Well, I invite you to turn this morning to Acts chapter 26. If you're a visitor this morning, you're joining us as we near the completion here of our study in the book of Acts, the end of the book of Acts, and today we are in chapter 26. I was sitting with Darcy, my wife, this week talking about this passage, and I said, this is just remarkable that Paul gets to stand before Agrippa and Bernice and she says, I want to talk to you about that. That's not how her name is pronounced. And I said, no, no, that's the Roman way of saying it. She says, no, it's not. It's not. It's Bernice. So now I like the name better. It just sounds better now. Bernice is a hard way of saying it. That's why I need a wife. She helps me, and I'm thankful for her. So Acts chapter 26 this morning. This is the word of the Lord. So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by the Jews, O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? 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 all fall into 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 goats. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise, stand up 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'm 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. 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 would 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'm speaking true and rational words. for the king knows about these things and to him i speak boldly for i'm persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice for this has not been done in a corner king agrippa do you believe the prophets i know that you believe and agrippa said to paul in a short time would you persuade me to be a christian and paul said whether short or long i would to god that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am except for these chains. Then the king rose and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. And there ends the reading of God's Word. This morning is the pinnacle, I believe, in the book of Acts, of what we've learned so much and so much about throughout the whole book that we are, as Jesus said, you are my witnesses to the ends of the earth. And this is one of those great moments where we see it all come together and we hear the most detailed of testimonies from the Apostle Paul of what true witness looks like and what it is. This is exactly what is in front of us as Luke here records with great detail Paul's defense before Agrippa. We've been waiting for this. And in many ways, this is the great surprise of the book. This is the great surprise from God in this book that after all of this hardship, after all of this pain, after all of this confusion, after all this suffering, How in the world did Paul end up here? He ended up before a king testifying. I think you should stop and look at this and say, this is a remarkable thing that has happened. How did the Apostle Paul, little Paul, and this vast Roman Empire end up before a king to testify and give witness to his faith? And this is meant to encourage the church that in all the opposition, in all the hardship, that the Lord's plan and purpose is indeed working out. open your eyes and look where he is right now. This is a remarkable act of God's providence and a remarkable act of his working. And we look at this last time because it was so helpful to think about Paul two years in prison in Caesarea. Nothing of what he was going through made much sense. Both the decisions on both ways that were presented to him, one to go to Jerusalem and be tried, or one to head to Nero and be tried, both were about as bad as it would be in terms of the end for the Apostle Paul. He would die either way. And we wrestled a little bit with last time thinking of God in His ways and in His providence and the way that He orchestrates things and designs things surely could have done things better than this. What a mess. What a mess that this is your choice to have a witness. death here and death here and paul didn't base any of his decisions on the fear of death everything was for the apostle paul about the advance of the gospel this is how he thought this is how he he made it through this um and we've struggled with this i think in our times and in our day to understand what seems to be a lack of plan that is playing out in front of us uh to look at all of this and to really believe that god has us just where he wants us in the midst of all of this and where this might go and how it might go all of these things are really answered here with how the lord helped the apostle paul and shows us what he was doing in the midst of all of this everything was going according to plan everything was working out just according to how he said it would work out and now he stands before king agrippa and bernice it's just a remarkable remarkable moment in the book of acts and it's here at this point that we get one of the most beautiful testimonies that we have in all of the scriptures this is god's way see it a slave in chains a slave in rags a slave standing before a king presenting the king to whom everyone must bow and confess. This is the Lord's way. It's a remarkable thing. What a drama. But it's here that we see the heart of the Apostle Paul. It's here that we see his heart. I've said over and over, nothing deterred him from what his mission was and was to be and what he was to say. And I can't get over that in our day, for the church needs this today more than ever. nothing deterred the man he wasn't pulled this way and that way it was not every wind of doctrine that came and pulled him off the path he had a singular aim with a singular goal and he is here on facing death stuck with it not going anywhere else and that's what i want to show you today paul never lost sight of his calling as a pastor and under the most stressful and scary of circumstances, he knew his responsibility was to simply be a faithful witness to the grace of God in his life with the goal that all, notice I say that, all would come to saving faith and be saved from the judgment to come. That's what this is showing us. And you see that this morning here with the purpose that Paul demonstrates as he speaks to Agrippa, the heart of his witness, and then, of course, their response to this all, which then will leave him heading to Rome. You'll remember the scene before us. Festus wants to get rid of Paul. He wants him gone out of his jurisdiction. He was assigned by Rome to keep peace in the region, and the previous guy had already been let go because he couldn't bring peace to the region. So he wants to send him to the Jews for trial over in Jerusalem, and try him there, for he knows that this ambush is in place, and this would deal with this problem in the empire, and probably bring some peace and calm to the area, for we know that all the tensions that are building are going to lead to what is going to happen in AD 70. But Nero, the alternative was to go over to Nero and be judged, and that had just as bad for the apostle of a possible outcome. he would most certainly become a martyr, either way. But he chose the path for one great reason, that Jesus said, you will testify before me in Rome. You're going to Rome. It was not to save his life, it was to testify. So as Paul is waiting to be shipped to Rome, the Lord gives us a surprise. The most detailed account in the book in terms of witness from Luke. So it's something, it's something big. we read that agrippa king agrippa and bernice had come to town and festus presented the case to them they wanted to hear now i i spent a little bit of time last time on their history which is so important here because this was a huge public scandal especially to the jews of whom we know all the agrippas and the herods the king of the jews knew the the laws they knew the rules they knew how they should live and and here was this king who was totally corrupt they come in into the room and of course it's a show they come in in all of their pomp and in all of their fancy with their fancy clothes with all of their royal figures around them and yet as history records this public scandal it was absolutely disgusting bernice had already been married and divorced by the age of 12. Married him at 13. Her uncle, Agrippa is her uncle. She was later the mistress of Caesar and would end up brokenhearted and abused by the whole thing. What a mess. What a mess. Filthy before God, yet in the greatest positions of power in the world. And here before them is a man in chains with the most important message they could ever hear, a message that is the power of God to save them. Festus presents Paul to King Agrippa and Bernice, and we enter our text at this point. King Agrippa looked at Paul, remember, balding, the only description we have, eyebrows joined, bowed knees, but full of grace, as we read last time, looks at him and says, you have permission to speak. Which you stand back and say, really? The Lord is the one commanding speaking. He's the one in control. And here he gets permission from the king. Luke records that Paul then begins to give his defense. That's important because it's the same word that Peter would later choose when he called all of us saying always be prepared dear christians to make a defense there it is a defense to anyone who asks you i think it's a really important point isn't it a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you yet do it with gentleness and great respect well here's the greatest uh showcase of that in front of us this morning before we jump into the content of the speech, I want you to think for a moment with me of Paul's great purpose in this. What would you do in this particular situation? I mean it. That's something you have to wrestle with a little bit. Paul is given permission to speak, and with great respect, he says to Agrippa, I am making my defense to you today. I know that you are familiar, King Agrippa with all the customs and controversies of the Jews so listen listen patiently to me what Paul does here is very simple this is now the third time we know in the book of Acts that he gives a witness to his story his his upbringing his testimony as a Pharisee and then of course he explains what Jesus would do for him and saving him and the mission that Jesus would give him so all of that is again set before us but i want you to notice here uh how he really is explaining to agrippa first his former life all of the jews know me says paul i was of the strictest sect of the pharisees our religion i did everything in the course of this to oppose the name of jesus of nazareth i locked up saints i forced them and and had conspiracies against them to make them blaspheme i was there when they were put to death i made the final decisions to do it i punished them for their worship forcing them to blaspheme and enraging fury i i went persecuting of them all the way to foreign cities. That's how zealous I was against Christians. You see what Paul's doing here. What he's essentially doing is showing King Agrippa at this point how irrational such hatred is. How irrational such hatred is. Why would we do that? Why do people hate us? i think this is a really important point to think about why are christians so hated now maybe we've brought some of that on ourselves for not sticking to our mission but but in general why are we hated that's the question isn't it that that's what the text is calling the king to consider why do you hate us what is so remarkable about this thought if i simply stop King Agrippa and ask you the question, what is so remarkable about all of this? Why do you hate Christians? Why do people hate us? On what basis did I hate them so much as to spew out this kind of violence against them? On what basis? Now the answer that Paul will give to this is that there is a dark demonic power of demons and satan himself behind such such hatred he says it here he says that that jesus here brought him out of darkness and his goal is to bring other people out of darkness to light out of the power notice that of satan to god and i think we have to see that today oftentimes we're confused by the hatred oftentimes we're confused by exactly what's going on and and paul was never afraid to look at it in these categories of what's happening we are what are people aligning with together today in all of their alignments and in all of their causes today it is an alignment against the light you could have completely contradictory objectives in all of these movements that are happening in front of us, but their commonality is, it's a commonality of hatred against God. Behind what is the collective hatred of God, you'll notice here, Paul recognizes is a force of Satan. But Paul is really pressing the issue of how irrational the hatred is. King Agrippa, why am I on trial today? Because, verse 8, I have hope. You could just stop right there, couldn't you? I have hope that I'm offering. I have hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, which the whole twelve tribes want to attain to. And he links together the common hope of Israel with the Christian hope, which is so important here, isn't it? What was the promise? Well, it was a promise of deliverance. It was a promise of land. It was a promise of a Savior. I have that hope. At its most basic level, isn't this today what everyone's looking for? Let me think about this just for a moment. This is what I think drives much of if we can just see it. This is what I believe drives much of what's happening right now in our day and in our time. What many people fear, what many people are panicked about, is the loss of a land. Is it not? Aren't many people right now in our time, in our day, in our country, living in fear with how to figure out how to keep a land? Is this not what's fueling a lot of the fighting and a lot of the separation right now? It may be as misplaced as Israel's hope was for the land. But that desires what Paul's appealing to. Hope. A hope that we might even say at one time when Christians were confused about America with the kingdom of God, a hope that drove us in this country. Because there was so much optimism. who's optimistic today who's optimistic paul is linking together what people aspire and what people desire in this world and i'm on trial for it for hope for real hope so then he goes on to explain the the heart of the issue doesn't he why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead. Just keeps coming back at us, doesn't it? Resurrection of Jesus. That's the hope. Why would you guys hate that? Why would you think that's surprising? Why? Maybe in our postmodern society, this even more so is confusing for people. It shouldn't be it shouldn't be why is it surprising that we believe our hope is in the resurrection of jesus all of god's testimony has proclaimed it all the prophets believed it the whole old testament was looking forward to it this is what the land was all about you see i think this is important because people are already in sorrow they are already in darkness and are about what we are about here you'll notice here is that the common misery this pain that everyone is is going through this this this searching of hope that everyone's after and what paul is saying here is so important it's completely irrational for you to hate christians who are offering you the best hope ever this is the heart of it if we were out slaying our enemies if we were all saying death to the infidels, if we were out trying to overthrow Rome, if we were out trying to deal with all the U.S. and all of its problems, then maybe we could understand you coming after us. But our cause is to say, Jesus has beat death. Jesus is the answer to your problems of sin. Can anyone today really doubt, even in the secular world, The problem of sin. That's just sheer suppression and foolishness. Look at the misery. And here we're proclaiming one who triumphed and beat all of this and rose so that people might have life. Irrational, is it? Who's irrational? See, Paul's going to be called a madman here, isn't he? And I almost titled my message, Christianity is for Mad Men. But think about it. What is more absurd? You see, it's from here that Paul gives witness to how Jesus delivered him. What Jesus did for him. This is all he's doing again. This is all his great aim again. You know what Jesus did for me one day? Dear King Agrippa, I was on the road to Damascus. I was going out at the appointment of our leaders. You know these men. You are a king. At midday, a light shone around me and I fell to the ground. Is that remarkable? Have you read the Old Testament? Is that remarkable that that could happen? A light shone around me, and I heard a voice. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Said Jesus. You can't kick against the goads, sharp spikes, controlling animals. You can't stop what I'm doing. Who are you, Lord? I didn't know the God of Israel. And He called me. And he told me, I'm Jesus whom you're persecuting. Stand up on your feet. And then he told me why he's appearing to me, dear King Agrippa. Please listen to this. Listen to why I'm doing what I'm doing. Listen to why I'm in chains. Listen to why I'm going through all of this. It is for this reason. I have appointed you as a servant and a witness to things. And you will open their eyes and turn from darkness to light, from Satan to God. Turn them from darkness to light, from Satan to God. It's for what end? This is wonderful. That they may receive the forgiveness of sins. And a place, a place, among all those who are sanctified. There is a definitive sanctification in Jesus' view. Oh, King Agrippa, how could I not go? I did what Jesus told me to do. He's Lord. I went through all the region and I called people to repentance. And you know what? They've tried to kill me for this, to bring them to the light. But the Lord has helped me so that I can fulfill this great testimony to everyone and do exactly what He called me to do and fulfill exactly what He called me to be. And here I am to this day, oh great one, notice this, I am simply testifying to everything that the law and the prophets said. Christ must suffer, and being first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentile. That's what I'm about. What's so overwhelming about the testimony is that Paul is so content and driven to keep the issue of the resurrection in front of a king. Now it's at this point we have a remarkable moment in the whole dialogue. As he's giving witness, all of a sudden Festus blurts out. Paul, you're out of your mind. Your great learning has driven you out of your mind. You're a madman. It's probably the biggest moment in Acts because I think of Jesus saying, listen, when you're put on trial for your faith and you're there in front of courts and kings and don't worry about what you're going to say. The Holy Spirit will give it to you right then and there. So whatever you read, this is the Holy Spirit giving it to Paul, which you might want to stop and say this is a really big moment because this is the climax of the speech. This is the moment. What did the Holy Spirit give to him right now? And I want you to keep in mind for a minute who he's standing in front of. Herod the Great killed babies in Jerusalem over this king, Jesus, to kill him. His son, right, took off the head of John the Baptist. Jesus called him a fox. His son took off the head of James, eaten by worms. None of this fares well for Paul. None of it. Every word is under scrutiny. What's the man going to say? What's the Holy Spirit going to give him? Paul takes a total risk here. This is a bold move. I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. I'm speaking true and rational words. But then he turns and he gazes his eyes right on Agrippa. And he looks and addresses Agrippa. bold he knows agrippa knows jewish teaching he knows the long line of herods have had problems with all the the jewish views but he knows it and he says i speak to you boldly i know that none of these things has escaped your notice for these things have not been done in a corner now what he just did was say king agrippa and he put him a little bit into a corner here. You're not so out of touch with your people. You know exactly what we believe. You know exactly what's happened. You've seen all this, Agrippa. It'd be the worst thing for the king to act ignorant at this point. But then Paul does something that is the heart of this. This is the whole sermon. He looks at Agrippa and he puts to him the most important question that he could never ask a king, Agrippa, do you believe? Do you believe the prophet? And in a remarkable moment, he says, I know you believe. I think there was a pin drop in there that day. You could hear it. What a heart. What a missionary-minded heart. With the truth in front of him, all Paul is concerned about is people for the aim of this the goal of this is captured again in verse 18 i was sent so that people can be brought out of this darkness to satan and receive the forgiveness of sins paul wants the world to be forgiven this is why i keep asking and i've really made this a focal point in light of the challenges of our day in Christian camps. What would we say today if leaders were put in front of us to them? Really, this is a real test. What would the church do today if the president was put in front of us? Oh, there have been great injustices against us. We've been unfairly treated. You're taking our lands and you're taxing us today to death. you've taken our homes. We've not been respected. You've treated us poorly. Therefore, here's what we want. Here's what we demand. Here's the heart of a servant. Standing in front of one of the greatest abusers ever, abuser of a little girl. Adulterers and adulteresses. I want you forgiven. I want to see you forgiven. That's why I'm here. Because that's what I've received. Maybe this is why it's always important for us to go back and revisit our conversions and remember what we used to do, what we still often do, and remember how lost we were when the grace of God came to us. We're always on the move today. I don't think the gospel is that exciting to the church today in America. I really don't. I don't think the gospel is very exciting at all to the church in America. Look at all the agendas. What drives our witness has to be this concern. Paul is not intimidated by a king in the right way. He's looking at them as sinners who are perishing and sinners who need salvation, who are desperately lost and need their sins forgiven. Paul had every motive to look at Agrippa and say, this dynasty has oppressed Israel. They've slaughtered infants. They've beheaded the prophets. They've abused women. They've oppressed the poor. And what burdens him? What singularly burdens him? Their salvation. Am I wrong to say the church has lost this today? The focus? I wish the church would read this verse today. i wish the church would memorize this verse i wish all the leaders would take this verse to heart it would save us a lot of heartache from all the division if we would just listen to what jesus sent the church to do and to be a witness of one aim one goal one objective to break people out of the darkness of satan's control and bring them in the light then all that other stuff will follow that they want christians look at anyone who disagrees with them today as enemies we do we despise those who are of a different political party than us. We hate them. We hate them. We refuse to speak with those who think differently than us. I've been guilty of that. And what it all displays is a lot of pride and no concern for souls. Because our aim is not salvation. We are so caught up with political and social causes and everyone from the least to the greatest is into it that we can no longer see people as we should see ourselves guilty rotten needy for grace what good are all of our causes if we show no concern for people who are headed to hell i think it's because we no longer have a doctrine of hell and the justice of god truly, that now it's the least of our concerns. Of greater concern are our agendas than what God is showing us here. Test. How do you look at people over at the abortion clinic? Angry? Want to burn them down? Want to take off their heads? Or do you want to see them saved? But by the grace of God that could be you. Do you see them ready for the wrath of God? Why do you think we have this moment of real patience before that psalm we sung out ahead of time comes to pass? Today is the day of salvation. How do you look at your abusers? What do you demand from them? Do you want to see your worst enemy saved? Or truth be told, do you want fire to fall from heaven on them? Do you want to see your worst abuser come to faith and sit by you in the pew? Would you invite them? Test. When you say, I'm the abuser, I'm the unjust, I'm the murderer, and to another who hasn't yet to see that, come over here and sit by me. Let me tell you what God's done for me. You're witnessing as Paul witnessed. Paul loved people and believed in everything he was preaching. Believed it. So when he asks Agrippa the most important question of his life, Agrippa responds, in a short time do you think you can persuade me to be a Christian? And Paul says, whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, King Agrippa, but all who hear me this day would become like I am but I don't wish these chains for them what a servant did they believe well at least not here and now on all accounts this is a failure if we're looking at it through our eyes but you know what it fulfilled exactly what Jesus wanted to happen and that's really what matters doesn't it Jesus has to change hearts Jesus has to in his sovereignty soft in the human heart. It's that hard. No one will believe unless they had the greatest witness and ability of a man in the Apostle Paul to testify and it didn't work, at least in human eyes. But God's word will never return void. He's promised us that. And they get together and they come to a consensus. He's not deserving of death. This guy's done nothing. If anyone was to be saved though, Paul did believe that it would be through the love and faithful witness of God's people to those who don't believe. And that's love of neighbor. That's love of neighbor. All this talk of love of neighbor, this is love of neighbor. No passage demonstrates it more. May this kind of witness drive us that with the apostle we might be able to say, whoever we come into contact with, I wish, I pray, would to God that all who hear would believe the gospel and be saved and enjoy the broken dominion from this darkness and be brought into light. And that everyone might be able to enjoy what we get to enjoy every week. That I was able today to announce to you your sins are forgiven by Jesus' blood and righteousness. Do you want everyone to have that? You go out with a great peace and joy today. You go out knowing the love of God. You go out knowing heaven's reserved for you. This is what we need in the church. This is the kind of witness that is most effective in the church when it comes from people who love this way. God, be merciful to us and help us to fulfill His calling that He's given to us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we confess our sins this morning and confess from right here, starting with me, our selfishness. We've not appreciated the way that we should why we're here and have the care that we should. But if we ever are, the grace of God has to touch our lives as it did when we first were saved. That that same message would hold us. That that same message would keep us. For then it gives us a bleeding concern for a lost world in darkness that's perishing. So give us all grace and help, Lord, to be faithful witnesses in these days. Give us hearts of a servant, which means we will deny ourselves. We will not seek for the glory and praise of men, but of God. And as we speak, Lord, would you save in this day? Give us again as Christians to be united in the most important causes and to stop with the foolish separations that wreck this great purpose. Thank you for this testimony today. May we respond with great joy to your love and your favor in Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.