Text: Acts 21:27—22:21

 

Acts 21:28, Crying out, Men of Israel, help:  This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place:  and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.

 

I. Introduction:  Paul's memory of Philip. Acts 6:11-14, 7:58, 22:20, Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard (Philip) speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.  And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:  For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. . . And cast him out of the city, and stoned him:  and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. . .  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.

 

II. False witness #1:  this man teaches against the people of God.

1. Isa. 19:22-25, And the Lord shall smite Egypt:  he shall smite and heal it:  and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.  In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.  In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:  Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
2. Eph. 2:11-13, 19, Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. . .  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
3. Hosea 2:23, . . . and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
4. Rom. 9:25-26, As he saith also in (Hosea), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.  And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
5. "This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere against the people; the people of the Jews, saying that they were not the only people of God; that God was the God of the Gentiles, as well as of the Jews; that God had chosen, and called, and saved some of the one, as well as of the other; that the Gentiles shared in the favour of God, and the blessings of the Messiah; that the Gospel was to be preached to them, and a people taken out of them for His glory; which these Asiatic Jews interpreted as speaking against them; whereas no man had a stronger natural affection for his countrymen, or a more eager and importunate desire for their spiritual and eternal welfare, than the apostle had."  John Gill

 

III.  False witness #2:  this man teaches against the law of God.

1. Micah 4:2, And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:  for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
2. Rom. 3:23-26, 31, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:   that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. . .  Do we then make void the law through faith?  God forbid:  yea, we establish the law.
3. "Their charges against him are partly flat lies, partly conclusions drawn from misapprehension of his position, partly exaggeration, and partly hasty assumptions."  Alexander Maclaren

 

IV. False witness #3:  this man teaches against this place, the Temple.

1. Jn. 2:19, Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
2. I Cor. 3:16, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
3. II Cor. 6:16, And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
4. "The enemies of Christianity, since they could never prove it to be an ill thing, have been always very industrious, right or wrong, to put it into an ill name, and so run it down by outrage and outcry."  Matthew Henry

 

V. The true witness:  Acts 22:14-15, And (Ananias) said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.  For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

 

IV. Conclusion:  the true destiny of the Gospel that Paul preaches to the nations.

1. Ps. 72:8, 10-11, 17, He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. . .  The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.  Yea, all kings shall fall down before him:  all nations shall serve him. . .  His name shall endure for ever:  his name shall be continued as long as the sun:  and men shall be blessed in him:  all nations shall call him blessed.
2. Isa. 2:2-3, And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.
3. Zech. 2:10-11, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion:  for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.  And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people:  and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
4. Zech. 9:10b, . . . and he shall speak peace unto the heathen:  and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
5. Mal. 1:11, For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering:  for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
6. Gal. 3:8-9, 14, And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. . .  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ.