Peter to come. Then, in verse 45 of chapter 10, they of the circumcision were astonished out of their minds. Like, this is wrong.

36. 12:17

    This is like, we don't even know what to do. Or they've gone insane. Okay? They go back to Jerusalem. They tell their side of the story. We don't know what that looked like, but it obviously was not received properly. And they say, you went into a man uncircumcised and did eat with them?

37. 12:36

    Peter's like, yeah. I ate with them after the Holy Spirit came upon them. After, you know, the Lord told him what to do. After we baptized them. Yeah. Yeah, we did. We did. Okay? He explains from the beginning. He's like, let me start back at square one. You know, I'm in the trance.

38. 12:52

    I'm praying. I see this vision. He tells them the whole story. Okay? But this sowed the seeds, brothers and sisters, by these men who, instead of being completely amazed at what God had done in blessing them and in showing them that the gospel message was to go to the Gentiles, it was clearly not Peter's idea.

39. 13:14

    It was clearly not Peter trying to be contentious or Peter trying to be radical. This is Peter following the Lord 100%. But they couldn't get over it. And Peter had the same prejudice as they did, but they couldn't get over it.

40. 13:35

    So what happened? He tells them. And if you follow through in chapter 11, just keep reading. He recounts the whole story from the beginning. Okay? And you come to verse 18. And it says, And when they heard these things, who are the they? Those of the circumcision. You know, those that had gone as witnesses and brought back the report and stirred up the others of like mind in the Jerusalem Ecclesia.

41. 14:00

    They held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. But did they really hold their peace? And did they really mean what they said? Well, I guess that's what we're going to find out today. You know, how long did they do this? And I don't know.

42. 14:18

    I guess another point in terms of Bible study is don't read too far before you stop and start doing some self-reflection. Right? Those finger you're pointing out there, there's like three or four pointing back. Right? You know, do we ever do this? You know, something happens in our Ecclesia or in another Ecclesia and it's maybe not quite the way we would have done it.

43. 14:41

    You know, that preaching campaign or that, you know, did you hear all they did was like hand out sleeping bags to people? Like, did they tell them about Jesus? You know, we get critical because we would have held the public lecture. Right? Like we would have done it differently. Do we do that and do we like get only part of the story and pass only part of the story?

44. 15:00

    You know, I think we need to really be careful. Right? The way we assume that our way is the only way and the right way. You know, and that shoe can be on the other foot. You know, did you hear that they spent all this money on a town hall lecture and nobody showed up?

45. 15:17

    Why are they wasting their time? Well, no, that's not true either. They don't waste their time. So the people in that preparation, all they went through to pull off that amazing effort, they were strengthened. You know, their own, you know, maybe there's young people in the audience that listened. And we can't, we can't despise either side of those things.

46. 15:34

    And I just, I read this and I'm like, okay, yeah, they held their peace. Like, oh, that was great. But they're not. They're going to keep, they're going to keep undermining and keep, you know, trying to, to, to undo what, what Paul was, well, eventually Paul is going to take on this work.

47. 15:50

    So let's go over to chapter 13 then. We've seen this map before. It started here in Antioch and this is the first missionary journey. So we've seen that before. And, and Paul is, is now on, on this work. Okay.

48. 16:10

    And he's, he's pretty clear in what he's saying as he's going through, as he's preaching to these Gentiles. And it's here in, in Acts 13, verse 39, all the believer justified from all things, which he could not be justified by law of Moses. So he's quite, Paul's preaching is, is quite clear. Okay.

49. 16:28

    And, and we mentioned this yesterday. You come to the end of, of chapter 14. They've made the full cycle. They're back here in Antioch and they're rehearsing what had happened and they're excited. You know, they tell him all that God has done and how he's opened the door unto the Gentiles, the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

50. 16:44

    But there's this undercurrent and we, and we saw it yesterday, right? You just keep reading. Don't stop reading at the end of chapter 14. Keep reading. Okay. And verse one of chapter 15, certain men, which came down from Judah and, and they had some, they had some other plans. Look what they said.

51. 17:00

    And this is, this is where it came to. This was the real crux of the matter. Okay. It wasn't just different cultures that were having trouble assimilating. It wasn't just that, okay, God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, right? What, what Paul was saying there. They were saying, well, like, unless you're circumcised, you cannot be saved.

52. 17:20

    This isn't just saying, okay, we've got kind of our culture and background as Jews. And, you know, we'd like to keep the Sabbath and we'd like to, you know, still practice circumcision and dietary laws. And, you know, that's kind of helps us, but we understand it's all coming to Jesus. We get that.

53. 17:35

    All right. That might've been okay, but they're saying they're basically, unless you do what we do, you can't be saved. Like, like that's just wrong. Okay. And, and what, what had happened is they were adding to the conditions of God's requirements. God had said, you know, all these things were to bring, bring you to Christ.

54. 18:03

    And, and Jesus in his ministry had clearly shown that there was more than just, you know, ritualistically keeping the Sabbath. Oh, sure. He said, you know, don't, you know, if you want to pay tithes of mint and an and, and then come us, go for it. Come in. But don't admit the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith, and, you know, righteousness.

55. 18:24

    All right. So there was a way it could work. There was a way it could work, but this is not it. Okay. And you can see then we mentioned yesterday that while they were off doing their first missionary journey, people had come from Jerusalem and they took it upon themselves. And again, I think, I think these brethren were sincere.

56. 18:44

    They're just misguided. They took it upon themselves to come all the way from Jerusalem up to Antioch. And while Paul's away, they're undermining every, and they're saying this kind of stuff. That unless you're circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. These certain men. Okay. Remember that certain men. We've seen it.

57. 19:04

    We assume they were. They come from, with Peter to Joppa. Okay. From, sort of, from Joppa to Caesarea. They brought this report back to Jerusalem. And then they've got a bit of network going. Certain men which taught these things. And of course, there's this dissension with them. Paul and Barnas. We looked at this yesterday.

58. 19:22

    Paul and Barnas had dissension with them. And now here in verse 5, they're called certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed. Okay. We're going to meet a whole other group on Thursday. Enemies from without. They share a common background. They are also from, you know, the Judaizers from, you know, that were holding on to the law that weren't believers.

59. 19:43

    We're going to see that group. This group here is certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed. These were believers. These were brothers and sisters in Christ. And they said it was needful. And this is, like, necessary. Like, absolutely. I wrote it. I wrote it here. This word needful is pretty strong.

60. 20:05

    It has the idea of necessary or binding. Okay. It was absolutely essential and necessary to circumcise them and command them to keep the law of Moses. This is in the ecclesia. All right. We think we have struggles. Okay.

61. 20:22

    I personally think that this example of, if we can read through Acts of the Apostles and try and understand how they handled strife in the ecclesia in those days, it can help us. Because I don't think we face anything this serious. This is, like, this is, like, almost mutually exclusive. Right? If you're going to keep the law and also accept Christ and not keep the law and accept Christ and the salvation in him, they just, they don't mesh.

62. 20:51

    Okay? But they had to try and work it out. And so what did they do? Well, as we know, this is an issue that was in Antioch, right? This is where believers first started to get it. They were first called Christian here in Antioch. Someone mentioned to me yesterday, it was interesting that that name had kind of detached from the law and from all that heritage in a way.

63. 21:11

    It was something new in Christ. Christian. Okay? So they went down to Jerusalem where these other brethren had come from to get help. So it's essentially an issue between the ecclesia in Antioch and the ecclesia in Jerusalem. That was what they had to deal with. So we see here then, and we mentioned yesterday, you know, Paul gives his spiel.

64. 21:35

    Peter gives his spiel. Paul, obviously the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, had their opportunity to speak. And then James brings it all together. Now, I think that at this point, remember, they had done their missionary journey and come back to Antioch. So this is our focal point. Okay? And then Acts 15, they come down to Jerusalem.

65. 21:55

    I think in this period of time is where Galatians chapter 2 fits in. So keep a finger in Acts and flip over to Galatians chapter 2. I'm not a historian, but I think, you know, you put the pieces of the puzzle together. And I think what we have here is where this is going down.

66. 22:13

    And this is where Paul really comes, obviously, into the story. Because Galatians chapter 2 opens in verse 1. There's a 14-year time period. And, you know, again, this is not a study of the life of Paul. You know, what happened after he was baptized and where he had to go and where he came back.

67. 22:28

    That's a whole study on its own. But we got a little bit of a clue here. They come up to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. And he went up by revelation and so on. And he acknowledges that there had been false brethren unawares brought in. And I think that was, well, his first missionary journey.

68. 22:46

    They crept in to spy out our liberty and hear the liberty that you have in Christ and to bring us into bondage. This is Paul's language for going back to the law. You know, they thought that was a good thing. And he's saying, why are you binding yourself with this? We can't keep it.

69. 23:02

    Our fathers couldn't keep it. Why do you want to drag this thing around? Christ has fulfilled the law. Don't go back into bondage. Because when he got back to Antioch here and Peter was there. And Paul has to say, when Peter was come to Antioch, I was stood him to the face because he was to be blamed for before that certain came from James.

70. 23:25

    Remember the certain men from Acts 15 and 1. So you can connect Galatians 2 verse 11 and 12 with Acts 15 and 1. Certain men. Here they're described as they came from James. Okay, so what have they been called? Those from Jerusalem. Sect of the Pharisees which believed. Certain men which came from James.

71. 23:47

    I think when we get back to Acts 15 and check it out a little bit more. I don't think they actually were commissioned by James to go. I think they were acting on their own. But they became known. He did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come, these certain men, Peter withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

72. 24:08

    So they became known as the circumcision party. Right? Because they were believers. But they said, you must be circumcised. And that was kind of code language for circumcision. You know, Sabbath keeping. All the things of the law. All right. Kind of can be focused in this. Okay. And he feared them. And Paul just says, this is basically wrong.

73. 24:30

    And he says, other Jews dissembled likewise. You know, they were all play acting. They were kind of like doing one thing in this situation and another thing in another situation. And this line kind of, based on our class yesterday, kind of pulls at your heart. Right? All right? In so much that Barnabas also.

74. 24:47

    Even Barnabas was carried away with their dissimulation. They're doing one thing in one situation and not another. And you're like, oh, Barnabas. Just a little, you know, aside from yesterday. I think Barnabas, he always just wanted to see the best in people. Right? And somehow he just, he wanted, he didn't want to lose these brethren.

75. 25:06

    And he just, he was, in this case, maybe he should have been more like, and I think why he and Paul were such a good team. Paul's like, Zothra write this. He just saw the hypocrisy. Barnabas didn't. He was just too willing to really want to just include everybody. So, so Paul, in this case, is the one that had to just speak clearly.

76. 25:29

    They weren't walking up rather according to the truth of the gospel. And of course, he rebukes Peter. And we won't read through this. You're familiar with this. But he rebukes Peter in front of them all. I think this is really also important. You know, there's a time to stand up and say something when you see something wrong.

77. 25:44

    You know, it doesn't matter who it is. You know, we don't, we don't easily accept a rebuke on someone who's got a good reputation. Right? What does it say about, you know, don't, don't do it lightly. Okay? Make sure you're, but there is a time. There's a time when you got to call people out.

78. 25:59

    Because what they're doing is having a negative impact on the faith of other people. Right? And maybe it was Barnabas. When Paul saw it was Barnabas, like this, like he's so close to Barnabas. He's like, okay, this, this has gone on long enough. And he did it. He did it openly. It says that very clearly.

79. 26:18

    And there I've got highlighted, I think the key point. A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Like, that's the bottom line. Okay? And whatever else you want to do and, you know, however you want to manage that, if it's going against this, if you say we are made righteous, justified by the law, by the works of the law, of which circumcision is one, it's wrong.

80. 26:42

    Like, don't, don't, you know, try and put other words around that or fluff it up or make it sound different. It's just wrong because we are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. So that's perhaps where that Galatians 2 passage fits in. You've got Peter involved. You've got Barnabas involved. I think it's helpful to slot that in here just before the, what we call the Jerusalem conference back in Acts 15.

81. 27:07

    So let's pick it up back there. We know what happens back here in Acts 15. And, you know, this, this dispute had spread as we saw. And we have this conclusion of the matter. And so they sent out this, this epistle with a few necessary things. And again, I'm, I'm counting on you knowing this, this story.

82. 27:34

    Okay. Our beloved Barnabas and Paul are going to send this message. So James has kind of distilled everything that was said. And obviously they had some sort of meeting or, or conference or whatever to get together. And they sent Barnabas and Paul with Judas and Silas back up to Antioch. And he said, you know, we're not going to put any, any, no greater burden.

83. 27:54

    Remember that bondage, that burden. This was not going to be burdensome. We're not, you don't have to keep the whole law. But if you wouldn't mind, this will help us as we get through this difficult little patch in ecclesial life. Okay. These necessary things. And there were three of them abstain from meats offered to idols from blood and from things strangled and from fornication, which if you do, if you keep yourselves from these things, you shall do well, fare you well.

84. 28:18

    And of course they took that forth and there was much consolation and, and it, it solved the problem at least temporarily. But remember this, this, this Judaizer group, this, the sect of the Pharisees, which believe they may have held their peace at this, but they were just looking for other ways to, you know, get, we kind of, we lost this battle.

85. 28:36

    We're going to win the war. That was their, that was their goal. So let's just look at these things for a minute. Cause I think, I think this is a bit of a compromise. Okay. Small C compromise. I don't know how you want to, I don't know how you come up with a different word, whatever.

86. 28:46

    This is what it is. So let's think about these things, these three things. We're going to start from the bottom. Um, do you think it's important to tell the, um, the Gentile believers they need to abstain from fornication? Is that something new and, and, um, you know, radical? That's, that's a no brainer, right?

87. 29:03

    So I think it's thrown in there like, okay, we can all agree to that. Yes. I don't think you ever hear about this one. Well, I mean, you do the immorality and stuff is, is there Jew and Gentile. Like that's not anything exclusive to, to Gentiles. I mean, that's like morality is important.

88. 29:18

    So yeah, good. Um, what about this one? This is like some dietary law stuff, like kosher. Okay. Things from blood, from things strangled. Can anyone think of where that comes up again in the New Testament anywhere? Like, is this, I couldn't think of any. So they got one that like everyone can agree to, like, that's a no brainer.

89. 29:39

    I think this is another one that's like, yeah, we'll kind of throw that in there. It'll maybe help the, the, the Jews get the Jewish believers get through this. Okay. I don't know. Unless you can think about that one. What about this one? Meat offered. Don't eat meat offered. Idols. How'd that one go throughout the rest of the New Testament?

90. 30:00

    What do you think? Not fully settled. In fact, what does Paul have to say later? There's people that do it. And it's okay. It's fine. You know, I'm not going to, I won't eat meat to cause my brother to stumble. but like this one was kind of, in fact, later I would say to suggest to you that Paul says it's okay for Gentiles to meet Aphrodite idols.

91. 30:25

    So it was a necessary thing now was a good compromise just to get through this because we got some issues between Antioch and Jerusalem but that one's gonna kind of go by the board later. Okay? So I don't know. I just think it helps us understand they were wrestling with these things and they're spirit guided but they're still gotta wrestle through these things and they made some proclamations that they kind of had to later, and Paul was there.

92. 30:49

    Paul signed his name to this. Okay, and then later he's like, you know that meat offered idols thing? An idol's nothing, right? It's this meat that you went and blessed before this idol, it's the same meat that wasn't blessed back there. Nothing happened to the meat. All right? Nothing happened to the, so this is a big deal later but for now he's gonna let it go.

93. 31:08

    It's a compromise. If you Jewish brethren need to hear this for now, I think the Gentiles can get by they'll find some other meat to eat, maybe vegetarian, whatever. Like we can do this but it became an issue later. We had to say, well, you know what? We've kind of got to move on from that one too.

94. 31:24

    So I don't know. You see how that works? I think that's informative to us to how to handle strife in the ecclesia. Time is like going way too fast. Philippians chapter one. Did you get your clock to stop in that first class? That worked for you? I've never tried that one before. Yes.

95. 31:42

    Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So clock off. All right. This is really helpful to me and for any of you that have been involved in, you know, ecclesial strife. I don't know how you've understood. Every time, every year we do the readings. So we do this at least twice a year. Philippians chapter one.

96. 32:03

    I don't know how to take this but I fit it in here. Like Paul is wrestling with these things. So look what he says. I want you to understand, brethren, that the things which happened to me, it's all been about the furtherance of the gospel. I can't take it personally. Whatever's happening, whatever's transpiring.

97. 32:21

    So now he's in prison and he says, look, this is great that I'm in prison because other people have been emboldened to speak the word without fear. If Paul can do it, I can do it. So I'm happy to be here in prison if that helps somebody else have the courage to speak up and not be afraid.

98. 32:38

    All right. And then this. He goes, you know, there's people out there, they're preaching Christ out of envy and strife and contention and pretense. And Paul says, I'm okay with that. You know, they think they're going to add to my bonds. We got Paul now. We're going to undermine Paul. It's not about me.

99. 32:59

    So if it's somewhere in that whole message, Christ gets mentioned, I'm good with it. This is how he's taking it personally. Because at the same time, there's people preaching from goodwill and from love and from truth. And he says, whichever way it's going down, Christ is preached. I will rejoice for I know that this shall work turned to my salvation through your prayer.

100. 33:23

     You know, if I can get through this difficulty and realize it's not about me, it's about Jesus. And if you'll pray for me and help me even in bonds, for me personally, I got to get, I know that I can be developed. The Lord's putting me through this. You know, we're going to look at Paul and his struggles in our third class or that personal one.

101. 33:47

     Sorry, the fourth class. So he's processing all this this way and he's not allowing it to get personal. But at the same time, Paul speaks the truth. So I think about the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you thought of a passage where it says, the reproaches of them which reproached thee, God, fell on me.

102. 34:11

     That's Jesus. Right? It was a prophecy and they thought about Jesus in circumstances. So it's saying this, you talk negatively about my father, you're going to hear about it. You desecrate his temple, I'm in there throwing over tables and kicking people out. I got whips. You know, look out if you're, you know, doing something to my father, but you want to pull off my beard, you want to whip my back, have at it because it's not about me.

103. 34:41

     So I think Paul is kind of like that. But when it comes to speaking the truth, look what he says here. This is a couple of chapters later, Philippians chapter three. He says, finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write unto you the same things. It's not grievous, but it's for you, it's important.

104. 34:57

     Then he gives them this warning. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. We got any other versions out there? What do we got for concision in the King James? It's kind of a weird word.

105. 35:18

     Mutilate. Mutilate. Mutilate. You know what he's talking about, right? The brethren cringe. Right? Okay. Now, because he doesn't want to say the sect of the Pharisees which believed or they have the circumcision. There, because there is a true circumcision. Circumcision was important. It had a purpose. Cutting off of the flesh. You know, there was a spiritual application to it.

106. 35:47

     And he says, we are the true circumcision. Right? Which worship God in spirit and truth. We have no confidence in the flesh. So, again, a little bit of a study here. We won't go into it. Check it out if you want. It's basically, Paul has kind of made up a word. And he said, if you're focusing on literal circumcision in the context of the first century ecclesia, it's like you're mutilating everything.

107. 36:15

     Okay, what are some other translations we got here? The mutilators of the flesh. False circumcision, I think, was one of them. Okay? This is what's being said. And so, Paul doesn't beat around the bush. So, the previous one, Philippians 1, he's like, well, at least Christ is being preached. But if it went too far and it came to a point where you're actually undoing everything that God is trying to teach us in your doctrine, then look out.

108. 36:42

     You know, he's going to call you names. Right? It's going to get personal because you've disrespected the Lord. Right? He's not taking it personally, but if the Lord is disrespected, he's going to, so he calls them basically the mutilators. Okay? This, in the ecclesia, this group that's undermining the truth as it is in Jesus, he's calling them the mutilators.

109. 37:07

     So, there's clear teaching on this topic. Okay? Paul, again, it's very clear. Don't get entangled again in the yoke of bondage. Galatians chapter 5, verse 1. If you think that you need to be circumcised to be saved, because that's what they were saying, if you really believe that, it's not going to profit you or anything.

110. 37:24

     Christ has become of no effect. You've undone it all. You might as well just go back to the law 100%. And by the way, just as a reminder, if you want to be circumcised, then it's, you know, it's Sabbath keeping, it's sacrifices, you know, let's see how that works out for you in a few years when you don't have a temple anymore, you know, like, if that's what you're going back to, then don't try and mingle Christ with that.

111. 37:45

     You can't, you can't do it. You can't do it. The only, and then he says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. I mean, it's irrelevant. Don't get all boastful because you're not circumcised, or if you are, okay, what you need is faith which worketh by love. And of course, this is this word, like dynamo, faith which is energized by love.

112. 38:09

     Okay? So he's very clear in his teaching. So although he's not taking things personally, he's not beating around the bush. Okay? And then basically, this one, 1 Corinthians 7, if anyone is called being circumcised, let him not become uncircumcised. That'd be kind of tricky. I mean, it's not, it's not, get the whole literal thing out of your brain because it's, you know, it's not the point.

113. 38:34

     You've missed the point. Is anyone called being uncircumcised? Don't become circumcised. And Paul's interesting. He circumcised Timothy. He didn't circumcise Titus. Right? It's because it's not what it's about. There's bigger things at play here. And of course, again, what's important is keeping the commandments of God. That's what matters. How are we doing?

114. 38:56

     Okay, I got a few extra minutes, a few minutes to go here. All right. This is where, and we go back to Acts now, and we've skipped forward where there's more missionary journeys and so on in here, a couple more missionary journeys. We got it. We're going to come to the end here.

115. 39:10

     And he's come back to Jerusalem. And I hope, I hope this is helpful in terms of your own, you know, wherever you're at in your own personal life and, you know, your collegial life as a community.

116. 39:29

     Just, we've got our Bibles open to Acts 21 here. Let's just roll that back a little bit. Okay, that's fine. The end of chapter 20, you know, he called down the elders from Ephesus. Okay, and he said, from amongst your own selves will men arise speaking perverse things. Right? But he gives them some encouragement.

117. 39:46

     Just quickly, tuck these away, maybe highlight them if you're a colorer of your Bible. Verse 28, take heed to yourselves. Like Brother Kitson was saying this morning, that's where it starts. Take heed to yourself. Sanctify yourself. Verse 31, watch and remember. Okay, the importance, the importance of prayer. Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation.

118. 40:10

     And then verse 32, I commend you to God and to the word of grace. Read your Bibles. So wherever you're at, you know, sometimes we get down in the weeds and we try and solve problems. That's great. But it starts with self-examination, prayer, and reading God's word. And then we can maybe get through it.

119. 40:28

     So he comes eventually to, back to Jerusalem. Okay. And he meets with the elders that were present. He salutes them. And again, this is Paul. Everywhere he goes, he declares particularly what things God hath wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And there should have been rejoicing and happy. And they did. And when they heard it, they glorified God.

120. 40:53

     Now this, I use this kind of square brackets. This is my words. This is like the Chris translation. They glorified the Lord. You know, earlier they held their peace and said, oh, the gospel's gone forth to the Gentiles. These are believers back in Jerusalem, right? And we've followed through what's going on in Jerusalem.

121. 41:13

     They say to him, well, you see, brother, you know, there's lots of Jews that are believed. They're zealous of the law. There's not the word but there, but to me, there's a big but. Right? In verse 20 to 22. They glorified God. That's great. What's going on amongst the Gentiles, Paul? We're so happy to hear that.

122. 41:31

     But, we got this problem. And I'm suggesting to you here, well, we're going to see, this doesn't work out well for them. What do they do? Well, look what it says. They're zealous of the law, but they've heard some rumors about you, Paul. We don't spread rumors, do we, about other brethren and sisters and what they're doing?

123. 41:49

     Okay? We've heard some things and look what they'd heard. They've heard that you've taught the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither walk after the customs. What is it, therefore, the multitude must, needs come together for they hear that you are come. Well, there's some truth there, but you see how they've spun it?

124. 42:12

     They probably haven't told lies, but they've just kind of spun it. They made it sound a lot worse than it is. We wouldn't do everything like that, would we? We'd never, you know, say the truth, but really hope that they take it a different way. We would never do that. Do you see what's happening?

125. 42:28

     By the way, the word forsake there is to apostatize, and the word, they were informed of thee. They've heard stuff about you. That's, it's the word that basically means to indoctrinize or to katechize. It's the Greek word like katechizo. They've been indoctrinated that Paul's a bad guy. Hey, they've heard all these things about you.

126. 42:50

     So we've got an idea, Paul. How about, how about, we just happen to have these people here. Oh, by the way, listen to what we say. What we say, and those are maybe some dangerous words. We got a plan. Have you, you know, examined yourself, prayed, and read the Bible? We've got a plan.

127. 43:08

     We have a plan. We got these other men, and they've got this vow. Why don't you just kind of go along with them and fulfill this vow, and they'll find out that, you know, you actually walk orderly and keep the law as well. That'd be a good thing. This would be good, Paul.

128. 43:28

     You know, the Gentiles which believe, again, I've put in the word, but they're like, they can do their thing. We'll do our thing. You know, let them do their thing, and we've got these, you know, Acts 15 things, you know, necessary things. Well, how did it turn out? Well, it's just, we got, hopefully, Acts chapter 21 opened up.

129. 43:45

     Let's see how it turned out. Verse 27. And when the days, seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia. Now, I don't think these were believers. We meet them on Thursday, God willing, class number four. Some of them have come all the way from Asia, found it necessary to come to Jerusalem, and they're looking for an excuse to exploit Paul.

130. 44:10

     Now, sadly, the way they exploited him was through this little scheme that the brethren in Jerusalem had come up with. So this is what I'm seeing. The brethren are saying, like, Paul, we've got to do something to kind of just, ah, we've got to throw a sop to the Jewish brothers that believe, because they're zealous of the law, and they've heard all these bad things about you.

131. 44:28

     Ah, some of them might be true, some might not be true. So would you just go through this process? Go to the temple, you know, go through, show them that you're a good Jew, you keep the law. But there were Jews from Asia there. They saw him in the temple, verse 27. They stirred up all the people and laid their hands on him, saying, men of Israel, help, help.

132. 44:46

     As we told you, it was going to be disastrous, and look what happened. It's like what we've said. This man, he's everywhere teaching the people, teach everywhere, against the people, and against the law, and this place. Ooh, has he heard those charges before?

133. 45:04

     Teach against the people, and against the law, and against this place, the temple. Who are those charges leveled against? Jesus, and? Stephen. And who laid him against Stephen? Ooh, interesting. It's come full circle, hasn't it? And he's brought Greeks into this place. He just wants to do sacrilege. He doesn't care about things.

134. 45:25

     Was that true? No, he was in there with some good, law-abiding Jews, fulfilling vows and stuff. But they, you know, do they really care if it was true or not? Would we ever do something like that? Where we would insert some information and hopefully it gets, you know, gets carried through. It may not be true, but that person didn't know, and by the time it gets, you know, ooh, right?

135. 45:50

     Do we, oh, I didn't know. I was mistaken. Sorry. But, you know, it's out there. It's now, it might as well be truth, right? He's brought Greeks into the temple, polluted the holy place. For they had seen before in the city, Trophimus from Ephesus. They supposed that Paul, Paul had brought him into the temple.

136. 46:07

     Now, this is all going to work out, and this will be, we're looking at our next couple of classes. I mean, Paul here never leaves custody from this moment on. There's some things he's got to go through, but he's never free again all the way to Rome. Because some brethren had an idea that he needs to kind of pretend to kind of be the Jew when he really maybe wasn't, but, you know, and this is what happens.

137. 46:29

     So just something to think about there in terms of our, you know, what we're going through now. I would have loved to talk about this, 1 Corinthians chapter 9. This is sort of what Paul did. This was his MO, right? He wanted to win people and that he might save some. So to the Jews he became a Jew.

138. 46:48

     To those without law, the weak he became weak. Now, Paul is not being fake here. You know, he's not dissimilating. But I think maybe on this one in Acts chapter 20 and 21, he probably went too far. Okay? That's my opinion here. You know, I think Paul would have, would have, you know, he did this and he says, look, when I came without the law, it's not as though I'm still in the law of God.

139. 47:15

     I'm not, I didn't, I didn't, you know, do the things that they did anything immoral. Okay? But he wanted to win people. He did want to win people and we should too. You know, if it means there's a small C compromise at times, like don't eat meat off her diadals, Paul's like, if all I got to do to win my brother Steve is not eat meat, I'll do it.

140. 47:34

     Right? That's, I think, what this is talking about. But if I have to pretend to be something that I'm not to try and pacify someone who can't be pacified, then that's going to be problematic. And I think that's what happened in these chapters in Acts here, 21 and 22. So quickly, let's summarize here.

141. 47:51

     And sorry for being a bit hasty there. The truth is more important than our traditions and customs. Simple. So get over it. Right? Whatever baggage you're bringing, it's you. It's why you're here. It's made you who you are. And we'll work with you. You know, and if you're in my ecclesia and you really struggle with this and it's not an important issue, then let's just go to there's one on this train of thought.

142. 48:18

     You know, I'll be willing to compromise. You come to my meeting and you know, we've had brothers and sisters who couldn't drink alcohol. So we use grape juice for a period of time. No big deal. I think we can handle that. Okay. I go somewhere else. I'm going to drink the wine. Right?

143. 48:34

     So we can compromise on non-essential things. So don't eat meat off your dietals this year. And then, you know, my next epistle I might have to tell you that that's okay. We don't think, don't think, don't take things personally. Right? Speak the truth but don't take things personally. So that was Paul's way.

144. 48:52

     You know, if Christ is being preached, that's a good thing. But sometimes it's not possible to please all the people all the time. And we can't compromise on essential things. All right? We need to speak the truth. And if I have to withstand Peter to the face because he's, what he's doing is causing my good friend Barnabas to be carried away, I need to speak up for truth.

145. 49:14

     And it's tricky. This is not easy stuff. It wasn't easy for the first century ecclesia. And they had spirit-guided leadership. So I think we can take encouragement hopefully in some of the struggles that we're going through as a community. You know, don't take things personally. If someone says, you know, slanders you or whatever, Paul's like, you know, he's going to let that one go.

146. 49:36

     Allow for compromise on non-essential things but speak the truth and stand up for the things of our Lord. Thank you and sorry for over and over time. Jeff can reprimand me later. Thank you.