Open your Bibles to Acts 26. If you have lost your calendar and lost track of the days, you could have arrived this morning and seeing the call to worship that we read, and the Old and New Testament readings, and the songs that we've sung, and you might say to yourself, well, it must be Easter. Everything's about the resurrection. But, as we're going to find out here, that's what Paul keeps talking about. And for sure, that's what we ought to keep celebrating. And so these things, these truths of the resurrection, ought not be kept to one day of the year, but rather ought to be something we celebrate and rejoice in frequently, in fact, every Sunday. And so we're going to consider the resurrection this morning again in Acts chapter 26. Let's read. It's a long passage. I will, as I frequently do in these longer passages, stop and comment along the way. We'll pray after reading, and then we'll take a look at what we might glean from this passage this morning. Acts chapter 26, the word of God. So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. The stretching out of the hand is not something that would maybe make sense to us, but it is used by Luke to mark this as a formal speech. Luke is communicating to us that this is not an off-the-cuff response. If you've been paying attention, if you've been a part of what we've had going on here, you know that Paul has been in prison for quite some time and that he has had some days to get prepared for this particular meeting. This didn't happen on the spur of the moment. And so it appears that Paul has put together a formal oratory. Greek scholars point out that the language he uses here in the original Greek manuscript is far more classical than most of the New Testament. indicating that it was more formal than most of the New Testament. He uses a Greek proverb later on. We'll talk more about that in a few moments. In other words, he tried to work something in as an illustration. He stands now and puts out his hand. He is speaking to them in a formal way. This is a little different than what we've seen from Paul. Perhaps Paul is rehearsing what he wants to say to Caesar. Remember, he's appealed to Caesar. He's headed to Rome. And perhaps this was a trial run for what he hoped to say in Rome. Whatever the case, he assumes the stance of a formal orator. Continuing in verse 2, 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. This is every pastor's favorite verse. 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 lived as a Pharisee." When you're going to take an unpopular position, it is common to first try to connect with your audience. If you're a politician who maybe is going to oppose an increase in the minimum wage, you might first start by saying things like this. I understand the plight of the working class. I grew up in a working class home. My dad was a union plumber, and my mom, she was a union teacher. And I understand how hard it is to make ends meet. But I'm not convinced that increasing the minimum wage is the way to solve the problem. You're going to say something that may not be popular, and so you first want to connect to your audience. That's what Paul's doing here. He knows that what he's going to say is going to be controversial, but he's trying to establish his connection with those who are listening to him, saying, I was one of you. But something has changed. Let me explain that change. Picking up in verse six, now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by 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 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." This is an interesting comment. It suggests that Paul was a part of the Sanhedrin at one time. and may have actually not merely stood and watched Stephen be executed, but may have voted for Stephen's execution back in the early part of Acts, back in Acts 6. 7. 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 priest. 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, I'm sorry, 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. Here is that Greek proverb, it is hard to kick against the goads. This is a new detail. If you've been following the book of Acts, you'll notice that with each account, first in Acts 9, and then in Acts 24, and now here in Acts 26, every time Luke retells the story of Paul's conversion, he adds a new detail. This is just for good literary style, I suspect, as much as anything else. not wanting it to become boring, but at the same time to build on it so that you don't tune it out and go, oh, there's more. Oh, I didn't realize that. It's interesting, too, to note that of all the things that are repeated in the New Testament, the conversion of Saul to Paul, the conversion of this Christian killer to a Christian missionary, is at the top of the list. It's actually tied with the number of times that the resurrection of Jesus is retold. It's interesting how prevalent this is in the New Testament. So what we have here is this comment, this additional statement, it is hard for you to kick against the goads. What is that saying? Well, my brother has a photo of himself holding the tail of an 18-foot man-eating crocodile. It's true. He was in Zambia. And this croc had eaten a villager. And so they had penned it. Because of the conservation laws, they couldn't kill the croc and let the villagers use the meat and leather. I don't get that exactly. So they penned it up. So you can't do this kind of stuff in America. But in Africa, there's not a lot of laws. And so in Zambia, he could go into the pen and hold the tail of this man-eating crocodile and has a photo of himself doing this. Now what you don't see just off the frame of the photo, what he fills in, is that just outside the frame of the photo, there were two men. One on each side of the croc, each holding a long stick. And at the end of the stick, there was a nail. And if the croc began to turn its head to try to get at my brother, then they goaded it with that pointy stick to keep it in line. That's a pretty good picture of what this proverb is saying. That when you fight against the goat, you're just gonna get stabbed, you're just gonna get poked, it's just gonna hurt you. Paul, you need to just give, Saul at this point, you need to just give in and accept that the Lord has got you by the tail. and he's gonna make you his. That's what Paul is trying to convey here as he retells this. Picking up in verse 15, and I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is not insignificant that Paul was persecuting the church, but Jesus says you're persecuting me. I am certain that this played a role in Paul's later development of the idea that the church was the body of Christ. Paul saw the two as the same because Jesus saw the two as the same. Verse 16, 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 to 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, 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." Just a quick comment here. Many will put Paul and James at odds with each other. They will argue that Paul argues for a salvation by faith alone, apart from any works, and that James says, your faith has to work. And they'll see the two, they contradict each other. They don't agree with each other. Those scholars have not studied Paul closely. For here, Paul agrees with James and says, your faith better produce some works. Yes, Paul talks often about salvation being by faith alone, through faith alone. But that faith will produce works in keeping with repentance. Verse 21, 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 too 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. A few verses ago, we saw where Paul begged for patience. We're almost near the end of the chapter, so you say, well, this isn't that long. Why did he need to beg for patience? Well, I'll remind you that Luke tends to summarize these speeches. He doesn't give us a verbatim account of all that was said. And it's easy to imagine at this point that Paul probably started to recite some of what he's talking about here. He reminded his audience that Job and Psalm 16 and Isaiah I'm sorry, Psalm 22 and Isaiah talked about the suffering of the Messiah and how Job in Psalm 16 talked about the resurrection of the Messiah and how Zechariah and Malachi and other prophets talked about the fact that all the nations would one day come and flock to Israel's Messiah. Paul probably recited many of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus. His point was simple, that the gospel message he was proclaiming was the same message that God had been proclaiming all along. Continuing, verse 24, as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. 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 in the prophets? I know that you believe. And Agrippa said to Paul, In so short a time, will you persuade me to be a Christian? There's some debate about the original Greek. Is it so little time or so few arguments? It's not clear exactly what it means, but the point is the same. Agrippa is a little incredulous that after a limited amount of debate and discussion, Paul expects a response. And Paul said, whether short or long, I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains. Then the king rose and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Let's pray. Lord, guide our understanding of this text. Let us see in it an example we might follow so that we would understand the importance of proclaiming the resurrection, so that we would, like Paul, call ourselves and those around us to take a position on this central historic event. Let us be reminded of the importance of the resurrection. in our own lives and in our proclamation of the gospel. We pray for this insight in the name of Jesus. Amen. Verses 24 and 25. As Paul was saying these things, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. True and rational words. the great Greek thinker Aristotle was commenting on the works of Homer. The Iliad, the Odyssey, you recall reading these works once upon a time. And Aristotle said something really interesting. He was praising Homer for his ability to get us to buy in to fiction. Aristotle was a little astounded that we would so readily follow something which we all knew wasn't true. And Aristotle surmised that one of the keys to good fiction, one of the things that turned out to be true about humanity, about us as readers and as moviegoers and TV audiences, is that we are more likely, now listen carefully to the wording here, we are more likely to believe a probable impossibility than an improbable possibility. Let me say it again. Aristotle said that we are more likely to believe a probable impossibility than an improbable possibility. In other words, what Aristotle is saying is, if it seems believable, we're going to buy it whether it's true or not, whether it's even possible or not. We're going to go with what seems likely, regardless of whether or not it's actually true. Now that's a bit of a sad statement about the human condition. We'll buy a reasonable lie more quickly than we'll accept an unreasonable truth. Well, that's what we kind of see going on here. And it's not that shocking, I guess. There's a lot. If you think about it, there's actually quite a bit in your life that, if you didn't have firsthand experience, you'd find hard to believe. I mean, for most of human history, had you told people that things that weighed 200 tons would float in the air? Until you've seen a 747 take off, it's a little hard to accept. We take it for granted because we have seen it and witnessed it. But let's be honest, it's a bit out there. I've actually taught the Bernoulli principle. I kind of understand the physics of it. And I still have a hard time climbing on an airplane. It is an improbable possibility, so improbable that it took a long time before we got around to inventing it. There are those sorts of things that seem purely mythical to most of human history but all of a sudden have become true. Marconi's invention of the radio. A lot of people just scoffed at the idea. It was made up. It was fiction. They wouldn't believe the newspapers when it was announced that it had been invented until they actually heard it for themselves. For how is it possible that a person talking in one place could be heard hundreds of miles away in another place? It is an improbable but possible thing and therefore unbelievable. Because of the difficulty of accepting what is possible if it seems improbable, we still have a lot of people who aren't convinced that we walked on the moon. More about that in Sunday school, believe it or not. There are certain realities, certain truths, which seem so crazy when we first hear them that we have a hard time accepting them. No matter how outlandish they are, though, if they correlate to reality, then they are true and rational. acute illustration of this is the classic Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. You remember the account? The old man is going to be locked up. He's going to be put away. He's going to be put into an asylum because he's claiming to be Santa Claus. And his attorney, the only hope his attorney has is to convince the whole courtroom that that must be true. The only way he's not crazy is if he actually is Santa. And the lawyer goes about trying to prove that. And that's kind of the core of Paul's argument here. Yeah, I understand, Festus, why this claim seems outlandish. But it is true and rational. Why? Because it correlates to reality. It's tied in to historical events. Festus' objection to Paul's argument is because he can't conceive of it, not because it isn't actually possible. It's also interesting to note the nature of Festus' objection, where he objects. Notice he doesn't actually object in the immediate aftermath of comments about the Resurrection. In fact, we're reminded that he already knew that Paul believed in the Resurrection. We saw that last chapter. So Festus, where does he object? He objects when Paul starts to talk about how all the prophecies pointed to Jesus. That's also why he responds the way he does. Paul, your great learning has driven you mad. If Festus was incredulous over the resurrection, he would have said, Paul, you're a rube who's been duped. But he doesn't. He says just the opposite. You are an incredibly learned man, but I think you've confused some things. I think you've read so many books that you can't keep straight which ones go in which order. It's not possible that all those prophecies predicted Jesus of Nazareth. Agrippa is struggling with the resurrection of Jesus. Festus, I think he's struggling with that also. I think that's the straw that broke the camel's back, but he's struggling with the prophecies. In both cases, though, what we see is Paul bringing these men to a point where they must confront the reality of Christ and the scriptures. Festus' response, his outrage, his yelling at Paul, leaves us a little saddened because it makes clear where he stands on the issue. Many of us, if we are sharing the gospel with a loved one, with a coworker, with a neighbor, we don't want this kind of response. We don't want them to just blow us off and tell us we're crazy. Partly because it feels like we've failed. Partly because it seems like it's hardened them against the truth. So we consider instead now the response of Agrippa, how different it is. Though he's living in a moral and impious lifestyle, King Agrippa is a Jew and he knows something of the Jewish scriptures and the Jewish hopes. He is not quite so outraged at the fulfillment of the prophecies, but he is struggling to accept that Jesus is the Messiah. A Greek-influenced mind, like that of Festus and probably some of the other Roman officials in the room, would not have objected to the afterlife. You may recall Plato, 400 years before this, had established that there is a spiritual realm, there is an immaterial aspect to our existence, and it's good. In fact, Plato argued that the immaterial was inherently good. But Plato argued that the physical was inherently bad. So in the Greek mind, the idea of the afterlife was being set free from the body, being disentangled from the physical. They didn't have a problem with the idea of afterlife. They had a problem with the idea of being tied to your physical body for all of the afterlife. And that is part of what has got Festus and some of the others worked up. Being a Jew would not have been outraged by this. He doesn't see freedom from the body as the ultimate goal. In fact, he and his fellow Jews, Paul reminds him, have been hoping for the resurrection, been looking forward to the resurrection. So we have two very different men, two very different reactions, two very different reasons for their reactions. Agrippa is apprehensive, he's hesitant, but he doesn't outright reject it. Festus is incredulous and dumbfounded and dismissive. So what do we make of these? How do we think about these? How did Paul elicit these responses and what do we draw from it? Well, first of all, I want to point out how Paul elicited these responses. He really gets at the heart of the matter back there in verse eight. Why is it that any of you find it hard to believe in the resurrection? Why is it that any of you would doubt it? Why do you find it hard to believe that God raises the dead? Paul's point is simple. Everyone here in this courtroom, everyone in this room claims to believe in a God or gods, plural. But if there is a God or there are gods, shouldn't God do God things? Doesn't it make sense that if there is a supreme being, if there is one who is ruler over humanity and the determiner of human destinies, if there is that power that decides when and where a person dies, doesn't it seem completely appropriate that he could also call them back from the dead? And if every one of you in the room is going to say that you believe that humanity got its start some point in the past because a god or gods created us, if god or the gods can give life to something which doesn't even exist at all, how outlandish is it that he could give life to that which does exist? And Paul's argument is this. God can do God things. God is able to do that which we're saying. He can raise the dead. And I point this out because I believe it offers to you and to me, one, a challenge to our own doubts when we're struggling with the proclamations of Scripture. Let's be reminded. If there is a God, if we're going to start with that basic tenet in place, it's not a big leap to get to everything else. In fact, it totally follows that if there is a God, He can do God things. But I also want to point out that this is a way to communicate to our culture, to our loved ones, to our friends, to our neighbors. I couldn't find a super recent poll, but some fairly recent polls. Gallup in 2018 said that 79% of Americans affirm the statement that they believe in God, and that 64% of Americans would affirm the statement that they are absolutely convinced God exists. 64% of Americans absolutely convinced. that God exists. They're not hesitating or hedging their bets at all. There was an NBC News poll in 2016 that said 80% of Americans believe in life after death. You know what's interesting? That number has gone up in the last 40 years. Gone up. It's at 80% now. In 1973, it was at 70% of Americans believed in life after death. Found another poll. And technically, this one was Project Canada. And so I don't know if it applies to us here in the States, but Canada is almost like a whole other country. But I liked, as the numbers were interesting, that in Canada, at least, belief in the afterlife actually gets stronger among the younger. stronger among the younger. Listen to this. So that those who are the oldest Canadians, only 59% believe in an afterlife. The baby boomers, 65% believe in the afterlife. Gen Xers, that number goes to 67%. And among millennials, 70% of them believe in the afterlife. So we have here a leaping off place, a place to talk. Much like Paul with Agrippa said, I know what you claim to believe, let me tell you more about it. Let me fill you in. We have in our culture a large number of people who claim to believe in God, who claim to believe in an afterlife. So let's take them at their word and push them Think about it. You say there is a God. Is it that outlandish that God could raise the dead? And if He has raised Jesus, what does that mean about Jesus? What does that say about Him? It says He didn't deserve to die, that God judged His death unjust, unfair, inappropriate, out of line, not in keeping with true justice. God overturned the decision of the human courts. So if God exists, He can raise the dead. And if He raised Jesus, He did so for some valid reason. And if that's the correct understanding is that He did it to overturn the decision of the human courts, then apparently Jesus did live a sinless life. And if that's true, then it isn't also true that His death was not for His own sin, which means it can be for ours. Do you see how the Gospel can flow out of that starting point? of you believe in God. Let's talk about what that means. Let's talk about the implications of that. We see Paul doing that with his audience here. I think one of the reasons we're afraid to do that is because we're afraid of getting the festest response. We're afraid of people hardening themselves. You see, if 80% of Americans believe in God, do we really believe that 80% of them are born-again, Jesus-believing, heaven-bound Christians. I think we have to say no, we don't really believe that. There's no way to judge that, there's no way to put a number on that, but I don't think we really believe it's at that percentage. But you see what happens is this, our fear is that if we confront them with the truth of the resurrection, that they will have a festus response. You're out of your mind. That's crazy. That's just insane. And for fear of that, we don't wanna push them to a decision. We don't wanna push them to making the call. I'll remind you though, whether a person responds like Festus, you're out of your mind. like Agrippa, really, you're going to try to convince me of this? Or like Felix in the last chapter, I'll come back and talk about it later. I'll come back and talk about it later. I'll come back and talk about it later. No matter how they respond, unless they believe, the result is the same. Yes, atheists are going to hell, but so are agnostics. And so are deists. And so are those who claim the God of the Bible, but don't accept what Jesus did. A failure to make this idea that because they don't respond like Festus, there's some hope, is not hope. They're still headed to hell. And Paul says, listen, this is my last chance. This is it. If you're going to believe, you've got to be confronted right now with the truth of the resurrection. And he pushes them to make a decision. We cannot be afraid to call people to make a decision. This idea that if they stay in this limbo, if they stay in this gray area where they've never quite rejected but they're not really believing, is somehow better and healthier. No, it's not. In fact, making it clear where they stand may actually be used by the Spirit to convince them they're on the wrong side. One of the things that's been interesting over the last 150 years, yeah, 150 years of North American Christianity, is our willingness to let go of important things in order to keep people in the gray area. And so over time, we've said, well, you're not comfortable with the idea of miracles. We can fudge that. We can let it go. Struggling with the idea that Jesus was actually God? Okay, okay, we can just talk about him as a good teacher, as a moral instructor. You're struggling with the idea of the resurrection? No problem. We are too. Hard to accept. And we have, in an effort to accommodate the doubts of the culture, we have pulled back on the central truths of Christianity. And the culture still walked away. The people have still left those churches. There is not a mainline liberal church out there that is growing. Most of them are a mere shadow of what they were 30 years ago. Because if you don't stand for anything, what's the point? And Paul here takes a stand. He says, listen, you believe in God, great. But that God can do God things, which means he can predict the future, Festus. You shouldn't be shocked that these prophecies were fulfilled. He can raise the dead, Agrippa. And he did raise Jesus from the dead. You must recognize this. We today must. recognize this. So then, as we wrap this up, what are some of the simple bullet points that we draw out of this? First, I just want to remind you, and Jesus himself reminded his disciples, when you present the gospel and receive rejection, it's not you being rejected. It's him. They're rejecting Jesus. As hard as that might be to accept, at least you know for certain how to pray for them, how to talk to them, how to minister to them. At least you know with some clarity where things stand. And maybe, just maybe, the Spirit of God uses that in them to chip away at their own hardness. Things that are hardened often break. What is the sacrifice our Lord loves? A broken and contrite heart. Don't be afraid to harden people. They reject your gospel sharing. They're rejecting Jesus. Second, we've got to remember that non-acceptance is rejection. Non-acceptance is rejection. John didn't write in the opening of his gospel that for as many as did not reject him, he gave the power to become sons of God. No, he says for as many as received him. Non-acceptance, non-reception is rejection. Don't be afraid that somebody might reject it. If they don't accept, they've rejected it anyway. We must recognize that the message has value beyond the immediacy with which you're putting it out there. Remember, Theopolis is reading this some 20 years after these events occurred. We're reading it some 2,000 years after these events occurred. Paul's willingness to take a bold stand has had ripple effects throughout all of history. You don't know how the Spirit will use your stand. stand up for the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Finally, and we can't miss this, did you catch what happened in verses 31 and 32 of the passage? Look at verses 31 and 32 of this passage. Something interesting occurs. 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. What's going on there? You notice something interesting? Don't worry about the words. Think about the very fact that the words are there at all. How does Luke know that? Luke was allowed to be in the courtroom, and we believe he was present for everything else that occurred. How does Luke know this? And I'll go a little further. There's something interesting. When Luke writes this, there's a little word hoti in the Greek there in verse 31. Hoti. Greek doesn't have quotation marks like we have in English. New Testament Greek did not have quotation marks. But that word hoti, that word is often used to mark the beginning of direct speech. In other words, it marks the beginning of a quote. Luke is not just speculating or hypothesizing what might have been said. Luke is saying this is what was said. How does he know? That courtroom was filled with many people. Twice Paul says that I'm speaking to both great and small. I would like everyone here to become as I am, a believer in Jesus. And while Agrippa and Festus may not have been converted, apparently somebody else in that courtroom was. Somebody placed high enough in that court that they were privy to the conversation in the back room, came to know the Lord at some point, came to encounter Luke at some point, and to share with Luke what happened in that room. We don't know that person's name. We don't know their story. But the Spirit of God reached them, probably through the testimony of Paul that day, a testimony that goes down in the official record as having been rejected. And yet it was used. And the gospel, it's amazing. The last few chapters of the Book of Acts, we haven't seen a conversion in the Book of Acts. It's been several chapters now since there's been a conversion. The picture that's given here at the end of the Book of Acts is of the failure of the gospel to go forward. And yet, we know from history what happened. Part of what we see here is that while it doesn't always happen the way we planned, the converts that Paul was targeting didn't convert, the men that he was aiming his speech at didn't come to know the Lord, yet in response to his faithfulness, the Lord used his efforts. And quietly, someone came to know the Lord. And quietly, they joined the church. And quietly, they passed that along to Luke. And quietly, they shared with others. And eventually, the church was built up. So that a third of humanity today identifies with the Christian church. It happened. Not because of great speeches. Not because of just the right words. because of faithful men and women declaring the truth of history and trusting in the Holy Spirit to accomplish His work. Let's pray. Lord, let us believe these things. Let us recognize that You, God, do God things. And because you do, you have raised Jesus from the dead. And because you did that, you can save us from our sins. And because of that, we can go forth with good news, with hope for this world. Let us recognize that, be encouraged in that, and motivated to do that. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.