Acts 26

the stage real quick so that you can get caught up and maybe frustrated as well,

along with everyone else. When Paul returned to Jerusalem from his missionary journeys,

his opponents falsely accused him of treason, both against the Jewish state and against the

Roman laws. So he's tried first in the court of public opinion before a mob in Acts chapter 22.

Acts 22 · chapter mention

He's then tried before the Jewish council in Acts chapter 23. After a plot to assassinate him is

Acts 23 · chapter mention

uncovered, he's moved to Caesarea to be tried by the Roman governor Felix in Acts chapter 24.

Acts 24 · chapter mention

Felix finds nothing worth punishing in him, but he's hoping to get a bribe from Paul,

so he keeps him in prison for two years. But after those two years, Felix is recalled to Rome

and is replaced by a new governor, Festus, who in Acts chapter 5 examines Paul.

Acts 5 · chapter mention

Festus found Paul innocent in the Roman system, but he has no knowledge of the Hebrew system,

and so he doesn't know how to deal with that one way or the other, those religious charges.

So we're in a quandary here, and to get the ball rolling, Paul appeals to Caesar for justice. He's

been in prison for two years. Caesar's kind of like the Supreme Court in the ancient Roman world,

and so he can get a hearing with him and finally get his case disposed. But Festus can't just send

a prisoner to Caesar without any indication of why the prisoner is coming to him, and since he's not

guilty of anything in the Roman system, he has to give him some sort of religious charge in the local

laws. But again, he doesn't know what to do with that. And so he brings in Agrippa, and that's where

we've come. We've already heard Paul defend himself a few times now. Why another? And we're not just

slogging through another repetition of the same thing over and over again. Today, this passage is kind of a

climax of sorts. You see, Paul defended himself often, but he's never been able to defend himself

fully. Every other time he's defended himself, someone else has set the agenda. Someone else

either directed the flow of the conversation, they interrupted, or they otherwise ran the conversation.

Paul had never got a chance to make his full defense until now. Have you ever had something

important to say in a conversation, but you just can't get it in there? You're bringing it up, you're

leading up to it, and then someone interrupts or changes the topic, or a crowd walks into the room

and completely just tramples over your conversation? That's what's been happening to Paul. He keeps

getting interrupted. The crowd shouted him down in Acts chapter 22 before he could get to his core

Acts 22 · chapter mention

message. In Acts chapter 23, the council gets off into a religious debate before they ever get to hear

Acts 23 · chapter mention

what he has to say. They're arguing about the resurrection before he can invite them into the

resurrection life with Christ. His defense before Felix keeps him busy against the Roman charges,

but never gets to the reason that he's actually there. So he's been able to defend himself against

the accusations, mob justice, but he's been continually blocked and barricaded from doing the thing he's

actually in Israel to do. To call dying people to a living Savior. And with that in mind, he begins his

address in verse 1. So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul

stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa,

I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you

are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me

patiently. So who is this Agrippa? And why is Paul happy to talk to him? This is Herod Agrippa II.

Now if the name Herod sounds familiar to you, you're not far off. He's the grandson of Herod the Great

from Jesus' birth narrative. Not an altogether lovable man, if you'll recall from that account.

The Herod family were puppet kings instated by the Roman government to kind of placate the Jewish

people. They appointed the high priests and were generally involved with keeping the populace calm

through the religious control of the religious leaders. And as such, they were actually quite

knowledgeable of the Jewish religion. And so he's a very capable person to hear Paul's religious

defense. He represents both the Jews and the Romans. And so kind of he is the world leader in the sense

here. And so that's why Paul says he's fortunate to defend himself before Agrippa. He already has the

background to know whether or not Paul is teaching against Jewish law. And unbeknownst to Agrippa,

it also serves as the launch pad for Paul's real mission to invite him to join him with the

resurrected Savior. That's his purpose. So Paul continues in verse 4,

my manner of life from my youth spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem is

known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to

the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my

hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly

worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by the Jews, O King. Why is it thought

incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? Paul was a Jew. He was the strictest kind of Jew.

And his belief in Christ's resurrection was in line with exactly those strict beliefs. But the other

Orthodox Jews were saying that he's going off the rails. And his reply is, I'm the only one still on the

rails. Why would anyone be surprised when the God who spoke the universe into being, who rules the

nations, parted the seas, raised his son from the dead? Especially when that's exactly what he promised

to do. What was inconceivable for Paul was that the Jews who so fervently prayed for God's fulfillment

of the promises would accuse him of being faithless when he's the one who believed those promises.

The Jews believed in the resurrection, fervently hoped for it, but then rejected Paul's conviction

that it had begun in Christ. And don't we hope for resurrection as a society? Even if we don't give

voice to that hope. We don't talk about it, but we show that it's on our mind all the time.

We have shrines to vitality in our spas and our gyms. We eat foods with antioxidants. We've created the

heaven of retirement. We've removed death from our sight by sending people to die in hospices out of

sight. We don't even say someone died anymore. We have all sorts of other words and phrases that we like

to use instead. These all reveal just how much we hate death. We love life and long for resurrection.

But it's not always by distancing ourselves from it. That's what we do. Some cultures think the ancient

Egyptians spend lots of energy on solving death. They build great monuments and incredible religious

systems to avert death, to conquer it through their incantations. Whether we ignore it or can't

stop thinking about it, either way, the hope of every human culture at every time is that immortality,

is the hope of resurrection. It is in our hearts. We long for it. And what Paul is saying here amounts

to this. The God of Israel has promised that he would defeat death. And now he has done it in Christ.

So how can I be the faithless one for celebrating that? That's not how Paul's life started out.

Read with me in verse 9.

I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving

authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.

And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme.

And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

So far from embracing the news that God had begun the resurrection from the dead in Christ Jesus,

Paul originally hated him, hated his people. He spent his days trying to kill the young Christian

movement. And Paul wasn't content to simply end his pursuit of Christ in Jerusalem.

He wanted to stamp out the name of Jesus from the face of the earth. And to that end, he traveled to

foreign cities. But on one of these journeys, on a road to Damascus, it wasn't Jesus' name that was

stamped out at all. It wasn't Christ's name that perished. It was Paul's. He explains in verse 12.

In this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun that shone around me

and those who journeyed with me. And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me

in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Is it hard for you?

To kick against the goads. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are

persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose,

to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I

will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you,

to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to

God so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith

in me. Finally, Paul gets to say what he has been in Jerusalem and in Caesarea in prison for two years.

This is what he came to say. Here's his message. He went to Damascus to stamp out Christ's name.

But Jesus' name wasn't eradicated in Damascus. Paul's was. He traveled to foreign cities with his

original name, Saul, to stamp out the name of Christ from the world. He left still traveling to foreign

cities, but with the name Paul. And now to proclaim the name of Christ to the whole world.

He had hoped in the resurrection, and now he had seen the blinding glory, physically blinding glory of the

resurrected Christ. And it was that light that he would spread to the whole world. The hope of the resurrection

was for everyone who longed for life, real life, life that is renewed, life that lasts. And we see that

hope alive and well today in our society. The answer to that life is not found in spas or gyms or

antioxidants. It's found in Jesus Christ himself. In the words of verse 18, Paul had his own

eyes opened to see that Jesus was the great hope promised in God's prophets. He had turned the

darkness, or excuse me, Paul had turned from the darkness of Satan's plan, making war against God,

into the light of God's presence. One who said, let there be light, and I am the light of the world.

He received forgiveness for his murderous sins and became holy through his faith in Christ.

Paul is telling Agrippa, I went to Damascus to destroy the name of Jesus. Instead, my old life,

my old prominent position, my old war against Christians, even my old name Saul, that's what

was destroyed. I have a new name, a new life, a new mission. And what is Paul's new mission?

It's to proclaim this message of the risen Lord, to deliver new realities to anyone who will hear.

First, to open people's eyes, verse 18, to the beauty of the Lord, to show them that he alone is

the hope for new life, for lasting life, for life lived with real purpose. To tell them, secondly,

to turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, only when God opens our eyes

to see that Jesus is Lord, that he is beautiful, that he is worth living for, will we be able to turn

away from our darkened ways towards God? When we live on our own path, we won't, we don't have the light

of the resurrection life. Only when we're living to God does this light and life shine on our path.

So, if you're not a Christian today, you need to live to God for that to happen. There is no other

way. And if you are a Christian today, but you're walking on a darkened path that is one away from

him, you will not be experiencing his resurrection life until you return to him.

Third thing we see in verse 18. The third new reality is that the power of sin might be completely

broken in us. If you read carefully, you'll see that there are two things going on. First,

that they may receive forgiveness of sins. God is completely and forever undoing the guilt of sin

in those who enter into Christ's resurrection life. And secondly, a place among those who are being

sanctified by faith in me. That resurrection life is a life where the power of sin no longer reigns.

I want to pause here and point out something very important from verse 14.

When Jesus first spoke to Paul in verse 14, he asked a very interesting question. He said,

why are you persecuting me? Paul was hurting Christians, not Christ himself. So what's going on there?

When Jesus makes you his, he identifies himself so closely with you that an attack on you is an attack

on him. The metaphor the Bible often uses is one of marriage. Jesus is the groom, the church is bride,

and he has wedded our fortunes together. We have his unimaginable love and riches. He has our suffering.

This means that if you're suffering today and you're a Christian, no matter what's going on and how alone

you feel, you're not alone. Your sufferings are his sufferings. His tears fall next to yours.

And the redemption he is working in this world, he is going to work in you. That's the only way Paul

could waste away for two years and still give this defense happily before Agrippa.

Christian, your sufferings do not belong to you alone. They belong to Christ.

Christ. Now, this isn't the main point of Paul's speech here. So we do have to move on. But if you

need to hear more of this message, if this has struck a chord with you, if you're a Christian who

needs more of that particular light today, or if you're not a Christian and this message is drawing

you towards a God who cares enough to walk alongside you, talk to me, one of the other pastors here at

Trinity, so we can explore it with you. I don't want to move on before we've said that.

But then again, that is not Paul's main thrust here today. So we are going to move to verse 19.

Verse 19.

To this day, I have had the help that comes from God. And so I stand here testifying both to small

and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. That the Christ

must suffer, and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our

people and to the Gentiles.

If you're not familiar with Christian lingo, you might not know what we mean when we say the word

testimony. Typically, when we say the word testimony, we're referring to someone's story of

their old life, how they came to meet Christ, and what their new life is after they've met Christ.

So it follows a pattern of, this is how I was, this is how I came to know Jesus, and this is my life now.

Often, it ends with, and now life's great.

I once heard a song that characterized it this way, saying,

And now I'm sunny with a high of 75, since you took my heavy heart and made it light.

Now, there's quite a bit of truth to that lyric.

Christ radically transforms our lives, so we can look at everyday situations and see joy.

But, anyone who's been a Christian

for more than an hour knows that that's not all our life is.

Sunny with a high of 75

is a nice sentiment, but it's our future hope.

It's not always our present experience.

And Paul's testimony

doesn't end with, and now my life is so great.

Here's what he says. He says,

Here's what I was like.

Zealous for the Bible, and zealous to persecute Christians.

Then he moves to how he met Jesus.

Stopped in his tracks.

But he doesn't focus the end of his testimony story

on, now everything's great.

He focuses on,

Now I obey.

He concludes his testimony,

not with how great his life is,

but how he has turned from his old life,

that is repentance,

and lives in line with God's will.

That's obedience.

Paul's resurrection life

is a life of resurrection obedience.

And Paul's message

wasn't just about his own obedience.

It has impacts for us,

because it requires us

to live a life,

everyone to live a life,

performing deeds

in keeping with their repentance.

That's how he says it.

So how do you know

if you're a faithful Christian or not?

Not because you call yourself one,

or because you show up at church.

We all know words are cheap.

It's no special thing,

doesn't take resurrection life

to arrive here on a Sunday morning.

We know we're Christians

when our lives are changed

and we obey Christ.

One pastor put it this way,

one of the first marks of our conversion

is that we obey Jesus Christ.

Are you obeying Jesus?

Jesus said,

why do you call me Lord, Lord,

and do not do what I say?

And I love how he puts it this way.

People who have heard the voice

of Jesus Christ,

just do not ignore it.

We receive today

the voice of Jesus Christ

through Paul and his testimony.

Will you hear it?

Or will you ignore it?

The two men in front of Paul

hear it

and respond in two different ways.

Verse 24.

As he was saying these things

in his defense,

Festus said with a loud voice,

Paul,

you are out of your mind.

Your great learning

is driving you out of your mind.

But Paul said,

I am not out of my mind,

most excellent Festus,

but I am speaking true

and rational words.

Festus here interrupts Paul

to tell him

how crazy this all sounds.

He's actually doing

two things here,

probably.

First,

he's rejecting the gospel.

He's saying,

you're insane,

this makes no sense,

I want no part of it.

And that's

absolutely part of his philosophy,

but he's also

probably doing something else too.

He's giving Paul an out.

It would be truly crazy

for Festus

to send a madman

to Caesar

and waste Caesar's time like that.

That would be

political suicide.

So,

if Paul is crazy,

he can get rid of this problem

altogether

and just put him away.

But Paul

doesn't

take

the out.

He could be done,

but he doesn't.

He's concerned about

someone else

and their reaction

to the message.

Verse 26.

He turns

away

from Festus

and towards Agrippa

and he says,

for the king,

that is Agrippa,

knows about these things

and to him

I speak boldly.

For I am persuaded

that none of these things

has escaped his notice.

For this has not been done

in a corner.

King Agrippa,

do you believe the prophets?

I know that you believe.

And Agrippa said to Paul,

in a short time,

would you persuade me

to be a Christian?

And Paul said,

whether short or long,

I would to God

that not only you,

but also all who hear me

this day

might become such as I am.

Except for these chains.

What's interesting

to note here

is that Paul

has stopped

defending himself.

He has turned the tables

and he has put

Agrippa

on trial.

While Festus thinks

the idea of resurrection

is insane,

Agrippa,

familiar

with God's promises

to Israel

and well aware

of what Jesus did

all over Israel,

couldn't escape

this conclusion.

Jesus

had perfectly fulfilled

all of God's prophecies,

centuries of them,

in his ministry.

and finally,

in Jerusalem,

he had defeated death

for all mankind.

But,

believing that the resurrection

happened

is not enough.

Agrippa heard these things

and may have believed them.

He didn't even try

to refute them.

But instead of repenting

and turning towards God,

he dodged the question

with a question

of his own.

In a short time,

would you persuade me

to be a Christian?

He said.

It's not enough

to believe

that Christianity

is true.

You can go through

your whole life

believing it's true

and that Jesus

is risen from the dead.

But if you,

in verse 20,

don't repent,

turn to God,

performing deeds,

keeping with your repentance,

you have no part

with Christ.

If that's you today,

if you know Christ

is risen,

I'm so scared for you.

If you know Christ

is risen,

but you haven't repented,

haven't turned

towards God,

aren't living a life

of resurrection obedience,

you are at the same

crossroads

as Agrippa.

God has set,

he has set before you

life and death.

Blessing and curse,

therefore,

choose life.

This was me,

personally,

for many years.

I grew up

in a Christian home.

I believed

that Christianity

was true,

that Christ was risen

from the dead,

that he was the Lord,

that he was coming

back again.

I believed

that he offered

life

to all who

would come to him,

turn from themselves,

turn towards him.

And I didn't want to.

I wanted to live

for me.

In his

great grace,

he was patient

with me.

He kept me

breathing

until a day

when he had

finally softened

my heart enough

that I could

repent.

I had the time.

Will you?

Paul is on trial

for his life.

Festus

gives him

an out.

Not guilty

by reason

of insanity,

basically.

But Paul

is concerned

with someone else.

It's not

his own life

that concerns him.

It's

Agrippa's

soul

that he cares

about.

He throws

his chance

at freedom

away

to pursue

Agrippa's

heart.

He puts

his life

on the line

to obey

Christ's

instruction

in verse 18

to open

their eyes

so that they

may turn

from darkness

to light

and from

the power

of Satan

to God

so that they

may have

resurrection

life

in Christ.

And the crazy

thing here is

here,

Paul didn't

like

Agrippa.

This wasn't

oh, I'll do

a favor

for my

buddy,

I'll stick

my neck

out for

a loved

one.

No,

no,

anything but.

Agrippa,

again,

he's the

puppet king.

He's run

by the

Roman government.

He was a

pretender

to the throne

of Israel

and an

offense

to people

like Paul

who were

zealous

for the

Jewish

religion.

It would

be like

if Russia

invaded the

United States,

Vladimir Putin

installed an

ex-KGB

agent as

our president

and then

he had a

dynasty of

presidents

who persecuted

Americans

generation after

generation.

That's

basically

the Herod

dynasty.

We wouldn't

think too

kindly of that

man standing

in the shoes

of George

Washington

and Abraham

Lincoln carving

his face

onto Mount

Rushmore.

And that's

the man

for whom

Paul is

throwing away

his chance

at freedom.

It didn't

matter to

Paul that

Agrippa was

a pretender

king.

It didn't

matter to

Paul that

he was a

puppet of

the Roman

government.

What mattered

to Paul was

this.

Agrippa was

a man who

needed his

eyes opened,

who needed

to turn

from darkness

to light,

who needed

to turn

from Satan

to God,

who needed

to receive

forgiveness

of sins,

who needed

resurrection

life.

Agrippa's

soul was

worth more

to Paul

than Paul's

life was.

And your

soul is

just as

important.

It's just as

precious.

And I'm not

risking my

life here

today.

but I am

pleading with

you.

Be

reconciled

to God.

It is more

important.

It is more

important than

life and

death.

And if you

belong to

Christ today,

I wonder,

would you do

the same

as Paul?

Paul,

resurrection

obedience

is first

obedience to

report the

resurrection of

Jesus Christ.

Will we

risk doing

uncomfortable

things to

share the

gospel with

people we

don't naturally

like?

or will

we let

that get in

the way of

our

resurrection

obedience?

Now, if

you don't yet

belong to

Christ, you're

probably asking

a question

much like

Agrippa's.

How can

we believe

Paul's

testimony?

How do we

know it's

true?

Resurrection

from the

dead is,

as Festus

said,

insanity.

There are

two kinds

of witnesses

that I

tend to

believe.

First, I

believe something

when I see

its effects.

We see the

effects of

Christ's

resurrection in

Paul's life.

He threw

away all of

his prestige,

everything he

had.

He counted

loss.

He was in

prison for

two years

just to make

this speech.

I think it's

fair to say

there was a

dramatic effect

of Christ's

resurrection in

his life.

And second,

I believe

witnesses whose

throats are

slit for their

testimony.

We don't read

about it here,

but Paul,

like most of

the other

apostles, was

martyred for

their testimony

to Jesus

Christ.

If you're

willing to

tell a message

that brings you

nothing but

pain, I'm

inclined to

believe you.

But not

Agrippa.

We read in

verse 30,

Then the

king rose,

and the

governor,

and Bernice,

and those who

were sitting

with them.

And when they

had withdrawn,

and they said

to one another,

this man is

doing nothing to

deserve death or

imprisonment.

And Agrippa

said to Festus,

this man could

have been set

free if he

had not appealed

to Caesar.

Instead of

answering Paul,

Agrippa

stands up

and walks

away.

He declared

Paul innocent,

but the

tragedy is

that he

didn't take

the time to

render judgment

on himself.

He heard the

message of

Christ, he

knew its

truth, and

he avoided

its implications

for himself.

And as a

result, he

was in a

far worse

position than

Paul was

sitting in

prison in

chains.

If you're not

a Christian

today, I

plead with

you.

I plead with

you.

Do not

stand with

Agrippa any

longer.

Agrippa.

And if

you're a

Christian, I

plead with

you.

Don't be

comfortable when

others around

you stand

with Agrippa.

The only

safe place to

stand is

with Christ.

Will you pray

with me?

Father in

heaven, you

have given

us access

to your

life,

resurrection

life in

us.

I pray

that anyone

here who

has not

heeded

Paul's

words,

would turn

to you.

From

darkness to

life, from

themselves to

you.

And Lord, I

pray that they

would not

stand with

Agrippa, even

if it feels

comfortable, it

is a

crossroads,

slowly

succumbing to

a flood that

will drown

them.

Lord, I

pray for

those of

us who

do know

you, who

do have

your

resurrection

life.

Lord, that

we would

be men

and women

of

resurrection

obedience,

and that

we would

not pass

Agrippa by,

but seek

him out,

risk

ourselves,

to draw

others into

your

resurrection

life and

resurrection

obedience.

We pray

these things in

Jesus Christ's

name, and

for the sake of

his glory,

amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Would you

stand and sing

with me?

Amen.