I do whatever it is I do up here. And we're glad that you're here today. I think my wife is mad at me. Friday evening, I asked her, I said, what'd you fix for dinner? She said, nothing. I said, that's what we had last night. She said, I made a nut for both nights. All right, that's chapter 26, and we got a few remarks before we actually get into the chapter. So lesson 11, today's lesson is Paul before Agrippa. Now in chapter 25, Brother Gary introduced us to Agrippa. Specifically, this is, Herod Agrippa II. Amazingly, he is the son of Herod Agrippa I. But he was to be the last ruler to come from what is called the Herodian dynasty. This Agrippa was the great-grandson of Herod the Great. Herod the Great was the one that slew all the babies or the children at the time of the birth of Christ. And this fellow was the son, as I said, of Harry Griffin I. You may remember Griffin I in Acts chapter 12. It tells us that he died after he was eaten by worms. So that's a nice thought right after breakfast, I guess. But at that time, when Agrippa I died, Agrippa II was only 17 years old. And Claudius, who was the Roman emperor at that time, was persuaded by his advisors not to allow him to inherit his father's kingdom, which was Judea at that time. because they figured that Agrippa II at age 17, he was young, he was inexperienced, and so they divided it up some other ways. And eventually, Agrippa II was given the Tetrarchy of Philip, and then later his rule was further expanded into Galilee. And I know you just can't believe all that information I've just given you. But anyway, that's a little bit of history on Agrippa II. Now, Agrippa was a Jew, and his responsibilities included overseeing the temple and selecting the priests. Now, secular historians suggest that he was by no means a diligent follower of the ways of Judaism, but he knew those things and at least nominally he had a working knowledge of Judaism and the ways, the doctrines of the Jews. Then there's Bernice, and we see her over in chapter 25. It says that Agrippa and Bernice came to see Feles, and I think that had to do, or Fesses, rather. Fesses had just been installed as the proconsul there in that area, and so they came to greet him at the time when Paul was there. Now, Bernice, If we were describing her in the modern vernacular, we would say she was a piece of work, if you've ever heard that term. I mean, better yet, she got around. Her love life reads like one of these tawdry romance novels that you might pick up somewhere. Bernice was actually the sister of Agrippa II, the one in our text here today. At age 11, she married Mark Julius of Alexandria, who was an up-and-coming young Jew, and he seemed destined for political office, but he died at a very young age. Well, Bernice, who by that time was now 17, She married her uncle, Herod, the king of Chalcis, and he was 50 at the time, by the way, so this was one of those May, December type of things. Well, four years later, he died. I think I'd start getting suspicious, you know, of this girl, but there were rumors that Bernice was behind these deaths. Well, after the death of her second husband, Bernice moved into the palace of her brother Agrippa, and historians agree that they didn't just live with brother and sister. They were involved in an incestuous relationship. It might not have been shocking if they had been Roman, but because they were Jewish, it became a scandal of great proportions that Jews did not approve of that type of thing. So, to try to minimize the rumors, Bernice decides she's going to marry again. And so this time she married Ptolemy, who was king of Cilicia. After two years, he had enough of her. she said that or he said that her promiscuity caused him to kick her out and so they divorced. So she went back to her brother Agrippa. Well, Lo and behold, there was another young Roman that came on the scene who was 11 years younger than Bernice, but they fell in love and they started carrying on. He had been assigned over to that area and so this was a fellow named Titus. Now, later on, Titus became the general who, you may recognize the name, he was the general that led the Roman army in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Well, when he returned, you know, triumphantly back to Italy, Bernice followed him. Unfortunately, the Roman citizens were shocked at his relationship with this Jew, a Jewish woman who was 11 years younger than he. And Titus's father told him, you got to get rid of this lady. I use the term lady advisedly, but you got to send her away. Well, he really did love her. He was smitten by her, but he went ahead and sent her back to Palestine. Well, years later, When Bernice heard of the death of Titus's father, she got on the ship and sailed for Rome to rejoin Titus. Well, her ship got turned back on the orders of Titus himself, and so he was done with her, and that's the last we know of her whereabouts. You say, well, what did all that have to do with our story? Well, probably nothing, but it is certainly interesting, although somewhat distasteful. Well, now we're going to actually get into the lesson here concerning Paul's situation. Apparently, even without radio, TV, Facebook, and all that, Paul's teachings and his travels and his influence have made quite a wide, they've been broadcast. News has a way of getting around, whether you've got the most modern media or not. Somebody said that, you know, bad news can travel around the world before good news even gets its shoelaces tied. And that was true even back in these days. There was a lot of travel going on and people would carry the news and that was big stuff. When somebody would come into an establishment that had sailed from somewhere else, they wanted to know, hey, what can you tell us? What news have you got to share? And so Paul and his I'm not gonna say antics, his teachings and his activities are well known and the powers that be. Felix, Festus, Agrippa, they are all taking an interest in him. First there was Felix. Felix was sympathetic to Paul. And if you read, I think Billy Graber mentioned this last week, that Felix was kind to Paul. And he told the guardians, the captors, he said, now look, don't stop anybody from coming to visit Paul. They can bring him stuff. And he gave Paul a certain amount of liberty. So Felix liked Paul. Of course, it also says that Felix wanted that Paul would bribe him for his freedom, but Paul didn't do that. But Felix at least had an affection for Paul. Well, then Festus comes on the scene. This is before he was the deputy on Gunsmoke, but y'all remember Festus, don't you? Yeah, I think you do. Well, thanks for the amen. Festus is somewhat confused. Of course, he doesn't know all the ins and outs of Paul's situation, and he's somewhat confused as to what Paul is actually being charged with. Felix had handed him over to Festus as Festus was taking over. And Festus said, I don't understand why he's even here. What's the charge here? And then Agrippa comes and shows up, and Festus decides to pick his brain, so to speak. Agrippa, as I said, is a Jew, and he has a far greater understanding of the Jewish religion. And so, he arranges, Festus arranges for Paul to speak before Agrippa. And of course, these things are very formal. You didn't just go and knock on Agrippa's sitting room door and say, hey, let's have a chat. It was a formal thing and Festus arranged it. And so Festus, or Agrippa rather, and Bernice and some others got there and they sat in the very prominent places and then they brought Paul in. and Paul now is going to speak to Agrippa. So as we get into the outline, we see first of all, verses one through three, the courteous Paul, the courteous Paul says in verse one, then Agrippa said unto Paul, thou art permitted to speak for thyself. You didn't just start out, as I said, these were very formal things and you had to submit to the authority and Griffith said, okay, it's time, now you can speak for yourself. It says, then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. Have you ever wondered why Baptist preachers are always using gestures? You know, it goes all the way back to Paul. He started it, I guess. But it says in several places that Paul, when he went to speak, he would beckon with the hand. And I don't know if this enhances what we say or if it makes it sound better, but it's what we do, okay? So it's somewhere found in the... the Hebraic expressions of things. But he stretched forth the hand and in verse 2 he says, I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee, touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews, especially because I know thee to be an expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Wherefore, I beseech thee to hear me patiently. So here's Paul being tactful. It's always good to be tactful. You know, there's no call for being mean. Not usually. I mean, I guess there could be some situations, but usually it behooves us In our defense of our beliefs, to be tactful, to let your speech be always with grace, I think is what it says, seasoned with salt. Salt makes things taste better. And so if you've got something distasteful to the other person that you're going to give to them, season it a little bit. put a good spin on it, as we would say today. Paul was tactful. Perhaps there's a touch of flattery, but not flagrant. Agrippa was, in fact, an expert on Jewish customs and questions. As I said, he was responsible for, overseeing the temple, what went on there. He was responsible for appointing or at least nominating the priest to their office. And so he was, Paul wasn't just blowing smoke. here with Agrippa. Agrippa was knowledgeable concerning these things. And so Paul takes the opportunity to, I always want to use words that don't really fit. I want to use the word ingratiate. And maybe that's what he was doing. But Paul was being kind. And he was showing respect to Agrippa, who was the king, after all. Show respect unto his knowledge and his expertise. Now, the next verses, we have the cruel Paul, verses 4 through 11. He starts out here in verses 4 and 5, saying, My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, he said, if they would tell the truth. They knew me from the beginning that after the most greatest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. So Paul is talking about his manner of life and how that he grew up as a Pharisee. And even though the Pharisees were not right in their hearts, most of them, yet in their practice, they kept the law very, very strictly. And that's what he said, the most straightest sects. That's what that word straight means, means strict. And he said, I live a Pharisee. In Philippians, he talks about his testimony, verses four through six. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. So he said, I follow to the letter. uh... the ways of uh... judaism and uh... he said if these jews that are accusing me would tell the truth they know uh... how i live he uh... paul was prominent in his uh... society he was well known and uh... he talks about that in uh... other places well now in verses six through eight Paul describes the charges against him. He says in verse 6 and now I stand and judge for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers unto which promise our 12 tribes instantly serving God day and night hope to come. For which hope say King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? That was always the big question that came up was the resurrection of the dead. They all preached Jesus crucified, buried, and risen again. And that was always the sticky point with the Jews. Now, the Pharisees believed, theoretically, in the possibility of resurrection. The Sadducees didn't. That was one of the major differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. But the Pharisees believed that resurrection was possible, but they didn't believe that Jesus resurrected from the dead. And so Paul is saying, look, this is not something new. This is not a strange teaching, it's concerning a promise that was made to our forefathers. He said, in verse six, I am judged for the hope of the promise made unto God our fathers. He said, God made a promise to our forefathers that he was going to send the Messiah. He said, and now when I come saying the Messiah has come, Nobody wants to believe it, and I'm accused of being a blasphemer. In verse 7, he says, under which promise our 12 tribes hope to come. He said, this is something that Israel has been looking for for centuries. When I teach that the promise has been fulfilled, well, suddenly I'm a blasphemer. I'm a ramblerouser. I'm trying to subvert the entire Jewish way of life. Verse 8, why should it be thought of the incredible with you that God should raise the dead? Hey, the resurrection was taught in the Old Testament. And there were examples of that. Individuals were, in fact, brought back from the dead in Old Testament times, back in the times of the prophets. And it was recorded in the writings of the prophets. And that's, you know, and yet as Paul taught that, and he was going around preaching that, and preaching that Jesus is the fulfillment of that hope. Well, they didn't want to hear that. Paul, well, let's go on to verses 9 to 11. I verily thought with myself. He said, now this is the old Paul, Saul. I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing I also did. in jerusalem and many of the saints did I shut up in prison having received authority from the chief priest and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them in other words I testified against them and I punished them oft in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly mad he was wild he was a wild eyed fanatic about what he was doing Where am I here? And being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them, even under strange cities. It wasn't limited to Jerusalem. And we'll see as we go on here. But Paul thought, and he actually believed wholeheartedly that he was doing a righteous thing. By persecuting the followers of Christ and I've got a verse here on the screen he said I was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and Jurias, but I obtained it mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief and But it wasn't because he didn't believe in his cause. Paul was sincere and he really thought that he was doing the right thing. And he said, and actually Paul in his other writings, He is very humble. He said, he said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm not worthy to preach the gospel because I persecuted the church. But here he says, I obtained mercy. I know I was wrong. I didn't know it at the time. And I know now I was wrong. I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Unparkable sin, you know what that was it says that Jesus said that those that would blaspheme and What's the word I'm looking for they would credit the devil with the works of God through Jesus Christ. He said, that blasphemy will never be forgiven. Well, in Paul's case, he said, I did it ignorantly. I did it knowingly. See, these people saw Jesus doing the miracles. They said, ah, that's by the power of Beelzebub. That's by the power of the devil. And they knew that they were wrong, and yet they said it anyway. And Paul said, or Jesus said, they will never have forgiveness. That is the unforgivable sin. And Paul obtained mercy because he did it ignorantly and in unrelief. Well, we move on to converted Paul. Verse 12. He relates his conversion experience. We're not going to comment a whole lot on this because we've been through it before. Whereupon, verse 12, as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priest, in other words, he did things legally. He obtained warrants to go persecute the saints even in Damascus, which was, of course, in Syria. Verse 13, at midday, O King, we know he was on the road to Damascus. At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. They all saw it. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I, remember, it says that they saw a voice, or heard a voice, but they didn't see anyone. Anyway, that's just details. When we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And of course, we have this recorded in Acts chapter nine for the first time. And then Paul recounts this several times throughout his ministry. Verse 15, and I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. That much is recorded, as I said, in Acts 9. These next three verses contain dialogue that was not included in the original account of Paul's conversion. Verse 16, but rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee. And remember that through other sources, we find out that Paul spent about three years in the Arabian desert being taught directly through the revelation of Jesus Christ. And that's the things I think that he is talking about here, the things in which I will appear unto thee. Verse 17, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles whom now I, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." So that's Paul's commission. He's telling Paul what he's going to do. I'm going to prepare you. I'm going to spend time, three years in the desert apart from everybody else. I'm going to teach you things. And then you're going to be like shot out of a cannon, and you're going to go and be this apostle to the Gentiles. Now, Paul never abandoned his love for his own people, the Jews. And as he began his ministry in a new city, you know what he did? He went into the synagogues and reasoned with the Jews. A lot of times for several weeks, but his primary ministry was to the Gentiles. As I said, the dialogue from verses 16 through 18 is not included over in chapter 9, so we're getting some new things here that we didn't know before. Paul was relating these to Agrippa. Now we go on to the next point, and that is the crusading Paul. I hope you all appreciate the work that goes into getting all these seats. But verses 19 through 20, it says, whereupon, O King and Creator, I was not disobedient under the heavenly vision, but showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coast of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. So Paul said, I obeyed the Lord. He said, I wasn't just out here on a whim, making up a new religion, trying to attract a following, starting my own church. I wasn't trying to start a movement. He said, I was obeying God and I was obeying the call to preach the same things that had already been preached by the original apostles. I do believe that Paul was the 12th apostle to replace Judas Iscariot. But Matthias was chosen by the 11th. But we don't have any other mission of Matthias. And I truly believe that Paul was the 12th apostle. He said, I was an apostle born out of due time. But I think God recognized him as the replacement for Judas Iscariot. So you can take that or leave it. I've got reasons why I believe that. But anyway, how did I get off on that? And it's something that came to mind. Now, verses 21 through 23, for these causes, because I was obedient to God, I was obedient to preach the gospel, for these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and were about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day." He said, I managed to get away from him, and we know he had some close calls. Dervi, Lystra, Philippi, all those places where he was. And not only that, but in Jerusalem as well. He said, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. That's a very, very important statement right there. He says, I'm not contradicting Moses. I'm not contradicting the law. I'm not contradicting the teachings of the prophets. He said all I'm saying is that the prophecies that were set about set forth in the Old Testament. That's what I am preaching that they have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Verse 23, that Christ should suffer. This is what the prophets said. This is what Moses said in the giving of the law, that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first, that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. Paul said, I am being condemned to death for preaching the truth of the Old Testament. That was the scriptures at the time when it was referred to the scriptures or the word. It was the Old Testament because the New Testament was just being, it was just happening. It was just being written and it wouldn't be completed for some time. But he said, I'm being condemned to death for daring to suggest that God kept his promise and that he kept the promise to send the Messiah. Now, the unfortunate thing is that Israel in general had lost their vision of the intent of the Messiah, that he would come and be a savior, to save people from their sins. Now, we know there were some that did hold on to that and knew the truth of that, Simeon and Anna. that saw Jesus when he was just a baby. They knew that the salvation had come to Israel and they knew that it didn't have anything to do with setting up a kingdom to overthrow the Romans. They knew that it had to do with the spiritual needs of the Jews, but Most of the Jews, the Jews in general, were looking for a king that would chase Rome out of Palestine and back across the Mediterranean and then restore Israel to the glory. They look back at the kingdoms of David and Solomon. Oh, what a wonderful time that was. We had Solomon, and it was so great. And we had David, who was a conqueror. And oh, what a wonderful time that was. You know, even the 12, I should say the 11, apostles struggled with this. Right up to the time that Jesus ascended into heaven. He'd already been to the cross. He had died and risen again and spent, you know, 40 days or so with them and teaching them and getting them ready to go and do their work in the world, preach the gospel. Well, what happened when it came down time for Jesus to ascend to heaven? Look at Acts chapter 1, verse 6. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Lord, are you going to take over? Are you going to run out these Romans? And I can almost imagine Jesus clutching his head and beating it against the wall. after all he had taught to them. And he said, look. It's not given for you to know the times and the seasons. It's your responsibility to preach the gospel. Verse eight, he said, ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. That's your job. That's what you need to be concerned with. That's what you need to be focusing on, not the Roman occupation of Palestine. neither here or there. He said, what's going to happen is going to happen to your job. We have something much more important to deal with, and that is the evangelization of the world. Well, we need to move on. The caring Paul, verse 24. And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee man. Now, this is not mad like angry. This is mad like deranged. He said, Paul, you have educated yourself beyond your ability to cope with it. Thou art mad. But he said, verse 25, I'm not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. Festus may have been a little uninformed about these things that Paul was talking about. Agrippa was not. Agrippa, I'm sure, was well-informed on these things, but Festus had just come over from Italy, as far as we know, and he said, I never heard anything like this, Paul. You're just crazy. And he said, no, I'm not crazy. Verse 26, for the king knoweth of these things, And he's speaking to Agrippa now. The king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely, for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was not done in a corner. Paul never tried to hide his doctrine. Never tried to hide his teachings. He was very straightforward. He preached the gospel, which included Jesus dying for sins. and be buried, which was a testimony to the fact that he was actually dead. And then he rose again to be our mediator, to make intercession for us. Paul never watered that down. Try to make it sound like really you're okay. I mean, you might have made some mistakes along the way, but have you ever noticed these folks, these well-known so-called preachers that never talk about sin? Sin is one of the important elements of the gospel. If there's no sin, there's no need for Jesus to die. But there is sin. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And so Paul said, we've never tried to hide this. Neither I nor the others that have preached the same thing. It was not, he said, this thing was not done in the corner. This thing what? I think he's talking about the events surrounding the life and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Verse 27. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? Oh, he's nailing him down. He's nailing Agrippa down. Do you believe the prophets? What's Agrippa gonna say? Yeah, he said, I know that thou believest. Paul is saying in so many words, the prophets, preached and prophesied about Jesus Christ, who was the true Messiah. He said, I know you believe the prophets. Will you accept that Jesus is the Messiah? Is God coming to flesh? Very famous verse, verse 28. Then Agrippa said, where am I? said of all, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. We have a song, it's in our song book. I don't know if we use it much, but called Almost Persuade. You've heard it, I'm sure. almost persuaded now to believe, almost persuaded Christ to receive. And this is where that song is taken from. Now, the statement of Agrippa here is interpreted in different ways. Some believe it's a sincere statement, that Agrippa was saying, yes, I am truly almost persuaded to become a Christian. Others think that Agrippa is being sarcastic. Like, wow, you've almost got me convinced. And that may be true. And still others think that it was a rhetorical question on Agrippa's part. Do you think you can convert me with such feeble arguments? I don't know what to make out of that, but whatever you choose to believe about the statement of Agrippa, Paul took it seriously, because look what he said in verse 29. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." Interesting responses for the ones that listened to Paul. Felix, when Paul had made his original appeal, not appeal, but defense to Felix, Felix said, go thy way and when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. Festus said, you're crazy. Agrippa, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. Two things are happening here during Paul's discourse. Number one, he is putting on a defense, not necessarily a defense that he hopes to to be free because of this, because he had already appealed under Caesar. And I think that that automatically meant that he was going to have to go to Rome. And that took the matter out of the hands of Felix and Festus and Agrippa. But he's putting on a defense of the gospel. I don't know if he thought maybe by his freedom something could change, but he was defending the gospel. But then secondly, he is presenting the gospel to an unbelieving audience.