Paul Continues to Persuade King Agrippa

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts, and we’re going to pick up with Acts:26:16But 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;
See All..., “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.”

Dave:

Tom, in case somebody just tuned in, and they haven’t been listening to the previous program, this is Christ appearing to Saul of Tarsus.  He’s on his way to—

Tom:

Who will be known as the Apostle Paul.

Dave:

Right.  He’s on his way to Damascus to arrest Christians, throw them in jail, maybe kill some of them, and suddenly, there is a light from heaven, brighter than the noonday sun that shines down upon him, and knocks him off the horse.  He hears this voice, he says, “We were all fallen down like from heaven, when we were all fallen to the earth—wow!That was some light, it must have been terrifying, and then he hears this voice:  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  I think this may be just a louder version of his conscience, although this is Christ really speaking to him.  But I think there’s been a voice going on in his mind, because he was witnessed, as we mentioned last week, he  has witnessed the attitude of the Christians when they kill them.

Tom:

Dave is that what the Lord means by saying, “It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.”  Is he talking about his conscience?

Dave:

Yes, his conscience is pricking him.  There’s a voice in there that says, “You’re wrong, Saul, they’re right, they’re right, Saul, you’re wrong,” and he can’t get away from this.  And now suddenly, he hears this voice from heaven, and he says, “Who art thou, Lord?”  Well, he knows.  “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.”  So this is the reason why Paul of Tarsus changed from being, we talked about it last week.  Agrippa is thinking, Paul, why would you change, you were respected among the Jews, and now you’ve joined these despised people, and you know what lies ahead for you, probably the same martyrdom in that they are getting, it doesn’t  make sense.  And Paul is trying to explain what happened.

Tom:

Verse 17:  “Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes”—

Dave:

This reminds us, of course, of when he gave this same testimony, first time we got it in the Bible, and he’s on the steps going up to the castle, because the Roman soldiers, the Centurion, they have come and rescued Paul from these Jews who are going to kill him, and he asks to speak to them, and he speaks in Hebrew to them, and that quiets the mob.  And they are listening with great interest until he gets to this phrase:  “Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee.”  Wow! That set them off.  Gentiles?  Oh, you remember the Gentiles.  And now they are going to tear him apart and he has to be taken into the palace.  But of course, Agrippa doesn’t have that reaction.  You are going to be sent, this one who spoke to you is going to send you to the Gentiles.  Well, you’re heading for Rome.

Tom:

Verse 18:  “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.”

Dave:

We need to take a little time on this verse, I mean we need to take more time on all of them, but we can’t do that, but let’s give this one special attention.  What is the end product, or what does he have in mind, what does Christ have in mind? Well, you get it in the middle of the verse, “That they may receive forgiveness of sins.”  Well, how is that going to come about?  Well, they are just going to get a real religious feeling.  It reminds me of Steve Hill’s testimony.  He was pretty much of a pagan at that point.  Oh, he looked up to the ceiling and he said Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and something came over him.  I don’t think that’s how you get saved; it takes more than just a repetition of the name Jesus.  Kind of like the Rosary, only there it’s Mary more than Jesus.  No, you’re going to have to have their eyes opened.  If they are going to receive forgiveness of sins.  Number one, “To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light.”  These people are in darkness.  Somehow, the light of the gospel of Christ has to shine in onto them, and from the power of Satan, because these people are deceived.  The god of the world, 2 Corinthians 4, Paul says:  “If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:  In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”  

Tom:

Dave, it surprises me that when we address things like this, the scripture just mentioned, here you have the Lord saying, “Turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.”  Well, when you throw Satan in the mix, with regard to an explanation, or that he may be the cause of certain things, a lot of evangelicals get weakened: oh, you don’t want to talk about that that will just put off the lost; they will think we are going a little too far with this.  When we went through the series on yoga, it was the same thing.  There is a demonic entity behind it, it is a reality, and I think we just have to live up to the scriptures, what the scriptures say.

Dave:

It’s what it says, we are going to have to deliver them from the power of Satan, the scripture says, taken captive by him at his will.  So, how are we going to do that?  By the truth, the truth of God will set them free.  And then, forgiveness of sins, that’s not the end of it—“Inheritance among them which are sanctified,” it doesn’t stop there.  Jesus, speaking from heaven says, “by faith that is in me.”  Everything we have is in Christ, is through Christ.  So, I love this verse because it really is the commission of every one of us.  We’ve been commissioned to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and how are we going to do this?  Open their eyes to the truth, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins.

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.”

Dave:

Well, that’s how he became a follower of Jesus.  Follow me, Jesus said, and Jesus is commissioning him now, I mean, he’s not even saved yet, maybe in his heart, now he knows who Jesus is.  But he’s told his marching orders now, what God is going to do with him, and he is not disobedient.  We’ve got a lot of Christians who are disobedient, they know what the Bible says but they don’t obey it, and that can get us into trouble.