Amen.
The title of my sermon this morning is You Can't Please Everyone.
You cannot please everyone in this chapter.
The apostle Paul does some things that he knows are wrong because he's trying to please
a certain group of people and no matter what he does, these people aren't going to be pleased.
And so he's really even wasting his time trying to compromise and reach an olive branch to
these people who have no interest in what is right and they're not going to be happy
no matter what.
And so we just need to understand that you can't please everyone.
People try to compromise their beliefs because they think they can make everyone happy.
You're not going to be able to make everyone happy.
You have to just do what's right and let the chips fall where they may and not spend your
life trying to please people.
It's just not going to work.
You can't please all the people all the time.
Now the first thing I want to point out about this story about the apostle Paul is that
the apostle Paul should not have even been at that place at that time.
He shouldn't have even been in Jerusalem in the first place.
Back up if you would to Acts chapter 20 verse 23.
He's not doing what God told him to do.
Go to Acts chapter 20 verse 23.
Now look, here's the thing about the Bible.
One of the things I love about the Bible is that it's such great literature.
Even unsaved people will acknowledge that it's the greatest literature in the history
of mankind and that it had such a profound impact and it makes sense because if the God
of the universe writes a book, it's going to be supreme on all levels, on every level.
And here's the thing about good literature.
It has complex characters and we see the apostle Paul as a human being.
He's not this God-man that never makes a mistake.
All throughout the Bible when we look at great men of God, prophets, the heroes of
the story are often making mistakes because they're real people and we've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God.
So one of the most important things to understand when you're studying the Bible is that just
because someone does something in the Bible doesn't make it right and just because someone
good does something, it still doesn't make it right.
You have good people committing sins because guess what?
Everybody in this room's a sinner and so we've all sinned and the Bible's real like that.
You know, it actually shows the flaws of people.
So when we want to know what's right and what's wrong, we have to go by what God says, what
God tells us, what his commandments are.
That's when we know, okay, this is right and this is wrong.
The stories in the Bible are open for interpretation.
So we use the statements of the Bible, the clear statements that tell us what's right
and wrong and we use the statement to interpret the story.
We don't ignore the statement and say, well, look, I got a story here.
That's how you get into doctrines like polygamy, right?
Hey, look, here's a guy with two wives.
Here's a God blessed him.
Okay, but what did God say?
God said at the very beginning, Genesis, chapter number two, a man shall leave his father and
mother and cleave unto his wife and they too shall be one flesh.
They too, not three, not four, two.
That's what God laid down.
And here's the thing, God was consistent with that all throughout the Bible.
Now did people disobey that and do something different?
Yes, but God was consistent.
Jesus was consistent on that in Matthew.
All throughout the Bible, we have statements that are correct and we have human beings
doing wrong things in the stories.
They do right, they do wrong, you have to interpret the story.
Look at Acts 20, verse 23.
Here's the Apostle Paul speaking, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city saying
that bonds and afflictions abide me.
Now what you have to understand is that the Apostle Paul is traveling from city to city.
He's on a trip and every single stop that he makes, someone comes up to him and speaking
by the Holy Ghost warns him not to go to Jerusalem.
Now the way he spins this and interprets this is he says, well, they're telling me
in every city that bonds and afflictions abide me, but none of these things move me, neither
count on my life, dear.
He's basically spinning it as, well hey, the Holy Ghost keeps warning me about all the
bad things that happen if I go there, but you know what, hey, I'm ready to suffer those
things.
So he's just kind of turning it into, well yeah, persecution, but come at me, bro.
Here's the thing.
God actually didn't want him to go there because look at Acts 21, verse 4.
This verse is conclusive.
So we already have the Apostle Paul telling us in verse 20, this is a message he's getting
in every city.
He's not letting this get through to him, but God keeps sending him a message.
Look what it says in chapter 21, verse 4.
And finding disciples, and remember, now this is the narrator of the book talking.
Whenever the narrator of the book is talking, that's God talking.
You can take that to the bank.
When characters in the Bible say things, they can either be saying something that's correct
or incorrect, right?
Like for example, Mary says to Jesus, your father and I have sought you sorrowing.
Was she right about that?
No, because she's calling Joseph Jesus, Jesus' father.
That's why Jesus turns around and corrected her and said, hey, I must be about my father's
business.
And he wasn't talking about making a chair or a table, he was talking about speaking
the word of God in the temple.
So look what it says when the narrator is speaking.
It says in chapter 21, verse 4.
And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days, who said to Paul through the Spirit
that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
So this is men of God speaking by the Holy Ghost, they're not dreaming this up on their
own, they're not saying this in the flesh.
Speaking through the Spirit, the narrator says that here's what they're telling them
in every city, don't do it.
You should not go to Jerusalem.
Okay, I believe that chapter 21, verse 4 is conclusive, okay.
Look at verse number 10 just to give you more.
And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet named Agabus,
and when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle and bound his own hands and feet and
said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth
this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go
up to Jerusalem.
Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?
For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord
Jesus.
And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.
So look, the Apostle Paul again just turns it into, well yeah, if I go there, bad things
are going to happen, but I'm willing for bad things to happen.
So I'm just going to go ahead and do it anyway.
But here's the thing, verse 4 said he shouldn't do it, should not go, okay.
But he just says, well I'm willing to go.
Now look, just because someone makes a bad decision though, it doesn't mean God doesn't
love them, it doesn't mean God's not going to bless them, it doesn't mean that God can't
use that for his glory.
And does some good things come from going to Jerusalem?
Sure.
But you know what?
Some bad things come too.
You know what?
If he would have done it God's way, it would have been better.
It's always better when we do things God's way.
So God has his perfect will for our lives.
And we're constantly deviating from God's perfect will because we're human, right?
You know, we're on that course of God's perfect will, we mess up, and then God has to adjust
the plan.
Basically, God is like this GPS that has to keep rerouting.
You know, God's giving us the directions in our life, turn left, turn right.
And he's constantly like, make a U-turn if possible.
Make a U-turn, make a U-turn.
We go to church, the pastor's like, make a U-turn, make a U-turn around at the next intersection.
Turn around at this street in a hundred feet, you know.
And we just keep missing it.
And you know, pretty soon when you become reprobate is where it basically is just like
go to the route and it doesn't even give you directions anymore.
And then pretty soon it's just like no satellites.
No connection, error, right?
That's an illustration, right?
It's the parable of the GPS unit.
But the point is, God will adjust his will for our lives as we mess up, okay?
So God's will is a certain perfect will, but when we deviate, then he'll say, okay, well
now here's the new will, you know, starting forward.
Why?
Because he constantly gives us another chance, gives us another chance.
It's sort of like where God's will was for them to go into the promised land in the Old
Testament but when they messed that up, he said, okay, now my will is for you to go over
here.
And they're like, no, no, no, we're going to go in the promised land.
It's like, no, no, no, that ship has sailed.
Now my will is for you to go over here.
The point is that just because the Apostle Paul was able to do some great things once
he gets to Jerusalem and Rome and beyond does not change the fact that he did something
wrong here.
He made a mistake.
He deviated from God's will, okay?
Just like it wasn't God's will, obviously, for Joseph's brethren to beat him up and throw
him in a pit.
Obviously, that was a sinful thing for them to do.
They lied, they did kidnapping, they sold a man.
Kidnapping someone and selling them is actually something that's punished by the death penalty
under the Mosaic law.
We call it today human trafficking.
They trafficked their brother.
They human trafficked him and that wasn't God's will.
But here's the thing.
They meant it for evil but God meant it for good.
God can take things and turn them around and use them for his glory.
The Bible says all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose.
But it doesn't change the fact that there's right and wrong.
And sometimes we can do wrong, mess up our lives, and then boom, God's got a new route
for us because God's like that.
Thank God for his mercy and his grace and his plan B for our lives.
But anyway, we see here that he shouldn't have even been there in the first place.
Look at chapter 22 verse 21 quickly.
He said unto me, this is Paul telling his testimony, depart for I will send thee far
hence unto the Gentiles.
God's plan for Paul's life was to go far from here, far hence to the Gentiles.
That was the plan.
But he's constantly wanting to preach to the Jews.
He just always wants to preach to the Jews.
He always wants to be at Jerusalem.
Three times in the book of Acts, he's like, that's it, I'm done with the Jews.
I'm going to the Gentiles from now on.
And then the next chapter he's like going back to the Jews.
He just keeps falling off the wagon and going back to the Jews.
And the Jews predominantly weren't interested for the most part.
Now look at chapter 21 verse 17.
Let's get into the actual story itself.
So I just wanted to give you a little background showing you that Paul wasn't supposed to be
there.
Look at this thing where he's kind of just obsessed with reaching the Jews with the Gospel.
God's trying to send them to the Gentiles because they're more receptive, but he in
his flesh wants to keep going back and preaching to the Jews because that's where he's from.
That's his background.
That's who he is.
That's how he was raised.
Look at chapter 21 verse 17.
And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly.
The reason we get into it at this point in the book of Acts, the we and us, is that the
author Luke is part of the crew now.
So he constantly uses that pronoun toward the end of Acts, we, us, because he's traveling
with the Apostle Paul.
So it says in verse 18, in the day following, Paul went in with us unto James and all the
elders were present.
And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among
the Gentiles by his ministry.
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord and said unto him, Thou seest, brother,
how many thousands of Jews there are which believe and they're all zealous of the law.
Whoa, what's going on here?
So Paul comes in and he's given the report of all the great works that have been done
amongst the Gentiles and how many people have gotten saved and churches are being established.
And James and them are like, oh man, that's so great.
Let us tell you what we've been up to.
We've got a bunch of Jews saved and they're all really zealous about the Torah.
They're really into observing the Torah.
So here's what he.. now first of all, they're not doing what God..
God told them to preach the gospel to every creature, go into all the world, uttermost
part of the earth.
Most of the apostles are just hanging out of Jerusalem, okay.
And they're like, oh, we've got all these Jews saved and they're all really zealous
of the law.
And they're informed of thee, verse 21, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among
the Gentiles to forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children
neither to walk after the customs.
What are the customs?
What is that?
That's not the word of God.
That's not the Bible.
It's all their Jewish traditions, Jewish customs that have nothing to do with the word of God.
It's the stuff that Jesus rebuked and said, you've made the word of God of none effect
by your traditions.
You're teaching for doctrines the commandments of men is what he said.
Now who's the speaker here?
Who's talking here that we're reading and saying this?
It's James, right?
This is not James the disciple of Jesus James because you know you have James and John,
sons of Zebedee.
That's not who this is.
That guy died several chapters ago.
If you remember he was killed by the sword by King Herod.
This James is Jesus' half brother who did not believe in him while he was doing his
ministry while he was alive but his half brother James believed on Jesus after he had risen
from the dead.
He ended up getting saved and becoming a pillar of the church there in Jerusalem.
But at this point he is wrong and I will prove to you that James is wrong and the things
that he's saying are wrong, okay?
Where he's saying like, oh well you know people hear that you're teaching the Jews not to
follow the customs.
Verse 22, what is it therefore?
What's it going to be, huh?
The multitude must needs come together for they will hear that thou art come.
Do therefore this that we say to thee.
We have four men which have a vow on them.
Take them and purify thyself with them and be at charges with them that they may shave
their heads and all may know that those things whereof they were informed concerning thee
are nothing but that thou thyself also walkest orderly and keepest the law.
As touching the Gentiles which believe, we've written and concluded that they observed no
such thing save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols and from blood
and from strangled and from fornication.
Then Paul took the men and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple
to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification until an offering should be
offered for every one of them.
Now let me tell you something, I can't even count how many wrong statements and actions
there are in these six or seven verses.
There is so much wrong here it is mind-blowing and what's funny is that some people will
actually make the case that everything they did and said here was right.
It's bizarre.
This Hebrew roots crowd that wants to Judaize us, they'll have you to believe that everything
I just read that was said and done is it was correct and right and the will of God.
Folks let me just disassemble this and show you how many wrong things are.
First of all this is deception and lying.
Did the Apostle Paul take a Nazarite vow?
Were the days of his purification fulfilled?
No.
James is telling him to lie.
James is telling him to be a deceiver.
James is telling him pretend that you took a Nazarite vow.
Shave your head and then people will think you've been letting your hair grow like a
Nazarite.
Then go there so they can offer an animal sacrifice for you.
Is that New Testament Christianity?
Is that what Paul's been preaching and doing?
No he's telling him to lie.
This is not true.
This is not real.
He said hey we got four guys that are doing the Nazarite vow, go be like one of them.
Shave your head, get purified, go through an animal sacrifice and then that will shut
up the Jews that are talking bad about you.
That will please them.
Folks I don't see how anyone can defend that, number one.
But number two, how about the fact that James has this idea that basically Jews who get
saved follow a different set of rules than Gentiles who get saved.
So if you're a Jew who gets saved, you have to follow all these pharisaical customs for
the rest of your life and you have to follow the Mosaic law for the rest of your life.
You have to follow the whole Old Testament teaching for the rest of your life.
But if you're a Gentile who gets saved, you just have four rules.
Four arbitrary rules, one of which isn't even found in the Bible.
Abstanding from things strangled?
That's not in the law of God.
That is something that they've interpreted and come up with in their own tradition and
their own teachings.
Not biblical.
Why would it be that, oh, if you're a Gentile who gets saved, you don't get circumcised,
you just, just so long as you don't eat blood and don't fornicate, just don't worship Satan
or anything, you know what I mean?
What in the world?
Don't be a whoremonger and don't worship Satan.
But you Jews, you got to follow, you know, no cheeseburgers for you, buddy.
You got to follow all these kosher laws.
Folks, there's so much wrong with that.
That is so unbiblical because you know what the Bible says, in Christ there is neither
Jew nor Gentile.
In Christ there's no Jew nor Gentile.
So when people get saved, you know what he says to them?
He says you were Gentiles.
You were Gentiles in the past, okay?
But in Christ there is no Jew nor Gentile.
In Christ you're all one in Christ Jesus.
God's house, the house of prayer for all nations.
We don't divide between Jew or Gentile and say, well here's one set of rules for the
Jews and here's another set of rules for the Gentiles.
You know what the Bible says?
Avoid genealogies.
So if you're avoiding genealogies, how do you even know who is a Jew and who's a Gentile
in 2020 when you're told to avoid genealogies?
You got a bunch of white people with blonde hair and blue eyes claiming to be Jews.
You got redheads with freckles claiming to be Jews.
What in the world?
You're Irish.
And you're saying, well but I'm a Jew.
Based on what?
Your genealogy?
First of all, none of them have a genealogy going back to the time of Christ.
We established that in our film, Marching Design.
But number two, if they had a genealogy, you know what I'd do?
I'd avoid it.
Get it away from me.
Avoid it.
It doesn't matter.
If it mattered, God wouldn't tell you to avoid it.
Makes no sense because our ethnicity is meaningless to Christ.
Our previous religion or previous affiliation or upbringing or tradition, none of that matters
to Jesus Christ.
If we're in Christ, we're sons of Abraham, we're heirs of the promise.
So where are you getting this one set of rules for Jews and another set of rules for Gentiles?
That is a false doctrine.
It's easily debunked, okay?
Go if you would to Galatians chapter 2 and let me tell you, not only is what James is
proposing to Paul wrong, not only is Paul doing it wrong, but Paul knew that it was
wrong.
Now James, you could make the case that James is just ignorant of doctrine and that he's
just confused.
You could make the case that James in the integrity of his heart, you know, thinks that
he's doing something good.
But the Apostle Paul knows that this is wrong and let me prove it to you from Galatians
chapter 2.
And Galatians, by the way, is one of the earliest epistles of Paul.
Many people even believe, and there's a lot of evidence that would point to the fact that
this is even Paul's earliest epistle.
So this is an early epistle of Paul, okay?
And I'm not going to go into how we know that or how you can compare things in the Bible
to figure out when things are written.
But look at Galatians chapter 2 verse 11.
It says, "'But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face because he was
to be blamed.
For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles.
But when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.'"
So when Peter showed up, he has no problem rubbing shoulders with Gentiles, right?
He's hanging out with the Gentiles, he's good to go.
But then when James's posse shows up, all of a sudden when James's crew shows up, all
of a sudden he's like, oh man, you know, and he won't eat with Gentiles anymore and he
begins to Judaize at that point.
Now this shows that this is an issue that James had.
This is a problem that James had.
This is a false doctrine that James had because isn't it interesting that James is all Judaizing
in Acts chapter number 21 and then isn't it interesting that in Galatians 2 it's James's
boys that are causing the Judaizing in Galatians 2 that is sternly rebuked by the narrator,
by the Word of God itself, by the Holy Ghost who is leading the Apostle Paul to pen these
words.
Before that certain came from James, verse 12, he did eat with the Gentiles, but when
they were come he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him in so much that Barnabas also was carried
away with their dissimulation.
So even good people can get caught up in this.
You know, a guy like James was being a bad influence in this area, not saying that he
was a horrible person, not saying that God couldn't use him or that he wasn't a godly
man, but he was wrong on this doctrine.
Hey, there are a lot of great preachers today that are wrong on issues concerning the Jews
and Israel today.
It doesn't mean that they don't love the Lord or that God's not using them.
God uses imperfect people, amen?
But we see here that James gets Peter and Barnabas caught up in this.
They get caught up in this dissimulation.
You know what dissimulation means?
Well, drop the diss.
What does simulation mean?
It's fake.
It isn't real.
They're getting caught up in being fake.
Barnabas is caught up in being fake.
Peter is caught up in being fake.
You know why?
Because it's fake of them when they get in front of these people from James, all of a
sudden like, oh yeah, we follow the customs of the elders, we're not going to eat with
the Gentiles or whatever.
Is that how they normally lived?
No, only when these other people see.
Look at verse 14.
Here's the key, but when I saw, this Paul talking, that they walked not uprightly according
to the truth of the Gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, so he's publicly rebuking
Peter, if thou being a Jew livest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews,
why compelest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Now say that five times fast.
He's saying, look, you're a Jew, right?
It's funny because I see you living like a Gentile, buddy.
So how did Peter normally live?
Do you normally live like a Jew or do you normally live like a Gentile?
He lives as the Gentiles.
He's living after the manner of the Gentiles, not as do the Jews.
So why are you, Peter, compelling the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
Why are you caught up in this dissimulation?
Why are you being fake right now?
You don't even live as do the Jews, so don't try to Judaize anybody else, okay?
Now I think it's pretty clear from Galatians 2, 11 through 14, which is God's word, which
is the Bible, which is the New Testament here, that the doctrine on this is clear that
what they're doing in Acts 21 is totally wrong.
You don't Judaize, you don't circumcise, because remember, what was James' beef that he's bringing
up to Paul?
Hey, here's what people are saying about you, Paul.
They're saying that you're telling people not to circumcise their children.
You know, but what is it, man?
You going to shave your head and do this or what?
If you want to hang out with us, you'll do it.
Now look, if you would, at chapter 5 of Galatians.
Folks, compare scripture with scripture.
Do not base your doctrine on a story.
You know what?
You want to base your doctrine on a story and reject the clear statements of the Bible?
Who knows what kind of crazy doctrine you get?
And we'll hear about you and your three wives someday on some compound somewhere.
I'm telling you, if you're going to just reject the statement and go with the story, you're
going to go into all kinds of weeds of false doctrine.
You've got to go with the clear statements of the Bible, not with imperfect people.
And if there's a guy who's certainly imperfect, it's James.
We see him struggling in this area repeatedly, okay?
Now look at Galatians chapter 5 verse 6, For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.
Now look at verse 11, here's the key.
Here's what Paul says in verse 11, And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why
do I yet suffer persecution?
Then is the offense of the cross ceased.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, look, people think that I teach circumcision?
He says, okay, well then riddle me this, if I supposedly teach circumcision, then explain
this to me.
Why do I keep getting persecuted by Jews if I preach circumcision?
Because if I preach circumcision, then the offense of the cross is ceased and you know
what?
I wouldn't be getting persecuted.
Because you know what?
If the Apostle Paul went around teaching a Christianity, which is Judaism plus Jesus,
everything would have been fine.
If he went around teaching Judaism plus Jesus, no problem.
No, the issue was that he's teaching the New Covenant, the New Testament, and what is it
that made the Jews just lose their minds every time when you start bringing in the
Gentiles.
In the story that we're reading in Acts 21, remember that little cliffhanger when we read
the scripture?
It was just like saying, and that was the end of the chapter.
Hey, if you get into what he said in chapter 22, Paul is preaching and you know what?
All the Jews that were screaming and yelling, help, help, Paul's here, help.
Okay I always thought that's so funny how they scream for help.
Help, help, it's Paul.
Here's the thing, it always cracks me up when I read that.
Here's the thing, okay, the same Jews who are going nuts, they actually let Paul speak
in Acts 22.
You know, he stands up and starts speaking to them in Hebrew and that really gets their
attention because Hebrew is not their typical language at that time.
They typically spoke Aramaic as their main language and then Greek as their second language.
And so he gets up and speaks in Hebrew, he's extremely educated.
And he knew multiple languages, he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, he was a Hebrew
of the Hebrews.
So he gets up and makes this speech in Hebrew and it's kind of like, oh okay, well we can
listen to this.
So they're all silent and the Bible tells us that they listened very carefully.
And he gets up and he's giving his testimony and he's talking about Jesus and he's talking
about getting baptized, he's talking about the gospel, he's talking about all these things
and they're all fine with it.
And then he gets to that part where he says, I'm going to send you far hence to the Gentiles
and that is when they just blow up in Acts 22.
In Acts 22 they explode and they say, take this fellow from the earth, it's not fit for
such a one to live.
What?
So they're okay with everything he preached and as soon as he says, hey, it's all about
reaching Gentiles with the gospel, they're like, get this guy and remove him from this
planet.
This guy shouldn't even be alive.
Why?
Because they hated the Gentiles, they thought that they were so great for being Jews.
They sort of had the Jonah mentality and Jonah is a foreshadowing of the Jews in that sense
where Jonah wants Nineveh to get destroyed and he preaches salvation to them and they
end up getting saved and then basically he's like, whoa, what's going on here?
You said you were going to destroy this place.
And then he ends up just parking and making a little booth and saying, I'm not leaving
until this city gets destroyed in Jonah chapter 4.
That's, you know, that's a foreshadowing of the Jews attitude toward the Gentiles.
Another indication of the Jews attitude toward the Gentiles is the story of the prodigal
son and you have the older brother who's mad.
He's mad that the younger brother came home and that's a picture of the fact that the
Jews are mad that Gentiles are getting saved and they're mad that this Johnny-come-lately
heathens are all of a sudden on equal footing with them where there's no Jew or Gentile.
You know, they wanted to be the special chosen ones.
It's like, it's not enough for them to be chosen.
They don't want that other guy to be chosen because he's, you know, the wrong color or
whatever.
He's not as Jewish as they are.
So here's the deal.
If I preached circumcision, okay, here's the proof that I don't preach circumcision.
I'm being persecuted because he says, if I didn't preach circumcision, the offense
of the cross is ceased, okay.
So why is it that the Apostle Paul Judaizes in Acts 21 and he shaves his head and does
the whole song and dance?
It's because of the fact that he wanted the offense of the cross to be ceased.
He didn't want to get persecuted.
He wanted to get along.
This is what he thought.
He thought, you know what, I just really want to reach Jews and I keep failing at it,
but maybe James has got the right idea.
You know, because James is compromising and he's getting a bunch of people saved.
This would be like if we looked at some liberal rock and roll church down the street and we
saw 10,000 people in the parking lot and said, well, maybe we need to get some girls up here
in miniskirts and, and oohing and aahing and jamming for Jesus up here.
Maybe if we rock out a little bit, we can get those crowds too.
Basically it's similar to that.
It's like compromise to get the crowd.
It's working for James.
It's working for him.
He's reaching the young people.
James is reaching the youth, man.
You know, maybe I should grow out my hair, get some torn up jeans and, and get up here
and just kind of talk about being a Jesus follower.
I mean that's basically what he's saying.
Oh, well James is having success reaching the Jews.
Well let me see if I can duplicate that success.
Let me ask you something.
Did James really have great success reaching the Jews?
I don't think so.
Cause I'll bet you all these thousands of converts and his, most of them probably aren't
even saved.
Okay.
Because how'd that pan out in the long run?
You know what panned out in the long run is the gospel spreading like wildfire through
the Gentiles.
And here we are today in America with 50 million Baptists.
You know, that's, you know what?
We're the residual work of the apostle Paul taking the gospel into Europe predominantly,
not James's little operation in Jerusalem.
How Christian are the Jews today?
How Christian is Jerusalem today?
So in the long run you kind of see whose fruit really panned out.
Paul's or James?
You know, Paul obviously did more.
The Bible says Paul did more.
The Bible says he accomplished the most.
But here Paul gets sucked in cause he's human.
He made a mistake.
He compromises.
Why?
Because he wanted the offense to be seized.
Look at chapter 6 verse 12.
We're in Galatians.
Chapter 6 verse 12.
It says as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh they constrain you to be circumcised
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
He's saying there's one reason that they want to circumcise you.
One reason.
Because they don't want to get persecuted.
What's the reason?
Is it because it's right?
Is it because God said to do it?
No.
It's because they don't want to get persecuted.
That's the one reason.
And why are they doing it?
Because they don't want to suffer show.
Hey look at me everybody.
I'm following the Torah.
Hey look at me everybody.
I'm, you know, just like you guys trying to be like them to win them.
Wrong.
He says they're trying to make a show.
They're putting on a show.
What's he doing in Acts 21?
Shaving his head.
That's putting on a show.
It wasn't even real.
He didn't even do that vow.
Verse 13.
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they make glory in your flesh.
But God forbid that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
Now you could misinterpret that verse and say, well maybe he's just saying, you know,
you can get circumcised if you want is optional.
You know, neither circumcision or uncircumcision availeth anything.
Now what he's actually saying, I personally believe that it's actually wrong to circumcise
your children in the New Testament.
That's what I think because it's not God's will because we're not living in the Old Testament.
I think it's that simple.
I think that, you know, we do what God wants us to do.
We follow God's will.
We're not going to circumcise our children because of the fact that there are other verses
and I think what he's saying here when he says, you know, neither circumcision or uncircumcision,
what he's saying is if you're already circumcised don't sweat it is what he's saying.
That's what he means because of the fact that elsewhere in scripture he says, hey,
if you're uncircumcised don't seek to get circumcised and he says if you're circumcised
don't seek to be uncircumcised.
You know, I don't know what kind of a procedure that would entail, but he's saying, you know,
don't try to get uncircumcised.
He said just whatever, wherever you're at on that, just go with that.
Okay.
So he's setting their minds at ease about that.
But what does Galatians chapter 5 verse 3 say?
Go back to Galatians chapter 5 verse 3.
For I testify again, or go to verse 2 of chapter 5, behold I Paul say unto you that if you
be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole law.
Now he says, hey, if you get circumcised Christ will profit you nothing.
That's why later he has to balance that by saying, well look, in the end neither circumcision
or uncircumcision avails anything, it's a new creature in Christ that makes you saved.
It's faith which worketh by love, that's why you're saved.
It's faith, it's a new creature, it has nothing to do with whether you're circumcised.
Because remember, he's saying that to balance out what he just said in chapter 5 where he
said, if you're circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing.
He didn't want them to get the wrong idea and be like, oh no, I'm circumcised, I'm going
to hell, there's nothing I can do.
That's not what he's saying.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, if you go out and get circumcised because you think that's part of your salvation,
Christ will profit you nothing because you have to trust fully in the work of Christ,
not in your own works.
So here's the thing, if a person, if I talked to a person in 2020, let me explain to you
this way.
If I talked to somebody in 2020 and I said, what does a person have to do to go to heaven,
and that person said to me they have to be circumcised and believe in Jesus, I would
say you're not saved.
Agreed?
If they said, get circumcised and believe in Jesus, I'd say, whoa, you've added to the
gospel that is not salvation by faith, that's a works-based salvation, that's salvation
by the law and by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
It's not the law that saves.
Hey, James and crew, quit being so zealous of the law and get zealous of Christ in the
New Testament.
That's what you ought to be zealous about.
You're a little too zealous of the law and not zealous enough about the new covenant,
James.
That's the problem.
How dare you talk to James like that.
Look, James is up there in heaven right now agreeing with everything I'm saying.
And in fact, even while James was on this earth, he got a lot of these things right
and I'll prove that to you as well.
But obviously at the point in the story, James is wrong.
In Galatians 2, he's wrong in Acts 21.
So because of Paul's extreme rhetoric in Galatians 5 where he's like, Christ shall
profit you, nothing if you get circumcised.
That's why later he has to clarify and say, look, it doesn't matter if you're circumcised
or not, it's whether you believe in Christ.
Because look, I'm circumcised, but you know what, no one asked me when I was a baby if
I wanted to be circumcised.
That was just something that was done and you know, I screamed and cried and they did
it anyway.
But the point is that I don't believe that we today should circumcise our children.
Now look, if you circumcised your past children or whatever, okay, you didn't know.
I got circumcised.
I'm not going to ask for a raise of hands, but I'm sure that based on the history of
our country, most people that are my age are circumcised.
People that are in that sort of pre-baby boomer generation, what they sometimes call the greatest
generation, those people were typically not circumcised in America.
It was post-World War II that circumcision became something that happened to what, 90
some percent of babies were circumcised.
You know, by the time, when I was born in 1981, like 90 some percent of people were
being circumcised.
Nowadays, that's going away, okay.
But keep in mind, for the history of our country, it was an uncircumcised nation.
You know, from 1600s all the way up to World War II, it's uncircumcision in the US, okay.
Circumcision was rare.
It became huge after World War II and again, that's a whole other subject.
So if you would, go back to Acts 21, I've got to hurry for the sake of time, go back
to Acts 21.
Now remember I said, hey, count how many things are wrong here, okay.
Now how do we know that James ever got straight on some of these things?
Well because James wrote an epistle called the General Epistle of James, right.
And when James writes that epistle that's five chapters long, you know what you'll notice
is that he's not Judaizing in that epistle.
When we see him in Acts 15, he's Judaizing.
When we see him in Acts 21, he's Judaizing.
When we see him in Galatians 2, he's Judaizing.
By the time he actually writes the epistle of James, you can still tell that he's a Jewish
guy.
You can get somebody right to a point but obviously their personality is their personality.
Everything he writes in the book of James is correct obviously because it's God's word
inspired by the Holy Ghost.
But still the author's personality comes through in epistles by James, Paul, John, whatever.
And so when we're reading the book of James, you still kind of can tell it's the same guy.
But you'll notice there's no Judaizing being taught because it's the word of God, it's
of the Holy Spirit.
And also there's a section where he makes a big deal about not swearing at all.
Don't swear.
What's he telling the Apostle Paul and these other bozos to do?
To swear a vow.
What's a Nazarite, it's a Nazarite vow.
He's telling them to make a vow, right?
Hey, these guys have a vow.
Well, by the time we get to James chapter 5, he's not into vows anymore, is he?
So we see that at least on that one point, we know James has gotten right.
And obviously what James wrote in scripture, and look, here's the thing.
If James were a bad guy, God wouldn't have had him author a book of the New Testament.
But here's the thing.
When we read the book of Acts, we see Peter spending most of his time amongst the Jews
and we see him having to get rebuked by Paul.
But by the time Peter writes his epistles, Peter's in Gentile country writing to Gentiles
saying all the right things because people learn and grow.
And look, obviously we have the luxury of having the whole New Testament in front of
us.
Obviously these guys didn't have a New Testament because the New Testament hadn't been written
yet.
It's being written while they're there.
So it's easy for us to kind of be hard on guys like Peter and James and Paul for making
mistakes.
But remember, they didn't have the resource that we have here.
If they would have had the 66 books in front of them, obviously it would have been pretty
easy to shut down the Judaizing pretty fast because you'd have Galatians.
I mean look, did you see how much scripture we just looked at and it was all from Galatians?
So that, in fact, let me explain something to you.
That's what the whole book of Galatians is about.
I could have just read the entire book to you.
Go home and read the entire, if you have any doubt about what I'm preaching this morning,
go home and read the whole book of Galatians and it's just very anti-Judaizing.
That's what the whole subject of the entire book is.
But back in Acts chapter 21, let me finish up here.
You know, the things that he did wrong here, he, you know, he is doing a deception, it's
a lie, he's doing a vow that's not a New Testament thing.
How about the animal sacrifice that's going to be offered?
Offering and offering?
Hey, Jesus is the Lamb slain once for all.
And you know when that took effect?
Immediately.
Because when Jesus died on the cross and screamed, it is finished, you know what happened?
The veil in the temple was ripped in half.
So guess what?
The veil in the temple is ripped in half.
That's telling God, or I mean, that's God telling us, rather, that, you know, hey, this
is over.
We're done with this.
The veil separating man from God is broken.
Jesus Christ bridges that gap, you know, between the holy place and the most holy place.
The presence of God and man, it's, it's, you know, we're brought nigh by the blood of
Jesus Christ.
So that happened immediately.
Now it took maybe a few decades for people to necessarily figure that out and for everybody
to understand that, but that took effect immediately.
We see these four arbitrary rules, idols, blood, strangled, and fornication.
Where is this set of four rules?
Folks, there are a lot more than four rules that we need to follow as Christians.
A lot of other things.
It's like, hey, as long as you don't do these four things.
Well, you know what?
We're also not supposed to be drunk.
We're also not supposed to steal or murder.
I mean, where are you getting this list of just four things, okay?
This is not correct.
Different set of rules for the Jews and the Gentiles, that's not biblical.
Trying to please people, make people happy, teaching circumcision, hey, you got to circumcise
your children.
These things are all wrong.
Now what's the result, because what's the title of the sermon?
The title of the sermon is You Can't Please Everyone.
There's a group of people, the Jews, Paul's not going to be able to please these people.
They hate him.
They hate the Apostle Paul.
He cannot please them, but what's he trying to do?
He's trying to please them.
Now does it work?
Let me turn there myself.
Let's see if this works, you know, here Paul goes through this dog and pony show to try
to please the Jews and let's see if it works.
It says in verse 27, when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia,
when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him, this
is Acts 21 verse 28, crying out, men of Israel, help!
This is the man that teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place
and further brought Greeks also into the temple and have polluted this holy place.
Now look, are these people, do they like what, do they like him shaving his head and making
a sacrifice?
Are they like, oh, well maybe what we heard about him isn't true.
Folks, when they see him, it doesn't even work for one second.
The second they see him, the moment they see Paul and they didn't even recognize, I mean
they had no problem recognizing him even with a shaved head and they're just like, help!
You know, just immediately, just the first word that they can think to yell, help, help,
I'm drowning, help, help, it's him, this is the man, this is him, he teaches everybody
against this people, against this place.
And folks, he didn't teach people against this people and against this place, he's teaching
against their false religion, sort of like another guy named Jesus who preached against
the Pharisees, against the Sadducees and said, hey, this place that you love so much is going
to be ripped down to where not one stone is left upon another.
And you know what this reminds me of?
It reminds me of whenever someone famous actually has the guts to say something that's true
or they accidentally say something that's true.
Like let's say they say something against homos or something, right?
And then everybody freaks out and what do they do?
They apologize.
You know, I was thinking of Tim Hardaway which I believe is a basketball player, am I right
about that?
Who knows about him?
Who is he?
Do you know what team or anything or just retired?
What team?
I'm hearing like five different teams.
Nobody knows.
Nobody cares.
What's that?
Oh, he's on different teams?
Oh, so everybody's right.
All answers are correct.
Everyone gets points.
Okay, well here's the thing.
So Tim Hardaway, you know, there's this great audio of him telling some radio host or whatever
who's interviewing him how he feels about sodomites.
And he just tells the guy out and the guy's just like, well, do you realize that what
you're saying is so bigoted and it's hate speech?
And Tim Hardaway's like, well, I just hate gay people, you know, I just let it be known.
And he gives, you know, so he says all this stuff and it's pretty clear that he meant
what he said.
He said, I don't want him on my team because it was about some, hey, what do you think
about this NBA player who's a homo or whatever.
He's just like, I don't want him on my team is what I think, you know, and he just tells
how it is, okay.
But here's the thing, everybody flipped out and they're trying to take away his awards
and taking away his speaking engagements, taking away all of his accolades and things.
So then here's what he did.
Not only did he apologize, but he's like falling all over himself to apologize and taking it
back and then he even like took some class.
He went and literally took a class on how to be more sensitive to perverts, okay.
But here's my point, you'll constantly hear about these Hollywood types or athletes or
musicians, they'll say things and here's the thing, even if they apologize a thousand times
and repent in sackcloth and ashes and they're literally like, I loathe myself, like Job
said, they don't, they're not forgiven for those things.
Do you understand?
They're not forgiven.
Why?
Because you can't placate the implacable.
You can't please certain people.
It doesn't matter what you do.
So here's the thing, you know, guys like Tim Hardaway, they should just say, hey, I meant
what I said.
If you don't like it, go jump in a lake.
But now the worldly people are still offended by what he said and now I don't like him anymore
either because I, you know, I liked what he said until I found out he apologized and
took a class and I'm like, that can't be my ringtone anymore.
You know, time to get a new ringtone.
So the point is that, you know, you try to compromise to please certain people.
Look, they're going to be, I got to wrap this up in these last few minutes and kind of give
the application.
You know, I spent the whole sermon just explaining to you the Bible, explaining to you the story,
giving you the background.
Now let's actually apply this, okay.
Here's the application.
There are going to be people in your lives that try to get you to do things that are
wrong so that you can be accepted, right.
I mean, this goes all the way back to junior high and high school.
People are going to want to get you to do wrong things so that you can be accepted in
their crowd.
And if you're cool, you'll do it.
If you want to hang out with us, you'll do it.
But the same thing happens amongst adults too.
You get pressured into doing things and you're told, hey, if you just do this, then you'll
be accepted.
But let me explain something to you.
The world is never going to accept Bible believing Christians into their inner circle.
Now I want to balance this out by saying that the Bible teaches us that if it is possible,
as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
So we should not go out trying to pick a fight or make people mad or just get in arguments
with people.
We're supposed to try to live peaceably with all men.
We're supposed to avoid contention and avoid strife and avoid those things, okay.
Obviously we get that.
The Bible says, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord.
The Bible gives the qualifications for the pastor and it says he must have a good report
of them which are without.
So therefore we are supposed to get along with people in this world.
We should try to get along with our neighbors.
We should try to get along with people at school.
We should try to get along with people at work.
We should try to get along with people at church.
But whether we're in church or outside of church, we should always be a peacemaker trying
to get along, being a diplomat, easy to get along with.
That should be our goal to be that kind of person that gets along with people, right?
That's the goal.
But not at the expense of compromising our beliefs.
That's the key to understand.
Yes get along.
Let's make people happy.
Look if I can do something to make somebody happy, I'll do it.
So well it's just the principle of the thing.
Look if I can just make somebody happy and shut them up, let's do it.
Let's get along.
Let's have peace.
People are constantly, hey are you going to sue this or are you going to sue them?
And I'm just thinking to myself, I don't want to spend my life fighting with people.
It's unprofitable and vain, okay.
When I'm out soul winning, I don't want to fight with people.
Somebody tries to argue with me at the door, I'm just like alright see ya, have a good
day.
Next door.
God called me to preach the word of God, preach the gospel, not to just debate with
people and argue with people.
I'm not interested.
I want to get along with people.
I want to have peace.
But I'm not going to compromise my beliefs for the sake of peace.
And if I get up and preach the truth and speak the word of God and that creates fighting,
so be it.
So be it.
You know what?
If the Apostle Paul teaching against circumcision and teaching against the Jewish customs and
teaching Jew and Gentile are the same in Christ and there's no distinction, if that
makes people mad, then it's just going to have to make people mad.
And he ought to just keep teaching it.
And first of all, if you don't want to get persecuted in Jerusalem, don't go to Jerusalem.
If you want to get persecuted in Jerusalem, why are you shaving your head?
Why don't you just go?
Look, if he's just so interested in being a martyr in Jerusalem, why didn't he show
up and say, hey, you guys are all going to hell.
You don't even believe in the same God because if you don't have the Son, you don't have
the Father.
You bunch of serpents and vipers, how should you escape the damnation of hell?
That's what Jesus said.
Jesus literally preached to that same group of people.
How should you escape the damnation of hell?
You know what John the Baptist said?
You serpents, you vipers, hey, bring forth fruits and meat for repentance.
God's going to burn you up.
Look folks, you can't please these people.
If preaching the Word of God alienates people, so be it.
But we should try to get along, try to be nice, try to be friendly.
And look, obviously there's a time and a place, I'm not saying to walk into your job and just
pull a John the Baptist on the sales floor or whatever.
I'm not saying that because you know what, there's a time and a place for everything.
The Bible says to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
And obviously when you're working for someone else, you are commanded by God to do their
will, not your own will.
You know if somebody's paying my paycheck, I have to do the will of Him that sent me
you know on that service call.
Not be on my own program and my own agenda, that isn't right.
You know if I work for X, Y, and Z company, I need to do what they want me, they own me
for that hour.
You know and for those eight hours I'm clocked in, man, I need to represent them, not represent
myself.
I need to represent them and do what they want me to do.
Now look, obviously there are opportunities on the lunch break or driving in the van or
whatever when you can tactfully and lovingly and graciously preach the Gospel and get people
saved.
It's great to get your co-workers saved.
Those are some of the best opportunities you have to win people to Christ.
People that you work with, they know you well, hopefully you've been letting your light shine
and you have a good testimony.
You know a lot of those people are going to be receptive to the Gospel.
Look obviously there's a time and a place for everything, but you know what when we're
in church and I'm standing behind the pulpit in the house of God, hey you know I'm going
to say whatever I want from the Bible.
It's no holds barred because this is God's house.
You know God's the one paying the electric bill, not some boss that I have to account
to and oh well you know sorry, not sorry because I'm preaching the Word of God in God's house.
That's where it belongs and you know what, hey going out door to door preaching the Gospel
to every creature, preaching Christ crucified, amen.
But let me tell you something, yes we want to get along with people, but do not compromise
your beliefs or go into sin in order to be accepted by worldly people because let me
tell you something, worldly people will not accept you anyway.
They're not going to.
People that demand that you go to the bar with them or demand that you go to the gentleman's
club with them or demand that you watch this or listen to this or do this, those people
you know once you do that one thing they'll just want you to do something else.
You know eventually smoking a beer or drinking a beer with them is not going to be enough.
You've got to smoke a blunt with them as well.
Don't smoke beer either folks, but hey you know I was getting ahead of myself there.
Don't inject a single marijuana, amen.
The point is that you know eventually drinking a beer is not going to be enough.
Eventually you've got to smoke pot.
Eventually hey you've got to take this pill.
It's going to keep escalating.
They're going to want more and more and more, okay.
Do not compromise your beliefs.
It's never right to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right and it doesn't justify
the means.
Well I can reach more people with the Gospel if I go with them to the bar and I'll drink
a Coke and be the designated driver.
That's not God's will.
It is not God's will to go in that sinful place with sinful people, sinful atmosphere
and you're there, oh but I'm not sinning though.
Well you know what the Bible says to lead us not into temptation, okay.
The Bible says we should be far from the path of the wicked and we should not go to those
places and do those things.
And you know there are going to be a lot of times that there's pressure to compromise.
Our beliefs, pressure to compromise and commit sin, whatever you know we need to stand our
ground lovingly, kindly and look for more information on this look at stories like Daniel.
You know Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Hey they were gracious.
They were good employees.
The boss loved them.
They excelled in the world.
I mean they were excelling in the world but yet they always drew the line when it came
to disobeying the Lord, right.
That's the book to read on this, the right way.
The right way is Daniel.
The wrong way is Acts 21.
The wrong way is hey let's shave our heads and pretend to be Jewish wrong.
You've got to stand on what you believe.
Don't compromise because you can't please everyone.
So look if you have some worldly loved one, some unsaved relative that's trying to pressure
you not to go to church so much or hey just let your kids do this sinful activity.
What's the big deal?
You know what, don't budge on those things.
You just need to just accept the fact, you know some people aren't going to like you.
Some people just aren't going to be pleased with you and the Bible says marvel not my
brethren if the world hate you.
So you know you're going to get some hate.
You're going to have some people criticize you but you know what, do what's right.
Don't do what Paul did here and notice it got him precisely nowhere.
He could have shown up and I guarantee you looking back this is what he would have done
knowing what he knows now.
He could have just shown up guns a-blazin' and just preached a red hot sermon.
Same thing would have happened, help, help, thrown in jail, same thing.
So what did, you know what, all he did by shaving his head is just he had to walk around
bald for a while.
That's what that accomplished.
That's about it.
And that's what you accomplish when you think you're going to be all worldly and fit in
with the world.
And you know you Christian kids, let me just address the Christian children and Christian
teenagers.
I know some of you go to public school.
Don't try to be in the in crowd there.
It's a fool's errand because if you're a Bible believing Christian you're not going to be
the prom king or the prom queen.
The prom queen is probably going to be a dude.
The prom king is probably going to be a lesbian, alright.
You're not going to be the big man on campus if you're a Bible believing Christian.
So just quit trying to do that.
Look, get along with people.
Hey, if I ask your teachers what kind of a student you are, they should tell me you're
a great student.
You know, hey, you should have a good reputation for godliness, honesty, integrity, work ethic,
yes.
Should you be the coolest dude on campus?
No.
You're not going to be the Fonz if you're a Bible believing Christian.
You're not going to be mystical.
You're not just going to snap your fingers, you know.
It's not going to happen.
So why don't you choose whom you're going to serve and decide that what god, what god
thinks is what matters.
It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks.
You do what's right.
Have integrity.
And look, I don't care if 99 percent of people are against you and they're telling you no,
you're wrong.
You know what, if you know that you're right from the word of god, stand your ground.
Stand your ground.
Even if, you know, I mean look, this is Jesus' half brother for crying out loud.
But you know what Paul should have said, hey, I don't care who you're related to.
I'm going to go with the other half of Jesus' family on this one.
God the father, alright.
This is the Mary side talking.
I don't care if you're, oh, oh, oh, oh, you're an apostle, oh, well shut my stupid mouth.
No, I've got the Bible right here, okay.
And so we need to be careful that we stand up for what we believe and don't get sucked
in when people try to get us to compromise and don't become a people pleaser, be a god
pleaser primarily.
That's my words in every word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and for this great story, Lord, it's
a wonderful story, there's so much that we can learn, Lord, but help us not to take the
story and let it trump the statement, Lord.
Help us always to use the statement to interpret the story.
And Lord, just give us the guts in our lives and the boldness in our lives to do what's
right no matter what people think of us, Lord, help us to make the right decisions and not
to fall into sin because we're trying to make somebody happy.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.