Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00025B
00:01 Welcome back to Books of the Book.
00:02 We are studying in the book of Acts and, Jim, we just finished 00:06 up Acts chapter 25 and we had King Agrippa and Festus the 00:11 Roman governor as they're looking at the life of Paul 00:16 there on trial, Paul's on trial here. Actually it's more of an 00:20 informal. King Agrippa wanted to hear his situation. And Festus 00:24 explains to him some of his conundrum. Paul had asked to be 00:28 sent to Caesar, only Festus knows Paul hasn't done anything 00:31 wrong so he's not quite sure what to write to Caesar about 00:34 why he's taking up his time with this prisoner. Now we're going 00:39 to begin in chapter 26 there where Agrippa now allows Paul 00:44 to give his defense and explain his case. It says, Then Agrippa 00:47 said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul 00:51 stretched out his hand and answered for himself. I think 00:54 myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for 00:57 myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused 01:01 by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs 01:05 and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore, I beg 01:08 you to hear me patiently. So for Paul, he's been talking with all 01:11 these Romans and the Jews have made accusations and the Roman 01:15 governors haven't had the knowledge and the Roman 01:17 commander, Claudius Lysius, didn't have the knowledge that 01:20 apparently Agrippa has of the Jewish customs. So Paul is eager 01:23 to tell Agrippa because he knows Agrippa will see that there is 01:27 no foundation for the charges. Now he begins with his early 01:30 life. He says in verse 4, My manner of life from my youth 01:34 which was spent from the beginning among my own nation 01:39 at Jerusalem. All the Jews know. They knew me from the first if 01:43 they were willing to testify that according to the strictest 01:47 sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee and now I stand and am 01:52 judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our 01:55 fathers. To this promise the 12 tribes earnestly serving God 01:59 night and day hoped to attain. And he goes on here, and we've 02:02 looked at this before, about the resurrection of the dead. What's 02:06 interesting, Jim, is that he says that all the Jews know if 02:09 what does he say, if they would be willing to testify. In other 02:13 words, if they were honest, he said, they would testify that 02:17 they've known the kind of person I am. He was the great 02:20 persecutor, Saul. They act like here's this guy and he's this 02:25 insurrectionist, etc., etc., and what he's saying here if that if 02:28 they would testify of my early life, you would know full well 02:33 that I'm not just some renegade and that they have other reasons 02:38 for being angry with me. Then he says in verse 8 in connection 02:42 with the hope of Israel as he appeals to King Agrippa, Why 02:46 should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? 02:50 Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the 02:53 name of Jesus of Nazareth and he goes on to talk about how he 02:57 had carted people off to prison and he had even seen to it that 03:01 they were put to death under his persecuting power. And he's just 03:05 saying basically I understand what it's like to be opposed to 03:10 Jesus Christ. But then he's going to go on and tell us what 03:14 changed. When we get to verse 12 it's 03:16 time for him to once again share his conversion. And I find it 03:20 interesting that this is not the only time where the Apostle Paul 03:23 is sharing his testimony here in the book of Acts and he never 03:27 shies away from it. And I think that we need to remember that 03:30 even though we may have told our testimony before, it may seem 03:33 like it's no big deal to us... It seems redundant. Like I've 03:36 done this before. Right. And it gets old. But it 03:39 doesn't get old to people who have never heard it before. 03:41 It's the same thing that I would say about the preaching of the 03:45 gospel. Sometimes we think, oh you know, are we going to hold 03:49 another seminar where we talk about all the same stuff that 03:52 we've always talked about. But remember the seminar that we're 03:56 holding as a general rule is not for us who have heard it but for 03:59 those who haven't and they need to hear that. Even though Paul 04:03 has reiterated this, he didn't try to totally change it or give 04:07 it a totally different perspective. He pretty much 04:09 gives the account because it's powerful enough in and of 04:11 itself and Agrippa needed to hear it. 04:13 That's right and let me interject just briefly that the 04:17 other benefit of the testimony is... There are a lot of 04:21 theories out there but the testimony is what basically 04:24 tells you that the theory is real. And so when Paul is giving 04:28 his testimony, he's helping Agrippa see the religion of 04:33 Christianity actually fleshed out and what Jesus can really do 04:36 and has done in a person's life. 04:37 That's right. When we think back to Acts chapter 9 when Jesus 04:43 told Paul, well actually he told Ananias about Paul, he said, Go 04:49 for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before 04:53 Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. We mentioned that 04:56 before the break. This was a purpose that God had for him. 05:00 Paul was not here sharing with Agrippa, oh here I go again and 05:04 let's try to figure out if I can get free. No, this was an 05:07 opportunity. God had placed him for the very purpose of being 05:11 able to appeal directly to these leaders. And so he's looking 05:15 not at this as a way to get out of legal trouble but in order to 05:19 save souls. He's appealing to Festus and Agrippa here. 05:22 That's right. So we hear his conversion beginning in verse 12 05:25 and he begins to tell the same conversion story that we're 05:28 familiar with about how he was on his way to Damascus and the 05:33 bright light shone from heaven, Jesus appeared to him and said 05:37 Saul why are you persecuting me? It's hard to kick against the 05:40 goads and he begins to describe the things that Jesus said. 05:44 In this description, I would like to pick up where he enters 05:49 in verse 17 to some things that Jesus says that are not in 05:52 any of the other accounts of his conversion. So this is a 05:56 very helpful account here in chapter 26. Verse 17 he says, 06:00 and this is Jesus speaking to Paul, I will deliver you from 06:04 the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now 06:07 send you. So he tells him, I'm sending you to the Gentiles. 06:11 And you need to be delivered from them. 06:13 That's right. That's exactly right. To open their eyes, okay 06:17 so their understanding in order to turn them from darkness to 06:22 light. I think as he continues here he's speaking primarily 06:25 about the Gentiles because the Apostle Paul is the apostle to 06:29 the Gentiles and they had not received light. They had not had 06:33 the same privileges and opportunities that the Jewish 06:36 nation had had. And so he's saying, look I'm sending you so 06:39 that you can give the light that the nation of Israel failed to 06:43 give even though that was my purpose and plan for them. 06:45 So any time that God calls on us to do something, if we don't do 06:49 it God will find another way and he is now sending Paul to share 06:53 with the Gentiles what we could only have wished they had heard 06:57 before. But he wants them to turn from darkness to light, 07:01 from the power of Satan to God. You know, when you read the 07:06 Apostle Paul talk about the Gentile or pagan worship and 07:10 sacrifices and that sort of thing, he says when the Gentiles 07:14 sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God. 07:17 So Jesus is here saying, I want you, Paul, to turn them from the 07:22 power of Satan to the power of God and then he says that they 07:27 may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance. See the Jews 07:32 always treasured the fact that they were heirs, they would 07:37 receive of the inheritance. But here Jesus is saying help the 07:41 Gentiles to see that they are joint heirs. They are going to 07:45 receive the inheritance among those who are sanctified and it 07:51 says by faith in me. This is an interesting portion of this 07:55 passage because first of all it highlights the fact that it's 08:00 not through any ceremonial rites not through circumcision, 08:04 nothing like that that a person advances and becomes more pious 08:08 like the Jews may have thought. And it's also a lesson for 08:12 Christians who believe that we're justified, we're made 08:16 righteous, we find forgiveness from God by faith in Christ, but 08:21 when it comes to our growth, well our sanctification, that's 08:25 something that we've got to do. But this says that we're 08:28 sanctified the same way that we're justified, by faith in 08:32 Christ. When you think about sanctification, it's growth, 08:36 it's becoming like Christ. It makes me think of 08:41 II Corinthians 3:18 where the Bible says that we are changed 08:46 from glory to glory by beholding the glory of the Lord. 08:51 By beholding Jesus we're changed So faith in Jesus is what 08:56 changes us or sanctifies us, any of us, Jew or Gentile can 09:01 only be changed through Christ and this is the message that the 09:04 Apostle Paul is to share with the Gentiles. 09:06 That's right. So in verse 19 he continues there with his 09:14 experience here. Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient 09:18 to the heavenly vision but declared first to those in 09:21 Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of 09:25 Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, turn to 09:30 God and do works befitting repentance. So he says look 09:34 after this happened I could only be obedient and that's what I 09:38 did. Then he went on to describe the things that he did and in 09:41 verse 22 I want to point out what he says. Therefore, having 09:45 obtained help from God to this day I stand witnessing both to 09:49 small and great saying no other things than those which the 09:53 prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would 09:56 suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead and 10:00 would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the 10:02 Gentiles. In other words, he's saying, the only things I'm 10:06 saying are what the Jewish nation should have accepted 10:09 themselves. These are all the things that are in their own 10:12 scriptures. Right, their own writings teach 10:14 these things. So in verse 24 he makes his defense and it says 10:18 that Festus, after he made this, said in a loud voice, Paul you 10:23 are beside yourself. Much learning is driving you mad. 10:26 In other words, Paul, you're crazy and he doesn't say it 10:28 quietly, he bursts out, that's ludicrous. And Paul answers him 10:32 and says I'm not mad most noble Festus but speak the words of 10:37 truth and reason. It's interesting the ideal of turning 10:39 from darkness to light again. You know, Paul says in 10:42 I Corinthians chapter 1 that the message of the cross is 10:44 foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us 10:47 who are being saved it is the power of God. And here it is. 10:51 He's saying no Festus you have it wrong. I'm speaking truth and 10:54 reason here. Now it's interesting, and then he turns 10:58 to King Agrippa. He says for the king, he talks of King Agrippa 11:01 right here in his presence before whom I also speak freely 11:05 knows these things and I am convinced that none of these 11:07 things escapes his attention since this thing was not done 11:10 in a corner. He knows about this history, what happened with 11:13 Jesus. King Agrippa, he says, do you believe in the prophets? 11:17 I know that you believe. Then King Agrippa said to Paul, you 11:21 almost persuade me to become a Christian. So you see that 11:25 Agrippa is moved here by what he is hearing from Paul and Paul 11:28 is appealing to his sense of reason, his understanding of 11:31 Jewish custom and the fact that he can't help but see the 11:35 fulfillment of prophecy in what he has shared about Christ. 11:38 He says you almost persuade me. And I like Paul's answer. Paul 11:43 says in verse 29, I would to God that not only you but all who 11:49 hear me today might become both almost and altogether such as I 11:53 am except for these chains. Not almost Christians but altogether 11:59 Christians and when the time here concludes it says in verse 12:03 32, Then Agrippa said to Festus, this man might have been set 12:07 free if he had not appealed to Caesar. 12:09 But we know that that's not actually true. The reality is 12:14 that if he had not appealed to Caesar then Festus would have 12:17 let him go back to Jerusalem and they would have killed him on 12:20 the way. But there's another reason why and that's because 12:23 God had a plan for him and that plan was to go to Rome. And you 12:27 know what? God has a plan for each one of us and God has a 12:31 plan for you. Our hope is that through the study of the book of 12:34 Acts you'll come to understand that and that you will be 12:38 submissive like Paul was to God's plan. We look forward to 12:41 seeing you next time on Books of the Book. |
Revised 2014-12-17