SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 6, 2026 "Reflections from Deflections" Acts 26:24-32

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God bless.

Football is back.

I don't know if you're excited about it.

I'm excited about it.

Let me.

Quick story.

When I was in high school, believe it or not, I played quarterback.

Now, there were several problems with that.

First of all being, I wasn't very good.

Among the list of other problems, though, with me playing quarterback was one is I'm short.

And as the problem with short quarterbacks, if you don't know football, is often you have to pass, and to pass when the guys in front of you are so much taller and bigger than you could present issues.

A lot of times the ball will be deflected at the at the line of scrimmage and it won't go where you want it to go or anything like that, unless you get a clear passing lane or you roll out and get you.

There's all kinds, there's things you can do, but makes it a little more difficult.

Today in our passage, what we're gonna see happening is Festus, the governor of the area, and Agrippa, the king of Judea, they are going to deflect the truth that Paul is sending their way, just as a defensive or offensive lineman can deflect a pass at the line of scrimmage, they're gonna deflect.

And what we want to do today, our hope is that we can learn from those deflections that they of the truth that they present.

So remember where we are in Acts chapter 26.

Acts 26 · chapter mention

Paul is standing to present a defense of the gospel.

He's really not defending what he has done.

This he's not on trial.

Um really what is happening is Festus uh has come to Paul and and he is he's sending Paul to Rome to Caesar, and he he needs a charge and he can't find one.

So he's asked Agrippa to come.

So Paul is standing before Agrippa and Festus and just kind of telling his story.

Two weeks ago, we saw how Paul talked about the hope that he has in Jesus.

It's not a new hope, but it is an old hope that Jesus is the fulfillment of the covenants and the promises of Israel.

And then he went on and told his story.

He told how God had called him to be a servant of the kingdom of God and how God had called him to be a witness to the kingdom of God.

He had called him to witness about what God had done, and in obedience, he did that.

He went around Jerusalem and then around the world preaching repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with your repentance.

The last few weeks, that's been our challenge as well.

But today, what we're gonna see is Agrippa and Festus reject the truth.

They're gonna reject the gospel that is being presented.

And for us, while we may not uh we may not uh have the opportunity to stand and hear the truth from Paul.

Or we may not be like Agrippa and Festus and have the opportunity to hear in such a setting.

We may not be Paul, where we have an opportunity to share in such a setting.

But for us, here's what I hope we see is I hope when when we are faced with the truth of the gospel, we will face the truth of the gospel.

Here's what I mean.

I hope when we are faced with the truth of the gospel, what we do is consider that truth.

We don't automatically deflect away and try to get our attention turned to another place, but we focus on the gospel message that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, that the world had been waiting for.

Our challenge, I've already said, same that it's been for the last two or three weeks.

The point of Paul's message, the point of Paul's ministry, repent.

Turn to God, performing acts that keep with our repentance.

Today, what I think we can do in this passage is learn some lessons.

Learn a lesson from Festus, learn a lesson from Agrippa, and learn a lesson from Paul.

So I invite you, if you are able, to stand with us as we give honor to the reading of God's Word.

Acts chapter 26, we'll begin reading in verse 24.

Acts 26 · chapter mention

And 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'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

The king knows about these, and to him I speak boldly, for I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice.

For this has been done, 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.

Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.

And when they had withdrawn, 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.

Let's pray together.

God thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity that we have now to open your word, to engage with your word.

And God, as you have revealed yourself to us through your word, we pray that we will see you this morning.

Jesus, it's in your name that we pray.

Amen.

So we're looking at lessons that we can learn from this passage today.

Well, first, let's let's let's let's deal with Festus.

Let's deal with the governor and see lessons that we can learn from him.

I think what we can learn here is this do not dismiss the truth because we don't understand it.

Do not dismiss the truth because we don't understand it.

We know that that Festus is not, he is not understanding the message of Paul.

We've seen it.

We saw it back in Acts chapter 25, and Acts chapter 25 is the first time we're introduced to this Agrippa.

Acts 25 · chapter mention Acts 25 · chapter mention

He comes and he meets Festus, and Festus begins to explain to him how the Jews are coming to him and wanting him to bring charges against Paul and how he is listening to them.

But here's what he says about Paul to Agrippa in Acts 25, 19.

Rather, they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive.

Now listen to verse 20.

Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding them.

It blows his mind that Paul has come and said Jesus was dead, but now he's alive.

He can't fathom it.

He can't understand it.

When we were in this passage just a few weeks ago, we talked about how Paul wrote to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians and how he said that Gentiles would call the gospel message folly or even foolishness.

And Infestus's mind, this is folly and foolishness that Paul would come and he would preach repentance for this, that he would preach repentance because Jesus has arisen from the grave.

Here's how much folly and foolishness he thought it was.

As Paul was speaking, he shouted out to Paul, Paul, you have lost your mind.

Paul, you're a learned man.

You're pretty intelligent, but your intelligence is causing you to lose your mind.

There is no way, Paul, what are you doing?

Why would you be proclaiming this?

Now, what we're going to see Paul do here is very interesting because he's going to look at Festus and he's going to say, hey, this isn't crazy.

I'm speaking to you rationally.

But at that point, he turns his stare, he turns his point back to Agrippa.

And his focus goes back to Agrippa.

But here's Festus still over here.

Now, while Paul turns his focus to Agrippa, we know what Paul would say to people who think he's crazy because of the resurrection.

We've seen him say it.

Back in Acts chapter 17, Paul went to the Areopagus, speaking to philosophers, great minds, the great minds of those times when he was in Athens.

Acts 17 · chapter mention

He went to the Areopagus and he was invited to go there and share Jesus.

And so he goes up there and on his way, it tells us that he sees all of these idols, all of these idols around, but he comes up and there's one idol to an unknown God.

And so Paul addresses these great minds, and here's what he says this is the Grant Stigall version.

He says, You are very religious people, but your religion isn't working.

Your religion is not enough.

And here's how he knows that.

Because they had to make an altar to an unknown God just in case.

Just in case they missed one.

They had to make an altar to him just in case, because their religion is not enough.

So here's what Paul did.

He introduced them to his God, the creator of the universe, who was providentially working in their lives and deserved to be worshipped because he was raised from the grave and coming back to judge.

But even then, those on the Areopagus, even then, they dismissed him because they didn't understand.

They got angry, Paul had to leave under threat.

They dismissed because they didn't understand.

Here's my question to this, though.

Why didn't they just investigate a little bit?

When Paul is standing before Agrippa here, they're in Caesarea.

Had been in Jerusalem.

Jesus, no, not Jesus, Paul and Festus had been in Jerusalem.

They're in Caesarea.

Jerusalem, it's a couple of days' travel, but it's not crazy to think they can go back to Jerusalem.

The religious leaders there, the Jewish leaders there who are bringing charges against Paul, all they would have had to do to end this whole argument, there's only one thing that they would have had to do.

Do you know what it is?

Take them to the tomb and show his body.

If they would have taken any of these leaders to the tomb and said, there's Jesus right there.

That's his bones.

He didn't come back to life.

The argument is over.

Christianity is done.

But they didn't do that.

Why didn't Festus even just take the time?

Okay, Paul, you say he's risen, you guys say he's not.

Just show me his body.

They couldn't.

Because it wasn't there.

Here's the other thing.

They couldn't even insert another body because we're talking 20, 30 years down the road when Agrippa is, when they're meeting with Agrippa here, but about 27.

I mean, Agrippa wouldn't have known.

They could have taken him to anybody, right?

Hey, you see that body?

It's not really Jesus.

That's Jesus.

I mean, they could have done that.

Why didn't they just do that?

Here's why.

Because so many people had seen the resurrected Jesus that if they had lied about that being Jesus' body, they would have had more than enough witnesses to come in and say, that's not his body.

We saw him.

There was too much evidence that Jesus had actually arisen from the grave.

If you look at the argument of the Jews, they are not arguing that Jesus did not arise.

They just don't want people to preach it.

They don't want the apostles to preach the resurrection.

They don't want Paul to preach the resurrection because if the resurrection was true, Jesus was actually the Messiah.

Why not just take a moment and investigate?

Why not just take a moment and consider?

But no, instead, what they do is dismiss because they don't understand.

And the Jews just dismiss because it wasn't what they wanted.

It wasn't what they were looking for.

Hear me.

We have a tendency to do the same thing.

Then you're not going to understand everything there is to know about God.

You're not.

But hear me say this: that's a good thing.

If you could understand everything there is to know about God, he would not be much of a God.

He is way too big for us.

But I'm not asking you this morning to put blind faith in him.

Here's what I'm asking you to do: consider the gospel message.

Don't just dismiss because we don't understand.

Stop and consider the message of the gospel.

That Jesus was God's son.

That he came to this earth.

That he lived, that he died, that he arose so that we could have life.

Consider the message.

Don't be like Festus and just dismiss it.

And dismiss the truth because he didn't understand it.

Second lesson I think we can learn this morning is this don't excuse the truth because we're confronted with it and don't like the confrontation.

Don't excuse the truth because we're confronted.

See what happens, Paul, again, like I've mentioned, he leaves Festus and he begins to focus on Agrippa.

Look, he even he says to Agrippa, he says right here in verse 26, he's talking to Festus, but he's talking towards Agrippa.

He says, For the king knows these things.

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.

To which Agrippa responds to that and says, In a short time, would you persuade me to be a Christian?

Listen, here's what's happening.

Agrippa has had a lot of experience of excusing truths that he doesn't like.

Way back in Acts, in Acts chapter 12, is the first time we don't see this Agrippa, we see his dad.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

Here's what happens with his father, and he's a grown child when this happens in Acts chapter 12.

Acts 12 · chapter mention

His father has James the apostle put to death.

And he's trying to do the same with Peter.

He has Peter in prison, and he's wanting to do the same with Peter, but an angel miraculously rescues Peter.

And then Agrippa goes at the end of this, at the end of that chapter, he, and he presents himself to the people, and they begin to worship him as a litlogy God.

He accepts their worship, and God deals with it.

Right there.

He deals with it.

Agrippa has seen the power of God.

But he didn't like it.

It wasn't what he wanted.

He just excused the truth.

Paul says, look, I know he knows what's going on.

This has not been done in a corner.

Here's what Paul means by that.

His ministry has been a very public ministry.

He's not done anything in secret.

People have seen the whole thing.

They've seen everything.

For that matter, the ministry of Jesus was not done in a corner.

It was not a secret ministry.

When he was in Jerusalem, brought before Pilate, there was a mob in the city crying, crucify him, crucify him.

It was not done in secret.

People in Jerusalem knew about Jesus being crucified.

For that matter, I am convinced of this.

They also knew about the resurrection.

They knew it.

They heard it.

A lot of them saw Jesus, laid eyes on him.

Some of them even touched him.

It was not done in secret.

It was not done behind closed doors.

It was a very public event.

It was something that had happened and they had seen, yet Agrippa just so easily said, just excused it.

No.

I choose not to believe.

I choose not to follow.

Agrippa, Paul even says, Agrippa, you know what the prophet, you believe the prophets, don't you?

You believe them.

Agrippa knew about the hope.

He knew about the hope that the Jews had towards a Messiah coming.

He even knew about the hope that the Christians placed that Jesus was that Messiah.

He knew.

And he just excused it.

Oh, can't we do the same?

Man, especially right here in the buckle of the Bible build.

We know stories.

We know them.

If you don't know them, you've at least heard them.

Some unbelievers can even tell you stories about Jesus.

But we just excuse it.

We choose not to believe it.

We choose not to consider the gospel message.

That we are sinners.

See, because here's what truth does it confronts us.

Just as Paul confronted Agrippa and said, Hey, you know this.

You know it.

The truth of the gospel confronts us with the truth that we are sinners who need a savior, and we don't like to think about it.

We like to think we're pretty good people.

We like to think that we're okay.

That if we do enough good, it's gonna be okay.

If our good outweighs our bad, it's gonna be okay.

We like to think that, but the truth of the gospel message is we are sinners and we need a savior.

And God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son to walk upon this earth, live a perfect life, die a horrible death.

On the cross, taking upon himself the punishment for our sin, being buried, and three days later arising from the grave, giving us victory over sin, giving us victory over death, bringing us righteousness and holiness, not of ourselves, but of him, and he places it on top of us.

The gospel message is this we are sinners who need a savior, and Jesus is that Savior.

But so often we just want to excuse it.

Because we have, it would mean we have to admit that we need help.

And our pride and our arrogance can so often get in our way, and we excuse the truth.

Finally, this morning, we can learn a lesson from Paul.

From Paul, we learn the lesson to persist even when we've been rejected.

To persist, to carry on.

I mean, he looks at Agrippa, and Agrippa says, Do you think you can convince me in such a short amount of time to become a Christian?

And Paul says, Listen, I don't care if it's a short time or if it's a long time.

All I want to do is to, I want that, here's what he says: 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 without these chains.

Paul persisted in his message.

And listen, if we are going to be witnesses to the kingdom of God, we are going to face rejection.

We must persist.

We've seen Paul have this kind of compassion.

As Paul wrote in Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 3.

Romans 9 · chapter mention Romans 9:1–3

Here's what Paul, Paul writes to that church.

I am speaking the truth in Christ, and I'm not lying.

My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.

Listen to verse 2, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed, cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

Here's the depth of compassion, here's the depth of motivation for Paul.

He says, I would put my, I would, I would go to hell myself if it meant that my Jewish brothers and sisters would come to Christ.

Listen, for us to persist like Paul, we need a compassion.

We need a challenge.

We need a deep reliance upon the one of whom we're talking about.

We've got to rely on Jesus.

If we are not, we will quit.

We will not persist.

But we have that.

We can have the compassion like Paul.

We have a command from our Savior.

I read it almost every week.

Acts chapter 1, verse 8.

Acts 1:8

Here's what he says.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria until the end of the earth.

Listen, here's what we have: we have the power of God.

We have the power of God Almighty walking with us as we declare the Word of God.

As we proclaim the Word of God, as we bear witness to what we have seen in Jesus.

As we tell, we have the power of God.

We have the command of God.

You will be my witnesses.

We have the command of God.

And because we have the power and the command, he will also give us the compassion of God to share with those who are lost.

We must persist and be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

Paul, here's the sad reality, though.

Back in Acts chapter 26, verse 30, here's what happens Agrippa, Festus, Agrippa's sister Bernice, and all those who are sitting with them arise and walk out of the room.

Acts 26:30

But hear what they said.

Those surrounding Agrippa, his advisors and all those with him say, This man has done nothing deserving of death or even imprisonment.

That's what that means.

They believed the word of Jesus.

They believed what he said.

Yet they did not believe in Jesus.

They walked away, rejecting the gospel.

Even Agrippa was pricked.

He goes to Festus and said, Man, if he had not appealed to Caesar, we'd let him go.

Yet he walked away.

Unbelieving.

Heard the story, believed the story, did not believe in Jesus.

And I don't know where you are today.

Here's the challenge for us, though.

If you have never trusted in Jesus, here's what I'm going to ask you to do.

Consider the gospel message.

Don't dismiss it because you don't understand it.

Don't excuse it because you're confronted with your sin.

I want you to hear the gospel message according to Paul when he writes 1 Corinthians.

Here's what he says in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, starting in verse 3.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also receive.

That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all of the apostles.

Jesus lived, he died on the cross and he arose so that you could have life.

I ask you this morning, if you've never trusted in him and believed in him, consider the gospel message.

Repent and turn to God.

If you have, if you've trusted in him, here's the challenge.

Now, perform deeds in keeping with your repentance.

Be witnesses to the kingdom of God.

Persist even as you are rejected.

If you have not, we invite you this morning to come and repent.

I'm going to pray for us.

We're going to stand and sing a hymn of invitation as we're singing.

If you've never trusted in Christ, we invite you to come.

We'd love to share with you how you can know Him.

If you have, but this morning you have not been, you have not been keeping deeds, performing deeds in keeping with your repentance.

Maybe this morning you need to come and repent.

We invite you to come.

We'd love to pray for a you can come use this altar.

Maybe this morning you're looking for a church home.

You don't have to do it by yourself.

God has given us each other.

We invite you to come and join with us here.

However, God is moving in you, we invite you to come.

Let's pray together.

God, you are good.

We thank you for today, and we thank you for this opportunity that we have now to respond to the gospel message.

Help us this morning to not walk away just hearing the words.

As you have moved in our lives, as you have pricked our hearts, as you are drawing us to you.

Help us this morning to respond in faith and repentance.

We love you.

Jesus is in your name we pray.

Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotohills.com.