Paul Concludes His Testimony Before King Agrippa

This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in Acts 26, and Dave, I think we got through 18, but let me read verse 18 again.  What we have here is, Paul is describing to King Agrippa the experience that he had on the road to Damascus, and Jesus has appeared to him, and gives him a commission.  Let’s pick up with verse 17:  “Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee.”  This is Jesus speaking.  “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, an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Dave:

Well, Tom, this is a fabulous verse. It really lays everything out.  Now, the purpose is for salvation of course, “go into all the world and preach the gospel,” this is what Christ told his disciples.  How are you going to do that?  Well, you’re going to have to say something that will open their eyes.  See, when we preach the gospel, you say different things to a Mormon than you would say to a Catholic, or to an atheist.

Tom:

Or to a postmodern, Dave?

Dave:

Right, yes, I think so, but it’s from the Bible.  So, first of all, I’ve got to open their eyes.  In other words, if they don’t understand the gospel—oh, yeah, yeah, there was a guy named Jesus back there, yeah, yeah, I admired Him.  No, you’ve got to know He is God; He became a man through the virgin birth, and so forth.  So, he opened their eyes, and we turn them from darkness to light, they are in darkness.  Second Corinthians 4:4 says:  “In whom the god of this world has blinded their eyes, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine in unto them I should save them, to heal them.”  So we’ve got to open their eyes; turn them from darkness to light; from the power of Satan unto God.  And here we come back to this false religion.  You mean every other religion is wrong?  Well, Jesus is saying a person who is not trusting in me, whatever their religion; they are under the power of Satan.

Tom:

And Satan means adversary, he’s adverse to the truth of what God has laid out for us.

Dave:

I think this is pretty clear.  That they—whoops!  You mean that, this is what this will do; you open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that’s necessary in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins?  What Jesus said, I’ll take it, and I don’t see any reference in here—I don’t want to go back to that, Tom, but I don’t see any reference in here to postmodern, or bells and smells, and architecture, and the atmosphere, and the candles, or anything else.  We’re going to give them gospel “that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”

Tom:

Faith in Him, it’s a simple gospel.

Dave:

Right.

Dave:

You know, Dave, let’s just talk about that for a second.  To me, coming out of Roman Catholicism, one of the things that I had trouble dealing with was, Well, wait a minute, are you trying to tell me it’s by faith, you’ve just got to believe?  It didn’t make sense to me, because you know, I was trained from the cradle that we have to do this, you have to do that, you’re obligated to do this and that, and so on and so forth.  That was a stumbling block for me, but now I see, just like everything in Christianity, it’s a miracle.  Only God could come up with something that could save anybody anywhere anytime and you just put your trust in Christ.

Dave:

That has a lot of implications, Tom, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Well, what am I believing?  I’m believing that He is God, who became a man by the virgin birth, but I’m also believing that He died for my sins.  I’m believing that when Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”  I believe that Jesus is the One who does this, not Mary, not candles, not my attitude, not my good works—

Tom:

Or how I feel.

Dave:

Right.  I have to believe in Jesus.  I have to believe the gospel, and that just wipes everything else, as you said it very well, Tom, earlier.  What? Am I going t o help Jesus pay the penalty for my sins?  No, He said, it is finished.  Well, that’s what counts, that’s what matters. That’s where my salvation lies.

Tom:

Well, not only, Dave, does it cut right to the fact that I can’t save myself, that there’s nothing I can do, that the penalty is infinite, and only an infinite God could pay that penalty.  But I think of another side, a child can believe.  Somebody who is in a plane that’s going down, they can put their faith and trust in Christ.  So, there aren’t circumstances, you don’t have to be a brilliant scientist, you mentioned some people who called themselves, “the brights.”  You don’t have to be that bright.  But even if you are, whether you are a child, or whether you are a brilliant scientist, the playing field is leveled.

Dave:

Absolutely!

Tom:

That’s the miracle that really hit me after—I didn’t understand it until after I came to Christ about how valuable, how miraculous faith is.

Dave:

Right.  So, Jesus has given Paul a commission.  Look, I have revealed myself to you, now this is what I want you to do.  I want you to go out and declare this gospel.  You’re going to open their eyes, you’re going to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins through faith in Me.  So, what does he do?  The next verse tells us.

Tom:

Verse 19?

Dave:

Yes.

Tom:

Acts:26:19Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
See All..., “Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:  But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”  Now Dave, you’ll have to explain this works part, what does that mean?

Dave:

Well, Tom, a lot of illustration we could use.  Do I really believe what I say I believe?  What do they say? Put your money where your mouth is, or whatever it is, show it, and you tell me—

Tom:

Do you walk in the walk, or just talk in the talk.

Dave:

Right, another one.  And you’re telling me, Dave, alarms are going off, and the flames are coming through the ceiling, and you’re saying, Dave, let’s get out of here!  And I say, well why?  You say, well why? I mean, this place is burning down, it’s going to come down on us, and it will kill us.  Well, yes, now I really believe that, but yes, I think you’re right, Tom, I can see those flames, but I don’t want to get up and do anything about it.  I think that’s works meet for repentance.  I’m showing with my actions that I really believe  what I say I believe, and that’s what James is talking about when he says, “Show me your faith without your works, I’ll show you my faith by my works.”  It’s not that he is saying, I’m going to get saved by my works, but I will demonstrate to  you, I really believe what I say I believe, by what I do.  I think that’s what he is talking about.

Tom:

Dave, I agree, and that’s the only way a Christian can demonstrate that they have faith to unbelievers.

Dave:

Right.

Tom:

Because, in Romans it says, “But not before God.”  God knows our heart, he knows what we believe, but the world can’t look on our heart, or understand what we believe unless we demonstrate.  So, Verse 21:  “For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.”  “Having therefore obtained help of God, 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 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.”  Gentiles, for those who don’t understand that, means non-Jews.

Dave:

Well, Tom, what you are saying reminds me of Paul, in his confession before the Sanhedrin, he says, This I confess—you know, here he says none of the things—verse 22, let me go back to that again.  What we just read, Tom, he says, I’m only saying—this is the end of verse 22—none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.  Now, in Acts:24:14But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:
See All..., he’s  making his defense, we saw this a few weeks ago, making his defense before the Sanhedrin, and he says,  “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.”  When Paul preached the gospel, Romans:1:1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
See All..., —“separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised before by his prophets.”  Or 1 Corinthians 15, he says,  “This is the gospel that I preached, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures—buried and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.”  So, Paul consistently says all I am saying is what the prophets said before, that's all.  You want to condemn the prophets?  Then you will if you condemn me, because I’m only quoting the prophets.