Please turn in your copy of the Scriptures to the book of Acts, chapter 26. Last time we saw in our study that Festus, the newly appointed governor, had called Paul to speak before the visiting king of Bripa and his sister, Bernice. Also gathered in that arena to hear Paul were the military commanders, leaders, and important men of Caesarea. We also considered last time the great pomp that was mentioned, the great pomp that was brought forth that day for Paul's address. And we considered as well the scandalous nature of the openly sinful lifestyle of Agrippa and Bernice. It's also worth considering that the depravity which we know of in Agrippa and Bernice, their incestuous relationship, that same sinful depravity was also likely to exist in many in the crowd gathered there that day. Perhaps in that assembly, no one else was involved in an incestuous relationship, but no doubt there were adulterers, fornicators, thieves, robbers, liars and cheaters, and even abusers and murderers, all here, all gathered to listen to Paul's testimony about Jesus Christ. Not unlike that assembly that day, we gather here and we know that there are adulterers, fornicators and thieves and liars, robbers, cheaters, all sorts of sinners gathered here today. And like them, we are gathered to listen to Paul's testimony of Jesus Christ. What a blessed for good people, not for perfect people, because there are no perfect people other than our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is for sinners, all kinds of sinners. So today, don't be offended that I said we're all sinners. We are. Whatever category of sinner you fall into, Jesus' life and death and resurrection is hope for sinners just like you. Now through Luke's inspired writing account of that day, you and I can go there in our minds. We can squeeze through the crowd, we can climb the bleacher seating in that arena, and we can listen closely to the scripture in Acts 26, and we can almost hear Agrippa say to Paul, you are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make a defense. In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today. especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. So then all the Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem. Since having known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion, And now I'm standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, the promise to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews. Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead? Verse nine, so then I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prison, having received authority from the chief priest, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them, often in the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme. and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them, even to foreign cities. Verse 12, while so engaged, I was journeying 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. shining all around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, who are you? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. but get up, stand on your feet. For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you. Rescuing you from the Jewish 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 dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. So King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those at Damascus first and also at Jerusalem, then throughout all the regions of Judea, even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God. performing deeds appropriate to repentance. For this reason, some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death. So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place, that the Christ was to suffer and that by reason of his resurrection from the dead, he would be the first to proclaim life both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you mad. But Paul said, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. But I utter words of sober truth. For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, so I am persuaded that none of these things escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do. Agrippa replied to Paul, in a short time, you will persuade me to become a Christian? And Paul said, I would wish to God that whether in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains. The king stood up and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another saying, this man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Great Triune God of Heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we come asking that you would bless your word, that you would apply it to our hearts today. Make us good soil to receive the seed of the gospel. Cause it to take root in us and to grow in us and to bear fruit. We ask that the Holy Spirit would make effectual the salvation which the Father has determined, which Jesus Christ the Son has purchased. Break through the barriers which keep us from you. Overcome our pride. God, remove from us our love for sin. Remove from us our love for the world. And replace it with Father love, with love for you. We pray that you'd hide this preacher behind the cross and help us to hear the voice of Christ Jesus, our Savior. It's in his precious name that we ask all this, amen. As Paul steps into the arena, stands before this crowd, he has been in prison for two years. He has certainly over that two years, and even before that, had an opportunity to share his testimony with many people. what happened that day on the road to Damascus. We know in Luke's writing, we have already had two previous opportunities to hear a simple testimony of faith in Christ from Paul. We see his testimony given in Acts 9 and again in Acts 22. And now this third account in Acts 26 is the fullest recorded testimony of Paul. And it contains some details that are not included in the earlier recording. I'd like us to take note of this this morning. Firstly, that Paul was ready to give a testimony of faith in Christ. We don't get the idea that when Festus called Paul that he had a lot of preparation time. Paul was, however, ready to give a testimony of faith in Jesus Christ, which was clearly articulated gospel saturated and Christ centered. How many times do we hear professing Christians who are unable either to clearly articulate the gospel about their faith in Jesus Christ, or they end up getting caught up in the weeds of details, the details that don't allow the gospel to come to the forefront. Each and every one of us should be able, we should be prepared and we should be regularly practiced in telling how Jesus saved us. We should do this without confusing the matter too much. What city you lived in, how old you were, what church you attended, what school you were going to. Those things may be part of your testimony, but we can't allow those things to overpower and then we lose Jesus in the mix. When you were baptized is not when you were saved. What you did with church attendance or church membership, that may be part of what you talk about, but don't let those things distract from the testimony of Jesus Christ and his gospel. We had a wonderful opportunity many years ago. On Wednesday evenings, we worked through the gospel in detail. And at the end of that time, we had an opportunity each and every one of us individually to write out our testimony of salvation. And then we took several weeks, some of you remember this, we took several weeks to read those aloud with everyone there, with one another, sharing our testimonies. Iris, I know you remember that. What tears were shed, what joy, what a wonderful thing that was. And since that time, we have this ominous membership interview that we do with all new members. And in that process, we, the elders, have the opportunity to hear the testimony of what Jesus Christ has done to bring every person in our church to Jesus Christ as Savior. What a blessing that is. Paul was ready to testify to what Jesus had done to apprehend him on the road to Damascus. Christian, you should be ready to tell what Jesus has done for you. If you haven't figured it out, every testimony of faith in Jesus Christ is in one sense exactly the same, and in another sense, everyone different. But you should be ready to tell what Jesus has done for you, and you shouldn't let too much time pass before you tell your story, before you say, maybe you have to just kind of say to someone, have I told you how I came to Christ, how I came to faith in Jesus? Let me get into it. Maybe you have to invite that. Maybe you can invite them first. I'd like to hear how you came to faith in Christ. What a great opportunity it is to give our testimony and to hear testimony from others. We are built up. The one sharing testimony is edified and the one hearing is edified. And we don't need, Christians, we don't need a special occasion. We don't need to be in a special place. Now I grew up in churches, maybe some of you will remember this, where we had testimony services, a special Sunday evening or Wednesday night, or on very rare occasions, a Sunday morning set at time where saints would stand and give their testimony of salvation. We don't have special testimony services But some of you have been there when I was able, some of you more recently than others, when I was able to just say, hey, tell me how you came to Christ for all of us here today. What a blessing that is. Like Paul, we should be ready to speak often of our conversion. And we should do our best and be improving in clearly articulating the basic tenets of the gospel. This section that we've read in my Bible is titled Paul's Defense. Now these titles are uninspired, though they are uninspired, sometimes they are very helpful. I read this and I decided I didn't like it. I mean, that was my first thing. Paul's Defense, I decided I didn't like it. I had to ask after reading the text, is this really a defense? Well, then I read it again and I realized that, yeah, Paul called it a defense and he does give a very good defense of how he has done nothing to break the laws of the Jews nor Roman law. So it is a defense, but the reason that I questioned that, the reason I kind of balked at the defense of Paul is because it's so much more than just a defense. When we think of a defense, we think of someone saying things to get them off, to get them off the hook, to get them off the accusation, to get them out of trouble. And here, there's so much more than simply a defense. This address that Paul gives to Agrippa, because it's primarily geared toward or directed toward Agrippa, but also to the others, this address is so gospel-laden. It is heavy with the good news of forgiveness for sin through Jesus Christ. And that, at least for me, makes the defense portion almost overshadowed by the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus. but it is a defense. But it's also a gospel call. This is Paul calling sinners to come to Christ. It's a gospel call. So when we think about a gospel call, we notice here that there are none of the things that we often associate with a gospel call. There's no time, we read it, you follow along. There's no time when Paul asks that the hearers would bow their heads and close their eyes and lift their hands as they feel conviction. I'm not saying that's a sinful thing to do. I'm just saying that we don't find that here. There's no time here that Paul says, I'd like to just have the musicians come and lead us in a verse just as I am without one plea. That's not here. And there's no red carpeted aisle to walk down And I don't know about you, but I grew up where these things are synonymous with the gospel call. These things were considered the same as the gospel call. If you don't have a walk down the aisle invitation, was there really an invitation for someone to come to Christ? A man once asked me after I had preached and had not given such an invitation, how do you expect someone to be saved? He couldn't imagine a person coming to Christ in faith unless there was an altar call. He didn't realize that great preachers like George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards never had an altar call like that. They would not even have recognized what that was. And we never see those kind of trappings in the scripture. The gospel is preached. Sinners are commanded, instructed, and invited, and all those things are true of the gospel call. The Bible invites sinners to come to Christ, but it commands sinners to come to Christ. The results then are left to the Holy Spirit, who works affectionately in the heart of sinners. So this is a gospel call. Paul's address here. It's easy for us to outline after just a few brief introductory comments in verses 2 and 3, we see verses 4 to 8, Paul the Pharisee. Verses 9 to 11, Paul the Persecutor. Verses 12 to 15, Paul the Prone. And verses 16 to 23, Paul the Preacher. Paul, the Pharisee, persecutor, prone, and preacher. So his brief introductory comments in verses two and three, let's consider that for a moment. We won't reread it, but I would like to remind you what we studied a few weeks back, Tertullus, the lawyer for the high priest, when he came and spoke before Felix. He came with flattery and flowery speech. And even reading that, you can see how insincere and utterly gross his flattery was. The Bible warns us against flattery. Even today, when I mentioned that we talk about flattery, someone said, oh, that's terrible. That's a horrible thing. The Bible warns us against flattery. Flattery works ruin. Flattery is a net spread to catch someone in. The Bible says so much about flattery. Is Paul here flattering King Agrippa when he says, I consider myself fortunate? The word is happy or blessed. Is Paul trying to win over Agrippa by flattery, by saying some insincere and fake or false? I'm so happy to be here. I think we can see clearly that this is actually how Paul feels. This is true. He has been speaking at least for two years to Romans, to Felix and Festus, and probably to anyone who would ever listen. And these people didn't have a clue about the religion of the Jews. They didn't know if Paul was actually in violation of Jewish law or maybe he's not, who knows. And now Paul has the opportunity to make his case before Agrippa, an expert in all things Jewish. Remember, he had been appointed by the emperor over the temple, over the high priest. He was studied and he knew the religion He knew of the promised Messiah. He knew of Moses and the prophets and what they taught. So Paul is not flattering Agrippa. He here is saying what is true. He is truly happy that he has this time to finally speak to someone who will understand more fully what he is saying. One who will know as he speaks the background and he'll be able to fill in the details as Paul gives his testimony. This is not flattery in his introductory comments. So we have our first point here in our outline. We see Paul, the Pharisee, verses four to eight. Paul begins in verse four by saying, all the Jews know my manner of life and the youth of me. What a statement, what a statement to make. Everybody knows this man. Everybody knows him by reputation. They knew the man who said he lived with a clear conscience before God. Now we remember from our study a few weeks ago that living with a clear conscience is not enough, because even if one lives with a sincere conscience, we may be sincerely wrong. And that's where Paul was, but they knew him to be a man of integrity and a man of conscience. Paul was known by reputation, and what a reputation he had. He was from the strictest sect of the Jews. But Paul wasn't playing religion. He was serious. Paul was known to be one who kept the Jews' rules most faithfully. Paul rightly states that the reason he is so hated by the Jews is that he held most firmly to the promise of a Messiah. And he believes Jesus to be that Messiah. Jesus died and rose from the dead, proving that he was the incarnate. Let me back up and say that statement more accurately. Jesus died and rose from the dead, proving that he is, not was, the incarnate. God with us. He is the promised one. The Jews should have had no problem seeing this. They should have had no problem accepting that Jesus was indeed raised from the dead. They believed in resurrection, with the exception of the Sadducees, they didn't believe in resurrection. But the rest, they hoped for resurrection. The Romans and all the Gentiles would have had more difficulty with this idea of resurrection. We see that later as Festus yells out, something like, Paul, you're a madman. He recognizes Paul's learning. Your great learning has made you mad, but you're insane, Paul. And that's how this whole story of a man named Jesus who was dead and then came back to life. That's how this, that's insane. You think about it. If you don't believe in God, That's insane. For those who believe in God, for those who believe that there is one God who is almighty, omnipotent, and creator of all things, why is it a great leap to believe that Jesus rose from the dead? If there is no God, then resurrection is crazy talk. But if there is a God, then it's not difficult. Raising someone from the dead is not difficult for Him. This is the whole conflict with the Jews. Ultimately, it's over resurrection, particularly over the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, that He was raised from the dead. So we see Paul the Pharisee, we see then in verses 9-11, Paul the persecutor. Paul the Pharisee and Paul the persecutor are not a great distance apart. Paul's Pharisaism led him to be Paul the persecutor of Christians. We hear Paul as he tells us his motivation, his thought process in verse nine. I thought I had to do many things hostile toward Jesus. This is well thought out. I had to do many things hostile toward Jesus. Paul's devout, Pharisaic mind requires that he directly and vehemently opposes Jesus Christ. And so with the same fervor and dedication that he had in studying and in keeping the strict rules of his religion, now Paul applies that same fervor and dedication to the persecution of the church. Paul is clear. He is not in any way indifferent toward Jesus. Paul is not sitting on the fence. He is hostile. I thought I had to do many things hostile toward Jesus. There are many today who think they can be indifferent, who think they can remain on the fence. But Jesus says that's not the case. The Bible says that's not the case. You just can't remain on the fence. You're either for Jesus, or you're against him. You're either submitted to him and his child, or you are his enemy. Just like some of you, if you will admit it, Paul was the enemy of Christ. This is not necessarily new information, but it's presented here in a more plain manner. Paul was thoughtfully hostile toward Jesus. He hated Jesus. Not indifferent, not, well, I kind of grew up with it. No, he was hostile. He hated Jesus. Something that is new to us is the fact that Paul was culpable for the deaths of so many Christians. He wasn't, we think of, we think of persecution in our day. What is persecution to us? They were rude to me at the Starbucks. The people at the office. Paul wasn't just rude. Paul wasn't just mean. He didn't just ridicule Christians. He did not only beat them. He did not only throw them into prison. He was active in the killing of Christians. It's also new information for us in this text that Paul tried to make Christians to blaspheme. Now I mentioned to some of you, this should be shocking to us. Paul knew that blasphemy was punishable by eternal hellfire. And he was not content to destroy the physical body and the temporal life of a Christian He wanted to damn them to hell. He wanted to destroy their body and destroy their soul away. This is evil. As we see some of this new information, we learned that Paul was driven by fury and rage. He says it here. He was furiously enraged at them. Are you thinking Paul was a pretty bad guy? You should be. Why? Why standing here before Festus and Agrippa and Bernice and all these? Why did Paul share these things? He's not that guy anymore. Why did he share this? Didn't he realize saying all this stuff is going to paint him in a bad light? Wasn't he embarrassed to tell people the horrible, terrible, sinful person that he was? Paul didn't realize full well that his testimony was showing him to be a terrible person. We might say the cheapest of sinners. But Paul was in this in no way glorifying his sin. No one heard what Paul said and thought, that's cool. No one listened and said, Paul must really miss his own lifestyle. Paul spoke of his sin in a way that showed it for what it was, and that is disgusting. And Paul demonstrates here that his own reputation is of no value to him If he shows all this awfulness so that the grace and mercy of God can be understood, then his reputation is sacrificed willingly. How awful it is to see Christians who want people to think that they've always been so good. Sometimes Christians, we might give the impression, yeah, Jesus saved me, but it wasn't that hard because I was a really good person. How dare you? How dare we do that? Others tell about their sinful lostness in a way that sounds like they're reminiscing about the good old days. Oh, you remember what fun we used to have? And we glorify sin in doing that. Telling how fun and exciting it was, and then we say, but Jesus came and took me away from all that. And it leaves people to say, how sad. that Jesus came and ruined their wonderful life? To say we had no sin or to say our sin was so glorious? Christians, let us neither deny our former sin nor glorify it. Let us learn from Paul that our reputation is naught, nothing, zero in view of the gospel of Christ. Paul does not protect his own reputation when the glory and the gospel of Jesus can be magnified. Paul here lays himself bare before Agrippa and Festus and all those who were present that day to say, this is who I was. And then he told them of the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. in saving him, even a sinner of that caliber. We saw Paul the Pharisee and we saw Paul the persecutor. In the third place, we see Paul the prone. Now, yes, I use the word prone here because it fits with the alliteration of all the Ps. What I had in mind here is Paul laying on the ground on the road to Damascus, Paul the prone. Now next time, I feel like every sermon leads into the next. We talked about it's hard to divide this text of scripture. So next time we're going to look more closely at Paul's conversion. So I don't want to say too much about it now, but we see that Paul's conversion was extraordinary. Now I said earlier, We all have a testimony, and they all are, in some ways, exactly the same, and in other ways, very different. Anybody, just show things. Anybody been on the road on a horse, knocked down by a great light that showed from heaven to Jesus? No, this is unique. This is extraordinary. There's something here for us to talk about, and we'll visit that. But let us note here today, Paul did not decide, thoughtfully, to defect from what he was doing, from one path, and to go to the other path. There's no change of thinking beforehand in Paul. Paul did not choose Jesus. Paul was not a sinner. Paul was, in every sense of the word, an enemy of Christ. And Paul was apprehended by Jesus. He was on his way to apprehend some disciples of Christ, but instead Christ apprehended him. And yes, after Christ apprehended him, then there was a change of mind. There was a change of thinking. Then Paul did choose to follow. And by the way, that was quick. Man, I don't want to get on next week's stuff. Who are you, Lord? There's already a church. It's already there. Who are you? Lord. While Paul is on the ground. It's not a thoughtful process. Paul is knocked down by the radiant light of Jesus Christ. More on that next time. I know I've said this and I say it again and again and again without apology. Jesus Christ so closely associates himself with the church and with his saints in the church that he says you are persecuting me. Paul never laid a finger on Jesus physically. Jesus is so closely associated with men like Stephen that Jesus says you're persecuting me. This is a call to those who are in any way distant from the church. When you distance yourself from the church of Jesus Christ, you distance yourself from Jesus Christ himself. The church. When the Lord's people gather on the Lord's day to worship and praise the Lord and to receive the Lord's word and to hear the voice of the Lord, this is the church. And Jesus loves the church, and so should we. Fourthly and finally, we see Paul the preacher, verses 16 to 23. Jesus saved Paul, and immediately he called him to preach the gospel. Let's read again, verses 16 to 18. Get up and stand on your feet. For this purpose, I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things that you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you. Rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I'm sending you. Verse 18, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light. and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me. This was the gospel that Paul preached. It's the gospel that every faithful preacher has preached throughout history. And it's the same gospel. It's still the good news for you today. There is forgiveness of sin and an inheritance with the saints for those who believe in Jesus. The gospel call is come to Christ by faith, come repenting of your sin, believing in him. And you will be saved. I teased it. conversion. It was extraordinary. It was directly opposed to his own state of mind. It was by grace without words. And it was instantaneous. At next time, Heavenly Father, we pray that you would apply your word to our hearts. God, for those of us who are who are ill prepared to speak of your gospel, to ill prepared to speak of what you have done to save us, we pray that you would convict us, that you give us a change of heart. God, remind us what sinners we were. Remind us what we would still be without the grace, without the blood of Jesus Christ. We pray for our children who have yet to place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We pray for those who have grown up who are now adults, who may not feel like they are enemies of Christ, but they are. We pray that you would, as you apprehended Paul on the road to Damascus, that you would stop them in their tracks. that you would turn them to Christ, that you would grant to them the graces of faith and repentance. I pray that you say it. Lord, in Jesus' name.