In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Okay, we're continuing this evening with our Bible study on the book of Acts and we're in Acts chapter 22.
Now this chapter is basically a continuation of the events from the latter end of chapter 21.
And if you remember at the latter end of chapter 21, it kind of leaves us with a to be continued type of a conclusion
where it literally says, you know Paul, if you look at verse
number 40, the latter end, it says he spake it to them in the Hebrew tongue saying, and then the chapter just ends.
And so obviously what's taking place in chapter 21 is that the Apostle Paul has been apprehended
and accused of bringing in Trophimus the Ephesian inside of the temple
and thereby defiling the temple or polluting it according to the Jews.
And so they take him, they apprehend him, it causes an uproar and the chief captain gets involved,
arrests the Apostle Paul, and then he's later on, he's given a platform to basically make his defense.
And chapter 22 is the beginning of that exposition where he's defending himself.
He's basically talking about his testimony, begins to preach the gospel unto them.
And we see that obviously that doesn't go well because he has a Jewish audience, which is not necessarily the most receptive
group of people that we've seen in the book of Acts.
Now let's start reading from chapter 21 and verse 40, just because it's the same sentence.
And going into chapter 22, it says in verse 40 of chapter 21, and when he had given him license,
Paul stood on the stairs and beckoned with the hand unto the people.
And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue saying,
now look at chapter 22, verse one, men, brethren and fathers, hear ye my defense, which I make now unto you.
And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence.
And he saith, I am barely a man, which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in the city at the feet of Gamaliel.
Sorry, that whatever that is over there is distracting the fire out of me.
They were supposed to come like five minutes ago.
They're late.
You know, I hired them.
I'm just kidding.
I don't know what that is.
What verse am I reading here?
Verse three.
I am barely a man, which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God, as ye are all this day.
And I persecuted this way into the death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women.
So what do we see here initially in the beginning of these verses of chapter 22?
Well, what I believe that the apostle Paul is doing is that he's attempting to gain the juice.
Okay, now go with me.
If you went to first Corinthians chapter nine, hold your place there in chapter 22.
It sounds like a fag party or something.
Doesn't it sound like some queer stuff going on outside or what?
Can someone go out there and confirm if that's a fag parade?
Because I might just change my sermon completely.
First Corinthians nine.
So what the apostle Paul is doing here is he's making an effort to basically to relate to the audience that he is addressing, because keep in mind, who is he talking to?
He's talking to a group of Jews.
Okay.
And one thing you'll notice in this chapter, chapter 22, is that the apostle Paul seeks to become all things to all men.
All right.
And we'll see this throughout chapter 22, because initially, is it a fag party?
It is really.
Okay.
Is it like a, like, uh, do they have like a Virgin Mary and all that?
Because sometimes they do that.
Oh, okay.
All right.
But you don't know rainbows.
Okay.
All right.
I don't want to falsely accuse them of being homos, you know, because that's a pretty big insult right there.
So, um, still queer music though.
Nonetheless, first Corinthians nine, as I was mentioning in chapter 22, you have the apostle Paul.
You kind of see him do this, not just with the Jews, but also even with the Gentiles, the Romans.
He kind of basically becomes all things to all men in order to be able to reach them.
Now look at first Corinthians nine 19.
It says in verse 19 for though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more and unto the Jews.
I became as a Jew that I might gain, excuse me, that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the law is under the law that I might gain them that are under the law to them that are without law.
As without law be not without law to God, but under the law to Christ, that I might gain them that are without law to the week became I as weak that I might gain the week.
I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some.
And this I do for the gospel sake that I might be partake of their partaker thereof with you.
So what is the apostle Paul teaching in first Corinthians chapter nine?
He's basically saying that he's willing to identify himself with people of different cultures and even beliefs in order to be able to reach them.
Okay.
And what he's saying here is basically he wants to find common ground with whatever individual that he's that he's speaking to.
But here's the thing.
Not at the expense of violating the laws of Christ.
Right.
So he wants to find common ground.
He wants to identify with people, but he doesn't want to overstep his boundary and sin against God in doing so.
Right.
You know, he's willing to basically condescend to men of low estate, you know, to the wise, to the unwise, to the barbarian, to the Scythian, whatever group of people he's speaking to.
He wants to find common ground in order to get his foot in the door and preach the gospel unto them.
And you think about what he says in Romans 1 14, where he says, I'm a debtor, both to the Greeks and to the barbarians.
And then he says to the wise and unto the unwise.
So look, he's trying to reach people who are intelligent.
Those who are not as intelligent, those who are barbarians, those who are just considered scholarly Greeks, it doesn't matter who it is.
He wants to be able to reach every single people group, not just limit himself to one individual, one segment of the population.
Okay.
But here's the thing.
He understands that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
So he's not just depending on the common ground to reach people.
Right.
He is using it as a springboard to get his foot in the door, to preach the gospel, because he knows the gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Now, he says there that in order to win the Jew, he becomes as the Jew.
Now, notice that it doesn't say that he begins to live as the Jew.
Right.
He becomes like the Jew, but he's not living as the Jew.
Why?
Because if he were to live as the Jew, that would mean that he would have to become this, you know, Torah observing, you know, just Sabbath observing and keeping the law of Moses in the sense of the rituals and the customs, doing the sacrifice, the sacrifices, the meats, drinks, and divers, washings, carnal ordinances.
And we obviously understand that those things are done away with in Christ.
So he's not living as the Jew.
And in fact, later on in the book of Galatians, in Galatians chapter two, he specifically says that if he builds again the things which he has destroyed, he makes himself a transgressor and he's referring to the law, those things that are passed away.
He's like, if I seek to do those things again, I transgress the laws of God because God specifically tells us not to fulfill those things, not to carry out those customs.
And if you remember in Galatians, he recounts the time when he actually confronts Peter for being a hypocrite.
Right.
He tells Peter, you know, if thou being a Jew, liveest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as do the Jews, why compelest thou the Jews or the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
You say, don't be like, don't be a hypocrite.
Don't be like James who's trying to make Gentiles live like the Jews.
It's not right.
So obviously what we see in first Corinthians nine is not a contradiction of what we see later on in scripture, right?
What he's basically saying is like, look, I want to find common ground.
Now here's the funny thing.
Acts 21, what do we see Paul the apostle doing?
Doing sacrifices, you know, going with them to have a vow on their head and fulfilling those things.
But we shouldn't judge, you know, Acts 21 or base Acts 21 on Galatians or first Corinthians, first and second Corinthians, because of the fact that the epistles of Paul really highlight a segment of time in the apostle Paul's ministry where he's already matured.
Okay.
He's growing up.
He's learned from his mistakes.
He knows he should not keep the law.
You know, he understands those things.
Whereas the book of Acts really highlights that segment of time where the apostle Paul was doing some stupid stuff, you know, like doing the sacrifices and keeping the bowels, so on and so forth.
And so, you know, he's saying, look, we need to make, be sure that we are all things to all men in the sense of we need to find common ground with whatever individual we speak to.
This isn't saying, Hey, if you want to reach your drunk friend, go get drunk with him.
Right.
You know, if you want to reach your drunk buddy, you got to go partying with him on Friday, go to the same bar he goes to be around the same people he's around, drink the same alcohol that he's drinking.
Cause that's the only way you're going to be able to reach him.
Cause we've got to be all things to all men.
You got to be a drunk to reach the drunker.
That's not what it's talking about at all.
You know, um, and look, there's people who, who teach and preach that, you know, most, most of them are just these liberal churches.
That, you know, they're worldly, they're liberal, they drink alcohol, they have these low standards of dress, you know, where the ladies wear pants and the men look like fags and they look worldly.
And the reason for that is because they think that this means, well, in order to reach these people, we got to look just like them.
Well, that's, there's a problem because if you're looking like a fag, cause you're trying to reach a fag, you're not gonna be able to reach them cause they can't get saved.
So, you know, you might as well throw that out the window cause it's not going to work.
Okay.
So we shouldn't take this as an, we shouldn't interpret this as being, well, we have to live sinfully in order to reach the sinner.
And it's interesting that these people want to teach.
Oh yeah, you can go to the bar and go drink and go do all these sinful things that God says we should abstain from.
And they try to use Jesus as an example.
Well, Jesus was around sinners.
Yeah, but the sinners came to him, you know, he wasn't going to some strip club to reach the whore.
The whores in a sense were coming to him to find out the truth, you know, and he was getting them saved.
And so there's a big difference between you going to where the sinner is at the bar or at the club or at the party or whatever it may be.
And you know, the sinner actually coming to you on your terms, right?
So it's important that, you know, if you're not very well versed in preaching the gospel, here's a good idea.
Just bring them to church.
Or if you do want to preach the gospel to an individual that's your friend and you're not well versed in preaching the gospel, take a friend with you.
Take a brother in Christ with you to go do it.
But here's the thing, don't go to the bar to go do it.
Go to a restaurant or something like that or a coffee shop or whatever it may be.
But don't violate, don't compromise.
You know, Paul said, look, to them who are without laws, I'm without law, but not without the law of Christ.
So it's like, I'm not going to surpass that boundary and sin against God in order to reach people.
OK, a lot of churches do that.
They lower their church standards.
They change the music.
They change the dress standards.
They change so many things in order to appeal to the world.
And most of those churches preach a false gospel anyways.
Right.
And so it should come as no surprise when they do things like that.
He tells them, look, unto the Jews that became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews.
Which, by the way, shows you that he doesn't really identify himself as a Jew.
Right.
Because he's saying to the Jews, I became as a Jew because he understands in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
But the people he's trying to reach, they don't understand that.
So he becomes like unto them.
He finds common ground with them.
And what is the common ground with the Jew?
The laws of Moses.
You understand the Hebrew language.
And that's what he uses to them that are under the law as under the law.
So this is why I believe that when he begins to address this group in Acts 22, he's speaking in what?
Hebrew.
Right.
Because that is the language in which the Old Testament is written in.
And it shows you that basically, you know, that audience is listening to this.
It's important to them because as soon as he begins to speak in Hebrew, they grow the more silent.
Like, oh, this guy is speaking in Hebrew, you know.
And look, you know, the Hebrew was in a sense for like the educated and the learned.
So he's speaking to an educated audience or at least the audience that understands the Hebrew is an educated language.
Because if you think about it, the vast majority of people during that day, commonly amongst the Jews would speak Aramaic.
Okay, Aramaic, excuse me.
Hebrew was something that was read or taught in the synagogues, right?
If you remember, when Jesus went into the temple, he began to preach and teach in the temple.
The Jews looked at him and said, how know what this man letters having never learned, you know.
So, you know, as he's preaching the word of God into them, the apostle Paul, he gets their attention by the fact that he's just speaking fluent Hebrew.
Says a lot about him.
Okay.
Now go back to chapter 22, if you would.
Chapter 22.
Now, what is it being questioned about?
Well, the thing that's bothering this group of people is the fact that he's supposedly brought in Ephesians and supposedly defiled or polluted the temple because, you know, they're so racist.
You know, they're so mad about the fact that he's reaching all these Gentiles.
God forbid that you should bring a Gentile into the temple and just polluted, right?
You know, they're mad about that.
He's not defending that he can care less about that.
What is he doing?
Well, if you read, once we finish reading through chapter 22 and going through it, you see that really what he does is he uses just as a springboard to give him the gospel, to talk about Jesus Christ, to preach Christ and him crucified.
Now, look, here's an important point here that we need to understand that even when we find common ground with people, that's not for certain that we're going to win them.
Because he found common ground with these people.
Even to the point where he's saying, look, I persecuted these people.
I was there when Stephen was killed and the Jews were like, yeah, this guy's cool.
And then as soon as he mentions and then God told me to go reach the Gentiles, they're like, oh, he's worthy of death.
They literally say that at the word, the Bible says.
They're like, no, this man doesn't even deserve to live.
Why?
Because he's trying to reach Gentiles.
Are you trying to reach the goyim, bringing the goyims into the temple?
He's worthy of death.
It's wicked.
So we see there in Acts chapter 22, let's read it again.
It says, I am barely, verse three, I am barely a man, which am a Jew born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel.
So what is he saying?
Yeah, I'm born in a different city, but in a sense, I grew up here.
This is where I was taught.
And in fact, Gamaliel is the one who taught me.
So it's kind of giving them credibility with the people, right?
They're like, oh, okay, this guy, he's a Pharisee of the Pharisees, apparently.
It says, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers and was zealous toward God as ye all are this day.
You know, he's throwing a little bit of butter in there.
He's trying to butter them up.
I was zealous for God too.
Just like all you guys are, you guys are all zealous.
But here's the thing, you know, they're zealous, but they didn't, they had a zeal, but it wasn't according to knowledge.
Okay.
So, you know, he's not lying to them.
He's being honest and yeah, they are zealous and it's always good to be zealously affected and a good thing.
But there's people out there who are zealous, but don't really have the truth, you know, and we have that today, don't we?
Don't we have hardcore Catholics and hardcore, la luz del mundo and Pentecostals, you know, they're zealous about the religion.
They're zealous about their false beliefs, but they're just completely wrong.
Okay.
Zeal doesn't make you safe.
Zeal doesn't make whatever you believe accurate.
You need zeal according to knowledge.
And then he says in verse four, and I persecuted this way into death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women.
So this is a good, uh, icebreaker common ground that he's doing here, you know, and look, there's nothing wrong with, um, you know, when you run into someone at the door and you know something about them, you see what kind of car they drive or the home they live in or the family they have, looking for something to basically find common ground with, you know, to, to kind of spark up the conversation
and spark their interests, right?
So they can listen to you and you can preach the gospel into them.
Says in verse five, as also the high priest does bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom I also, I received letters unto the brethren and went to Damascus to bring them, which were there bound into Jerusalem for to be punished.
And it came to pass that as I made my journey, it was come nine to Damascus about noon.
Suddenly they're shown from heaven, a great light round about me.
So now he's going to get into his testimony.
He's going to start talking about Jesus Christ and his experience that he had on the road to Damascus.
By the way, I'm going to dispel the so-called contradiction that's on, that's in here that people say there's a contradiction and look at verse six or verse seven.
And I fell into the ground and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And I answered, who art thou Lord?
And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.
And they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Now hold your place or go to Acts chapter nine.
Scoffers of the Bible often point to this portion of scripture, along with others, where they'll claim that there's a contradiction in the Bible.
Okay.
And they'll say, well, it has contradiction because in Acts 22 and in Acts chapter nine, he's recounting the story of him seeing Jesus Christ and all the events that took place, but they seem to differ from one another.
They're saying two different things here and therefore there's an error.
Therefore the word of God is not perfect.
Okay.
Obviously we know that's not true.
Look at Acts nine, verse six.
This is when it actually happened.
It says, and he trembled and he astonished and said, Lord, what wilt I have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, arise and go into the city.
And it shall be told thee what thou must do.
And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
So in Acts 22, they heard not the voice of him that spake to him.
And in Acts chapter nine, they heard the voice, but they saw no man.
Now it's, it's ridiculous to think that this would destroy anybody's faith.
Right?
Then someone would say, Oh, they finally, I can't believe the Bible now.
You know, there's this slight variation.
It just completely destroyed my faith in the Bible.
It's like you just completely ignored every single other portion of scripture.
That's very clear.
And you, what it is is people who just hate the Bible, who want to find these little chinks in the armor that don't exist, make a mountain out of a molehill and claim there's a contradiction.
Folks, all it takes is some thinking, some meditation, some understanding, some, some reading of the stories to find out what this really means.
Okay.
Now keep in mind that in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul actually recounts this story three times, right?
Right.
You have it in Acts chapter nine, you have it in 22, and then you have it last of all in chapter 26.
And each of these have a variation of information that he presents.
And they all have different things that they're saying, but it's obviously referring to the same event there, but here's the thing in Acts chapter 26, it tells us that Jesus, when he's speaking to the apostle Paul before, you know, at that point he was solved that he's speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue.
Okay.
So he's speaking to him in Hebrew and that's information that's left out in chapter 22 and chapter nine.
So when the Bible says that these men heard a voice, what is, or, and then the other portion of scripture says they heard not the voice of him that spake.
What it's basically saying is that they heard someone speak, but they don't know what he's saying.
And I believe the reason the information of him speaking in Hebrew is placed in Acts chapter 26 is to give us that missing piece of the puzzle to help us to understand, oh, they heard the voice, they heard someone speaking, but they're not necessarily understanding what he's saying.
Okay.
And we know what that's like.
If someone's speaking in a different language, you know that they're talking, but you have no idea what they're saying because you don't speak that language.
Okay.
That's what that's referring to there.
Now, other people would say, well, actually what that's referring to is the fact that they don't, they don't know the voice of the shepherd.
Okay.
And that could possibly be an interpretation there.
But the thing is, is that Paul was not saved as of yet at this point.
So he's not necessarily God's sheep as of yet.
Okay.
Though I'm not against that interpretation.
I believe what this is referring to is the fact that Jesus is speaking to him in Hebrew and the men who are listening, who came from the high priest, didn't know Hebrew.
They heard the voice, but they didn't understand what was being said, but don't let this destroy your faith in the Bible.
It's a pretty simple explanation.
And look, let's say, let's just pretend for a second that this was a contradiction.
Okay.
This still should have destroyed your faith in the Bible because it's not like some crazy doctrine where it's talking about losing your salvation or something like that, right?
Now we obviously understand this is not a contradiction, but look, you'd be surprised.
There's people out there that allow something like this to just in their minds, well, the Bible is just completely discredited.
And let me give you an example.
Years ago, before I was saved, I had a friend and, um, he was a Catholic at that time and I don't know what happened to him, but something happened to him where he just wanted to seek out God.
And he just knew, well, I need to get a Bible and, and just read it and, and, you know, just kind of look for the truth.
Right.
And I really, I don't know if I was like 17 or 18 at that time, I really had no interest in searching the Lord.
I just wanted to live my own life.
I didn't really have a thought of going to church or anything like that, but I heard that he was interested in the truth and he wanted to do that.
And he would tell me like, Hey, you know, we got to go to church.
And he's referring to the Catholic church.
He said, we got to go to church.
We got to, you got to read your Bible and everything.
And I'm like, Hey, you know, I'm glad you're doing that.
I'm just, I don't know.
I'm just like not ready to do that.
That's not my thing right now.
My thing is just, is I like fighting.
I like working and hanging out with my, my buddies.
That's what I want to do.
And, you know, but I wasn't disrespectful towards him, but I remember like, there's times when we would hang out and he would drop me off at home or something.
And he's like, Hey, just want to let you know, man, you just got to pick up a Bible and read it, man.
You know, I'm reading that, I'm reading it every single day.
And, and I'm like, Oh, that's cool.
You know, I'm just like, man, this guy's preaching to me.
And it's just like, I don't want to hear it right now.
You know, like,
So this happened a couple of times and he, you know, he was, he was, he was having a moment.
Okay.
But then the last time he spoke to me about it, it's kind of scary now looking back on it because he, he's like, I got to talk to you.
And, um, I'm like, what's up?
And he's just like, well, I'm reading the Bible and he was reading it.
He was trying to read it from cover to cover.
And, um, he's like, I'm reading the Bible and I feel, I think I found a mistake in the Bible.
And, and I was thinking to myself, like, well, what do you mean?
And he's just like, well, I'm reading in the old Testament and it keeps referring to God as God.
And I'm like, and I'm like, what do you mean?
Like, like, I don't understand what you're saying.
He's like, well, instead of saying God, and he goes, and it's obviously referring to God because it's a capital G.
And he goes, I thought it was like a, uh, a misprint, but it says it like multiple times.
It says God, God, God, God.
And he's telling me this and his faith is shook.
The guy's not even saved, obviously, but whatever faith he had in the Bible was, was shaken.
And he's like, and he brought it as Bible goes, look, I even highlighted, look, it says, and I look, I'm like, God.
I was like, well, maybe they just messed up on the printing.
Cause I didn't know anything about the Bible.
And he's like, no, it says it over and over again.
I'm like, well, and I'm trying to make sense of it because for me in my mind, even though I wasn't religious, I knew the Bible was perfect.
This is God's word.
I don't know where I heard that from.
I just knew that that was true.
Like we probably should, his name was, uh, Ozzie.
And I said, Ozzie, we'll probably shouldn't question the Bible like that though.
Like, you really think there's a mistake in the Bible?
Like, isn't it God's word?
So I'm trying to help him make sense of the verse, even though I don't, I know zero about the Bible.
I'm like, well, maybe that's just what they called him back then too, or something like that.
Maybe they just called him God or something.
I don't know.
I was trying to come up with like reasons to say like, Hey, don't question the Bible like that.
Cause maybe, and here's the thing, maybe I was just being superstitious too.
I don't know.
Maybe I was like, maybe that's sacrilegious to say that the God's word is, you know, is not perfect or it has a mistake or something.
And, um, he's, and he was like almost near, you know, just like tears because it really bothered him to the core.
And I said, Hey, don't worry about it.
Just keep reading or something.
You know, it was like, why are you going to let that, if it says God, or if it says God, but you know, it's talking about God, then just what's the problem?
You know, I really didn't see a problem with it now.
Obviously I was wrong too, because it's not referring to God at all.
Right.
It's a name of one of the tribes and you know, it really bothered him.
And then he's just like, and after that, he never talked about the Bible after that.
And I don't know if you put it away or what it was, but you know, after that, when we would hang out, you just would not bring it up.
I never saw the Bible with him anymore.
I never saw it in his car.
And then years later, um, not years later, when I got saved, when I was 21, um, I tried to give him the gospel and he was just like completely close to it.
You know, he didn't want it.
And then I found out later that he, he began to attend faithfully, La Luz del Mundo.
And, um, I didn't, I didn't know when he was attending, he had like visited me or something.
He wanted to, he wanted to meet my son cause he heard I had a son and I got married and everything.
And he came down and out and out and I tried to give him the gospel.
And he was just like, well, I believe that I believe that Jesus Christ is a savior.
He says, but let me tell you about the apostle though.
And I was just like, the apostle, what do you mean?
Like, not the apostle God.
No, I'm like, what are you talking about?
He's just like, uh, you know, the apostle of La Luz del Mundo.
And when he said that, I already knew this is not good because I actually had attended La Luz del Mundo when I was like 17, a girl had invited me and I really liked her.
And, you know, it was kind of one of those, it was a, it's common ground.
I want to have common ground with this girl, you know?
And I remember going to that, that, that church or that so-called church, and it was just like the creepiest thing ever.
I mean, men would sit on one side, the ladies on the other, the ladies wore doilies on their head and just weird stuff.
No, no live music, no, no piano, nothing.
It was just all acapella.
People would weep and cry throughout the service.
It's just really weird.
And it freaked me out.
But, um, so when he said that, I'm like, no, because I know what those services are like.
And I don't even remember, like, I have memories of that church of like people saying, I remember like a 17 year old died in a motorcycle accident and the pastor was like, he's in hell.
And he's just like, this is how I know if someone goes to hell in our church.
If I let our people be the pallbearers, that means they went to heaven.
If I don't, that means they went to hell.
And his mom is like sitting right there on the front row.
Now, obviously the 17 year old, if he believed, well, I lose the moon to believe, then yeah, he went to hell no matter what.
Okay.
And he's just like preaching against the sun as the mom's right there.
And I'm thinking to myself, this is really bad.
And I'm thinking, I think it got to a point where I'm like, you know, I don't think I want to date this girl.
Cause she's like, believes this weird crap, you know?
But that all came back to me when I was talking to my friend and I'm like, whoa, does this guy believe?
I'm like, so you believe that like, uh, the apostles, like a mediator between us and Jesus is like, that is the truth.
He is the mediator.
He's like, and I thank God for the apostle.
He's the one that gives us life and all, and just like blasphemy.
And I tried to talk sensitive and I was just like spitting scripture.
I'm like, just giving it to him.
And it was just bouncing off his mind.
And I remember thinking to myself, like, he's so hardened, but looking back now, because obviously at that point I didn't believe the reprobate doctrine.
Looking back now that I do, I'm wondering if he got to that point where, you know, he just, God just said, forget it, you're done.
Cause, and where did it start when he began to question the word of God, when he was just like, no, we think that's funny and it is funny.
But to him, it's just like, that shook his faith to the point where he's like, well, I don't even believe the Bible.
And what happened?
He just became spiritually delusional where God sent them a strong delusion.
And look, I would have had rather have him remain a Catholic and get saved after that.
I think he would have had a better chance getting saved as a Catholic than getting saved as a La Luz del Mundo person.
How many of you actually witness to La Luz del Mundo people?
Those people are difficult to win.
I haven't, I've never won a La Luz del Mundo.
Have you guys ever won anybody from there?
Those people are hardened to the gospel, extremely hardened.
They're generational in their beliefs.
I mean, they teach that to their kids and they just damn their, you know, all their descendants through that false, wicked belief.
But this reminds me of that because, you know, people find a so-called contradiction and you know what they do is like, oh, the Bible must not be true.
It's like, what?
First of all, you don't even know the Bible enough to be able to know exactly what it means.
Why don't you just stick to the parts that you know what it does mean?
You know what I mean?
Instead of going to these cryptic, obscure passages in the Bible, why don't you try to master that which is already clear?
And look, folks, when I first got saved and I started reading through the Bible, there's a ton of things that I didn't understand.
There's still a lot of things that I don't understand in the Bible.
There's a ton of passages that I didn't understand initially, and I remember I would read them like, well, I don't get that, but I'm going to believe it anyways.
I'm just going to have faith that this is, you know, that the doctrine is still true no matter what.
You know, you're going to run into passages where you might think, well, is this teaching like you could lose your salvation or something like work out your salvation with fear and trembling?
And you know what I would say when I was when I was brand new in the faith, we didn't have YouTube.
We didn't have anybody like teaching us these things.
I just said, you know, I'm just going to believe that it's not teaching you can lose your salvation because the clear scriptures throughout the gospels teaching you can't.
So I'm just going to let this for later.
I'm just put it off till later.
I'm put it on lay away.
Right.
Put scriptures on lay away, pay the price, reading and understanding what you already know, and then God will give you understanding of those other things later.
And there's a ton of times in my personal life where I read the Bible and I'm like, I don't get it.
Don't know what it says.
And then years later I read it again.
I'm like, oh, I get it.
Oh, man, that was easy.
It's just like, whoa, how did I not get that back then?
Well, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
So just have faith in the word of God, that it's true because it is, it's pure because it is, there's no contradictions in the Bible.
And if you find a contradiction, let that be some homework for you to scour the Bible and read the Bible over and over again until you understand what it means.
Okay.
So just want to leave you with that.
Go to verse 10 of Acts chapter 22.
So there's no contradiction here.
It's just the variation of the story.
We have many times in the gospels when that takes place, you think of the maniac of Gadara and one gospel, you know, one of the maniacs is mentioned and the other gospel, two of them are mentioned.
So there's two of them there, but there's a prominent one, according to one of the other writers that he chose to highlight that individual.
It's not a contradiction.
It's just a variation of the story.
Still has all the same facts, still true.
Okay.
Just more information or less information than the other accounts.
All right.
Look at verse 10 and says, and I said, what shall I do Lord?
And the Lord said unto me, arise and go into Damascus and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.
Now I like, I like Paul's response.
Soon as he gets saved, because I believe Jesus Christ is the one who led him to himself.
Okay.
And I believe that can be proven from Galatians chapter one.
I don't believe, uh, he was saved later on because when he comes to, to, to, to the brother, the, the, the disciple tells them brother Saul calls him brother Saul insinuating that he's already saved.
I believe Jesus Christ is the one who led him to the Lord.
He said, well, how can that be if his earthly ministry was already finished?
Well, obviously the apostle Paul's unique case for a lot of things.
I mean, the guy's an apostle, right?
As one born out of due time.
So he's an exception to a lot of the rules here.
Okay.
But I like what he does is that as soon as he gets saved, he's like, Lord, what would that have me to do?
What is he saying?
Like, all right, God, what's the next step?
You know, and this is a very good attitude for new believers to have, or it's just like, well, what should I do next?
Get baptized.
What about after that?
Come to church.
What about after that?
Start reading the Bible.
Now, obviously this isn't true for everyone, right?
You know, sometimes people get saved.
They don't come to church for years.
You know, my pastor at one point, you know, when he got saved, he didn't come to church for a long time and it took him a while to come to church.
But God was chastising him until finally he came to church.
He got right with God and he started serving the Lord and he began to prosper at that time.
But there's other times when people get saved and they jump right in and that's good.
Just like, just like what we see here.
And look, not all the apostles were like this.
Because Peter had gotten saved and he was still out there fishing and doing his own thing.
It wasn't until Jesus came to him and said, Hey, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.
At that point, he dropped his net straight away and followed the Lord and began to learn how to preach the gospel and became an apostle thereafter.
Look at verse 11.
And when I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus and one Ananias, a devout man, according to the law, having good report of all the Jews,
which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me, Brother Saul received thy sight.
And the same hour I looked up upon him and he said, The God of our fathers had chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will and see that just one and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth.
For thou shall be his witness unto all men of what thou has seen and heard.
And now why terriest thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
So what is he saying here?
Obviously, it's not teaching us that we need to be baptized in order to wash away our sins.
You know, these Church of Christ rejectors would want to teach something like that, where they believe in a baptismal regeneration.
We have to be baptized in order to be saved.
You got to be baptized in order to wash away your sins.
That's a false doctrine, because here's the thing.
So how many times have you been baptized?
You must get baptized like every day, throughout the day.
Because once you get baptized, okay, let's say, for example, you did wash away your sins, you're going to get you're going to sin again.
So do you guys have like a quarterly baptism and all that stuff?
Like, how does that work?
What this is referring to when he says to be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
I believe this is actually referring to the sins of his flesh, okay?
And when he says calling on the name of the Lord, that's like saying confess, okay?
You know, like we see in Romans chapter 10, for example, when you confess Jesus, that's in tandem with verse 13, where it says, call upon the name of the Lord.
So he's not confessing him to Ananias.
What is Paul doing?
He's getting right with God.
Because look, although he, you know, he gets saved and all his sins are taken away from him, he no longer has to suffer the eternal penalty of hell for his sins.
He still has sins according to the flesh, things that he's done, that he needs to be forgiven for, right?
Now, let me explain what I mean.
Go with me.
If you would, to first John chapter one, go to first John chapter one.
We understand that when we get saved, we're forgiven of past, present and future sins, right?
Bible tells us that, thank God for that.
We no longer have to suffer the penalty of hell for our sins, but hold on a second.
Even though we're forgiven of future sins, we know that we're still going to sin every single day.
And yeah, that's under the blood.
As far as the consequence of hell is concerned, we will never suffer that.
But here's the thing.
There's consequences on this earth.
There's consequences that Christians will face on this earth because the Bible tells us when a person gets saved, they become a child of God.
And if they're our son and not a bastard, the Bible says that they will be chastised for the sins that they commit.
That's a great motivation to stay right with God.
Amen.
You're like, well, man, I just want to go out there and sow my wild oats and be with my friends and do all this stupid stuff.
I just had that propensity to do that.
Well, you know what?
Did you know that God says that he'll chastise you if you do that?
He can destroy your life.
He can give you over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.
That's called chastisement.
So what do you do to avoid that?
You confess your sins to God, not to some faggoty priest in a booth.
That's right.
Okay.
So, look, when people get baptized, some people get baptized and they confess their sins unto the Lord to wash away their sins on a daily basis.
By the way, we're supposed to confess our sins daily, every single day, right?
Now, look at 1st John chapter one, verse six, it says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
Now notice that it doesn't say if we say that we're saved.
Let's talk about fellowship.
This is something after salvation.
When we get saved at that point, one of the things that we need to do is learn how to have fellowship with God.
How do we fellowship with him?
By reading the word of God, by praying, by living a clean life that's pleasing unto him.
But hold on a second.
If we say we have fellowship with him, but we're walking in darkness, we're smoking weed, we're drinking, we're watching things we shouldn't watch, we're being with people we shouldn't be, we're doing things that are displeasing unto God.
We're lying, we're not doing the truth.
So these people out there, oh yeah, I got a relationship with God and, you know, I'm saved, but I'm just like, I have a good relationship with the Lord and he's pleased with me.
You liar, you're walking in darkness.
But if we walk in the light as he is in light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son cleanseth us from all sin.
This is not referring to the eternal consequence of sin.
This is referring to daily sins.
Right, right.
So here's the thing.
You know, if you are at odds with your father, okay, and you disobey him, you live under his roof and you disobey him, you don't have a good relationship with him.
It's going to be hard for you to fellowship with your dad.
Doesn't mean you're not his son anymore.
It doesn't mean he's not your father.
You guys just don't have a good relationship because of your sin against him.
Okay.
So how do you correct that?
Well, you get right with your dad.
Say, dad, I'm sorry.
Forgive me for what I've done.
I've disobeyed you.
I'm sorry.
And then that fellowship is restored.
Okay.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
So in the Old Testament, salvation is still the same.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
All they have to do is believe on the Lord to be saved.
But here's the thing.
They will still sin every single day.
And that's why they had what?
The daily sacrifices, which can never take away sin, but it can cleanse them from daily impurities, daily sins that they would commit.
That's why they had to do them every single day.
Not to be saved.
To be saved, all they have to do is believe in the Lord, but to be cleansed of the sins of the flesh, to be cleansed of the daily
transgressions, they had to make a sacrifice.
But hold on a second.
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice has already been made.
And in the Old Testament, when they would do the sacrifice, what would they do?
They would also confess their sins before they sacrifice the animal.
So what's the only factor that has changed the sacrifice because Jesus Christ has already been sacrificed, but just as they
confess their sins in the Old Testament, in like manner, we have to do the same today in order to have proper fellowship with God.
Okay.
And I think it's great to start off your day like that.
Obviously you want to confess your sins throughout the day, but I think it's a, it's a great discipline.
It's a great habit to when you wake up in the morning and you're reading your Bible, that you spend some time praying, confessing your sins
unto the Lord and even finishing off your day like that, right?
You know, you come back home and then you think about, you think about your day, you go through your day and you're like, well, that was stupid.
I don't know why I said that, man.
I was mean to my wife.
I kicked my dog or, you know, I, I, I thought this, or I said this, I stole a paperclip.
You're wicked, man.
Think about it.
Now I'm just kidding.
You know, you, you do all these things.
There's just like, Lord, you know, forgive me for those sins.
You know, I, I've sinned against you and I'm sorry for doing those things.
Please forgive me.
And thank you for, for cleansing me of my, my own righteousness.
Get right with God.
You don't have to repeat it exactly like that, but that's something like the way I would say it.
I just kind of go through my day and just kind of list the things that I can remember and say, Lord, please forgive me for those things.
And, you know, cleanse me of all unrighteousness and thank you for restoring fellowship with me.
And that's it, you know, it doesn't have to be, Oh God, forgive me for not for only reading 10 chapters a day and not 20, some self-righteous prayers.
I'm like that forgive me for fasting for seven days and not 14 or something.
You know, you know, be, be honest, obviously, you know, and, and confess your sins to be right with God.
And a great example of this is if you remember when Jesus was cleaning the feet of the disciple, he was washing their feet and, you know, Peter says, not my feet only, but my hands, you know, he says my hands on my head.
And then he tells them, look, whoever I've washed and I'm paraphrasing here, need not that I wash every whit, but save only their feet.
Something to that extent, what he's basically telling them is this, look, if you're saved, the only thing you have to be washed is your feet because your feet are, is that which touches the ground throughout the day and picks up all the dirt, all the filth of this world.
So when you come home, you got to wash your feet because you picked up some filth, you understand?
And spiritually speaking, that's what we do.
Okay, we're going about our day, you get cut off on the freeway and you, you, you curse the guy in your heart or something like that, or, or maybe you do worse.
You give him a thumbs up, but without the thumb, okay?
If you have any stickers about our church or your car, please don't do that, okay?
You know, don't put the QR code on your, on your car, you know, like who's, you know, you get an argument with your spouse, you mistreat your children, or maybe you, you, you falsely accused someone, whatever it may be.
You know, think upon those things.
Don't just have this self-righteous attitude where like, Oh no, I'm good.
I don't need to do that.
My sins are already cleansed.
I'm already saved.
Folks, we need fellowship with God.
So to have this attitude, well, I'm already saved so I don't have to confess anything.
Then what about the fellowship part though?
I mean, are you dead yet?
If you're not dead, you should probably work on, you know, strengthening your fellowship with God and being right with God and living a life that's pleasing unto him.
Okay.
Well, I don't want to confuse that with salvation.
Then you're confused about salvation.
That's the case.
So why did Paul have to do that?
Well, because he was injurious.
He was a blasphemer, you know, he persecuted the church of God.
He wasted it.
He wreaked havoc.
The Bible says a lot of sins.
He had to confess, confess to God, you know, he was there consenting unto the death of Stephen.
I mean, he had a pretty bad past if you think about it.
But he did it ignorantly in unbelief.
But that's not to say he didn't have to confess it.
You know, he, he got baptized, washing away sins, calling on the name of the Lord, you know, and look, the reason he did that is because he's preparing himself for service.
He had to get right with God because God was going to use him in a great way, but he couldn't be used in a great way if he still had sin in him, in his life.
You understand?
Now go back to Acts 22, verse 17 says, and it came to pass that when I was coming into Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance and saw him saying unto me, make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
Which is ironic, isn't it?
He's like, hey, you got to get out of Jerusalem because they're not going to hear you concerning me.
And where is he saying this?
In Jerusalem.
Like, as you're telling the story, or you think about the fact that you're in Jerusalem.
Hello.
Do you even think about that?
Look at verse 19, and I said, Lord, they know that I am prison and beat every in every synagogue, them that believe on thee.
And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
So just picture this.
He's telling this to all these Jews, right?
Like, man, this guy's legit.
He's putting in work for the gang, right?
For the Jew gang.
Getting all these goyems.
Look at verse 21.
And he said unto me, depart, for I will send the far hands unto the Gentiles.
This is what Jesus tells Paul, right?
Now look at verse 22.
And they gave him audience, and they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live.
Yeah, so they're like, oh, man, he's speaking Hebrew.
He's a Jew.
He's arresting all these goyems and these Gentiles.
But as soon as he says, you know, hey, go to the Gentiles, they're like, oh, away with him.
Don't even let him be on the earth.
He doesn't even deserve to live.
How wicked is that?
It's like, what in the world?
Aren't you supposed to be a light into the Gentiles?
Thou that teaches another teaches not thyself.
But not only that, not only are they not a light into the Gentiles, they want to kill the Gentiles, and they want to kill anybody who's trying to reach the Gentiles.
Wicked.
He says in verse 23, and as they cried out and cast off their clothes and drew dust in the air, threw dust in the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle and bey that he should be examined by scourging that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.
So they're making this show.
They're renting their clothes, they're throwing dust in the air.
It's just like, he's trying to reach the Gentiles.
Drama queens.
Isn't that a drama queen?
It's not enough for them to just disagree.
I don't think you should reach the Gentiles.
They're like renting their garments, they're throwing dust in the air, they're crying out, they're whining.
It's like, it's not that big of a deal, man.
But the chief captain, you know, he sees this uproar that's being made, and he decides to bring him into the castle to examine him by scourging.
What in the world?
So what does that mean?
In other words, it's like, well, we're going to get the truth out of this guy, and the way we're going to do it is by waterboarding, or their form of waterboarding, right?
By scourging him.
He didn't do anything wrong, right?
He's uncondemned.
He has not broken the law, he's not done anything wicked, and yet they're trying to inflict physical pain against him because of these Jews.
Verse 25, and as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by him,
Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is Roman and uncondemned?
Because he was holding on to that card there, right?
He's like, wait, I got a question for you before you do that.
Are you allowed to do this to Romans?
And they're just like, verse 26, when the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying,
Take heed without do as for this man is a Roman.
So what is he doing?
He's gaining them who are without the law.
He's using the fact that they think that being a Roman is so wonderful in order not to be scourged.
Then the chief captain came and said to them, Tell me, art thou a Roman?
He said, yea.
The chief captain answered, What the great sum obtain I this freedom?
And Paul said, I like this, but I was freeborn.
Now, what is he saying there?
Well, you can interpret that as being, well, he was born in Tarsus, and therefore he was already a Roman, you know, from birth.
He was already free.
But what I believe he's referring to the fact that is that he saved.
He's like, I'm freeborn.
He has liberty no matter what, regardless, because here's the thing, people will try to use this.
These are the patriots' favorite verses to use.
They love this verse.
I had someone a couple months ago try to bring this up to me.
Paul did this, and he used the fact that he was a Roman to, you know, to, you know, he was not being a patriot, but he was using the fact that he was a Roman to get away.
Yeah, because he's about to die.
He's about to be scourged.
And I find it interesting, they want to use this as a justification to be a patriot, to go vote, to go recall Newsome, to go do protests, to wear MAGA hats, to do all these things, to be a Republican.
And this is like, where's your text verse?
It's like right here.
Paul, he's a Roman.
He pulled out the Roman card.
Well, folks, the fact that he didn't bring this up in the beginning should tell you something.
If he was such a patriot, why didn't he just bring this up in the beginning?
Like, I just want to let everyone know I'm a Roman.
All right, case closed.
We're done here.
Well, why didn't he?
Because he could care less.
He's not a patriot.
I know you like to, like, you know, put your own ideologies and beliefs into the Bible, but you're not allowed to do that.
Okay, read it as is.
And look, this is a card that he pulled out because his life was in danger.
Yeah, you know, if there's a place where they're just like, well, they won't scourge Americans or something and they try to scourge me, I'll be like, I'm an American.
I'm not trying to get scourged.
You could do this to Americans.
I know I look brown.
I know you think I'm some sort of wetback, okay?
I know you think that I'm probably illegal here, but let me just say this.
I'm American.
I was born here.
I'm freeborn.
I know I don't have my I Voted sticker, but I'm freeborn.
And what the Apostle Paul is saying here is like, hey, I'm freeborn.
I'm saved.
I'm at liberty, period.
And let me say this.
Any individual who's saved, whether you're American or not, you're freeborn.
Doesn't matter where you're from.
You've been endowed by your creator with unalienable rights, right?
You have the right to live.
You have all these, and especially now that you're saved, you're at liberty, period.
Okay.
And in first Corinthians nine, he says, for though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all that I might gain the more.
So he's using this card.
And by the way, so show me another time when he's just using this Roman card, just to get out of a bind or something.
He doesn't.
Anytime he gets in the bind or if his life's not in danger, he's preaching the gospel unto them.
That's what he did with the Jews.
Okay.
He said he was a Jew, you know, but when he's talking to the chief captain in the beginning, he said, Hey, I'm of Cilicia.
You know, that's not an average city.
It's not a mean city.
Why?
Because he wants a platform to be able to preach the gospel unto them.
When he talks to the Jews, speaks in Hebrew, you know, tells them he's a Jew raised at the feet of Gamaliel taught all these things.
But when he goes back to this Roman, who's about to scourge him, he's like, Hey, I'm a Roman.
Don't touch me.
Okay.
So this is not a justification for voting, protesting, you know, getting people recalled and look, Gavin can go to hell.
Okay.
I get that.
You know, he's a wicked individual and Newsome just needs to just, I hope the earth just opens up and just swallows them whole.
A stinking hypocrite.
Okay.
But I'm not going to go on this campaign to try to recall him, you know, where, where, where's the verse where Paul's like voting and all this stuff.
Right.
It's funny how they want to take this little concept here, this little action that he takes and just build an entire patriotic doctrine off of it.
Ridiculous.
His life was an immediate danger.
And so that's why he used it.
And look, this is one of the reasons why he even went back and forth with Paul and Saul.
You know, Saul and Paul are both his name.
Paul was the name even prior to being saved.
Okay.
But, but Paul is a Greek variation of the Hebrew name, Saul.
That's all it is.
Okay.
Um, and so he used both of those when the time called for it.
Cause obviously, and the reason the majority of the time he's being referred to as Paul is because where is he?
He is in Gentile areas, a bunch of Greek speakers, you know?
So he's trying to reach him.
He's like, well, just call me Paul instead.
Let me give you a modern day example of this.
Okay.
Cause it's not bad.
You know, this is a, this is a good tactic to use.
Let me give you an example.
Sometimes when I go soul winning and I run into like a really like, I mean just Hispanic, Mexican or some, I mean, they're just Spanish speaking only.
I don't say that my name is pastor Bruce.
I use my other name and I'm not referring to me here.
I'm talking about my first name.
Does anyone, does anybody know what my first name is?
All right.
We've got one, two.
I see that hand.
All right.
Let's just, I want you to take all these people out of the trip.
This is what I tell them.
And then you guys are about to find out right now with my, my first Bruce is actually my middle name.
I've gone by the name since I was like in the third grade.
Okay.
Are you guys dying to hear what the name is or something?
And I've always gone by that name because primarily I've always hung out with English speakers.
Okay.
But I use my first name as an advantage when I go talk to people.
Cause it sounds really Hispanic.
Okay.
Like my last name is pretty Hispanic, right?
Mejia.
So what I do is I'll tell them, I said, you know, if I'm talking to just some Hispanic and they're just like Spanish speaker, I'll say,
My name is Pastor Delfin Mejia.
That's my first name.
Why are you laughing?
Take, I'll just take them out.
Maury, handle them.
Delfin Mejia.
That's a real Hispanic name.
Delfin.
Okay.
Of the end.
All right.
I'm not even going to tell you what the translation of that name is.
You can look it up later.
You can Google it later.
I'm not ashamed of it, but I somewhat am.
I'm just kidding.
I don't use it.
If someone, by the way, if someone calls me that here, I probably not going to respond to you.
Okay.
But wait, when I'm out there and I'm preaching the gospel, I'll use it.
So Pastor Delfin.
So Pastor Delfin Mejia.
How do you say that?
Why?
Cause I want them to know, Oh man, this guy's, this guy's paisa.
Cause I'm trying to be all things to all men.
You know?
And that's a Hispanic name.
You know, like Delfin.
That's my, that was my dad's name.
Okay.
So, you know, that's the way I use it.
You know?
So if I'm with really hardcore Hispanics and you know, I, I give them my name, I said Delfin Mejia.
But if I'm with some American or some person who's just English speaker, my name is Bruce.
I mean, you can't get more American than the name Bruce.
It's a cool name.
I like my name, Bruce.
And I use that.
I'm like, my name is Bruce.
Bruce Mejia.
You know, it kind of doesn't go together with Mejia.
It's kind of like a real, just English name with a real, just paisa last name.
You know what I mean?
By the way, Mejia in Spanish.
Does anybody know what that means in Spanish?
Mejia is the jaw.
La Mejia.
All right.
Got your Spanish lesson for the day.
It's spelled differently.
So anyways, that's what he's doing here.
Okay.
And you'll see him referred or him referred to as Saul often when he is talking to Jews other than acts 26, where he actually refers to himself as Saul.
But he's, he's talking to a King Agrippa, but for the most part, he refers to himself as Saul.
But if he is with a Gentile audience, he'll call himself Paul.
Okay.
It's a variation, but he's doing it.
He's trying to be methodical.
He's trying to be strategic.
Okay.
And so we see that he does that there.
Look at verse 29, and then straightway, they departed from him, which should have examined him.
And the chief captain also was afraid after he knew that he was a Roman because he had bound him.
It says on the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews.
He loosed from his, excuse me, he loosed him from his bands and commanded the chief priest and all their counsel to appear and brought Paul down and set him before them.
So it didn't work.
Now using the Roman card work to not get him scourged, but you know, trying to preach his whole plan that he had, I'm going to go back to Jerusalem.
I'm a priest of word of God failed.
Obviously he was able to preach the word of God, but he would have been a lot more fruitful staying in, in, in Greece, Corinth, Achaia, Thessalonica, all those other areas going to Rome.
He would have been better off in those areas and going back to Jerusalem.
Now he has this whole entire rigmarole that he has to put up with because he was called to go to Jerusalem and we'll see later on how that turns out for him.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for Paul's example, Lord, and even the mistakes that he made, because we learned from those things.
Help us to be reminded that we need to be all things to all men and use as much common ground as we possibly can with the individuals we speak to so that we can save them.
That's the most important thing is to get these people saved, get people saved, preach the gospel unto them and Lord, give us a variety of things to talk about.