Nathan W. Bingham (0:00)

The Apostle Paul was in Caesarea when Agabus prophesied to him not to go to Jerusalem.

R.C. Sproul (0:07)

Friends, you may not be ready for me to go to Jerusalem, but I'm ready. I've been ready since that day in the desert that Christ redeemed me and called me. And that day on the road to Damascus, I said to Jesus, where you lead me, I will follow. And everywhere he's led me, I have gone. And I'm ready to go now.

Nathan W. Bingham (0:36)

It's good to have you with us for Renewing youg Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. We've come to the final installment of our short series looking at various key moments in the ministry of Paul as recorded for us in the Book of Acts. And today RC Sproul focuses on Paul's response to Agabus, who prophesied to him not to go to Jerusalem. As this is the final sermon in the series, it's also the final day to request Dr. Sproul's complete commentary on acts when you donate at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight. So I encourage you, if you'd like the Hardcover edition of this commentary, show your support@renewingyourmind.org before the offer ends tonight, as this offer won't be repeated next Sunday. Well, here's Dr. Sproul with a sermon titled Thy will be done.

R.C. Sproul (1:29)

And now it came to pass that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course, we came to Cos the following day to Rhodes, from there to Patara, and finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left and sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo. And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. And they told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. And when we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way. And they all accompanied us with wives and children until we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed. And when we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship and they returned home. When we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren and stayed with them one day, and on the next day we, who were Paul's companions, departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. Now, this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we had stayed many days. A certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, thus saith the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Now, when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. And then Paul answered, what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the will of the Lord be done. As we've seen on numerous occasions, as we've been looking through the Book of Acts, that when Luke tells of points of transition from one city to another during the apostolic missionary journeys, he will give us a brief little travelogue citing the places that are visited or passed by during this trip. And chapter 21 is no different, as he tells us how the apostolic entourage makes their way from Miletus down to Caesarea. And they begin their journey on a small ship which were called coasting ships in the ancient world because they were not large enough or strong enough to be sailed in the open sea. So these coasting ships would, as the word suggest, hug the coast and stay very close to the shore as they made their way along. And while they were on such a vessel, they stopped at coast that was known in the ancient world for this reason. There, one of the most prestigious medical schools in the whole world was located. It was the school founded by Hippocrates, from whom we get the name of the Hippocratic oath. And then from coast they went on then to Rhodes. And you've all heard of Rhodes, because in the ancient world, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was this gigantic huge statue whose legs straddled the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes and was known as the Colossus of Rhodes. But by the time Paul makes his way to Rhodes, the Colossus is not so colossal anymore, because an earthquake had happened that brought it down, crashing down and broken into many pieces. From there they traveled on to Petara, and its claim to fame was a local oracle who had some degree of rivalry with the famous oracle of Delphi. And then they finally left that ship and went to a seagoing vessel that was loaded with cargo and sailed down to Phoenicia, in which they sighted Cyprus on the way, sailing to Syria and landing at Tyre. We were told there the ship would unload her cargo. And Luke says, in finding disciples there, we stayed seven days. And these disciples told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. And Luke makes that notation there. So then when we finished those days, we went again on our way, and they all came to us, to the seaside, to the shore, just like the elders had done in Ephesus, praying with them before they boarded the ship to continue their journey. He said, when we finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais. We greeted the brethren, stayed there one day, and now it's the next day that demands our attention in the text. On the next day, Luke writes, we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, and we stayed with him. This is remarkable. We've met Philip already, back in chapter eight. He was one of those set apart and was used of God for outreach and missions. And he had traveled in his journeys to Caesarea, and there he settled. And now it's 20 years later, from the time of his consecration, he's still there in Caesarea, and Paul and Luke and their party come in and meet up with Philip and have a wonderful time, obviously hearing all that had transpired among the Christians there in Caesarea. Now, Luke also gives us the little notation that in the interim, Philip and his wife had had four daughters who had grown up and remained unmarried, and they all had the gift of prophecy. Now, the significance of these young ladies is that at least three of them lived into their 90s and became a rich source of information for the early church fathers who wanted to research everything that had transpired in the Apostolic Church. The church historian Papias and also Eusebius make mention of these daughters from whom they gleaned wonderful information from the past. This is the type of thing that I find fascinating in early church history. You've all heard of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who in his late 80s was martyred in the arena because he wouldn't bow down to the emperor in Emperor Washer, and he was commanded to repudiate Jesus. The Christians were considered to be atheists, and so they said, we don't want to kill you. You're a frail old man. We'll let you go. All you have to do is, is say, away with the atheists. Polycarp said, that's easy. He looked up at the emperor and he says, away with the atheists. And that was the end of Polycarp. But the thing that was so wonderful about Polycarp there he was an old man, and yet he would reminisce. And when he was a boy, 6, 7 years old, he was taught in Ephesus by the apostle John. When John was like in his 90s. It's a wonderful thing to see how these traditions were passed on from generation to generation. There is the ultimate tradition of which the New Testament speaks. The paradox is the tradition of God, the tradition of the apostles. We benefit from it every day in the Scriptures because the Scriptures contain the inspired record of the divine apostolic tradition. But in addition to that, throughout church history, fathers would pass the faith on to their children and remind them of the way in which God continued to guard his church and to bless his people. So even to this day we are indebted to the daughters of Philip who were gifted with prophecy. Then what happens, we are told, is that after many days, a certain prophet named Agabus, we met him earlier in the book of Acts as well. He came down from Judea. And Luke writes, when he had come to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and feet. This is kind of weird. It's kind of strange. Here comes Agabus, comes into the house where Paul is, and he says to the Apostle Paul, would you please take off your belt, Let me have it for a minute. Paul says, sure. He takes off his belt, he gives it to Agabus. Agabus takes the belt of the apostle and goes over and sits down, leans over and ties the belt around his own wrists and around his feet, joining his hands to his feet in this binding by the belt of Paul. Now, what's going on here? Agabus at this moment is following a tradition that was rich in Old Testament history and even earlier in the New Testament, where the prophets of old would not only deliver the oracles of God with their lips, with their mouths, with basic speech, but they would also give object lessons dramatizing the word that God had given to them. And so this tradition is used again by Agabus to show as well as to speak the Divine word. But in this case, the word is ominous. The word is foreboding. It's not an oracle of weal, it's an oracle of woe. As he then speaks. And he said, the one whose belt I have used to bind my feet and to bind my hands will be bound over in Jerusalem and be given over to the Gentiles. Now, when Luke heard this, he tells what he and his companions did in response. And to his credit or to the supervision of the Holy Ghost, Luke was moved and inspired to include a record of his own shame in his record of the Acts of the Apostle. Because he confesses that when Agabus gave this prophecy, he said, when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. They watched the demonstration, they watched the belt, they watched Agabus hand it back to Paul. And they started crying, pleading, paul, please don't go to Jerusalem. We need you. We've already lost our Lord, who left us, departed this world and ascended into heaven. But he anointed you to be the apostle to the Gentiles. You can't leave us. Don't go to Jerusalem. And isn't it interesting that when people are called to do their duty, and when that duty involves danger and peril and risk, it is the person's closest friends and family that inevitably try to talk them out of it. People who should be supporting those who are seeking to do their duty become impediments to it. Think of Jesus after the mount of Transfiguration. And the disciples eyes were filled with that glory. Still, they wanted to stay there forever. And Jesus said, well fellas, it's time to leave. Where are we going? Well, I'm going to Jerusalem where I'm going to suffer and I'm going to die. And in the first papal encyclical by Simon Peter, he said, may it never be. Oh no you don't. Jesus, who had just given him the name Petros Peter, now gave him another name. He said, get behind me, Satan. And he set his face as a flint to Jerusalem, Family, friends trying to dissuade him. When I was in college, I became a Christian my freshman year. So filled with zeal, so excited. Used to meet with a bunch of Christians in their college class in a room in one of the local churches. And we'd meet every Wednesday night for prayer, for Bible study. And one of the things that we like to do would be would gather around the piano and one of the fellows would play the piano and we would sing these old gospel hymns. I'd been raised in a very formal Presbyterian church and remained in unbelief through that experience. I'd never heard any of these hymns before in my whole life. Hymns like have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Standing on the promises. How many of you ever heard that? Standing on the promise. Yeah. See, he lives. Remember that one. I serve a risen master. He lives. Terrible theology. You know the refrain in that you ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. That's the only place Christ lives, is in your heart. We're in deep trouble. And if the only reason you have for your apologetic is a feeling in your heart, you're in trouble. But the one I loved the most was where he leads me, I will follow. Sang that song every Wednesday night. And when we would sing it, my soul would just be flooded with joy, and my eyes would mist over and fill up with tears. And I would sing, you know where he leads me, I will fall. I can hear my Savior calling. Remember that. And I want to tell you something. When I sang that, I meant it. If the Lord would have come in that room and said, pakistan, Iraq, Korea, Bulgaria, anywhere. I said, I'm going wherever you lead me. That's where I want to go. Of course, then I matured in the Christian faith, found out that some places are far less desirable than others. And there are many times in my life I'd say most of the places that you're leading me, Lord, but please don't lead me over there. Yet you all would admit that if the Lord Jesus came in the church today, walked down the aisle, stopped by you and said, can I have a word with you? There's something I need you to do for me. I'd like you to go to Iraq tomorrow. How soon would you pack? Would you not leave in haste? Pack your bags? Not crying and moaning and groaning, but filled with joy in your soul that he stopped by you and said, go for me, huh? What Christian wouldn't want to do that? Well, Paul had a vocation. Remember that wonderful sermon that he preached to the elders from Ephesus there on the shores of Miletus? Remember that when he said, I haven't kept anything back, I've given you the whole counsel of God. And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying, chains and tribulations await me. Excuse me, Agabus. I know you weren't there in Miletus when I was meeting there with the Ephesian elders. But I mentioned to them that the prophecy that you've just laid on me is not new. Every city I go, the Spirit bears witness to me that what's waiting for me in Jerusalem are chains, tribulations. But his friend said, paul, don't go. Remember what he said to the Ephesians. Again, none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, but that I may finish my race with joy. Remember the last words that he wrote to Timothy in two Timothy, when he was awaiting his execution. He was about to be poured out, and he said, I fought the good fight of the faith. I finished the race. I've kept the faith. So now when these people in Caesarea, including Luke, say, paul, don't go to Jerusalem, he gets angry. And he said, will you stop with the crying? Will you cut it out? Maybe he didn't say it that way. He said, what do you mean by weeping? You're breaking my heart. You're killing me with this stuff. I'm trying to be faithful to my vocation, and you're standing in the way. Please stop this crying and weeping. You're killing me. You're breaking my heart, he said, for I'm ready, Luke. Friends, you may not be ready for me to go to Jerusalem, but I'm ready. I've been ready since that day in the desert that Christ redeemed me and called me. And that day on the road to Damascus, I said to Jesus, where you lead me, I will follow. And everywhere he's led me, I have gone. And I'm ready to go now, not only to be bound, but I'm ready to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. So Luke says, When he wouldn't be persuaded, we stopped, we ceased. That was the end of it. And we said, the will of the Lord be done. Boy, was that a profound theological insight. Of course. The will of the Lord was going to be done. The will of the Lord is always done in the ultimate sense. And Paul understood that and said, thank you very much for saying, the will of the Lord to be done. You forget you're talking to the author of Romans. I know all about the will of God, like Jesus knew about the will of God when Jesus wrestled in the garden, saying to the Father, let the cup pass. Not my will. Your will be done. Because the original author of where he leads me, I will follow. Was Jesus. Wherever your send me, Father, I go. Whatever cup you give me, I drink for my meat. And my drink is to do the will of the Father. And it's as if Paul said to them, do you hear it? Do you hear it? I can hear my Savior calling from Jerusalem. And where he leads me, I will follow. Would that that would be the heart of every one of us in this place, to be true to our vocation, whatever cost us, whatever it takes us, that we may be ready to run the race until it's over.