Go ahead and open your Bibles to Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. And last week we discussed what it looked like for the believer to engage as a gospel citizen in a sinful nation. Now Acts 21-26 you’ve probably noticed we’ve kind of been going pretty quickly through this last part of Acts because it’s kind of one massive scene of Paul dealing with unjust, immoral, wicked kings and rulers of his day.
And there’s really been two problems that you keep noticing come up among the Romans and the Jews. The Jews continually accuse and relentlessly try to eradicate anyone who claims Jesus as the Messiah or proclaims that Christ rose from the dead. And the Romans, they may have seen Paul’s message as rebellious of Roman culture and value, but mainly they continually fail to execute justice for Paul, because all these leaders cared for was their political stance among the Jews.
The Jews were a powerful party. The Romans didn’t care about what was right. They cared about their own platform and how they looked to the Jews when it came to a political standpoint. And so they weren’t executing justice. So the scene was set for us last week. With great pomp, great word, King Agrippa, his sister Bernice and the “Who’s Who” of the city gathered together in all their boastful vanity and extravagance at the expense of innocent Paul. And Festus couldn’t find a reasonable reason to even send him to Nero without looking ridiculous.
So he gives King Agrippa the chance to help find something wrong. And of course they did it in such a way that made themselves look good, because that’s what arrogant, spineless kings do. And they had no civil case. Paul had done nothing wrong at a federal level. So as he’s going before King Agrippa and this massive, pompous party, he’s going before them on theological charges.
Now this is not an easy setting to defend yourself in. Certainly not the friendliest of settings. There’s a lot going against Paul. But Paul was not concerned with his chains or his freedoms as we dive into Acts chapter 26. He knew his mission. He knew his message. And he was most concerned with the bondage that King Agrippa and every other member of the party were living in. Paul was most concerned with these wicked kings and people turning to Jesus, who was their only hope of salvation.
That is a great example for us in the midst of a world that is maybe opposing you in different ways or maybe would oppose your faith. We don’t hate them, look down upon them. We long for their souls to know the only one that can save them, just as Paul does in his chains before this party.
And in Acts chapter 26 we see that Luke records for the third time Paul’s testimony. It’s pretty important that we get Paul’s testimony in great detail three times in the book of Acts. It was preserved for us. And then Paul is constantly mentioning his testimony all through his epistles. Your testimony is one of the greatest tools that God has given you for advancing the gospel in the world.
You want to be a better evangelist? Learn to use your testminoy to the glory of God. Learn to share your testimony. Why are you a Christian? How did Christ intersect your life? Who were you before Christ? What does your life look like now? If you can consolidate that into two minutes then you have a great tool for sharing the gospel with the people that you work with or in your school or in your family, in your everyday life.
But the continual problem that the Jews have with Paul’s teaching and the foundation of Paul’s message of Jesus surrounded the doctrine of the resurrection. We see this continually coming up and we’re goin to draw out the doctrines of the resurrection today. I’m not going to convince you that you need a testimony, because Pastor Tyler did a great job of that when we went through it in Acts chapter 22.
But as we dive into chapter 26 today, I want to preach a message to you entitled “The Resurrection We All Need.” And the big idea is this. You will be resurrected, but only the resurrection of Jesus brings eternal life. And everytime we see Paul facing ridicule, imprisonment, or even just debating, at the center of his message was always Jesus and the resurrection. You saw this in Greece in Athens. You see it among the Romans, continually pops up among the Jews. And they try to stamp out, do away with, anyone that claims Jesus is the Messiah and Jesus was resurrected from the dead. So let’s dive in and see how Paul handles himself among this party today. Look in verse 1 of chapter 26.
So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense: “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. (Acts 26:1-3)
Let’s stop there. Now just notice how Paul begins. He’s so respectful. He’s so intelligent as he begins in this environment that he’s in. He’s coming off of two years of imprisonment only to be put on hold again by Festus’ weak sauce leadership. Festus can’t execute righteousness, justice. He sets him aside, brings him before this party.
And then Paul was a man who spoke pretty boldly about humility. And he steps into this disgustingly extravagant, sin-glorifying environment. Had to want to shake his head, had to be frustrated. And yet Paul starts out respectfully with, “I consider myself fortunate to be able to share my case with you, oh King Agrippa.” I might have had some different words for King Agrippa after two years in prison, stepping into that party. And yet Paul says, “I consider myself fortunate.”
And Paul is not only respectful and humble in his chains before these pompous leaders, but he is hopeful not necessarily that he would be freed from his bondage, but I think he was hopeful that King Agrippa might be set free from his bondage. And Paul knew King Agrippa had a Roman orientation because of his position, but he knew that Agrippa was a Jew.
And look at what it says. He was very familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. King Agrippa, everything I’m about to share with you, you’ve seen it. You claim to believe it. You’ve heard about it. The Jews have constantly said they uphold the law, and yet they do differently in their actions. They consistently upheld these things and they’ve twisted it for their own glory and gain in their hypocrisy.
Paul says, I beg you to listen patiently. I implore you. King Agrippa, please listen. Be patient with me. Why? So that Paul could be set free? I think Paul saw hope of King Agrippa meeting Jesus, which sends Paul not into a defense of why he is innocent, but into a defense of Jesus Christ as the Messiah who came, who died, who rose again and who could save all who receive His resurrection.
But Paul begins by aligning himself with the Jews. He doesn’t give them what he’s against. He gives them what he is for. That’s what we learned last week. That’s what we want to be known for as Christians. Let’s not be known by what we’re against; let’s be known by what we are for. Paul models it for us and he is for what the Jews have always claimed to be for and hoped for, ultimately the Messiah who would come and defeat death and the grave.
Look at verse 4 of chapter 26. He says, “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
Verse 9. “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.“In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. (Acts 26:4-12)
So Paul makes it pretty difficult on King Agrippa right out of the gate because he aligns with him. He points to his beliefs and the beliefs of his people and he ammits all of his wrongdoing toward Christians. King Agrippa, what you’re accusing me of, I used to accuse everyone of. I used to persecute everyone who followed The Way. I was doing the same thing that you’re doing to me. We have something in common.
And Paul reminds the whole party of his Jewish resume as he begins. From the earliest of age I was all in on Judaism. And I went through all the hoops and all the training and all the law keeping so that I could be a part of the strict party the Pharisees. I studied under Gamaliel and I was notorious for my zeal in opposing the name of Jesus Christ, punishing, arresting and killing followers of the Way.
Just a tip. This is a great way to evangelize people. Figure out how you can align with them before they meet Jesus Christ. Don’t act like your life is perfect. Don’t act like you’ve always had it together or you’ve always been a Christian, because you haven’t. At one point you were walking in darkness and at one point you were walking in your own way. And at one point you were walking in your pride. And so as you share with unbelievers, relate with them. Share who you were before Christ. It’s exactly what Paul does.
But let’s zero in on verses 6-8, and I want to give you point number one this morning. It’s this: the Old Testament anticipates the hope of the resurrection. The Old Testament anticipates the hope of the resurrection. You know, a lot of people who are wondering if they should come to faith, I’ve had people say this to me. “Do I only need to be concerned with the New Testament? That’s all that matters now, right?”
Be concerned with the whole Bible. And the Old Testament’s view on the resurrection, you may be like, I didn’t know the Old Testament talked about the resurrection. It does. We’re going to look at it in just a moment. It’s awesome. The Old Testament anticipates the hope of the resurrection.
Verse 6. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?
Paul goes straight for the doctrine of resurrection through the Messiah and he declares that resurrection was a promise from God to the Jewish fathers. It’s been the hope of all of the Jewish history. The twelve tribes of Judah worshiped night and day waiting for their blessed hope, the Messiah who would bring resurrection from the dead.
And Paul asked in a rather accusatory tone, Why would you be so surprised that God raises from the dead? You’ve heard about resurrection your entire life in history. You’ve hoped for resurrection your entire life as you’ve devoted your life to the God of Abraham. And now I stand here claiming that God raised Jesus from the dead, and you continue to disbelieve and seek to have me killed. We’ve waited for this! We’ve longed for this. We’ve hoped for it. Why can you not believe that Yahweh can rise from the dead and that Jesus is the Messiah and He is the firstborn?
Now what Pual is doing for them is brilliant. But what it does for us is very important. Belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is necessary for salvation. You can’t have Jesus and not believe that He got up out of the grave and defeated death and the grave. Not only is belief in His resurrection necessary, but His resurrection from the dead causes the believer to be spiritually and physically resurrected. You need a spiritual resurrection here on earth and you need a physical resurrection unto eternal life.
Resurrection is not simply a New Testament belief, not something you learned on the flannelgraph when you were growing up in church. And so you’re like, “Yeah, sure. I’ll go with that.” This is rooted in history. This is rooted in God’s plan since before the foundation of the world. What the Old Testament says about the resurrection not only proves Jesus is the Messiah, but it speaks to our deadness and need for a resurrection.
So what does the Old Testament say? You’re like, I didn’t know the Old Testament talked about the resurrection. Let’s check it out for a moment if this TV works. There it is. So Job speaks of resurrection as our solution in an evil world. Job certainly faced a lot of evil. Lost his wife, lost his kids, lost his cattle, lost his land, was stricken with sickness, attacked by Satan, wondered what was going on.
In Job 14:14 he says, Can a man see God after he dies? And look what is answered in Job 19:26. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God. Amidst the evil that he felt and was facing, he had hope that he would see God again.
Job 33. Behold, God does all these things twice, three times, with a man, to bring back his soul from the pit. (Job 33:29-30)
When you die you’ll be laid in a grave, but your soul will be with the God of glory. And Job had hope of a resurrection, of being with Yahweh. The psalmist- how could the Psalms have hope in a resurrection? It hasn’t happened. Jesus hasn’t come. The Messiah hasn’t come. Yet the Psalms claim the resurrection as hope beyond the grave.
Psalm 16:10: For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your holy one see corruption.
Psalm 17:15. There was hope among the psalmists. As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness when I awake. I shall be satisfied with your likeness. There was hope that I would be in the presence of the almighty God, that I will stand before Him even after death.
The prophet Hosea says resurrection is God’s method of rescue. Get this. Before Jesus ever came, Hosea 6:2 proclaims, After two days, he will revive us and on the third day he will raise us up that we may live before him.
And Hosea 13. I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol. I shall redeem them from death. O death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? (Hosea 13:14)
And you may think about 1 Corinthians when Paul says, “Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?” And yet he’s just referencing the prophet Hosea who claimed that Christ would do this so many years before he ever came. All of the New Testament is rooted in what was anticipated in the Old Testament and therefore we can have hope that God is a God of resurrection power.
Isaiah says resurrection will make way for a new creation. It goes beyond what you already know right now. Isaiah 25:8. He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all the faces. And the reproach of he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. Death has been swallowed up, but certainly we still have tears. Certainly we still have pain and sickness. We’re living in the already but not yet. Christ will come again and it’s through resurrection power that He will establish a new heavens and a new earth. And the people of God will be in the presence of God for all of eternity.
Isaiah 26:19. Your dead shall live. Their bodies shall rise. And you who dwell in the dust awake and sing for joy, for your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
I mean, that is so clear. So many years before Jesus ever came. And the Jews waited night and day longing for his resurrection, this kind of hope. And now Jesus is right in front of them and they’re missing it, they’re denying it. They’re trying to stamp it out.
Ezekiel goes on, prclaims resurrection will first happen in the hearts of God’s people. Ezekiel 36. Love this verse. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.’” (Ezekiel 37:3-5)
We need a physical resurrection after death, but you need a spiritual resurrection today. You have a heart of stone, a cold, dead heart of stone. Nothing you can do. You are dead in your trespasses and sins. But God in His grace removes your heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh so that you might walk in His ways. He puts His Spirit inside of you.
And Daniel, just one more, portrays resurrection as the climatic moment of all of humanity. Listen to this. Daniel 12. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. And some to everlasting life, but some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
The book of Daniel proclaims that everyone will receive a resurrection. Everyone will be resurrected, but not everyone will receive eternal life. And Paul aligns with his audience. He says, King Agrippa, how can you not believe that Jesus rose from the dead? How can you deny it? All of the prophets and Moses and our forefathers have anticipated this. We’ve waited for this. We’ve longed for this. How can you not believe that Yahweh can raise the dead?
But why does it matter for us? What’s the Old Testament have to do with me today? It’s because the resurrection of Jesus is not a new concept. It’s not just a New Testament belief for Christians. It is more than just something you say you believe because you’ve been told Jesus rose from the dead your whole life. The Old Testament anticipation of the resurrection shows you your need for a resurrection because you are dead. And God wants to breathe life into you. And the only way to live is to die with Christ and be raised to walk in newness of life.
And Paul says, All of our history has pointed to this. Our hope as Jews has longed for this. This is not a made up, blasphemous insurrection. This is the Messiah of the resurrection. And even as the Bible records many lineages, our New Testament, you know, it begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You open to Matthew. You open it up and it says, “genealogy” and you’re probably like, “I’m going to skip that and go to chapter 2.”
The important part about the genealogies and these lineages in the Bible is that they’re always showing us that all of history has led to the Messiah Jesus Christ. God has provided men all throughout history so that through their lineage it would get to the Messiah, who is Jesus, who is perfect and spotless and blameless and who would die on a cross in our place as a substitute for our sins. Because all of history has waited for Jesus, and all of the Old Testament was anticipating not only a Messiah, but a resurrection. And because we are dead in our trespasses and sins and desperately need the payment for our deadness defeated, we hope in the resurrection alone as the people of God.
And then Paul, as we already stated, he relates with his audience. When Jesus and His message first showed up on the scene, Paul didn’t receive it either. He says, I didn’t believe it. I missed it and I made people pay just like you’re making me pay, King Agrippa. But something changed, and it can change in you too.
Paul shifts from the past to the reality of the present. And point number two this morning is this. The New Testament brings the fulfillment of the resurrection in Jesus. You’ve got the Old Testament anticipating His resurrection, but the New Testament, it fulfills what the Old Testament anticipated.
Verse 13. At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all 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.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. (Acts 26:13-15)
Remember we talked a lot about his miraculous conversion when we were in Acts chapter 9. I consider it a gift that we’ve studied Paul’s life this thoroughly in the last year. It’s been such a joy.
But notice the instantaneous change from Saul the persecutor of Jesus to Paul the worshiper of Jesus. This is what the Spirit does in our lives when we are justified unto salvation and the glory of Christ is revealed. Paul had an instantaneous spiritual resurrection when he realized Jesus was truly the resurrected Messiah.
But he was a stubborn one. And some of you can relate to that. He says, “It’s hard for you to kick against the goads.” Jesus says that to him. Paul adds some color to his testimony. We haven’t heard that yet in 22, haven’t heard that in Acts chapter 9. But he adds, “I was kicking against the goads.” Maybe he was relating to stubborn pride of King Agrippa and Festus as he was relating to the people he was standing in front of.
Goads were like sharp sticks, pointy objects, that would go behind the oxen to keep them from kicking or to keep them from moving forward rather than backwards. Without Christ, you’re like a stubborn ox. And some of you can really relate to that. You’re like, Man, by the grace of God I’m sitting here today. But I went my way for a long time. And Christ was trying to get a hold of my heart, but I did what was right in my own eyes. And it was like beating my head against a wall that would never move and it led to pain and it led to consequence. And finally, by the grace of God, He dropped me to my knees and I recognize that He is Lord, and my life has never been the same since.
That was Paul’s story, and he’s telling it before King Agrippa. Without Christ you’re like a stubborn ox, and like Paul, the Jews continually were missing what their entire history and faith was waiting for and pointing to. And trying to get rid of Jesus was only kicking against the goads, because not even death could get rid of Jesus.
Look in verse 16. He says, 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 in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I 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.’ (Acts 26:26-18)
Jesus gave Paul his purpose that day. He was to be a servant and witness of what he himself saw on the road to Damascus that Jesus truly is Lord and Messiah and that Jesus indeed was alive. And the proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ was now the center of Paul’s message to both the Jews who would continually kick against the goads and to the Gentiles, praise God.
And the proof of the resurrection of Jesus Christ beckons us to have faith in Jesus who defeated death and the grave and our sin. And this revelation of Jesus to Paul has carried the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead throughout 2,000 years of church history. Either Paul made it up or Jesus is truly alive and HIs resurrection can be your resurrection through faith.
And not only that, would Paul be a servant and witness to what He has done. But through what he will see, he was promised, remember, it was promised that he would suffer much for the sake of the gospel. But God will continually deliver him from the Jews and the Gentiles. You’ll notice that in 17. I’ll deliver you from the people and from the Gentiles.
So think about where Paul has been. All these different cities, much persecution, been put in prison, been beaten, been thrown rocks at. And yet God continually delivered him. He got up and walked to the next town. He got broken out of the Philippian jail. Now here he is and he is like, I’m undeterred, because God says He is going to deliver me. He’s going to bring a lot of pain. I’m going to deliver you from the Jews and the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you.
That’s a good example for us. God has called us out of this world, but He has sent you back in with the message of hope and reconciliation. So don’t hide away. Don’t escape. Certainly don’t accommodate, but live out the principles of the gospel in the world where Christ has planted you and where Chrsit is sending you. Live sent in your house and across the street and in your neighborhood continually.
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And why has He sent Paul? Verse 18 is so powerful to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light. That’s what the world needs. And from the power of Satan to God, so many are living in the power of Satan. So much of our world is believing the lies of the liar and the accuser, and they need to be turned from the power of God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.
Because God’s plan before time began was to rescue and redeem the world through the resurrection. Paul continues to tell of Jesus and the resurrection. And Jesus was not only the Messiah, but He was the fulfillment of what the Old Testament has always anticipated, resurrection from the dead.
I was reading a just really rich sermon by Charles Spurgeon this week. And I thought about just coming up and reading the whole thing, but see how that would go. But let me read a paragraph to you. I noticed in the first service this was the best thing I said apparently.
But Charles Spurgeon said this: “The resurrection of Jesus is the keystone of the arch of our holy faith. If you take the resurrection away, the whole structure lies in ruins. The death of Christ, albeit that it is the ground of our confidence for the pardon of sin, would not have furnished such a foundation had He not risen from the dead. Were He dead still, His death would have been like the death of any other person and would have given us no assurance of acceptance. His life with all of the beauty of its holiness would have been simply a perfect example of conduct, but it could not have become our righteousness if His burial in the tomb of Joseph had been the end of all.
It was essential for the confirmation of His life teaching and His death suffering that He should be raised from the dead. If He had not risen but were still among the dead, you might well tell us that we preach to you a cunningly devised fable. See then the power of the resurrection. It proves to demonstrate the faith once delivered to the saints, supported by infallible proofs it becomes itself the infallible proof of the authority, power and glory of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.”
So powerful. And Jesus, when He came out of that grave, He appeared to Mary in the garden. He appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He appeared to the disciples in the upper room and He asked for fish sticks so He could prove He was fully human and fully God. He ate that food in front of them and He walked among the world and He revealed Himself to people. And disciples and apostles under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, wrote it down, and it’s been preserved throughout history. And apostles and evangelists and shepherds and teachers have taught it and spoken the power of the resurrection and it has made it to your ears and your church.
And you can have salvation because of what Christ has done. The New Testament fulfillment of the resurrection in Jesus Christ is the greatest news that validates the good news that all who call upon the name of the Lord can be saved.
Now number three this morning is the gospel gives opportunity to die with Christ and be resurrected to eternal life. This is our hope, the good news of the gospel. Our main message, our mission. It gives opportunity to die with Christ and be raised to walk and be resurrected to eternal life.
Verse 19-29. Let’s read that. I’ll comment as we go. It says, “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. (Acts 26:19-21)
So Paul is like, King Agrippa, I’ve obeyed that vision from Jesus, the resurrected Messiah that I saw on the road to Damascus. And just as he’s been faithful to preach the message of repentance and turning to God, he does it right there before King Agrippa. Repent and believe.
He goes on in 22. To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ 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.” (Acts 26:22-23)
He says, God has been helping me, and I’m not saying anything that Moses and the prophets haven’t claimed. And you, King Agrippa, being a Jew, you know this is true. You know that all of our history has anticipated a resurrection and a Messiah. And He’s finally here. How can you not believe that Christ came and that Christ suffered and died and bled on a cross in your place? And now He arose from the dead. He gives them the gospel.
Verse 24. And 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.” (Acts 26:24)
Because the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. And Festus, his mind was being driven crazy as Paul is proclaiming that you can have life after death because of what Jesus Christ did. And so many people can’t get over that because they’re kicking against the goads. They can’t get over themselves. And we have to die to ourselves in order that we might gain Christ.
Verse 25. But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. So respectful. So humble. Verse 26. 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.
This isn’t like something we devise. This isn’t some secret thing. This is what the world is all about. This is what we’ve been waiting for. It hasn’t been done in a corner.
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
Verse 28. And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”
Love that. Here’s this pompous party. Paul turns it on him, tries to get him to be a follower of Jesus just as Paul was following Jesus.
Verse 29. 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.”
King Agrippa, I’m not just trying to make you a Christian. I want every single person within earshot to know that they’re only hope of salvation is to turn to Jesus Christ, the God of the resurrection, and that is your only hope of salvation unto eternal life.
He as unapologetic through the entire scene as Paul calls people to repent and believe. He presented evidence that history has anticipated a Messiah and both a spiritual and physical resurrection. He proclaimed what the Old Testament said, the New Testament’s fulfillment of it, and he gives the gospel that people might put their faith in Jesus to receive forgiveness of sins, to recognize that Christ suffered in their place, and to follow Christ and to become just like Paul except for the chains that he was wearing. Because physically King Agrippa and Festus and Bernice and all of the people saw a prisoner in chains, but Paul knew that his chains had been loosed in Christ Jesus and he was truly the free one. They were the ones in chains and bondage.
Verse 30. Then the king rose. So King agrippa in his chains in this party and all of his pomp, he rises. And the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. Verse 31. 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.”
So they could have let him go but they’re like, He appealed to Caesar. We don’t have a reason to send him. We’ll send him anyways because we’re cowards. We care more about what the Jews think of us than executing what’s right and wrong.
But I want you to see the parallels. King Agrippa, Festus and Bernice rose in their pomp and pride, but Paul knew he would rise to be with the Lord regardless of what happened next. These rulers rose from their thrones spiritually dead, but Paul in his chains knew that his chains had been loosed in Christ Jesus. And those who reject the resurrection of Jesus Christ may rise from their earthly thrones, but only those who have been resurrected with Christ will rise to meet Him in eternal life. Because everyone will receive a resurrection, but only the resurrection of Jesus brings eternal life.
To die in your sin an unbelief is to be resurrected to an eternity in hell, separated from the only Savior who can unite you with the God of glory. And Romans says that the gift of God is eternal life. It’s resurrection. It’s no longer living dead in your sins but being raised to walk in new life and to anticipate being raised from the dead to eternal glory. But the payment for sin or the wages for your sin is death. And without faith in Jesus and the resurrection, you will spend eternity paying.
But because the Old Testament anticipated the resurrection and the New Testament fulfilled the resurrection, the gospel is the good news that I don’t have to stay dead in my trespasses and sins but I can get up out of my grave. If Christ was still in His grave, your faith would be in vain. But because Christ got out of His grave, you can be raised to walk in newness of life.
I love that song we sing because the chorus says, “He picked me up. He turned me around. He placed my feet on solid ground. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. Because He healed my heart and He changed my name. Forever free. I’m not the same. I thank the Master. I thank the Savior. I thank God.” I love it because it’s all about God doing something in me. It’s all of my badness somehow meeting all of His goodness. And I get resurrection power in the process. Isn’t that amazing? How unfair is that.
And yet God is that gracious that He would give up His Son for you so that you could have the hope of eternal life, so that you could live as an agent of change in the world, so that you could get up out of your grave and follow Jesus Chrsit and proclaim every day, “I thank God who is in control of all.”
Romans. Stand with me to your feet. Romans 6:5-11 says this: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
If you haven’t put your hope in the power of the gospel, trust in the Lord today. Don’t turn to the way of the world. Die with Christ that you might live with Christ. And just as Christ walked out of His grave, you will one day get out of yours. He can give you a new heart and a new Spirit right now here today. If you call upon the name of the Lord you will be saved. Amen? Let’s pray together.
Lord, we thank You that You are the God of the resurrection power. We thank You that You defeated death and the grave and our sin. Lord, would You help us today to have a hope for eternity, to know that this life is not our home and that You are preparing a place for us? And because of Jesus, because of His resurrection, we too will stand with You in glory one day. But in this life as we walk this road and as we face the challenges that this world has and the trials and tribulations that come, we take heart in Jesus who has overcome the world, who has given us a new heart, who has resurrected us to life spiritually. And we proclaim that we will get up out of our graves. In Jesus’ mighty, amen.
