Almost Persuaded (9th Anniversary)

And he was just getting out of college.

And so I know he looks really old, but he's not that old,

honestly. But I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

But I got into college and of course he was still on staff

there and, and we worked on the same bus route and some of the

same ministries. And then I graduated college and

worked for him for a year in the school there.

And then that's when I met my wife and she was a whole lot

prettier than he was. So I decided to, to go with her

instead of him and move down here to Virginia and became an

assistant pastor. But they in 2012 went down to

Belize and started a church down there as missionaries.

And of course, most of you know that that's the that's the

church that we are working with right now to establish a

missions hub down there in Belize and some amazing things

that things that God's doing with that.

But then God called them back in 2018-2019 to start a church in

Idaho. And I remember talking at the

time he said, I have no idea why God's calling us away from here.

I wanted to stay here for the rest of my life and start

churches in Belize. But God start called them to

Idaho and they were there for about 6 or 7 years.

I think they just had the 7th anniversary of the church and

turned that church over to his son.

And now they're going to Chicago to start churches in Chicago.

And boy, if there's any place that needs churches, it's

Chicago and some of the inner city areas.

And so they are, they're on deputation, they're raising some

support to, to start that church there in Chicago.

But I, I would get him to come anyway, whether he was on

deputation or not. And actually that's what he's

going to be doing tonight. He's talking to us a little bit

about that, that what, what God's called them to do in, in

Chicago there. But I'm glad he's here.

I'm glad he's my friend. Pastor Whitaker, if you come,

preach for us. It's really good to be here

again. And I enjoyed the presentation

on the history of the church and I preached for the church one

time when you were in the hotel and then preached here, I think

a year ago. And seems like there's been

other times I've been out here, but I don't remember.

But we've been friends. Friend.

The word friend is thrown around a lot too many times without

meaning. And but we've been friends,

sincere friends for for many, many years and I'm very

grateful. I'm also very stirred today

about the music. I've never seen such a small

choir produce such a great sound.

I told the preacher, you better get a a recording made of this

so I can listen to it when I drive down the road.

And anyway, I said about the young kids when they sang, I was

listening to him practice and I told pastor, can we have them

come to Chicago and sing just on our grand opening, You know, and

we can act like we have something, but don't overlook

what you have here. You have something really

special happening. So and then I heard the Misses

Sears speak. And I really want you to come

with us to Chicago. 6% approval rating right now for Brandon

Johnson. You could make it.

I hope you're going to spend time in prayer for her as she

takes on this awesome responsibility and the victory

that we know we need. We know that God, every time God

puts godly people in charge, it is his mercy upon a country that

has turned their back on God. And so we need this.

We need something done here. And really, Chicago is very

similar. We'd like to see as Chicago

goes, it leads a lot of the country in the wrong direction

normally and we'd like to see God do something.

But you know, there's a lot of people look toward Virginia and

you have a, when you went through the difficulties with

that transgender fella getting in the in the in the bathrooms

of the girls in the school, the rest of the country was

watching. And So what we do here and what

you're about to do and you can make an impact on a lot of

people in Virginia and around the region and certainly around

the entire United States. I want you to find in your

Bible. If you don't have one, there

should be a Bible nearby to the book of Acts.

Now the gospels begin the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke

and John, and then we have this book of Acts.

And when I was a little kid, I thought, well, that must mean

like an axe you chop a tree with wasn't too.

I wasn't too bright of a young kid.

Of course it means actions, actions.

It's it's it's full titles the actions of the apostles, the

Acts of the Apostles and what God did with these men who in

fear were gathered together after Jesus was crucified and he

rose again and then in fear they gathered together after his

ascension until the Spirit of God came down in chapter 2.

And from there the gospel went throughout all of the known

world of their time in preparation to spread throughout

the entire world. We'll never understand.

I don't think and exhaust its great words of this book.

I I love to read books. I'm reading through it.

My goal is to read it at least 10 times in a row.

I'm on number 7, and I've been just thrilled at what God has

done in this book. It's fascinating.

The entire Bible is a fascinating book.

I hope to get that across today. Go with me to chapter 26.

Chapter 26. We're going to take our text

from verse #2728 and 29 of chapter 26, Acts chapter 26.

Acts 26 · chapter mention

I had requested that we would sing that song, almost

persuaded, in preparation of this message.

Verse #27 of chapter 26. King Agrippa, believeth thou the

prophets? I know that thou believest.

Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost Thou persuadest me to be

a Christian. That's pretty sad words right

there. They're amazing words though,

that one of the greatest leaders of their region would come to

the place where they were just about ready to fall before on

their face before the sovereign God of heaven.

I wish some of our leaders would do the same, but Paul's response

is our response in verse 29. He said I would to God that not

only thou, but also all that, hear me.

He said, I want everyone to hear this.

Hear me, this day we're both almost and all together, such as

I am, except these bonds. He was in prison.

He was a prisoner appearing before them.

Let's have word of prayer and we'll bring some thoughts out of

this passage today. Heavenly Father, I pray again

that you would work and do a work here in the message.

Use this time together Lord, with your Holy Spirit's blessing

and power to do what we cannot do.

Please bless this Lord in Jesus name I pray Amen.

We as we examine the narrative of this passage, which begins

with Paul be getting arrested in chapter 21 and.

He concludes. The book all the way to chapter

28 and he ends the book as a prisoner.

We believe in history and judging from the pastoral

epistles and the later ones that he wrote, that he was able to

get out of prison and to actually have another missionary

journey that took him apparently through Spain.

And then what we have a record of him visiting then was called

Londonium even all the way through the conquered kingdoms

of the Roman Empire and the gospel spreading where he went.

And then he's gathered and betrayed by Alexander the

coppersmith and looks like intro as carried back to Rome.

And there he's kept in the Mammoth Time prison, which was a

little cave dug there in one of the hills of Mammoth Time Hill

next to the Palatine hill where they had started that as a

cistern. So in this.

Damp. Dungeon.

The Apostle gathers his pen and ink and pens the last of his

books, specifically Second Timothy, and he finishes his

course. And Nero, in his craziness

decides in his persecution to get rid of this troublemaker and

beheads the apostle Paul. It doesn't end his message

because it wasn't his message, it was God's message.

His message then is carried throughout all of the world and

even today through the efforts of God's people.

This narrative is part of that traveling from where he was

arrested in Jerusalem and he's carried up north and in Israel

still in a place called Caesarea by the sea.

It was the capital of the Roman capital as a as as Israel as a.

Client Kingdom under the. The the umbrella of Rome.

And they? Ruled from this seaport city of

Caesarea by the sea. And in our story we have several

people that come together. The ruler of this area, known as

a governor of kind of of sorts, is a man named Festus.

He is Portius Festus, the Roman governor of Judea, and he's the

one that arranged for a visiting king of the next areas.

Several of those areas, one of the descendants of King Herod

the Great. Actually, he's a great grandson.

But he is a Roman. Peer creator.

He's a just a ruler. He has come to this office

recently. Having taken the place of a man

named Felix, Felix is a freed slave.

Freed I I don't remember. I didn't look it up, but if my

memory serves me by the Emperor Tiberius freed Felix and then

put him into power. And Felix?

Is actually married to a lady named Drusilla, who is a sister

to King Agrippa. And so this is kind of like a

very tight knit. Group of people.

And we get into the. Herod's man, King Agrippa, is

part of the Herodian dynasty. His great grandfather was Herod

the Great. He's the one you read about in

the story of Christ's first coming being born.

And he's the he's the ruler of all of Israel.

He's taken the title of king from the Roman emperor.

Then it would have been Tiberius.

And so he gets this opportunity to try to eradicate the coming

Messiah and. Kills all the babies.

In Bethlehem, that's the same that you're thinking of.

And then it was his great, his son at Herod Antipas.

That is a problem. He is stolen his brother

Philip's wife and and he is preached.

At by John the Baptist. And you read.

About that in the. Gospels where John the Baptist

is then beheaded by by this King Herod, and that's King Antipas,

named I think after his grandfather Antipater and then

we. Have.

Really. What is a nephew?

King Agrippa? In history we call him King

Agrippa the First and he is the one that in Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

We find him killing James. The brother of John.

I mean, this is a bad family. I mean, this is this is no, no

play. You know, this is out for blood.

It is. It is worse than you think.

I mean, Herod the Great actually kills his wife Miriam and his

own son Aristobulus and his brother Alexander, all killed by

Herod the Great. And Aristobolus is, is Agrippa's

father. This is the kind of heritage

that these people have. The man that's in our.

Place here is is king. Agrippa, the second in history

and he is the then the great grandson, the son of King

Agrippa, probably that Agrippa name borrowed from named after

Marcus Agrippa, the great general who is the general who

wins all of the fights that Octavius is involved.

Octavius is not a general like his grandfather, his grand uncle

Julius Caesar. Octavius is the Caesar Augustus

of Luke chapter 2. They say what is this all about?

Luke 2 · chapter mention

I want you to know who we're speaking about for good reasons.

This is historically fits perfectly in the setting of

secular history. We have Nero in the capital of

Rome, and he is followed the Claudius Caesar, who took over a

bankrupt country or empire from Caligula, who took over and

inherited that from Tiberius, a dirty old man who took over from

Octavius Caesar, who's Augustus Caesar, whose battles had won it

from Julius Caesar. What a history.

And here is Christianity. And one of the.

Darkest times of all of history, one of the greatest nations, one

of the greatest empires of the world, but an empire filled with

all sorts of garbage and sin and indefinitely a full of false

worship and world, a world that had totally turned its back on

God and. The only hint of true.

Worship was among the Jewish. People and they had added.

Their. Works and replaced the faith in

the Lord Jesus Christ, the faith of old.

Time is where it says in Hebrews by.

Faith Enoch, and by faith Abraham, and by faith all of

these people. And then they replaced it by by

works by works by works. Instead of faith, ours all.

That you have to do to try to be good enough to get into.

God's presence never giving you the assurance, and it was never

intended by God himself. Breaking the silence.

Of 400 years of prophetic silence, the angels announced to

the shepherds the coming of the Messiah.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David.

The entire nation knew when the shepherds heard that after they

went and saw the child, they went and spread abroad all of

these. Sayings that it was known

everywhere then. Herod kills the babies in

Bethlehem, and having been warned, they go down into Egypt.

They come out back out of. Egypt, just as Herod has died,

and it is a sordid history. Christianity was not born in a

country like America founded on biblical principles.

It was born in dark times. Jesus has his ministry.

He does all that he does. He's crucified bears.

Our sins upon the cross. Rises again the third day.

And then sends his disciples who become apostles, sends them.

Away really to all the world to preach the gospel.

Paul is one of those apostles, not from the very beginning, but

in Acts Chapter 9 he comes to the Lord and has the Lord.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Appear unto him, and he becomes. One that is sent.

That's what the word apostle means.

It's a Greek word apostolos. It means to be sent.

You had the Lord's. Apostles and then you had Others

like Barnabas and Silas are called apostles, but they are

those that are sent by the. Church of Antioch at the time

ones that are sent. But here is this king.

He is pretty proud of himself. If you back up in the text, he

comes in and enters into. That area.

As it tells us with great pomp in the previous chapter, and he

comes in, it says with great pomp they came together.

And you know what it means is. He carried trumpet players.

And because trumpet, I play the trumpet, there's there's in an

orchestra, I hate to tell you this, but there are trumpets and

then there's accompaniment and, and we're.

We're glad you show. Up for us?

But he must. Have carried trumpet players.

That announced and his coming into the presence of.

This assembly together. For the purpose of hearing this

guy. That has caused all these

problems in Jerusalem. The entire city of Jerusalem is

in an uproar because of Paul and.

There are more than 40 people that have taken on them an oath

that they're not going to eat or drink until they've killed Paul.

That's a serious problem. Some time goes by and some years

actually, they had to break that oath, but they still want

they're out for his blood. And here's this King Agrippa.

He. Comes and there's an amazing

thing that happens, something that shouldn't happen to any of

the Herodian line. He is convinced of the truth of

God's Word. He comes to the place where.

When he is the invitation time of the message.

Was given. He's standing there.

You know, I know it's not a typical church service.

But if it were, if it. Were like in our day, we'd have

the piano playing a hymn of invitation and everybody

standing quietly with their heads bowed and their eyes

closed like we will at the end of the service and inviting

those that need to know about salvation and to receive Christ.

And he's standing there with one foot in the aisle saying, man,

everything in me believes this. I want this and there's there's

something to this and. Maybe there's some here?

That will by the. End of the service, you'll come

to that very point. It's an amazing thing.

Because he comes to that very point and then turns back.

What's amazing about that is he comes to the very brink of being

a child of God, having his sins washed away and knowing that

when he died, he would go to heaven for eternity.

And he gives all of that up for this earthly gain of what people

think about him and other things.

And he ends up spending his entire eternity.

In a burning fire of hell. And that's true about anybody

who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ.

What brought him to that place where he came so close?

I know we've had a lot of going on in this service and you've

been here a little while, but I'm going to point out just

three quick things that brought him to there and a couple things

I saw that drew him back. The first thing we.

See that brought him to this is the testimony of God's.

Word. It says here in our text, when

Paul was bringing him to that point, he said, King Agrippa,

believe us, thou the prophets, I know that thou believe us.

Then we know what he says. I've almost been persuaded.

Hey, my heart, my mind wants to believe this.

The prophecies of the Bible are an amazing group of scriptures.

It is a. It is a reference.

Of this that Paul is doing in his.

Sermon that he preaches if you go.

Back just as an example. In verse 22. 26. 22 Having

therefore obtained help of God, I continue to this day

witnessing both to the small and great, saying none other things,

and those which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that

Christ should suffer. That he should be the first that

should rise from the dead. And should show the light unto

the people and to the Gentiles. So Paul is in his sermon as

Peter does. In the in all of.

His preaching in the book of Acts, and he goes back to the

Old Testament and says the Old Testament predicted the coming

of the Messiah, and when the Messiah comes, this is what he's

going to do. And there are hundreds of very,

very important specific prophecies that are all

fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In fact, when you go into the Old Testament prophets hundreds

of years. Now if you put a year to it,

like the Psalms were written by David.

David lived about 1000 BC and so 1000 years the Psalms are

scattered. But even before that, the book

of Genesis speaks about the coming of the Lord.

The seed of the woman would be there in Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

But then in Genesis chapter 5, we have the entrance of the

Genesis 5 · chapter mention

Gentiles dwelling in the tents of Japheth would dwell in the

chance of Shem. And we have in chapter 22 that

God said, I will provide myself a lamb.

And in chapter 48, Jacob tells his sons, hey, Judah is going to

be the lawgiver, the ruler until Shiloh, meaning peace until

Jesus would come. And all in the book of Genesis

and then throughout every single passage of Scripture is pointing

here comes the Messiah. And when Jesus came, he didn't

miss. One of those prophecies he was.

Born in Bethlehem of effort to like Micah 52 says he was born

of a virgin. Like Isaiah Chapter 7 tells us

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

He was given every single title given in Isaiah Chapter 9 and

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

the government was upon his shoulder.

It was him that fulfilled all things.

In fact, so many things were fulfilled in Jesus Christ by

those who didn't believe the Bible.

I mean, when he's hanging upon the cross, the fact that he

would be crucified is from Psalm 22.

The fact that he would be on the cross and against their normal

custom, they didn't break his bones.

I mean, those Roman soldiers now, Roman soldiers, they don't

care a lick about the Old Testament.

They don't know anything from the Old Testament prize

passages. They had no idea what they were

doing. But yet when they went to the

cross, Jesus in the middle, a thief on this side and a thief

over here on this side, and they broke the legs of this man

because he may not be dead, see? And if you let him down off the

cross, maybe he'll leave. So we want to finish the job.

So we're going to break his legs.

Isn't that gruesome? You see, the cross was.

Designed to be one of the worst kinds of death possible.

And when the Lord talked about that in Psalm 22, when it was

recorded as prophecy, crucifixion had not even been

invented. That's how amazing the Bible.

Is. And they, they broke this man's

legs. And then they skipped Jesus and

they broke this guy's legs and then they went back to Jesus and

here's this Roman soldier saying, I think.

He's dead already. Do you think he's dead?

I think he's dead. Already and they poke at him

with their spear. Is he dead?

Yeah, he looks. Dead.

Hey, don't worry about breaking his bones, the other guy said.

Well let's make sure. And he picks up his spear and

they Pierce the side. By doing so, they fulfilled the

prophecies about not one bone would.

Be broken and the prophecy you can, you will.

Look on him whom you have pierced.

I mean, these prophecies are so specific that nobody else could

accidentally have fulfilled these prophecies.

No charlatan could have arranged this thing.

No, no Roman soldier in this kind of specificity could have

been paid off to accomplish. These things.

We're dealing here with the very specific nature of Old Testament

prophecy from a Scripture that's been inspired by God, preserved

by God, empowered by God. And when you read it, it's not a

dead word. It's alive and powerful.

And the Bible speaks about not just today how to live, but

about your future and eternity. And when this man came under the

knowledge of God's Word, the Spirit of God spoke to him.

And in spite of being the leader among a very wicked class of

people, he says, I believe he. Came right to the very door of

eternal life because of the testimony of scriptures.

Second thing. We see is that he came because

of the. Testimony of the Saint we notice

in this passage. Go back if.

You will in chapter 26 and go up a little ways up to verse

number. I think you'd have to read

maybe? Verse 9, Verse 9.

Go to verse 9. We'll read just a little.

Bit of this narrative I barely thought.

Paul is speaking with myself. That I ought to do many things

contrary to the name of. Jesus and Nazareth so Paul was

going out at. 1st as a Pharisee to.

Destroy those who believed in Christ.

He. Said in verse 10, which?

Things I also did in Jerusalem and many of the Saints.

I shut up in prison. That's a shame.

Having received authority from the chief.

Priests and. And when they were put to death,

I gave my voice against them. Maybe he's got.

Stephen in his mind. And I punish them often.

Every synagogue and compelled. Them to blasphemy.

When, when? When Paul later in First

Timothy. Says that he is the.

Chiefest of sinners. You can identify 13 very

specific things that Paul did before he was saved by hauling

men out. Of out of the houses.

I mean, he just went in their houses and he dragged them out

of their houses. To prison.

Why? Because they believed in Jesus

and continuing. In verse 11 and being.

Exceeding mad against them I. Persecuted.

Him, even under strange cities. Where upon?

As I went to Damascus with authority and Commission from

the priests at midday, O King, I saw.

Somebody bigger than me. In the way a light.

From heaven above the brightness of the sun.

Shining about the sun, about me and them which journeyed with

me. And when we were all falling to

the earth, I heard a voice speaking on to me, saying in the

Hebrew tongue. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou

me? It is hard for thee to kick

against the pricks. And he said, Who art thou, Lord?

And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.

Wow. He goes on to talk about this

and we'll. Go back to verse 18.

In a moment. But the fact is, what this man

did in front of this assembly was to tell the king, Well, let

me tell you what. Happened to me.

I was a Sinner. I believed, and I was headstrong

in my own false faith. I was believing in something

that wasn't from the Bible. I was believing the traditions

of men and I was very zealous to persecute those who believed.

In this name. And he said, But then I met

Jesus, something happened to me. This is.

Originally recorded in Chapter 9, but it's kind of Paul's way.

When he stood before Festus, when he was before Felix, when

he was before Agrippa, every time he had a chance before all

of the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin, he would talk about

the day when Jesus saved his soul.

There's a lot in religion today that talks about being

religious. There's a lot that talks about

knowing the scriptures and and there's a lot that talks about a

lot of things, but there's also a lack of belief in God's Word

concerning a personal introduction to Jesus Christ.

I once talked called one of the pastors of the leading

denomination in our town. And I was talking.

With him and I said, before you go, I wanted to know what you

thought. Do you believe that people need

each of us to come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ as our

personal savior? Do you believe in a personal

conversion? And this man of a leading

denomination of one of the churches in town, he said no, I

believe that is wrong. We just come to know a little

bit about Jesus at a time. Well, let me tell you what the

Lord. Said when he was here.

He was talking to Nicodemus and he said, Except ye be born

again, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom.

Of heaven. Friend, if you want to get to

heaven, what Paul is testifying here is not only to the truth of

Scripture, but it is to the truth of a personal salvation

experience. If you never get saved, you'll

never go to heaven. You don't wake up after you die,

and you're given another chance. Well, now that you know the

reality, why don't you? Accept Jesus.

My friend, the Bible talks about that when you die, you wake up

where you're going to be with God in heaven, or you wake up,

as Luke 16 tells us, he opened his eyes and he was in torment

in the flame of hell. The decision for this has to be

made while you're still here in this life.

Paul is testifying of that fact. And the only reason that this

works is because when Jesus died upon the cross as a sinless

Savior with the Son of God among us, He was dying to pay the

price and penalty for your sins, every single one of them.

And from all of creation, from the time that Adam and Eve

sinned, all the way till the end, every sin was judged upon

Jesus Christ. And friend, He put his life

there and sacrificed and bled and died and he was buried.

But three days later he came up out of that grave and he got the

victory over our sin, forever making a way for you to be

saved. But you have to have a.

Personal testimony of salvation. You've got to know Jesus.

If you die without this, you're doomed for an eternity.

I want you to think about that because our king Agrippa is

still burning in hell. This is almost 2000 years ago.

He died, but. We think between 80 and 90 AD he

died really having lost everything, and then he lost his

soul in Hell's fire. So I said there are three.

Testimonies. Testimony.

Scripture Testimony. Of this St.

But if you go. Down to verse 26 where we had

our text. 1. Verse Before where we started,

you'll find that there's a testimony of the Savior for the

King north of these things, before whom also I speak freely.

For I am persuaded that none of these things were hidden from

him. For thee this thing was not done

in the corner. So the testimony of Jesus, I

love history. I think you can tell by our

introduction that I study history and I love history.

And what I have found from secular history is that

everything that's recorded here is 100%.

Accurate that that there really. Was a Rome.

There really was a king Agrippa. There really was his sister

Bernice and Drusilla and Felix and Festus, and there really was

a Nero. Sitting over in Rome and.

He hasn't. Burnt down the city yet?

But but all of this is true and I don't just know that, but this

man knew living there. That Jesus testifies of himself.

All across the Roman Empire these things were discussed.

And in fact, Claudius had cast out all the Jews from to be cast

out of Rome. And.

Sooner or later we're going to have Nero.

Not quite yet, but Nero's about to take all of the believers in

Jesus who are now called Christians.

I think after chapter 12 of Acts.

And he's going to burn. Them to death.

He's actually going to dip some of them in wax and put them on a

post and light them on fire to provide light for the streets of

Rome in in a way to testify. You better not believe in this

Jesus. But you can try to persecute the

cause of Christ. You can try to silence it, you

can try to get rid of all the Bibles, but you cannot silence

the testimony. You will die.

And this will still be being preached, he said.

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word will not.

Pass away, Do you believe? So, I ask you, do you believe if

you died right now, where would you go?

Are you prepared for that to happen?

Do you believe? 333.

Things that caused. Him in the text.

To believe, and I'm going to point out just two that turned

him about face and ran him back into his wickedness.

The first one is sin. The first one is sin.

Boy, his sister's a wicked girl. She was married to their uncle

so she comes from a wicked family like a crooked man that

walks from a crooked house on a crooked Rd.

This Herodian family is disgusting.

When you when you. Study the family tree, it's a

real sordid group of people. Bernice divorced her husband,

Uncle Philip and was living in a relationship with her own

brother, full blooded brother, King Agrippa.

Oh, that's sick. It's a repugnance to us, isn't

it? By the way, she doesn't stay.

Even in that relationship by. 67 there's a.

Revolt and all of Israel will revolt against Rome and.

It takes three years. For that to.

Be put to put down and finally in 70 AD.

But first they send their great general, Vespasian and Bernice.

Leaves her brother. And becomes the mistress to

Vespasian when Nero dies from suicide.

He They had one year where they had four different emperors.

They call the year. 4 emperors and one general after another is

claiming the emperor's throne. And then when they all are

assassinated or killed and finally the last one left is

fighting a battle in Israel and they bring Vespasian back.

He's almost won the battle, he's surrounded the Temple Mount and

they call him back to become the emperor.

And so there's Bernice Stuck, and Vespasian puts his own son

Titus in. Charge of the.

Army and so Bernice. Becomes titus's mistress she is

a vile person of course, Titus then, after vespasian's death

and having destroyed the. Temple and come down.

And had his procession in in Rome itself.

He then becomes the emperor and is killed and his brother

Demetian takes over. Demetian is got the blood

dripping of thousands of Christians from his hands.

Sin. It is repugnant to us.

When we think of that incest, we sort of cringe like, oh, how

could people openly live like this?

By the way, that's what Rome thought of that at the time.

It wasn't accepted. It wasn't like, Oh yeah, that's

what we all do. We're all open minded.

I mean, we're all woke, you know?

Woke is an opposite. Word.

It's one of those things that are they're not woke, they're

blind. The present woke people are.

Blind to the truths of God's Word and those.

That have their eyes open are the ones whose eyes have been

opened by the light of. God's Word.

And here is this man whose sin is not enlightened.

It's wicked, and the people around him are cringing at it.

Sin, it's the word repugnant comes to my mind.

It's repugnant to us that a man would live with his own sister

as if she were his wife. It is a wickedness above all

wickednesses. But what we fail to see is that

the way that's the way God sees all of our sins, every little

lie, every little wrong thought, every proud look, every

deceitful thing the Lord says. That's repugnant to me.

And you cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven with that sin.

Now get this to get saved. You're on your way to hell and

you have to turn. I didn't say you had to do

anything. You just turn.

That's repentance. Repentance is not a work.

All you did, you were hating this way and you said I'm going

this way. What did you turn from?

Well, I turned from something I believe that wasn't true, and I

turned from sin. And if you don't turn from that,

you'll never be saved. Salvation involves first

repentance and then faith, believing in Jesus.

I look at verse 18, I mentioned that.

Earlier go back to 2618. In the.

Process of explaining. This Paul describes the

salvation. Experience.

He says, the Lord sent me for what?

To open their eyes, You know the Enlightenment to know, the

illumination to know. That you're a Sinner.

And that you need a Savior is God's work upon heart.

But look what he describes us as to open their eyes and to turn

them from darkness to light. That's that's the repentance and

from the power of Satan unto God, it's time to say, I want to

let go of that sin. And when Agrippa came to the

place where he believed what he was hearing was true, he looked

at his sister, looked at his sin and said, I am almost persuaded,

but I don't want to let go of my sin.

What is it that's going to keep you?

Keep reading? In verse 18, he says that they

may receive forgiveness of sins. Don't you want to be forgiven?

Finally, finally forgiven? Ever settled in heaven that your

sins are gone? Put not on my account, but on

the account of. Jesus Christ.

Who paid the price for you? But he says you have to turn to

him. And then he says you'll receive

forgiveness of sins and inheritance.

That means it's. Signed, sealed and delivered all

that I need for heaven right there in salvation, almost not

persuaded as me. He came to the very door of

faith and said, yes, I want to believe, but I don't want to let

go of my sin #1 #2. Is self man.

He kind of liked his money. He liked his proud position as

king. Not all of the client kingdoms

were permitted to. Have that title, in fact.

It was only. Given to three.

Of all the Herods. Many of them were called.

Tetrarchs and they weren't called.

Kings. It was only really given to

three of the Herods themselves. And, and this is the last one,

by the way, he is the last of the Herodian line.

But he wasn't willing to give up his pride.

I mean, he's a somebody in a great nation, an empire.

I mean, I, I, how would you like if you knew the king?

And he said, I'm a client king, but I'm a friend of the emperor.

I, I have seen him. I know him and I know the

senators in Rome and I know the important people.

I am a somebody and in this. Moment of decision when he

almost got saved, he. Turned from.

That and said I don't want to give up being a somebody and

instead he went to hell where he ends up being a nobody.

What are you going to? Be if you'll get saved.

The Lord transfers you from a child of disobedience to being a

child of His. In Ephesians 2, he raises.

You up to be in heavenly places. In Christ Jesus in Colossians 2

it says we are complete in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is an invitation that he makes come up hit her to John in

Revelation chapter 4 and verse one come and see and chapter 22

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

he says come and see the lamb the the wife of the bride.

I mean come and see the city. It is the invitation of Jesus

that He will make you to be somebody.

But not of yourself in what he wants to do in you.

If you are almost persuaded, it could be your sin that you're

not willing to turn from. That will take you to hell if

you're almost. Persuaded it could be.

Yourself worried about your pride worried about what

everybody you'll think about you in fact, in a moment we're going

to give you a chance to come and talk to somebody about salvation

and there's a feeling like hey I can't step out and come forward

because if I. Come forward, everybody around

me. Is going to know and friend

listen if you will. Just listen for a moment.

Everybody here wants you to come forward.

Everybody here wants you to be saved.

Everybody here loves you and cares for you.

Nobody wants you to die and go to hell.

But think about Hell's fire and think about its cost and its

consequences. Think about the eternity and its

definition, that it'll never end and you'll never have a

reprieve. And like this man Agrippa, he

got almost to the point of salvation.

And he refused because of his self.

And it is a shame that such a trivial thing is ourselves, our

pride, our position and the price.

Man, if I get saved my whole family, I'm going to lose this

woman that I've been with, right?

He needed to. Everybody would agree with that.

But you know what? He lost her eventually, in just

a few years, she ran off with somebody else.

She was utterly wicked, and he lost.

He's the last of the Herod's kings no more.

After him ruled. He died childless.

He existed in this world with all of its pageantry, but he'd

left this world without a whisper.

Except the old king Agrippa has died.

He lost his position. He lost his posterity.

He lost the pride, he lost the pomp, he lost his possessions,

and he ultimately lost his person in the burning fire of

hell. So does anyone who rejects

salvation. So what we're talking about is a

very serious issue. If you're here and you died

right now, do you know if you're going to heaven?

And if you do not know and you need to be saved, don't be

almost persuaded, almost persuaded.

Think of the words that we sang earlier, almost persuaded now to

believe, almost persuaded Christ to receive.

Seems now some soul to say. Go, spirit, go thy way.

Some more convenient day on the alcohol.

Those are the words of Felix. Almost persuaded.

Come, come today, almost persuaded.

Turn not away. Jesus invites you here.

Angels are lingering near. Prayers rise from hearts.

So dear O wanderer, come. The last verse says, almost

persuaded. Harvest is past.

You don't even know if this is your last chance.

Don't play with God. Almost persuaded.

Doom comes at last. Almost.

Cannot avail. Almost is but to fail.

Sad, sad, that bitter wail. Almost but lost in hell today.

King Agrippa cries out. Almost, almost, but lost.

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you

please bless this invitation and use it.

Pray for that soul that you're working on, hearts that you've

affected. I pray that we'd lose none today

with your heads bowed and your eyes closed.

If there's somebody here that says pastor, if I'd died right

now, I don't know if I'm saved, I don't know what'll happen to

me. I want to go to heaven, but I

don't want it, and I don't want to go to hell.

But I'm not sure. Would you please pray with

nobody looking around? I just want to pray for you.

My prayer can't save you, but I'm going to pray that God will

help you to understand it. And if you say, pastor, I need

to be saved, pray for me. Would you just lift your hand

up? I'm not going to call you out,

Just lift your hand up where you're at.

Thank you. I see that hand next.

Somebody else say put there. I see that hand.

Amen. You can put your hand down.

Anybody else, Pastor, pray for me.

If I died right now, I don't know if I'm going to heaven.

Anybody else, somebody else raise their hand, say I need to

be saved, pray for me. Include me in that prayer.

Don't be almost. I'm almost persuaded that I need

to be saved. Almost, but lost.