Acts 26 Foolishness to the Greeks; Stumbling Block to the Jews

This morning, we come together to hear the truth from God's Word and the

T in ReCAST, our name is an acronym for our core values, Reproducing, Community, Authenticity, Simplicity, and Truth, and the

T stands for Truth. And we believe that God's Word is true in a very objective, real sense.

That is, that it conforms to what is real. That's what I mean when I say true. So it has its foundation, its basis in reality, the way that things really happen, the way that things really are.

And the Apostle Paul in our text is going to outright declare that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is both true and rational.

That's what he's going to use, those are two words that he uses to describe the Gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ came in flesh, died for our sins, lived a sinless life, died for our sins, and rose again three days later, and he's going to use the words true and rational for that.

We're going to see that as we come to our text this morning. And actually in our text, we're going to see the last extended speech of Paul in the entire book of Acts.

And it's probably no surprise that in that speech, he's going to make a defense for the

Gospel. Would anybody be surprised to hear that Paul's going to talk about the Gospel? Anybody who's been following along in the book of Acts, that would kind of make sense, wouldn't it?

That's what he does. He's going to explain the significant change that an encounter with Jesus Christ made in his life, and then he's going to call everyone in his audience to respond by repentance and faith.

And he's going to ask them to respond, but he's going to share his own story. And in that,

Paul gives us a model for the way that we can and should be going about our lives proclaiming the

Gospel of Jesus Christ. He shares his story. And I've mentioned many times that people can argue with you about your theology, right?

Anybody have anybody argue with you about your theology, about what you believe is true of God from the Word of God? They can argue with you about your interpretation of Scripture.

But it would take a very cold, hard, calloused individual to argue with you about your story, right?

Like, if you just go and share your story, tell them what Jesus Christ has done for you, man, it would be, no, he didn't do that for you.

No, he doesn't love you. Anybody agree with me that that would be kind of cold and hard and callous for somebody to do that?

It's not very likely in our culture, so sharing your story is a good thing. That's what Paul chooses to do. He gets a chance to stand before a really austere council of the who's who of Caesarea, the

Roman leadership are there, the governor of his district is there, and he shares his story with them and talks about the power of Jesus Christ to change a life, his included.

And also we see Paul in our text taking into account his audience. He was really good at recognizing where people were coming from and proclaiming the gospel in ways that they could understand.

Because how many of you know that you can say the words of the gospel to an individual but they might not get it and hear because you are putting stumbling blocks before them in the way that you're presenting it or you just, you know, you pull out a megaphone and you shout in their ear about the gospel?

That might not be very culturally sensitive to them, but understanding where they're coming from and having a handle on the good news are, how many of you would agree that that's valuable?

Have both of those in there. But Paul, a few years back, to the events that we're looking at in Acts 26, wrote in 1

Corinthians 1, 22 -24 about the way that people are going to respond to the gospel. So we're going to see a gospel presentation in our text this morning, and then he actually understood how certain people tend to respond to the gospel.

He said this in 1 Corinthians 1, 22 -24. He said, For the

Jews demand a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom. But we preach

Christ crucified, which is a stumbling block to the Jews, and folly or foolishness to the

Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

So there he spells out three responses. He says, To the Jewish mind, the gospel is a stumbling block.

To the Gentile mind, the gospel is foolishness or folly. But some from among those groups who are called will experience the gospel as the power and the wisdom of God for salvation.

That's interesting. Festus, in our text, is going to think Paul's gone insane. He's going to actually say,

You're out of your mind, Paul. We're going to see that here as we read it. The gospel seemed foolish to him. King Agrippa, that we're going to see in the text, he's a good

Jew, and so he's going to respond in an arrogant way in our text as a good, law -abiding

Jew, saying that it would take a long time to make him a Christian. Because you see, to the Jews, Jesus was a stumbling block.

They thought they were already good enough. And why would you need Jesus Christ or Him crucified?

It wouldn't make sense. Jesus was an extra in the way, something to stumble over. But we know, as we see in the text, there's a third way.

And that is by the supernatural act of the Holy Spirit calling an individual, Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God.

And that's something I want us to reflect on as we come to worship this morning. We're going to read this text and then Dave and the band are going to come and lead us.

I want you to open your Bibles first to Acts chapter 26. It's page 800 in the Bible in the seat back in front of you.

Grab that Bible. You can turn to page 800. And if you don't own a Bible, I want you to take that one with you. I say this every week, but I mean it sincerely.

We desire for everybody to own a copy of God's Holy Word to us. And so you can take that.

Follow along as I read Acts chapter 26 in its entirety. So Agrippa said to Paul, You have permission to speak for yourself.

And then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you,

King Agrippa, that 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. 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 and the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day.

And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O King. 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 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. 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?

It is 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 that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

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. For this reason the

Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had the help that comes from God. 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. And as he was saying these things in his defense Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you're 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. 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.

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know 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 punishment, 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. If you were here last week some of you weren't so I want to kind of catch you up on context a little bit about what's going on here we're going to jump right in with Paul speaking and it's kind of like who's he talking to?

What's going on? Paul has been in protective custody of the Romans for over two years when we come to our text.

When the old governor was deposed he did a favor to the Jews and kept Paul in prison.

A new governor came on and that new governor wanted to do the Jews a favor as well and so he was going to move

Paul to Jerusalem. Well Paul, knowing what he knew about the Jews and knowing what he knew about a former plot to kill him, realized that when they're wanting to move him to Jerusalem things are not going to go well for him.

He smells the plot and realizes that there's injustice that's about to happen and he's going to be killed and so he actually appeals to Caesar in front of the

Roman governor. He says I appeal to Caesar. Now that was a right that any Roman citizen had at that time.

They could appeal their trial if a verdict had not been reached yet in their trial, then they could appeal to Caesar and they would actually go to Rome under arrest and in the process go to Rome and actually stand before Caesar himself and have him try their case.

That was a privilege, a right, but also as I mentioned last week, a little bit dicey because the Roman Caesars, the emperors were known to be kind of capricious.

You're putting your hands in, your life in the hands of a person who is kind of an egomaniac a little bit.

Many of the Roman emperors declared themselves to be gods and so you can kind of imagine what their character might be when it comes to trial.

They got a hangnail like I mentioned last week or something's not going well for them, they might just be unjust and condemn you to death and the sentence would be carried out sometimes right then and there.

And so Paul was actually kind of putting his life on the line in one way but also saving his life in another because he knew that this wasn't going to go well if they took him to Jerusalem, people were lying in wait to have him killed on the way even in transit.

So that's where we're at, but the problem is the Roman governor now has to write a letter to Caesar, the emperor himself to say, why is this dude coming before me on trial?

And it's only his second week on the job and so he's kind of going I've got to write to the big guy and let him know why

I'm sending this guy and I have no clue what he's done wrong. He still doesn't know, the governor has no clue what

Paul has done wrong. Well fortunately some Jewish dignitaries come into town to greet the new governor who's, like I said, been there two weeks and they understand

Jewish customs, they understand the Jewish culture and all the things that have been swirling around in the history and so he's like, hey, would you guys be willing to listen to this guy

Paul talk and help me come to a verdict? Help me to reach an accusation even so that I can send an accusation.

Is that making sense to everybody? Everybody kind of caught up on the context there then? From the get -go then we see in our text, right away from verse one, so Agrippa said to Paul, King Agrippa this devout

Jew is going to take the lead in this case and he says Paul speak freely, you have permission to speak for yourself.

Go ahead and just say what's on your mind Paul so that we can kind of get down what is the real thing, you don't need to be all formal here, just let us know what's going on.

So Paul gives the gesture of formal rhetoric and begins his defense, now it says he made a gesture, that gesture is not to silence the crowd or anything like that, there's an actual word in Greek that was, the protocol for a courtroom type of scenario is very specific there were certain hand gestures to quiet a crowd and there's a word in Greek for that that's not what this is, this is a formal rhetoric have any of you ever been like in a formal setting where there were like, maybe there was a trial or something and there were hand gestures that people we don't really do that in America I've been to the

Oxford Union for example to see a formal debate there and if you stood to contest somebody else's point in the debate, there was a hand gesture and you held your hand out like this, anybody ever seen anything like that before?

We don't really do that a whole lot but that's what's going on here, Paul gestures and the signal, the sign is that what

I'm going to do is going to make my defense now it's really going to prove to be less a formal defense though of the charges against him and more a defense of his life, a defense of the gospel and the power of God working in him and that's what he's going to do so he gives the formal courteous greeting he doesn't get too flowery, we saw a guy

Tertullus several weeks ago who was over the top and lavish and actually lying to try to flatter the ruler,

Paul doesn't do any of that, he just says I consider it fortunate that I'm standing before a Jew on trial for these things because you as a

Jew at least will understand some of these things that are going on, you get the customs you understand the controversies and so I'm glad that I'm making a defense before you,

King Agrippa Paul doesn't promise a short defense but he asks for patience so that he can give some of his back story so that Agrippa can get caught up to speed and Paul Agrippa apparently obliges

Paul and listens to him intently Paul begins with his childhood, he starts right at the beginning he explains that his lifestyle had been known by the

Jews from the beginning he was raised in Jerusalem he was raised not just in Jerusalem but he was a student of one of the most prominent rabbis of his time,

Gamaliel so we know from historical documents that this guy that Paul studied under was a significant man and it's apparent that Paul's parents must have had some kind of influence or at least some kind of means in order to send him from where he was born up in Tarsus down to Jerusalem to study as a religious student things like that didn't happen in that day and age without significant means, so they were able to send or move to Jerusalem to have their son study, now he was therefore a child of promise to the

Jews he was a student, he was studying to be basically a rabbi a prominent person in Jewish circles he was a student with great promise and great expectations placed on him it's clear in the text he even kicked around with the chief priests in Jerusalem he knew these people, he became a card carrying member of the

Pharisees which was the strictest religious party among the Jews and at the beginning of verse 5 if you look there

Paul exudes so much confidence that he says that the Jews themselves can verify that is they have known for a long time and if they were willing to testify, these things are so it's common knowledge among the

Jews my history is an open book to them if you ask them if they're willing to testify they can validate that these things are true

I was a Pharisee, a very strict Jew I was there in Jerusalem and everybody knows my life from childhood till now

I've been an open book verses 6 -7 show that the way Paul sees it, he's on trial for following the

Old Testament to its correct conclusions, he says I was a student of the Old Testament, I studied it, I know it, and I'm following it to its logical conclusions with a hope based on the

Old Testament and that is why I'm on trial, a hope he sees his hope as a

Christian well substantiated from the Old Testament, now some of you are any of you, the Old Testament fairly confusing to you if you were just being honest like you read it and it's kind of like,

I don't really know quite what that has to do with me, I mean there's some stories, we teach them to our kids in Sunday school, that's awesome for the kids because they're good stories, right, but is it just about morality, what is it about, do good you know, you can slay the giant too what are all these stories about in the

Old Testament did you notice it's like two thirds of the Bible so it ought to grab some of our attention probably, we ought to pay some attention to what's going on in there, but all of it is a pointer forward to Jesus Christ the law, all of those big sections, anybody ever get like, you're going to read through the

Bible in a year and all of a sudden you get into Leviticus and suddenly you're not going to read through the Bible in a year okay, you know what

I'm talking about, you get into those laws and those laws are there for a purpose to show us our inability to meet

God's standard it's like, it's all throughout the Old Testament is this common theme of you can't do it, great what a uplifting message there, but it's significant, how many of you know how important that is like you look in your own heart and you say,

I needed that, I needed somebody to tell me I can't do it on my own because believe me I'll keep trying and trying and trying to do it on my own, pick myself up by the bootstraps and lift myself to heaven, right, any of you like me on that, that you'll just keep trying to do it on your own and you need constant perpetual reminders that you need help you can't fix the sin problem in your heart on your own you need a

Savior that's what the Old Testament is all about and Paul said, I get it I've connected the dots, the

Old Testament makes sense and it's hope and it's logical inclusion is a Savior a Messiah, one who would come and save us from our sins and our inability to meet

God's standard, so it made sense to him and that's the hope that he sees and that he's living, a hope that he thinks all

Jews should follow and it's interesting that in verse 7 he identifies that the 12 tribes of Israel hope to attain to the promises of the

Old Testament and in their attempt to attain those promises which are Messiah would come, that they would have salvation, that they would be made in a right relationship with God and they're trying to attain those things by earnestly worshiping, it says in the text, night and day, they are earnest in their desire and seeking to please

God but it's based on works and here's why I say it's based on works there's a difference between attaining something and receiving something did you know that?

I looked up the definition of the word attain this week, attain is to reach, to achieve, to accomplish what were the

Jews trying to do? to do it on their own, to reach out and to accomplish the promises of the

Old Testament and they weren't able to the Jews are striving to attain, to accomplish something that God has now offered to us as a free gift through His Son now some people in church and some people maybe here in this room can fall into the trap of trying to attain the promises of God striving to attain forgiveness striving to attain salvation trying to accomplish those things when

God desires, His primary desire for us is to cease our striving and to rest in the work of Jesus Christ, the

Lord and Savior, you see He's already done it, the gospel is a historical event

His death on the cross is the place of forgiveness and salvation and there is nothing left for us to do so when

Jesus Christ cried from the cross, it is finished guess what?

He meant it it is finished the work accomplished on our behalf all the work necessary for you and I to be made in a right relationship with God and get to spend eternity with Him forever and ever and ever on a remade earth, a remade place for us, restoring things to the way that they were in the garden only even better with progress a city, the new

Jerusalem an amazing future for us by the way I'm convinced that many Christians and I say this, whenever I mention heaven or the new earth

I just feel like I've got to say this, I think we have thought poorly about heaven, like what am I going to do there? I can only sing so many praise songs, right?

I can only bow so long before my back starts to strain and my knees wear out, right? So is that what it's going to be?

I mean, how has God created us to worship Him? Has He given us these bodies? Are these bodies evil or are these bodies given to us for a purpose?

Did Adam and Eve, were they just like strumming harps, like floating on clouds when He created them and that's what He wants us to be doing forever and ever and ever?

No, we worship God in a multitude of ways, through work through doing a variety of things with our lives, through interacting with one another right?

What is it about our minds that all of a sudden shut off when we think about heaven and we cease to be creative in our understanding of how

God has made us to be earthy creatures the new heaven and the new earth are going to be earth it's going to be a place, tangible, where we'll visit and we'll eat and we'll talk to one another and we'll interact with God.

Do you see how that captures you like it captures me? It's so much more it's so much beyond like floating on the clouds, singing some songs and strumming some harps.

It's something that's much more than that and that was totally a side note and I'm going to have to catch up here with where I was

We fall into this trap though, we fall into this trap of trying to complete the work that's already been done for us.

That's what Jesus has bought for us on the cross when he said it is finished. And I consider this sometimes,

I think how offensive it must be to God when we act as though we can add more to the cross.

Have you ever thought about that? How offensive that must be that he went through the pain and the anguish of his son's crucifixion and sometimes we fall into living our lives in a way that's like saying to God, thanks for that whole cross thing, but hey, look at what

I can do. You know what I'm saying? Can we fall into that? Like hey, but I can add something to that, let me tack on a little bit of my own stuff to this.

The only thing that God is impressed with I had to think about this a lot before I decided to write this down and say it.

I believe that the only thing God is impressed with regarding human action or interaction is the righteous life, the sacrificial death, and the exalted resurrection of his son.

And that only as much as we are in Christ in those things is he pleased with us.

It is only on the merit and the basis of what Christ has done with us that we can please the Father. And it's his life living through us in the

Spirit and as we walk in the Spirit that is how we can live a life pleasing to him is by being in Christ.

Does that make sense? In verse 8 Paul challenges everyone in his audience to consider their own thinking on resurrection.

Why is it so unbelievable that God raises the dead? If you think about that logically it's kind of funny. If you believe there is one who has made everything anybody here believe that there is somebody who made everything?

God? Logically if you believe he's there and if there is one who gives life to begin with is it really extreme to think that he could raise the dead?

No? It kind of flows logically from the belief that there is a God who created life that he can reinstall life in something that is dead.

It's not that unbelievable. But now Paul takes us back to a time when he himself found it unbelievable.

And I love how he can relate to his audience because he goes back and he says, I get it. It's not like he's just going to bash them over the head and be like, how in the world could you not believe in resurrection?

I used to be one of you. I used to be in that place where I didn't believe in it.

And he relates well with his audience rather than just looking down on them as ignorant or he sympathizes with their belief system.

He had opposed Jesus, he says, doing many things. Things like locking up Christians with the authority of the chief priests.

He cast his lots against them, having them put to death with his approval, with his lot cast against them, he says.

Did you know Paul was not a good guy? When he was Saul before his change, he had blood on his hands.

Not only that, he says, he goes on, he elaborates on this, he punished them, he persecuted them, even trying to make

Christians blaspheme. Which means, in essence, we might misunderstand that and think that I'm asking

Christians to blaspheme that he was actually trying to get them to denounce Christ. What the word and the theme there means is that he would go to a synagogue.

Where was he going when he went to Damascus? He was on his way to the synagogue to go and collect some

Christians to take them back to Jerusalem to put them in prison and maybe have them killed. And he's going to the synagogues and he's asking them to declare their beliefs about Jesus Christ because if they say, if he can get them to just state their doctrine that they believe

Jesus Christ is God, that to a Jew is blasphemy.

Now he has good grounds to arrest them and to see the death penalty initiated from a

Jewish law standpoint. You see what I'm saying? So, he's actually trying to get them to declare just strictly what they believe.

He's asking, do you believe Jesus Christ is Lord? Yes. Okay. You're with me. And with chains. And you're arrested.

So that's what he's doing and he's going around trying to get them to blaspheme. In the middle of verse 11, he uses a word for his persecution that is very strong.

If you look at verse 11, he says, and I punished them often in all the synagogues and I tried to make them blaspheme and in a raging fury against them,

I persecuted them even to foreign cities. That's a maniacal, crazed, uncontrollable rage that he's talking about there.

Even chasing them to foreign cities like Damascus and then he's going to expound on that trip to Damascus. Because on that particular journey, he was coming close to the city.

It was about midday. When he encountered a light, the text tells us, brighter than the sun.

Everyone was dropped to the ground and he heard the voice of Jesus Christ. Jesus was challenging him to think about who it was he was persecuting and that this persecution was equivalent to kicking against the goads.

And that's not a typo. It's not kicking against the goats. I don't recommend kicking a goat. But that's not what it...

So what does that mean? Do you have a picture in your mind of what goads are? Anybody besides me kind of going, what is that?

Okay, good. Because then I'm going to explain it. But if you already get it, I don't need to walk through it. A goad is a long pointed stick that was used to keep an ox that was pulling a plow or pulling a cart to keep it on track.

And so rather than a whip, it was just a sharp stick. You're going right. I want you to go left. I'm going to poke this side and you're going to go the other way.

Not super humane, but the way that it was done. Jesus is saying you can kick against the direction

God wants you to go, but it's not going to result well for you. It's going to result in your own pain.

So it's not good for you to kick against the goads. Think about this word picture and how that works in our own lives.

Have you ever kicked against the goads, so to speak, in the way that Paul is talking about?

God wants you to go this way, you go this way. How does that work for you? Does that go well?

Result in a little bit of pain most often? How many of you would acknowledge that maybe you've experienced some pain because you've kicked against the goads before in your life?

We do that. When we're convicted of sin, but keep doing it, we're kicking against the goads.

When we read Scripture, and sometimes we read it's not just the sin, it's not that this just points out the sin that we do, but sometimes it points out the good that we ought to do that we don't.

Have you ever experienced that? Ah, it says I'm supposed to love my wife that way, and I'm not doing a great job with that, or whatever good it tells us to do, and we're not doing it.

That's kicking against the goads as well. Right? God guides us and directs us.

And the question we've got to ask is are we going to follow Him, or is He going to have to do this the hard way?

It's not a threat. It's just a reality. God has a way of bringing us around to seeing things

His way, and sometimes, maybe I should say rarely in my life, we've done it the easy way.

But many times it's taken drama or pain in my life to get my attention. I think we probably all could agree with that in various levels.

Jesus commissions Paul in verse 16 through 18 declaring that he is calling this zealous, church -persecuting

Pharisee into a ministry of growing the church among Jews and Gentiles.

That is a role reversal. I mean, I think there was some serious whiplash in Paul's life.

It actually says he went without eating. Another account of this, by the way, this is the third time we've seen this in the book of Acts where he's given his testimony.

He's explained what happened to him on the road to Damascus. And in one of the accounts it says he went three days without eating or drinking.

He was just in silence, and by the way, he was blinded. He doesn't mention it in this account, but he was blinded by that light that he saw.

Couldn't see for three days, and he goes without eating. I think he's actually almost catatonic. I think he's just kind of like...

Can you imagine trying to process this kind of shift where you're literally... I mean, think about all the faces of people that he had persecuted that were running through his mind as he's blind and he's stuck, and he's only there with his own thoughts.

And he's got all those people that he's killed and murdered, wives that he's taken away from families, fathers that he's seen beheaded because he has arrested them.

Can you imagine the pain and the anguish that he goes through during this time of rustling through I have persecuted

Jesus Christ and his church and now he is calling me into his service? Anybody maybe admit that if you were

Paul, if you went through that kind of transformation, it would just rock your world? That's what Paul has gone through.

Verse 18 is one of the most amazing calls to gospel ministry that I've ever heard, that I've ever seen, and really in the entirety of scripture.

I find in this one verse everything that I want for the people that I know that don't love Jesus or don't understand him yet.

All the lost people... Can anybody here... Can you think of somebody in your mind, somebody that you know that needs

Jesus Christ that doesn't understand him as Savior? This is an awesome thing. I actually pray this verse, verse 18, regularly for people that I know.

I have prayed this verse over my children on a regular basis. I pray that God would open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and that they may receive forgiveness in a place among those who are sanctified by faith in him.

I encourage you to think about that. To take that on, to maybe even memorize that verse and to let it roll over your heart and your mind and thinking about the people that are lost around us that don't understand.

What a clear picture of the conversion that the gospel of Jesus Christ works in a person's heart and life.

The results of believing the gospel are listed here. Exchanging darkness for light.

Exchanging the power of Satan for the power of God. Receiving forgiveness of sins.

Does this sound like a good list? Receiving forgiveness of sins in a place among God's changed people, those who are sanctified.

It's interesting to note that salvation here is both personal and a community aspect.

It's personal. You have received forgiveness, but it also has that community aspect that you are given a place in the people of God.

We are not saved alone so that we can individually stand alone as good, upstanding individuals, better people.

We are saved into a community and we are given a place together with one another based on the work of Christ.

I think that's awesome. That concept of being a community in real, authentic relationships with one another.

I've mentioned this before. Some of us that are gathered here together, what is the thing that draws us together?

Some of you might have been friends before you came here, but not many. We would have crossed paths down at Wagner's and said maybe a courteous hi as you get in each other's way and move the cart around each other or whatever.

But it's because Christ has brought us together that we are friends and that we have fellowship together and that we are one in Christ and that's an awesome thing.

Where he's brought us from a variety of backgrounds and histories of just vast differences between us and he's melted those differences away at the cross of Christ and brought us together and made us one body together where we are dependent upon one another, where we need each other, where we are drawn together in a community together and I love that.

Paul tells Agrippa, he says, I met Jesus and I decided it wasn't a good idea to keep kicking those goads so I obeyed.

I began declaring right away in Damascus. I proclaimed the gospel there and then in Jerusalem and throughout

Judea and even all the way to the extent of going to the Gentiles. He went throughout Asia Minor and he went to what's modern day

Turkey and to Greece and he traveled for the cause of proclaiming the gospel and he proclaimed that all should repent and turn to God and then live lives that demonstrate the repentance that is a change of direction.

So keeping works that are in accord with repentance or match up with.

You know that if you've got to change life, if you're genuinely in Christ, your life ought to show that and that's what

Paul is getting at here. If you've repented and you've turned from your way to God's way, then your life will demonstrate that there's been a change in there and it's because Paul was calling all to repent that the

Jews won him dead. He says that right in the text. Here's the reason Agrippa, King Agrippa, this is why the Jews are trying to get me dead, is they didn't like this whole repentance thing.

The Jews didn't like being told that they got it wrong and they needed more and they equally were not excited about Paul including

Gentiles in the whole mix. But Paul acknowledges that God has helped, he sustained and protected him and we've seen that throughout the book of Acts the intervention of God in order to protect his life.

All of that so that he can be testifying before them that day. In essence, Paul is saying without God's protecting hand on my life

I would be dead by now. So God has been sustaining me and protecting me. But at the end of verse 22 he declares that he has not stated anything that cannot be verified by the law in the

Old Testament. Everything is declared in the Old Testament that he preaches. He says things like the

Messiah would suffer. Isaiah the prophet made that clear that the Messiah would suffer and that he would rise from the dead.

Various psalms predicted the resurrection of the Messiah that he would proclaim light to the Gentiles.

That was one of the fundamental points of the covenant between God and Abraham way back in Genesis 15 -17 that this would be a blessing to all nations.

And as Paul is saying this Festus speaks up and shows his confusion. So let me stop there and ask you guys here, have you followed

Paul's defense so far? Are you able to get it? Festus was not able to get it. It wasn't processing in here.

So it's pretty straightforward. Let me just summarize what he said so far. He says, I was bad.

Then Jesus appeared to me. He changed me. I'm batting for his team now.

And the fact that he is alive and his salvation is for all was clearly shown in the Old Testament. It's pretty straightforward.

That's his argumentation. That's his defense so far. But Festus doesn't get it.

He's confused. He thinks Paul has gone certifiably insane. That he's mad.

That he's lost his mind. And this is just what Paul had written about in 1

Corinthians. The cross. The resurrection. Jesus himself is foolishness to the Greeks. It doesn't make sense to them.

Remember Festus didn't even know where to begin in his investigation of Paul's claims last week. He said, I don't even know where to start.

He claims that this guy is raised from the dead. I don't even know what to do with that. But Paul says directly,

I'm not crazy. I'm not mad. And I'm not insane. I'm speaking true and rational words.

Paul is declaring that these things are objectively real. Not a matter of subjective wishful thinking.

Boy, I hope that Jesus rose from the dead. It is historically reliable.

And the Gospel is rational for those who would look deeply into history and the Scriptures. And genuinely with an open mind study and seek to know the truth.

Starting here. And really reading it. And asking God to reveal.

Is this true? Is it right? And verifying things with history. It is amazing. We've seen that multiple times in the book of Acts.

How archaeology and different things that we see in Roman history that are not

Christian. Jewish histories that have every reason to discredit Christianity. And how those corroborate and support and uphold the truth of this word.

It's amazing. So Paul appeals to Scripture but he also turns to Agrippa in the light of Festus accusing him of being nuts.

So he turns to Agrippa to validate these things. Paul knows that Agrippa believes the prophets and so he speaks he seeks validation.

But Agrippa isn't eager to agree with someone the governor has just called crazy. So you're a dignitary visiting another dignitary and that dignitary thinks that the guy on trial is crazy.

Are you going to side with him or are you going to side with the other guy who has the potential to give you some favors on down the road.

You see and so Agrippa doesn't really want to stand on one side or the other on this.

So he balks. Declaring that he believes not declaring what he believes. And instead in a mocking way deriding

Paul for assuming that he could convert him to Christianity in such a short time. Look at verse 28 here.

Let me read that. And Agrippa said to Paul in a short time would you persuade me to be a

Christian. But I love the way that Paul responds. I think Paul was kind of quick witted. He was a very intelligent man and he was just quick on his toes.

And he says whether it takes a short time or a long time I wish that all within earshot of me

I wish all that hear me this day would become what I am except for these chains.

Whether it's short or long I don't really care how long it takes. I want everybody to believe.

You see I think sometimes we can think Paul was some gospel machine just walking around proclaiming the gospel.

But his heart was engaged in this. He was not detached and lifeless. He proclaimed the gospel with emotion and he deeply desired that all would follow

Christ. He longed to see lives changed through a connection with Jesus Christ in the same way that his life had been changed radically by the gospel.

The leaders all confer. They actually step out of the room and confer and ironically they find

Paul innocent of any charges. The final word words in our chapter indicate that Paul is now bound to his appeal because he has appealed to Caesar he must now go to Caesar.

Must be tried there. Even though he could have been let go after this trial based on their findings of his innocence.

So now he's bound to go to Rome because he appealed to Caesar. I'm convinced that all of us that kind of ends the text but some thoughts that I had in my mind as I tie this together with some of the things that Paul said like I said in 1

Corinthians where he talks about the response of Gentiles the response of Jews to the gospel I'm convinced that all of us were either raised as Gentiles or Jews now

I don't mean ethnically obviously but I'm speaking in broad categories of either we were raised religious or irreligious and by the way you might have been raised going to church and still had an irreligious upbringing do you know what

I'm saying? Some of you here might identify with that or relate to that you were raised in a church but you really didn't have any real religious foundation for you.

Think back to your upbringing. How were you raised? Raise your hand if you can kind of identify with one of those.

Religious or irreligious. You know where you are at. Were you raised as a

Gentile without religion, left to your own guidance, left to your own direction? Or were you raised as a Jew with religious rules and regulations?

Some of you here remember with loathing the days your parents made you go to church right?

The heavy rules and regulations of your upbringing. There might be some here who longed for structure who longed for your parents to engage you in your lives and they just left you on your own to do whatever you want and you just ran the neighborhood and did whatever you wanted and there wasn't much care or concern from your parents.

Some of you can relate to that side of things right? And you actually longed for and desired for there to be some connection and some kind of maybe even discipline.

Maybe you longed for them to just show some care. Well Festus mirrors one response to the gospel in our culture.

Some will find it senseless, they'll find it ignorant or foolish. Many in our culture think religion is a crutch for the weak.

You heard that argument before? That's just a crutch. You're just weak if you believe in God. Some people see it as a way to subjugate people or a system in place to manipulate.

To them Jesus is a myth or a fairy tale. But others like Agrippa find the gospel of Christ to be a stumbling block.

You see they're already good enough. They've already jumped through enough religious hoops to think that they're doing okay.

They were raised with religious pride and they believe that they are already God's favorites. Jesus is an unnecessary extra or even worse a block in the way of me getting the attention that I deserve from God.

Agrippa didn't have room for Jesus anywhere in his religious life. But there is a third response.

Not found in our narrative but found throughout scripture to those who are called the gospel is the power and the wisdom of God.

Jesus Christ has the power to harness a rogue Pharisee like Paul. He grabbed his life and radically transformed him for his own glory.

My question to you this morning is have you had that kind of encounter with Jesus Christ? He is the

Lord. He is God in flesh. He is the Savior. He died on the cross as our substitute.

Standing in the way that we deserve to be punished and he took that for us. He is alive.

He rose from the dead on the third day. And if you're in Christ, I have one challenge for you this week.

Are you guys up for a challenge? I have a challenge for you this week and it's a simple challenge. Rejoice.

If you are in Christ, my request to you is that you go out from this place with joy.

That the power of God and the wisdom of God have been applied for your salvation.

Oh, we ought to be smiling people. We ought to be happy people. We ought to be rejoicing and joyful.

Yeah, how many of you know some bad things can happen? You might get a dent on your car this week.

Right? Or something really bad could happen. Like you could get your car stolen this week.

You know, what is that in light of eternity? What are these things? These light and momentary afflictions is what

Paul later calls them. Light, momentary afflictions compared to this weight of glory.

The wisdom and the power of God applied because He loves us. Rejoice.

Rejoice this week. If you're here and you're still trying to figure this whole thing out, let me ask you to think honestly.

Jew or Gentile? Is your religiosity getting in the way? Are you approaching

God on your own terms? Maybe the gospel is just legitimately confusing to you and it hasn't made sense and just the points haven't connected up.

I'd love to talk with you. If you have questions or you desire for more clarification on the gospel, please come and see me.

I really want to talk with you about these things. But let me just say, if the gospel is kind of fuzzy to you, let me say this to simplify.

The gospel really is a simple thing. It's really synonymous with historical events.

From that standpoint, it's easy for us to understand. It's not some theoretical philosophical construct that we have to wrap our minds around.

The gospel is historical events that really happened. That Jesus Christ, God in flesh, came to earth, lived a sinless life, died a gruesome death on the cross for our sins, and was raised to life again three days later as vindication to prove that he was who he said he was.

That is the gospel. And if you would put your trust in that, that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the gospel.

Pretty simple. Hard to humble ourselves. Hard to come to the place where we acknowledge our need and say,

I need somebody to stand in the gap for me. I need somebody to step up because I can't do it on my own. That's, I think, the hardest part of the gospel, is our hearts.

Our willingness to bow the knee before somebody because I don't know about you but I have a hard time bowing my knee before anybody.

I kind of like to be self -directed and do my own thing. Anybody else relate to that? So that level of humility that's required to accept the gospel and believe that I need help is,

I think, the big crux there. It's a very simple gospel.

And we remember that gospel every week. We remember the hope that we have in Christ by every

Sunday taking a cracker that symbolizes his body that was broken in our place. And we drink a small cup of juice to remember his blood that was poured out for us.

His sinless, perfect life in exchange for our sin -filled, broken lives. That's an exchange that is just a win situation every time.

You mean to tell me I can take my mess and he'll give me his righteousness in exchange?

Deal. Anybody else thinking that's a good deal? And we need to be reminding ourselves of this.

I recognize that many of you are already in Christ and you could just kind of be sitting there going, well, why do I need to hear this again? I need to hear the gospel regularly and so you're hearing the gospel regularly.

I need to be reminded of that regularly that is by grace alone and that is by the work of Christ and I need to have the cross ever before me.

I'm convinced that sometimes God calls people to preach and to be pastors because he knows they need it more. So I have to study this every week and I have to be in it and it's like, thanks

God. He said, I know you know I needed that. So I'm in the word daily reading it, studying it because I need that.

I need to be reminded of the gospel regularly. And so we come, and that's one of the reasons that we come to communion every week here.

Now some people can kind of think, well, doesn't that become routine or erode or just kind of, doesn't it get old after a while?

No. No, it shouldn't because it's the point. It's the center point of our faith that Jesus went through that for us.

It's both humbling but it also is a cause for rejoicing. And so we come to this celebration this morning remembering that his sinless perfect life was exchanged for our broken ones.

And if you believe that and you're trusting in that, then feel free to get up during the song and take communion.

Now communion is set up in the back over here and at a table back here. And I'm going to encourage you to try something different.

I'm going to ask you to go around, I'm going to ask you to go this way. Is that making sense?

So this section is going to come back around back here. We're just going to see if we can kind of get rid of the flow issue in the center aisle.

Might not help, I don't know. But take that cup and that cracker back to your chair and get a chance to meditate and think as Dave's going to come and lead us in a song here.

And at any time during this, if you were in Christ, get an opportunity to just reflect and rejoice in the sacrifice that has been made so that we can be with Christ for eternity.

Let's pray. Father, I stand in awe of your wisdom and your power displayed in the gospel.

I couldn't have come up with this plan in a thousand years given a chance and yet you and your great and awesome wisdom and your high thoughts made a way for your justice and your mercy and your great love and your faithfulness to be applied and for us to be, to have a way to be restored with you.