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Acts 21:33-40  PAULS TROUBLE TURNING INTO A BLESSING

Introduction:

	In our previous text the Apostle Paul got into serious trouble.  In our 
text today we will see Paul’s trouble and his disadvantage turn out to be a 
blessing and an advantage to him.  

I.  Paul’s trouble

	But before we see his trouble turn into a blessing, it seems at first that 
his trouble only became worse.  He had sought to head off trouble with his 
Jewish Christian brethren, but this only got him into deeper trouble with the 
masses of unsaved Jewish people who had gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate a 
Jewish festival.  While Paul was within  the temple grounds, probably in the 
courtyard of the Hebrews, some unsaved Jew who had made trouble for Paul out on 
the mission field, saw him in the temple courtyard and made trouble for him in 
the J wish synagogue out on the mission field, now made trouble anew for him in 
the Jewish temple at Jerusalem.  
	That man cried out loud calling for help in dealing with Paul as though 
Paul was some vicious criminal.  He falsely accused Paul of teaching Jewish 
families not to have their children circumcised in keeping with the Law of 
Moses.  He accused Paul of speaking against the Jewish people, against the 
Jewish temple and against the Law of Moses.  He further falsely accused Paul of 
bringing a Gentile into the temple courtyard where only Hebrews were allowed.  
The result was that the thousands of Jews who came into the temple grounds to 
worship turned into an unruly mob.  That mob set about to beat the Apostle Paul 
to death and to tear him apart limb by limb.  Paul was in serious trouble.  The 
situation had suddenly become an matter of life or death.  

II.  Paul’s rescue		

	However, Roman soldiers heard the cries of the angry mob and rushed to the 
rescue.  As soon as the chief Roman captain and his soldiers pushed their way 
through the angry mob of people to where Paul was being beaten, the beating 
stopped and the chief captain took charge.  V. 33, “Then the chief captain came 
near, and took him, and commanded [him] to be bound with two chains...”  Paul 
was taken into custody and placed in chains.  The idea is that a chain was 
fastened to each wrist of Paul and he was chained to two Roman soldier, one on 
each side so that he could not escape.  He would be escorted in chains to a 
prison.  (V. 33), “... and demanded who he was, and what he had done.”  The 
chief captain immediately assumed that his prisoner had done some terrible thing 
and so he placed him under arrest.  In fact, we will see in the following verses 
that he was already on the outlook for a certain dangerous villain whom he 
expected to show up at these feasts and he was pretty sure in his own mind that 
Paul was this man.  He expected Paul’s answer to his question to verity his 
suspicions.    
	V. 34, “And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude...”  
He was disappointed.  What they said did not really tell him anything for 
certain.  They did not tell him who Paul was.  And no two men told the same 
thing about what Paul had done.  Someone would say one thing and somebody else 
would contradict that by what they said.  The chief captain, however, did not 
assume that Paul was not guilty just because the stories contradicted.  He just 
assumed that he had done something and it would be his job to investigate 
further to find out.  
	“...and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded 
him to be carried into the castle.”  He could not just turn Paul loose.  The mob 
of people would surely beat him to death.  So he ordered that Paul would be 
carried into what Luke calls “the castle.”  This was apparently the building 
that the captain and his soldiers used as a barracks building on such occasions 
when the Jews were gathered in such large numbers.  They had to have a large 
number of soldiers present on every large gathering of the Jews because the Jews 
were so prone to riot --- like they did on this occasion.  He would keep Paul in 
the barracks at least until he could find out what Paul had done.  
	V. 35, “And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of 
the soldiers for the violence of the people.”  The Jews in that great mob of 
people were so worked up with anger toward Paul that even though he was chained 
between two soldiers they tried to beat him to death.  The soldiers had to pick 
Paul up and bodily carry him up the stairs out of reach of the people.  Even 
then they cried out in anger at him.  V. 36, “For the multitude of the people 
followed after, crying, Away with him.” 

III.  Paul’s request

	At the top of the stairs the soldiers to whom Paul was chained put Paul 
down to let him walk.  I am sure that some of the soldiers blocked the stairway 
or else the angry mob would have sought to climb up the stairway to get at Paul.  
The soldiers were about to lead him into the castle (or barracks) when Paul made 
a request of the chief captain.  V. 37, “And as Paul was to be led into the 
castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst 
thou speak Greek?”  Up to this time the captain had probably not heard Paul 
speak at all.  But when he did he heard Paul speak in the Greek language. 
	 The captain was very surprised that Paul could speak Greek.  V. 38, “Art 
not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest 
out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers?”  In his mind the 
captain had been sure that Paul was a wanted man.  He thought that Paul was a 
certain Egyptian terrorist who led a murderous gang of 4000 men who had killed 
many people.   He evidently had word that the Egyptian and some of his followers 
were in the area and might try to cause trouble during the Jewish feast days.  
The captain must have been expecting that Egyptian to show up and had been on 
the alert watching for him.  That is the reason that he had jumped to the 
conclusion that Paul was the Egyptian.  He had been expecting him to show up and 
was watching for him.   
	But that Egyptian outlaw would hardly be able to speak Greek and this man 
had spoken to him in the Greek language.  The captain knew now that Paul could 
hardly be that Egyptian terrorist.  So if he was not the Egyptian, who was he?       
	Paul answered that question.  V. 39, “But Paul said, I am a man [which am] 
a Jew...”  So if this man was a Jew, then that settles it.  He is not the 
Egyptian.  If he is an outlaw of some kind, at least he is not that Egyptian 
terrorist outlaw who had caused so much trouble in the land.  Paul added:    (V. 
29), “...of the city of Tarsus, [a city] in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean 
city...”  Now if he is of the city of Tarsus, then that will explain why he can 
speak Greek.  This was the language commonly spoken in that area.  It would 
probably also mean that he was not a dangerous man at all.  
	(V. 39), “...and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people.”  
Now that Paul had the captain’s attention and since the captain was now 
convinced that he was not the dreaded Egyptian terrorist,  he made his request 
known to the captain.  He asked permission to speak to the great crowd of Jews 
down below him.  

IV.  Paul’s advantage

	And, behold, the captain granted his wish.  He didn’t have to.  He could 
have said “No.”  But what was there to lose?  He just might learn what this 
ruckus is all about if the allows the prisoner to speak..  So he said, “Yes!  
Yes, you go ahead and speak.”
	V. 40, “And when he had given him licence, 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...”  Paul stood facing that angry mob 
with his arms upraised in a gesture indicating that he wanted the people to 
quieten down so that he could be heard.  It must have taken a little while for 
him to get the attention of all of them, but eventually there was silence with 
every eye focused on him and every ear tuned in to him.  
	Listen, if Paul had gone into that temple courtyard with the intention of 
asking for permission to speak and to preach the gospel to that great crowd of 
Jews, he would have been turned down flat.  In the first place it is not likely 
that he would have ever gotten permission to speak to an official in high enough 
position to grant such  request.  It is doubtful that none had ever spoken to 
such a large crowd as this in the temple courtyard.  It is certain that the high 
priests who had led in having Jesus crucified would never willingly allow any 
man to speak here and proclaim that Jesus has risen from the grave and that 
Jesus is the Christ.  
	Yet here he was standing at the top of the stairs leading out of the 
courtyard and into the barracks of the Roman soldiers with all of that great 
mass of Jewish people standing with every eye upon him and every person in the 
courtyard waiting for him to speak.  He will tell them all that Jesus has risen 
from the grave and that Jesus is the Christ of God, the Savior of men.  What a 
privilege!  What a turn of events!  What a marvelous display of God’s 
magnificent power to turn the trouble that he had been in into a marvelous 
opportunity to preach the gospel to so many of his own countrymen and right 
within the courtyard of the temple of God.  
	Let me tell you that this shows that the temple did not belong to those 
Jewish high priests nor to the seventy members of the Sanhedrin Council.  That 
was God’s temple and God could arrange for anybody to speak whom He wanted to 
speak.  And the truth of the matter is that not only did God own the temple with 
its temple courtyard, but God owned the whole world.  God ruled the whole world 
then and He showed in a spectacular way that He could turn Paul’s trouble into a 
powerful advantage.  

V.  Some lessons for us from this passage of Scripture

	Listen, we who are saved by the grace of God should be thrilled by this 
passage of Scripture.  You see, just as God has turned the troubles of the 
Apostle Paul into a distinct advantage, even so God turns the troubles that we 
face in our own lives into a distinct advantage for us.  
	Let me start with what happened last September 11th.  That was a day that 
we will never forget.  It disrupted the lives of our entire nation in a way that 
it has never been disrupted before.  More American lives were taken by an enemy 
on that day than were taken in the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.  It 
disrupted every phase of American life.  Our economy was crippled.  Every 
citizen of our nation became aware that he or she was in danger of a terrorist 
attack.  We are still under that threat. 
	But God has turned our great disadvantage into an advantage.  Most 
important, that one event did more to turn the American people back to God than 
any one thing that has ever happened.  For another thing, nations which would 
normally be expected to be against American has become our allies in this war on 
terrorism.  I most certainly would not want to say anything that would discredit 
our brave service men who went overseas and risked their lives for us.  Some of 
them gave their lives for us.  I would not want to say anything that would 
discredit our military strategists.  I would not want to say anything that would 
discredit our president in this matter.  He showed great courage and leadership.  
I would not want to say anything that would discredit our allies.  It is 
astounding that even Russia became our ally in this conflict.  
	But I say without any hesitation and without any reservation that the 
reason that American has been able to defeat the Afghanistan Talilban forces so 
quickly and so decisively is because God had turned our great trouble into our 
advantage.  No among of political skill, no amount of military skill, no amount 
of help from our allies, no amount of sophisticated weapons could have given us 
such a decisive victory.  
	But our lives are filled with so many many troubles.  In the Book of Job 
we read that mankind is of few days in this world and that those days are full 
of trouble.  Accidents take numerous lives every day.  Sickness takes so many 
lives every day.  Our own physical bodies are deteriorating every day that we 
live.  Our world is filling up with graves.  If we live long enough the bodies 
of all of us will lie in a grave some day.  The Bible teaches that it is 
appointed unto all to die.  We have all sinned and the wages of sin is death. 
	But through the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross God had 
provide a way whereby all men can have the curse of death to an advantage.  One 
of these days every man, woman, boy and girl who has ever repented of his sin 
and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation will live in a new body that will 
never sin and that will never experience trouble of any kind.  All will be peace 
and joy and great glory forever and ever.  
	This ought not to be good news only to the saved, but to all who are lost 
and on the road to hell.  If you will repent of your sin and call upon Jesus 
Christ and trust Him to save your soul, than all of your trouble will turn out 
to be to your advantage.  You will be marvelously saved and you will spend 
eternity with God in glory.