The Gospel Over Freedom

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I want to invite you to take out your Bibles, and today we're going to be looking at two different verses, one in Acts 25 and one in Acts 26.
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So while we stand for the reading of God's Word, we'll read the Acts 25 passage, and then we'll quickly turn to the Acts 26 passage, and we'll read them while standing, and then I'll pray, and we'll be seated.
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Acts 25, 11, and 12, Paul is speaking.
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He says, If then I am a wrongdoer, and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death.
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But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them.
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I appealed to Caesar.
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Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, To Caesar you have appealed.
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To Caesar you shall go.
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Now turn to Acts 26, 30.
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This is in reference to King Agrippa.
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Then the king rose, and the governor, and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them, and when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.
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And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.
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Amen.
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Father, I thank you for your Word.
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I pray now that as we seek to study your Word, that you would keep me from error.
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For I am a fallible man, capable of error, and I do not want to, for the sake of my conscience and the sake of your hearers, God, your people, I do not want to preach false.
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And I pray, Lord, that you'll keep me on task.
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I pray that you'll strengthen me to preach.
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And I pray, Lord, that this would be one, a message, Lord, that would be used to draw believers to a closer conformity to Christ.
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And Lord, unbelievers, those who have not yet bowed the knee to Christ, that this would drive them to their knees in repentance and faith, that they would hear the Gospel and be saved by the power of your Spirit and the mercy of God, in which we pray in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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The title of the message today is The Gospel Over Freedom.
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Amen.
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Choosing the Gospel over Freedom.
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And we have been following the life of the Apostle Paul.
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We've been studying the book of Acts now for a few years.
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And specifically, we have been looking at the life of the Apostle Paul as he has been under arrest.
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And here are the final chapters of the book of Acts.
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At the beginning of Acts 25, he is in Caesarea.
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Caesarea is to the north of Jerusalem.
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He has been there for two years.
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He has been a prisoner of the Roman governor, Felix.
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Felix had left Paul in prison as a favor to the Jews, not because he deserved to be imprisoned, but because Felix knew that the Jews hated Paul.
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They wanted Paul to be killed.
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They wanted him to be executed.
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But because there was nothing befitting execution in his accusations, there was nothing that they could make stick against him.
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He was unwilling to kill him, but was still willing to keep him in jail so as to quell those who hated him.
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And at the end of chapter 24, Felix is succeeded by a new governor whose name is Porcius Festus.
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Now ladies, I know we have a few of you who are pregnant.
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If you're looking for a name, Porcius, that's the one.
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It's a great, some people say it Porcius, but however, his name, we'll call him Festus.
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And the events of chapters 25 and 26 sort of run together.
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And I know that there've been times in our study of Acts where we've gone through verse by verse and we've been very meticulous.
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But when we get to this latter portion, I've been taking some longer strides in what we're studying.
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And I know it sounds amazing that we'd get through two chapters, but it really is one long narrative of a singular event and something that we need to understand sort of all goes together.
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And if it seems like I'm rushing, I'm not necessarily trying to rush, but I don't wanna belabor either.
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I want us to keep moving.
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And so chapter 25, Paul appeals to Caesar under Festus, who was the governor.
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And in chapter 26, as we will see, Agrippa comes, who is the king.
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Now you say, well, what's the difference between a king and a governor? Well, it's in relationship to how he is being used by the government of Rome.
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The Herods were a dynasty and their kingship was similar in a lot of ways to if you think about the dynasty that is now in England, there's a dynasty of a kingdom, but she doesn't have all authority, even though there's a certain authority that she exercises.
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The Queen of England is much more of a figurehead than you can think of being an actual authority.
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And then the same way that the dynasty of the Herods, you remember Herod Antipas and the Herods that came before, you had the Herod that had built the temple that Jesus had gone into and used the whips to drive out the money changers.
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So there was this dynasty of Herods.
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And so we come now to this person here who's called Herod Agrippa II.
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And he's the man who's going to be at the sort of the center focus of this event in the life of the Apostle Paul.
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Now, for some of you who haven't been studying with us, I apologize, it feels like you're being thrown into a history lesson.
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I do promise that we're going to make some application from this, but I want you to understand that we do try to study the scriptures and understand what they're saying.
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And sometimes we are, you kind of catch us in the middle of a series.
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And so some of you have come in today for the first time and you might be seeing in the middle of the series, might feel a little overwhelmed.
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I hope that doesn't happen though.
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I hope you can understand where we are and what we're studying.
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And the first thing I want to do though, before we even look at verses chapter 25 and 26, is I want to ask you to take a step back to chapter 23.
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And I'm not trying to confuse you, but I want to show you something.
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You go back to chapter 23, verse 11.
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When Paul was first arrested in Jerusalem, you remember he'd been worshiping for seven days and he hadn't caused any problems.
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He was actually being very quiet.
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He was quietly worshiping with some other men in the temple.
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He wasn't really preaching or teaching or doing anything that would cause any type of riotous behavior or anything.
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But the Jews saw him, recognized who he was and they took him captive and a mob was trying to harm him.
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So the Romans actually come in and they pull him out and they place him under arrest as essentially a person trying to stir up a mob.
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Well, as he is arrested and after he goes before the Sanhedrin, in chapter 23, verse 11, it says this.
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The following night, this is the night following his presentation before the Sanhedrin, it says, the following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage.
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For as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.
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Now, I just wanted to make a comment about this passage because this is a very important moment in the life of the apostle Paul because Paul knew he was called to suffer for the gospel.
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You understand that from the very moment Paul was chosen as an apostle, from the very moment that Paul was chosen on the road to Damascus, he was promised not a life of wealth and prosperity and feasting.
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The apostle Paul was promised a life of difficulty.
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Christ said, you will suffer on my account.
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You will suffer for my name's sake.
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And Paul knew that.
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Paul knew that his life was going to be difficult and it was.
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Three missionary journeys.
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He was run out of town.
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He was beaten almost to death.
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He was stoned and left for dead.
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Paul knew he had a difficult life ahead of him.
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And here he has faced the Sanhedrin, which is the Greek Supreme Court, or I'm sorry, the Jewish Supreme Court made up of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
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And he'd been brought before them and he proclaimed the resurrection before them.
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And a mob had broken out and the soldiers had to come in and save him.
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And here he is, he's in jail and Jesus Christ appears to him.
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Now, I've never had that happen.
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I'm always very skeptical of people today who say they've seen Jesus in the flesh or in the face-to-face.
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I'm very skeptical of people who say that.
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I know I never have seen Jesus face-to-face.
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I have promises from Scripture that I hold to that come from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ and come from his apostles.
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If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved.
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I hold to that promise as if he said it to me, but he's never sat down at my bedside at night and spoken to me, but he did for Paul.
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It says in this verse, "'The Lord stood by him and said, take courage.
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"'For as you have testified to the facts "'about me in Jerusalem, which he had just done "'to the Sanhedrin, you are going to do this in Rome.'" Now, let me tell you something.
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I don't know what in my life is gonna happen tomorrow, and you don't know what's gonna happen in your life tomorrow.
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You don't know if you're gonna live tomorrow.
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None of us has a guarantee to anything, but Paul had a guarantee.
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If Paul knew anything, he knew one thing.
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I ain't dying here, because if I die here, Jesus is a liar, and Jesus is not a liar.
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I've said this before, and I'm not quoting, this is not me, I heard another pastor say this.
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He said, you're immortal until the Lord is done with you, and when he wants you home, you're going home, and you're not gonna live a day past what he has determined, and you're not gonna die a day before.
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That's hard sometimes for us to understand, because we do have people in our lives that die, and we wonder why it seems like they died earlier.
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In our mind, it happens.
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But in the mind of God, he knows.
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And so we have the Apostle Paul here being told, no matter what happens, because you gotta think, from this moment, there's two years he's gonna sit in prison.
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And you ever think he woke up sometime saying, man, when am I gonna get to Rome? Because I know that's where I'm going.
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Jesus Christ has promised me Rome, and I'm still in Caesarea.
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I am not gonna stay here forever, and I'm not gonna die here, because I know where I got to go, as Jesus has told me.
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So that's why I wanted to go back to chapter 23, because I think when you get to chapter 25, and you notice Paul appeals to Caesar, and later on, as we've already read, Agrippa comes out and says to him, hey man, if you hadn't appealed to Caesar, we'd let you go.
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You know what I think Paul said? It weren't up to you.
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You think you have the power to set me free? You ain't in charge.
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Jesus told me I'm going to Rome.
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Jesus told me I gotta get to preach the gospel to the highest in the world.
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You ain't stopping me.
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See, Paul had his eye on the will of God for his life.
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See, oftentimes we get our eyes stuck on other things, and I'm kind of, I'm jumping to the application maybe before I want to, but this is important, because I think a lot of times, we miss the fact that God is the one that's in charge.
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We miss the fact that God is the one who's making these things.
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He is making our path straight, the Bible says.
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He is going before us, and he has a plan for what he's doing.
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Sometimes it can seem like our life is out of control, and sometimes it can seem like our life is just absolutely, overwhelmingly out of control.
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You know, it's so funny.
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I was sitting down this week, and I was talking to Jennifer about why I hurt my back.
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I said, you know what? I said, maybe God just really wanted Mike to preach that sermon last week, because I couldn't stand a week ago.
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And I said, maybe God just really wanted Mike Collier to preach about rendering unto God the things that are God's, you know? So let's look at chapter 25.
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Let's see what happens here, and again, we're gonna kind of go over this kind of quickly, but the first thing that happens is Festus, it's so porky, is he visits Jerusalem.
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It says in verse one, it says, now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea, and the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, asking as a favor against Paul, that he summon him to Jerusalem, because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way.
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Now, they didn't tell him that, I don't think.
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I don't think they said, hey, I want you to bring Paul here, because we got a bunch of guys who want to kill him.
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But they said, we want to have the trial here.
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You've got Paul up there in Caesarea.
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We want him brought here and have the trial here, but the reason why they wanted to have the trial in Jerusalem is because they had men who were ready to kill him, and on the trip, or the extradition from Caesarea to Jerusalem, they could have some men ready and waiting to fall upon Paul and kill him.
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You have to understand, they said in chapter 24, Paul is a pest, and that word in the Greek for pest does not simply mean like something you get on your, like one time I had a tick on my arm.
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That was a pest.
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I freaked out, because I am not made for that.
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But it was to me a pest.
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But they didn't think of Paul like that.
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They thought of Paul more like a plague, and that's the word for the Greek, there's better as a plague.
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This is a guy who's gonna destroy our religion.
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This is a guy who's gonna destroy what God is doing, and we have to kill him.
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And so we're going to extradite him.
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He's safe in Caesarea.
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He is safe in the barracks at Caesarea.
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We want him here.
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So they go about the process of trying to get him back.
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Chapter, or verse four, Ephesus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and that he himself intended to go there shortly.
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So he said, let the men of authority among you go down with me.
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If there's anything wrong about this man, let them bring charges against him.
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So, they're going back up to Caesarea now.
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Some men are going to bring charges against Paul.
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After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought.
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And when he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him bringing many serious charges against him that they could not prove.
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That's an important section there in verse seven.
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Since they brought accusations, they couldn't prove them.
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Paul hadn't done anything wrong.
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Paul had preached the gospel and they hated him for it, but it wasn't worth being arrested or persecuted or punished.
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And all the things that they were saying that he had done that was illegal was unprovable, because it was not true.
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Paul argued in his defense, neither against the law of the Jews nor against the temple nor against Caesar have I committed any offense, but fast as wishing to do the Jews a favor said to Paul, do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me? That's important, fast as he's giving them a chance.
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You want to go to Jerusalem and get your trial? These are the guys who want you punished.
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Why don't you go make your case before them? Verse 10, but Paul said, I am standing before Caesar's tribunal where I ought to be tried.
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To the Jews I've done no wrong.
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And as you yourself know very well, if then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death.
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But if there is nothing to these charges against me, no one can give me up to them.
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I appeal to Caesar.
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Now that was his right, because he was a Roman citizen.
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Roman citizens bore one very distinct right.
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If I want to appeal to the highest court, I can.
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Now, why didn't Paul want to go to Jerusalem? Because he knew there was a foul plot against him.
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And he knew that if he went to Jerusalem, that would mean the end.
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And guess what? Jesus didn't promise you're going to go to Jerusalem.
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Jesus promised you're going to go to Rome.
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See, a lot of people think Paul is appealing to Caesar here because he's afraid of the Jews.
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Paul's appealing to Caesar because he knows he's got a destination that's been predetermined by God.
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And that destination ain't Jerusalem.
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He's already been there.
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I want to see Caesar.
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Okay? Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, to Caesar, you've appealed to Caesar, you shall go.
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Really no choice.
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Festus didn't really have a choice because he's a Roman citizen.
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You appeal to Caesar, you go to Caesar.
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Okay, that's fine.
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Now, starting in verse 13 and into chapter 26, we have the arrival of Festus.
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The wife of Agrippa.
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And Agrippa is flanked by this woman called Bernice.
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Just so you know, Bernice is not his wife.
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Bernice is his sister.
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And they had sort of an awkward relationship.
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Historically, the Bible doesn't really address it, but historically said they had somewhat of an awkward relationship.
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That's all I'll say about that.
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But she is not his wife.
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So now, when some days have passed, Agrippa the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea and greeted Felix.
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And as they stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the king, saying, there's a man left prisoner by Felix.
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And when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid out their case against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him.
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I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused met the accusers face to face and had the opportunity to make his defense concerning the charge laid against him.
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So when they came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the men to be brought.
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When the accuser stood up, they brought no charge in the case of such evils as I suppose, rather they had certain points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead, who now Paul asserted to be alive.
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Being at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wanted to go Jerusalem and he tried and be tried in there regarding them.
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But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.
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Then Agrippa said to Festus, I would like to hear the man myself.
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Tomorrow, he said, you will hear him.
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Verse 23, so on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and they entered the audience hall with military tribunes and the prominent men of the city.
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Then at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in and Festus said, King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer, but I found that he had done nothing deserving death.
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And as he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him.
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But I have nothing definite to write to my Lord about him.
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Therefore, I have brought him before you, especially before you King Agrippa, so that after we have examined him, I may have something to write.
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For it seemed to me unreasonable in sending a prisoner not to indicate the charges against him.
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So Festus here is saying, I don't have anything to send this guy to Caesar for.
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He's appealed to go to Caesar, but I don't have any charges to send with him.
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Be like sending somebody to the Supreme Court.
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What are you here for? I wanted to meet the judge.
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You gotta have a reason to send him.
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The only thing I've seen so far, the only thing I've seen is he believes in some guy who was dead and now he's saying he's alive.
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The only thing I've seen is disputes over their religion and we Romans don't care.
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You gotta remember the Romans were a polytheistic people.
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You know, the whole issue with Christianity in the first century was not an issue of whether or not Christianity was true.
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Romans didn't care if you worshiped Jesus.
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The issue was whether or not you worshiped Jesus plus or Jesus only.
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If you wanna add another God to the list, who cares? When we got a bunch of gods, add another one.
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Nobody cares.
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But when you say he's the only one, that's the problem.
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When you say he's the only way, it's just like today.
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You go out on a college campus, you say you're a Christian.
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Most people don't care.
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You say Christ's the only way to heaven, then they care.
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You say I believe in Jesus, I believe God created the heavens and the earth, they don't care.
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You say I believe evolution is a false teaching, it's a false belief system, they will crucify you.
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See, that's where it happens.
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See, it's not the issue of what you believe, it's what you deny.
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And to be a Christian means we deny all other gods.
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We say there's only one God.
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So Paul is here.
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Fastness really has nothing against him because he's considering this somewhat of a Jewish issue.
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So chapter 26, we have Paul's defense of himself.
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And if you look at the word in chapter 26, verse one, it says, so Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself.
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Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense.
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By the way, that word defense there is an important word.
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It is the word apologia.
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I mentioned already the apology.
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Apology in the Greek does not mean to say I'm sorry.
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It means to make a reasoned defense.
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Apologia, to make a defense.
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So Paul stands to make his, and by the way, in this week, this Wednesday night, we're going to begin a series on apologetics.
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In Sovereign Grace Wednesday night Bible study, we're gonna start studying the subject of apologetics.
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How do you defend your faith? Should you defend your faith? Some people don't think you should.
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Some people just say, no need.
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So we're gonna start that Wednesday night.
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I hope you guys can come, but that wasn't.
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That wasn't a shameless plug.
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So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself.
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Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense.
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I consider myself fortunate that it's before you, King Agrippa, I'm going to make a defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews.
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Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
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You see, Agrippa was the Jewish king, remember? This is the Herod dynasty, Herod Agrippa.
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So he did understand Jewish history.
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Later on, he's gonna say, you believe the prophets.
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See, this is different.
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It's now he can have an educated conversation.
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He's not talking to the Roman emperor leader or teacher.
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He's talking to a guy who himself is a leader of the Jews, at least in a dynastic sort of way.
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My manner of life for my youth spent from the beginning among my nation and in Jerusalem is known by all the Jews.
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They have known it for a long time.
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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 and the promises made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day.
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And for this hope, I am accused by the Jews, O King.
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Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus Christ, or Jesus of Nazareth.
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And I did so in Jerusalem.
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I not only locked up many for the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
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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.
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By the way, this is the longest section in the book of Acts of Paul describing his testimony, his conversion.
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There are other places where he mentions it, but this is the longest.
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And he spends time referencing the fact that he hated Christians.
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You realize that one of the greatest testimonies to the validity of the Christian faith is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus.
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Saul of Tarsus hated Christianity.
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He hated the truth.
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He hated Jesus and he hated those who followed Jesus.
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He held the coats of those who took stones and bashed in the head of Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian faith.
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And he held their coats and gave hearty approval to their hateful stoning.
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He said, I wanted them to blaspheme.
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You know what, that's an interesting way of putting it.
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Because when he was a Pharisee, when he was doing that, he wouldn't have called it blasphemy to deny Jesus.
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But now he knows Jesus is the King.
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Now he knows Jesus is the Lord.
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Now he knows that what he was making people do when he was making people deny Jesus, it was he was making them blaspheme their Lord.
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I think that Paul said these words through tears.
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I think he knows and knew who he was before Christ.
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Paul calls himself what? The chief of sinners.
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You know, the salvation of the Apostle Paul, the conversion of the Apostle Paul is one of the great testimonies of the validity of the truthfulness of the claims of the Christian church.
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But it's also one of the greatest blessings that the church has to look to when we start thinking that we're not worthy of God's love, because we're not worthy of God's love.
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Neither was Paul, but God lavished his love upon Paul and God will lavish his love upon us and his mercy upon us because he's a much better savior than we are sinners.
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Verse 12, In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and the commission of the chief priests.
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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.
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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? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
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That's an interesting phrase.
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I'll stop and explain it real quick because some people don't understand that one.
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A goad was something that was used for animals.
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It had a little, usually some type of a metal prick at the end of a stick and they would use it to get animals to go the way they would want them to go.
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And oftentimes animals would kick against that because it doesn't feel comfortable to have something shoved, something sharp shoved against you.
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When an animal would kick into it, it would hurt more because it would stab into them, right? And so kicking against the goads there, you have the stabbing into the heel or the leg of the animal.
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And so we have this issue here of the Apostle Paul saying God is directing him and he was fighting against it.
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God is directing him.
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He's pointing him in direction and he's fighting against it.
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Verse 15, 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 a witness to the things in which you've seen and those which I will appear to you in 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 and they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
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Verse 19, therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and also to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.
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For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
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To this day, I've 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.
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And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, remember this is the governor, not the king.
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The governor is still in the court.
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Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind.
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Your great learning is driving you out of your mind.
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But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.
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By the way, always remember this.
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When you proclaim the Christian faith, you are proclaiming true and rational words.
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The world will try to convince you that what you believe is irrational and it will try to convince you that what you believe is untrue.
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But what we believe about Christ, that he died, was buried, that he rose again on the third day and that he sits forever, right now at the right hand of the Father, forever making intercession for his people, that is true and rational.
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Not because I've said so, because the word of God says so, because he was proclaimed, because he was seen, because he was risen and remains and is risen today.
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Amen.
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But look what he says in verse 26.
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For the king 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.
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King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.
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Notice what Paul just did.
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Paul is the accused.
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Paul is the one making his defense, but Paul has just turned it on the king and now the king is in the chair of judgment.
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You know these things are true.
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You have heard these things and you believe the prophets.
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And guess what he's saying there? The prophets told of Jesus.
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You know this is true.
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And Agrippa said to Paul, in a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian? Now the King James Version in that particular verse says, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
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And that can sometimes be taken by folks as Agrippa saying I'm almost there.
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But actually in the vernacular of the Greek, what he's saying is do you think in such a short time you can make me a Christian? Do you think by just that little short speech I'm gonna become a Christian? He's deriding Paul.
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He's not close to a conversion.
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He's asking the question, do you think because the next thing he says and Paul says whether short or long, meaning whether I spoke for a short time or for a long time, 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.
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I wish you would convert.
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I wish you would be converted Agrippa.
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I wish your soul would come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit that he would convert your soul today and that you would know the Christ that I know.
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And I wish everyone here would know the Christ that I know.
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And the only difference between us then would be these chains because we would be brothers and sisters in Christ.
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Then the king arose.
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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 deserving death.
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Or imprisonment.
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And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.
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Now that's where we began.
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That's where we're gonna begin to draw to a close.
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Because as I said earlier, had Paul not appealed to Caesar, he would be free.
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King Agrippa could have set him free.
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He could have gone to Festus and they conferred together and realized that Paul had done nothing wrong and he'd be a free man.
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Nothing that the Jews have said could convict him.
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He was innocent of heresy.
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He was innocent of insurrection.
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He was innocent of every accusation.
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Yet he has requested to see Caesar and now that must happen.
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But it must happen because not of what Festus is saying or not because of what Agrippa is saying and not even what Roman law has said.
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It has to happen because that's what Jesus said was going to happen.
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You are going to testify about me in Rome.
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As I was thinking this week and last week about this message, a thought struck my heart.
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Paul has the chance at freedom but chooses the chains to fulfill the will of God.
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And what a beautiful thing it is when the gospel is more important to us than even our own freedom.
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Let's say it again.
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What a beautiful thing it is when the gospel is more important to us than even our freedom.
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You know, that's the heart of a missionary.
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Paul is the greatest missionary who ever lived but as I was reading this and studying it, I got to thinking about the fact that this is the heart that drives men like Scott Phillips into the Indonesian wilderness.
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This is the heart that keeps Walter Heaton in the midst of a Croatian people who could care less about Jesus Christ.
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Only a person whose heart is totally captivated by the gospel would be willing to say, yes, I'll leave my home.
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I'll leave my family.
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I'll go to an unknown people, to an unrefined area and I will bring them Jesus.
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These men don't do it for the thrill of adventure.
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They don't do it for the high of risking their lives and the lives of their families.
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Scott's children get sick when he goes almost routinely.
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They don't do it because they like to see their families endangered or dead.
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They do it because their hearts love Jesus more than they love anything else.
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And it's that heart that drove Paul.
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He placed the gospel over his own freedom and that leads me to a question and this is the question of today, if you will.
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And it's a question that really gets into my own heart and it really churns in my soul.
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And the question is this and honestly, just for a moment, where does the gospel rank in our lives? And it might be easy for someone to say, well, the gospel is of first importance but when we're honest, would we be ready to give up freedom for the sake of the gospel? Some of us are not even willing to forsake creature comforts for the sake of the gospel.
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That's right.
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How much do we value the gospel it's seen and how much we place into the gospel, how much we care? You know, it's often said that, you know, the three T's will tell of a man's affections.
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What are the three T's, do you remember? Where a man spends his time, how a man spends his talent and where a man places his treasure.
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We'll show us where our heart really is.
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What if the faith were to become, as it were in the first century, religio elicita, a legal religion? Some say, well, at that moment, I would rise up and stand for my faith.
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But what makes us think we will stand when things are difficult, when we will not stand? When things are easy? The Bible says, he who cannot be trusted with the little cannot be trusted with much.
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You know why I believe the gospel ranks so low in the lives of many people? Because they've come to value it so little.
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Most people do not see their sin as being that bad.
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So they don't long for forgiveness.
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Most people don't see themselves as worthy of hell.
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So they don't long for salvation.
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Most people don't see themselves as any enemies of God.
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So they don't long for reconciliation.
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As a result, the gospel of forgiveness, the gospel of salvation, the gospel of reconciliation means very little.
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Do you know what this question really asks? When we say, where does the gospel rank in our lives? Where does Jesus rank in our lives? In Paul's life, there was no one more precious than his savior.
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Serving him all the way to Rome and even to death was his heart's desire.
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And so I ask, does such a desire run so passionately in me? Let's pray.
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Father, I thank you for the challenge that this passage brings with it.
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The challenge of looking at a man who was so devoted to Christ and so committed to Christ that the gospel was more valuable than his freedom.
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That getting the gospel to Rome, even if it meant going in chains, that service was more valuable than having the freedom that he could have had if he had not appealed to Caesar.
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I pray, Father, and I thank you for the example of Paul, but I thank you more for Jesus Christ.
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Because even though we are not perfect, we know that in him we have an advocate.
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And that in him, we grow in our faith and we grow in our commitment and we grow in our desire to see him glorified.
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And I pray, Lord, today, I pray for believers.
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I pray for conviction to fall on us, Lord, that we would place the gospel higher in our lives in value, higher in importance, that we would see our need for forgiveness, our need for salvation, and our need for reconciliation to be valuable in our lives so that the gospel would be paramount.
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And Lord, that it might drive us to a closer walk with Christ.
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And Lord, for the unbelievers, that they might see their desperate need for forgiveness, that they might see their need for salvation, that they might see their need for reconciliation and see that there is no salvation outside of Christ, but in him are all the riches and mercies of heaven.
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Lord, I pray that they might reach out for him today by the work of your spirit, changing their hearts.
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We pray this in his name, amen.
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Let's stand and sing, prepare our hearts for communion.