Well, it was neat how that song we sang at first talked about having a desire for lost souls. And then in the scripture, we see the prodigal son. I didn't plan this. And then Linda singing that before the throne of God, and we looked at how all our spiritual blessings in Sunday school come from the heavenly realms in Christ to us. And the name of this message is A Desire for the Lost. A Desire for the Lost.

Now, beloved, we don't know who God's elect are, do we? We didn't even know we were one of God's elect until He saved us. And so let us speak to our friends and family who do not know Christ. Let us have a desire that they would come to Christ. I don't care what they've done to us or how they've treated us. Let us have a desire that our friends and family would come to Christ. That our enemies would come to Christ. My. And I love that we send the message all over the world. Because Paul had a desire for lost people.

We're going to see that today. in our study. Open your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter 26. We're going to stand up and read verses 26 to 29 of Acts chapter 26, and Lord willing, we'll finish this chapter today. Let's stand up and read verses 26 to 29 of Acts chapter 26.

Paul speaking to Agrippa and his wife, Bernice, which I found out is his sister. My, the wickedness of men. And he's before Festiv and a whole other group of people. And he says this, let's start. For the king knoweth of these things before also I speak freely. And I'm persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him. For this thing was not done in the corner.

King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 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, except with these bonds. So Paul's saying to them, he's saying to those folks there, and they're all listening, He says, my hope is the Lord will save you all, and that you'd be saved like I am, except without bonds.

So we, as the born-again, blood-washed people, have a desire for the lost to come to Christ, don't we? And we know it's not by us. But we still have a desire, and I think we have a commission to preach the gospel to all, to tell them about the wondrous things that Christ has done for us. And don't try to force the door open yourself. I've tried that before. It doesn't work. But let the Lord open the door.

And how will you know? He'll give you freedom and liberty to speak. And it'll be glorious. And what do we do? We just brag on Jesus, right? He saved my soul. He did it all. He purchased me with his blood. I ask you, did you know you were one of the gods elect before he saved you? We didn't have a clue, did we? And you sat in the grace church, sister. You heard that true preacher proclaim. You still didn't know?

And here we are now. We are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. We give praises to our great God who is on, who is on his throne, as we saw in Sunday school, in the heavenly realms. And the only plea we have before God is Jesus. Why am I here? Why, when we get to heaven, someone asks you, why are you here?

Because of Jesus. They won't ask you that because they all know that. Because of Jesus. Because of what he done. Because he saved me from all my sins. Last week we looked at and centered on Paul's defense before King Agrippa. We looked at how the scripture emphasizes that salvation is of the Lord. We even saw that in the text that was read by Brother Brian today. That prodigal son, he wasn't looking for the Lord. He wasn't even looking for his father to accept him. He just wanted to be one of his servants. And did you notice that Father said, bring forth the best robe, singular? That picture's the righteousness of Christ, which is the best robe. And every believer is clothed in that righteousness. It's glorious. It's glorious. And we looked at Paul's testimony of the transforming power of God the Holy Spirit. He was destroying the church. He hated Christ. And now he's turned into a preacher of the gospel. all according to the will and purpose of God. Why are we here today worshiping God? Because it all is according to the will and purpose of God. That's incredible. It's glorious.

And he's being transferred from the spirit of darkness, right? The captivity of sin, just as we were, we were in that state, to the kingdom of God's dear Son. How did that happen? It must be born again by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And because you're sons, because Christ redeemed you, because the Father chose you in eternity in Christ, because you're sons, God sends the spirit of his Son into your hearts whereby we now cry what? Abba, Father. That song of praise to our great God, the songs that we sang, the songs that we sing. Here we are, former rebels, praising God. That's a miracle, beloved, of God's grace.

We've been turned from darkness to light. We've been turned from Satan's power of sin to freedom and liberty in Christ. How? By the blood of Christ and in Christ. We looked at Paul's commission to preach what? Repentance and faith. That's what we preach. Repentance and faith. And repentance and faith, remember, I've told you many times, is just like this piece of paper. On one side is faith, which is a gift of God. The other side is repentance, which is also a gift of God given to us.

Because I'll tell you what, in our natural state, we never believed and we never repented. Now we live a life of repentance, don't we? We know we're saved from our sins, but do we not confess our sins to He who is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness? Right? 1 John says that, doesn't it? Chapter 1. My. We looked at Paul's commission to preach. Look at verses 16 to 19 of Acts chapter 26.

It's a commission from God himself. from the heavenly realms. But rise, this is the Lord talking to Paul after he knocked him off his horse, but rise and stand upon thy feet, for I appeared unto thee for this purpose. You know, God does everything on purpose. Right? To make thee a minister and a witness, both of these things which thou has seen and those things in which I will appear unto thee. from the first light we're given to when we go home to be with the Lord. All we learn about God and about Christ comes from God. My.

Delivering thee from the people, that's the Jews there, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. God sends his preachers to wherever he wants, right? I was sent here to Elmont because there's sheep here. If there was no sheep here, I wouldn't have been sent here. Isn't that glorious? Oh my.

To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins. And Paul knew that this wasn't by his power, this is by the power of God. And look, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

And this is Christ speaking. Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision. I did what God told me to do, he says. Oh my, and we saw that when we went through Paul's conversion, and they said, this is incredible. He wasted the church and destroyed the church, now preaches Christ. Oh my. So not only did God send him, not only did God commission him, but God gave him the power to preach the gospel. Because even Paul wrote, who's sufficient for these things? And Travis and I know what that's like. Who's sufficient for these things? My. Charlie asked me, are you ready to go? This morning I said, well, I'm still nervous. Never goes away. Your hand on God's word. My.

And last week, we saw the gospel's universal scope rooted in the Old Testament prophecies, which are all fulfilled in Christ. Through his suffering, he's dying. He's shedding his blood to redeem us and the resurrection. Now, beloved God, true conversion is a miracle of God's grace. It's not based upon decisional regeneration. And every believer is a testimony to God's sovereign mercy and grace.

We also looked at how, despite opposition and misunderstanding, even from the Roman authorities, especially from the Jews, the Roman authorities are like Festus, and also the Jews. The gospel remains effective. Man can't stop it. from accomplishing what it will do. As you said, sister, the word goes out, it will not return under our great God void. It accomplishes what he's purposed it to do. All those messages that we have going out in the internet are all accomplishing the will and purpose of God in the lives of the people who are listening.

That's amazing. So we preachers, we're just mouthpieces. That's all we are. We proclaim the glorious salvation in Christ. Right? That's it. And between me and you, the Holy Spirit takes those words and blesses you with them. That's amazing. That's amazing. Our dear brother Paul, he was faithful to the commission that God gave him. And what did he do?

Look at verse 20 of Acts chapter 26. but showed first unto them of Damascus and Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judah, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent. That's a change of mind. Repent, turn from our sins, and turn to Christ. A change of mind about who God is. A change of mind about who we are. A change of mind about the gospel. A change of mind about Jesus Christ. Paul was destroying the Christians. Now he loves them. He was destroying Christians who loved the gospel. Now he loves the gospel. He was destroying people who preached the gospel. Now he's preaching the gospel.

Look at that. Something that's not talked about much anymore. But they should repent. Not talked about much anymore, is it? Well, that's a biblical doctrine, isn't it? And what? Turn to God. Turn from our ungodly lifestyle and turn to God. That's what we do when we're born again. It's amazing. And it's not by our power, but it's by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. But there's still a commission for us to repent, isn't there? Yeah.

And God, by grace, gives us faith and repentance. And then we, seriously, we live a life of repentance. How many times do you confess your sins? You'll be doing something, something coming to you, oh Lord, please forgive me. That's repentance. How many times have grave clothes fallen off us?

We believed one way and then we see the scriptures and we go, oh my. I was believing a man. Not what the Word of God says. That happened to me when I came out of religion. My. Chris, we've talked about that many times. Now we believe what the Word of God says. And our opinions aren't within ourselves. The Word of God bases our opinions. Our opinion is based on what the Word says, not on what we think. How many times have we run into people and they say, well, I think, when they're talking about the Holy Scriptures. It doesn't matter what we think. What does the Word say? Right? The old timers used to say, thus saith the Lord. My. So let us stand back and see what God has wrought. And be in awe. Be in awe.

Should turn to God and do works, meet for repentance. That's just looking to Christ, trusting Christ. And those works in no way save us, we just keep looking to Christ. Faith without works is dead, right? James wrote that. Those works are evidence produced in us by the Holy Spirit of God, okay, and prove that our profession is real.

Why do we praise God now in song? Why does it move us now when it never used to move us at all? Because we know the Savior now. My, when we hear about how He's died for us and how our pardon came about by His blood, does that not move us in our hearts? Oh my, does that not give us a desire to tell others about this wonderful Savior that we, we have by the grace of God? Actually, who has us? Oh, remember what I said before, it's not our grip on Christ, it's Christ's grip on us. I'm clinging to Jesus, I am, but he's got a grip on me that he'll never let go. Oh my.

And look at verses 21 to 23, and we see Paul's obedient to the Lord's command. For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple for preaching the gospel, for preaching repentance before God, to turn to God. For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. They wanted to kill him. Having therefore, I love this, obtained help of God. That's become one of my new favorite portions.

You know, every believer has obtained help of God, even when we didn't know it. Isn't that glorious? I continue on to this day by the grace and mercy of God. Look at this, witnessing to both small and great. Look at that, witnessing. telling people about Christ.

You know, witnessing isn't hard. I remember when I was in religion, I had to go to a soul winners class and all this, how to win people to Christ. Well, number one, it's not dependent on me. It's not dependent on you. But we are to witness to both small and great, aren't we? We're to tell them.

Remember that gathering demoniac that he's all chained up? Remember him? And the Lord saves him, and he's in his right mind. He's clothed again, because he was running around naked. He's clothed again, and he's sitting at the feet of Jesus. You know, that's the best place we can sit? At the feet of Jesus. And he wanted to go with the Lord, remember? He said, oh, Lord. And the Lord said, go home and tell the great things the Lord's done for you.

That's witnessing, beloved. That's it. People complicate it and they have formulas. Try to manipulate people. Just tell them what Christ has done. He saved me from all my sins. He did it all. He shed his blood for my soul. He redeemed me at Calvary's Cross.

And tell them, anyone who, the Lord has never turned away one who's come to Him. Never. Because people often say, you know, I've heard this a million times. Well, you just don't know what I've done. No, I don't. I know what I've done, though. I know what I've thought.

And I can look at other characters in the Bible, like David, who committed murder and adultery. I can look at Paul, who wasted the church. And then I can look inward again and know that I'm capable of all those things, except for the grace of God. And He saved my soul. Oh my, let me tell you about my King. Let me tell you about the one who saves sinners. Chris, you asked me this week, what is the gospel? I'm making a sermon up called The Summary of the Gospel. Oh, for a short sermon. It's all Christ. He saved us with his blood. He washed us in his blood. We're clothed in his righteousness. And you know, he rose for our justification, beloved. It's glorious.

Just tell him that. And you know what? Where he is, I'm going to be one day, by the grace and mercy of God. And there's going to be a whole bunch of folks up there that I don't know, but in eternity, we'll all be rejoicing together. And I'm going to find out that they were sinners just like me. You know, we look at things and we say, well, that person was a notorious sinner. If we really looked inward, we'd go, we're just like him.

And that's the miracle of salvation, beloved. That God saves bonafide sinners. Sinners from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet. That's amazing. That's grace. So here's Paul. He's witnessing both to small and great. So that's both to just a normal guy like me and to a king. Right? Yeah. That's what he's doing.

Saying none other things than these, which the prophets and Moses did say should come. That Christ should suffer. This is what he taught. And that he should be the first, should rise from the dead and show light unto the people and to the Gentiles, the idol worshipers. Now that made the Jews, that's why they got so angry. Because Paul said, I'm sent to the Gentiles.

What? Those dogs? Yep, praise God. Praise God, God had a plan for us too, didn't he? And it's actually all one plan. He didn't go to plan B. When the Jews rejected Christ, he didn't go to plan B. It's always, the Gentiles were always included. Always in his plan, in his purpose.

Why? How do we know that? Because we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's amazing! Oh my! So now we pray as the message goes out, Lord, use it to save us sheep. Use it to save your people. We don't know who they are, but please use it for, use it for your glory and your honor and your praise. And we'll be quick to give you all the glory, Lord. Oh my.

And we see what Paul, when he went and preached the gospel to all, Jews and Gentiles, his message was the same to the Jew and to the Gentile. And he reasoned with them from the Old Testament scriptures, because that's all they had. He opened up Isaiah and said, see this, he was wounded for our transgressions. He's praised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him.

Remember Philip? The Ethiopian said, who is this man? Philip preached Christ to him. Oh my. This is what Paul's doing. He's preaching that men and women should repent and turn to God. He knows it's all by the power of God, but he's preaching to everyone, isn't he? I always have to laugh when folks say, well, how do you know who the elect are? I don't. I don't. So I preach the gospel to everyone. And the Lord does the saving.

Somebody said, well, if you got an opportunity to preach at this church or that church, would you? I said, if I could preach the gospel, I'll go anywhere. I'll go anywhere to preach the gospel. And that, is that not the truth, Travis? We'll go anywhere to preach the gospel.

Oh yeah. My, let it fly. I went to a church out west. And I went there, and my brother-in-law's funeral. I knew about the church, I knew what they believed, and I let the gospel fly. That's all we can do. Right? I had an opportunity to preach Christ. I'm going to take it. I'm going to take it. My oh my. Now, chances are if they have their service, I'm not sticking around.

If they're not glorifying God, but I'll take every opportunity to preach Christ to anyone. Whether they be sitting over in McDonald's, whether they be down in Maria's, preach Christ. Whether they be somewhere else where we go, if the Lord opens the door, just tell them the great things God done for you.

That's all. And Paul, he's got a heart for the lost. Wherever Paul went, he preached the gospel to all. Jews and Gentiles, His message was the same. He constantly preached repentance toward God, and faith in Christ, redemption through the blood of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. And we see all those truths are brought forth in Acts 26-23, that Christ should suffer, that He should be the first, that should rise from the dead, and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. He went into synagogues and preached Christ. He went in the streets of Ephesus, full of idol worshipers, and preached Christ. He went into Corinth, bunch of idol worshipers there, and preached Christ. He went into Laodicea and preached Christ. See, that's His commission, right? His commission's not to tell you how to live a better life or live your best life now. His commission is to preach the one who redeems sinners. It's wonderful. And it's an honor, I'll tell you that. It's an honor.

Now, let's read here in verse 24. We see Fessus interrupts Paul while he's speaking. We looked at this last week, but I want to look at it again. And as he thus spake for himself, that's Paul speaking for himself, Fessus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee mad. You're insane, Paul. You've been reading too much. And see, in the text it says he spake for himself. He's speaking to Paul, he's testifying of his past life. He's testifying of what Christ done for him. He's testifying that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him. And Festus is like, you're mad, man.

He's declaring, Paul's declaring that his ministry, in his ministry, The preaching of salvation through Christ alone was an entire harmony between him and the writings of Moses and the prophets. That's why he asked Agrippa, do you believe this? It's written in the law and the prophets. But here we are.

Festus being filled with resentment at what he had heard. He thought it was foolishness. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. He's not the only one who thinks that. That the gospel is foolish. You know, if I look back at my life before I was saved, I thought the gospel was foolish. And he thought, no, this couldn't happen.

Some being appearing before you? Oh, man. Preaching about the resurrection of the dead? I've never seen a body rise from the grave. That can't be true. You got to show me or it's true. I had someone tell me. This was wild. They told me, they said, they didn't believe a certain thing was real because they hadn't experienced it.

And I said, well, I ain't never been to India, but I know it's real. I've never seen it. I've never seen it. Have you seen it? Like in real life? Other than on the international? I ain't never seen it. No. I know it's real, though. I know China's real. I've never been there, never seen them. Seen the country. I know it's real.

Oh my. Here's Festus, Paul's telling him the truth, or yeah, Festus, Paul's telling him the truth, and he says, you're mad, man, you're insane. Look at this, 1 Corinthians 1. Oh my. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stone would be walking unto the Greeks, foolishness. So even to the Romans, it was foolishness. To the Gentiles, it was foolishness.

But unto them which are called, both Jew and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, now that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God had chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

See, the foolish things there, that's just common. Henry Mahan said that one time. That's common. Just common people. Right? That's me. That's you, beloved. Just common folks. and base things of the world, and things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Why? Why does he do that? Because he does it that no flesh should glory in his presence, so that we won't brag about, look what we've done. We'll give God all the glory, won't we? All the glory.

Paul preached to Festus and the hearers there and Agrippa and Bernice the way of life and salvation which is only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, the long-promised Messiah. And so before Festus' eyes and before all who heard, Jesus Christ crucified was evidently set forth before them. that the door of mercy was open to him. And look what we see in verse 28. And Agrippa said unto Paul, almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

What sad words. Number one, we can't persuade anyone. King Rippa, with his own words, willfully disobeyed the command of the gospel. You know why? Because he's sitting there with his sister as his wife. In a relationship that's wrong, right? He won't want to give that up, though. If he had repentance before God, he's got to give that up, doesn't he? Man loves darkness rather than light. Because our deeds are evil.

That's why it's amazing God saves us. It's absolutely incredible. And we see here, he toyed. He toyed with what Paul had said. And when God spoke through Paul, he went like this. I don't want to hear this. And he uses these damning words, so damning words, almost persuaded to be a Christian. But you know, he's altogether lost. He's altogether lost. The Holy Spirit holds before Agrippa And before all those in that room, those eternity-bound eyes, a beacon to warn them that God will not toy with those who toy or trifle with his gospel. God is not mocked, is he? Whatsoever a man sows, he reaps, or a woman.

Now, one may ask, what is a Christian? Well, a Christian is one who's anointed of God. They are a follower of Christ. They at one time weren't a follower of Christ, and now they're a follower of Christ because they've been born again by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. And they've been given faith and repentance before God. A Christian is a person who's been taught of God. Taught of God, the truth of the Scriptures. That salvation's only in Christ. God has opened our eyes to see, to know the truth of the Scriptures. And who is the truth of the Scriptures? Christ. Christ.

And being taught of God, all true believers have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2.16. to understand spiritual things.

That's what that means. We've been given an understanding by revelation of God to understand the scriptures as God the Holy Spirit lights them up for us. And we're amazed when we find something we go, I never saw that before. That's amazing. It's just the Holy Spirit illuminating the scriptures. Or a preacher will say something and you're like, I never heard that before. But wait, it's true. It's true.

And a Christian is one who gratefully confesses with Paul, by the grace of God, I am what I am. I am what I am. Christians are sinners who've been transformed by the grace and power of God. They've been turned from darkness to light. from the power of Satan to God. And all born-again Christians have received the forgiveness of all their sins. The worst sin we've ever thought, the worst sin we've ever spoken, the worst sin that we've ever done, and even the worst sins that we don't even know we did. washed under the blood of Christ.

When I see the blood of what? Passover you, amen? The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. That's glorious, isn't it? Not some, not only the ones you commit before you trust Christ, but all your sins. And again, that doesn't give us a license, does it, to go out and do whatever we want? No, no. We love our Savior.

We realize our sin is against Him. We've sinned against God, but Christ and God, we've been forgiven. God is Christ, the Son of God. And all born again Christians have received the forgiveness of all our sins by the blood of Christ. Therefore, all sins past, present, and future are forgiven through our Savior's blood.

And we're blessed as God will not count sin against us. If the Lord should mark iniquity, who shall stand? No one. But praise God. All our sins and iniquities are forgiven in the blood of Christ. You ever hear people say, you guys are holier now, you think you're holier now, you don't really know us. Because no, we don't feel that way at all. We cry out with Paul, I'm the worst, man. Oh my, praise God he saved my soul though.

A Christian is a person whose treasure is in heaven, whose inheritance is among the saints of God, to which we were predestined to receive in eternity in Christ. It was all earned and purchased and claimed for us by the Lord Jesus Christ, our forerunner.

Oh my, which we shall fully possess at death. All true Christians are sanctified, made holy by the grace of God. God has made them holy by his grace so that all Christians are saints. You know what that word means in the Greek? Holy in Christ. And we're not made saints by any man, are we? We're made saints by God himself. It's incredible.

We're sanctified by the grace of God, being made holy in Christ, by the imputed righteousness of Christ for injustification. In short, a Christian is a person who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by faith that is in Him. We are being effectively taught of God to trust the Lord Jesus Christ in Him alone for the salvation of our souls. And briefly stated, that is what a Christian is.

Those who have not experienced and do not possess these graces are not Christians. You must be born again. You must be. Look at verse 29. Here we see Paul's heart for lost souls. Oh, this is wonderful. Look at this. Oh, that God would work this up in my heart. More and more. Look at this. Acts 26,

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. Accept these bonds. What tenderness arises? He's in chains. What tenderness arises from the apostle's heart? all produced by the Holy Spirit of God. And what a heart he has for lost sinners.

It's clearly expressed in these words, as Paul tells Agrippa, that he desires not only Agrippa to trust Christ, but also all the hearers in the room. Is that not the desire of we who are born again? That folks around us, the Lord would save our friends and our family and all those around us, if it be His will. Paul didn't know who God's people were, so he's desiring the Lord save all of them that were in that room. We don't know how many the Lord saved. We don't know. I know that his word will not return unto him void, as you said, sister. So I know it went out with power and it accomplished whatever God ordained it to accomplish. My.

And Paul tells King Agrippa that he desired that he would be like Paul, saved and washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He desired them to be as free as he was in Christ. Even though he was bound up in chains, he's still free in Christ, isn't he? He's still free in Christ. And he desired that they would be in Christ, but without chains. He was standing before them, a prisoner in chains.

We see then that if the Lord willed it, that all present were Paul desired as he himself, born again, saved, and living in the light of the wonderful salvation in and through Christ alone. Now, the Lord doesn't tell us who was saved, how many, but we see Paul desired that they all would be.

Oh my, what a heart he has for the lost. Let's never forget that. Let's never forget that. We have friends and family members who aren't saved. We have brothers and sisters whose families are not saved. Let us lift them up. Let us lift them up. Oh my. Let's read verses 30 to 32 of Acts 26.

And when he had thus spaken, the king rose up and the governor and Bernice, it was Bernice, was his wife, and they that sat with him, And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, this man doth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. He hadn't done anything wrong. He doesn't even deserve to be in chains.

Then said Agrippa unto Festus, this man might have been set at liberty if he not appealed unto Caesar. Now, notice this. Agrippa thinks he's got power to release Paul. Because he said, well, if he hadn't appealed to Caesar, we'd have set him free. Agrippa could find no fault in Paul, nothing that the Jews bought against him. And he even brings forth that had Paul not appealed to Caesar, he'd have set him free. But let us marvel that all of this is happening and occurring according to God's sovereign will and purpose. These men are pawns in the hands of the Lord.

And Paul, in our next study, will begin his journey to Rome. He's going to start heading to Rome, beloved. Why? Because God told him he needed to go there and be a witness, preaching Christ. And let us remember this sobering thought that several hearers have now heard for their life or death, as Paul's sermon will at the last day be brought forth as the ministration of mercy or condemnation to those souls in that room. For one class is mercy through the blood of Christ. For the other class Condemnation. Eternity in hell. My. And note again how Agrippa had said, Paul might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed to Caesar. But again, this must not be, because the Lord had already shown Paul, his servant, that he must bear witness also at Rome.

All this is happening according to the will and purpose of God. All this was made to act for the divine glory of God. All this is coming to pass for the divine glory of God. God wanted Paul to preach to that assembly. And he preached to them. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing. He preached life and salvation in Christ, eternal life. The assembly were there to hear some to their own condemnation, and some, Christ would be made saviour of life unto life, which is what he's done for us.

Why did we hear the gospel call of Christ, and yet my two brothers have no interest in the gospel? And if your family members are the same, have no interest. Why? Because God made us to differ. He gets all the glory. It's absolutely amazing. So we preach to all. And God does the saving. He does the saving. We're just a mouthpiece proclaiming, come to Christ. Come unto me, the Lord said. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise his glorious name, beloved. Isn't salvation wonderful in Christ? Isn't it glorious? I'll tell you. It gets better and better, doesn't it? My. Brother Dan, will you close us in prayer?