Okay, coming back to the book
of Acts one more time. In Acts chapter 26, I'm taking
the title from what is said in verse 28. Then Agrippa said unto
Paul, unto God's servant, the apostle Paul, almost thou persuaded
me to be a believer. Almost. Not quite. Almost thou persuaded me to be
a Christian. Now that word Christian is not
in the Bible, but I think two or maybe three times. But the
word Christian is a word that's been widely abused today and
it really has become almost meaningless because everything today in religious
circles goes by the name of Christianity. Now, I'm taking the title from
what is said in verse 28, almost persuaded. Almost persuaded. Almost persuaded. The king said he was almost persuaded
to be one of those disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Almost
persuaded to be a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be
almost persuaded to be a believer is to be altogether lost and
dead in sin. Almost is not there. Almost is
not being a believer. If you meet God in eternity,
almost persuaded, you will be forever damned in your sin under
the judgment of God's wrath to die in your sin is to be raised
in your sin and to answer for your sins before God. For it's
appointed unto men once to die and after that, judgment. Being
a believer is to be fully persuaded like Abraham of old. Fully persuaded
that of all that God had promised, he's able to perform. Now, if you hold your place there
and find over here in the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter
1, this word persuaded here is also the same word that's given
here in verse 6, Philippians chapter 1, verse 6, being confident,
you see that word? Philippians 1, 6, being confident
of this very thing or being persuaded of this very thing that he, God,
who begun the good work in you, He will perform it until the
day of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm confident that he's able. I'm persuaded that he is able. Like Abraham said, being fully
persuaded of all that God had promised, God's able to do. We're not, as believers, almost
persuaded. We're altogether persuaded that
in salvation, The Lord Jesus Christ is everything. What's
your persuasion? I'm persuaded that he's able.
He is able. Now remember Paul was preaching
the gospel before Festus the governor and Agrippa the king
and many others before this judgment seat of this pagan Roman king. He counts and considers himself
to be happy and blessed of God. even though he had been falsely
accused and brutally beaten. He says there in verse 2, I think
myself happy. Blessed of God, that's what the
word is, blessed of God. Paul, like the others, counted
it a blessing and they rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for the name of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, counted worthy to suffer for the gospel. Paul plainly
declared before his captors how he was a lost religious Pharisee
and how God revealed the gospel to him. Remember he said in verse
9 of Acts 26, I barely thought with myself that I ought to do
many things contrary to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, which
thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest.
And when they were put to death, I said, Amen. I gave my voice
against them. And I punished them often in
every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being
exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto other
cities, strange cities. So he declared to his captors
how God, in the height of his rebellion, revealed the gospel
unto him and how God persuaded him to believe the gospel. As you read on there in Acts
26, when that bright light from heaven knocked everyone to the
ground and no one heard the voice of the Lord Jesus but this Saul
of Tarsus, and the Lord said to him, I'm Jesus of Nazareth,
whom you persecuted. Now rise, stand on your feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee
a minister and a witness both of things which thou hast seen
and of things which I will appear to thee, delivering thee from
the Jews and the Gentiles, unto whom now I send you, to open
their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power
of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins,
and an inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul was preaching the gospel
before this crowd and this court, he was rudely interrupted by
Festus, the governor. And he said to him in verse 24, Festus said with a loud voice,
Paul, You're crazy. Thou art beside thyself. Much
learning has made you crazy." But he said, I'm not crazy, I'm
not mad, most noble, fastest, but speak forth the words of
truth and soberness. Now, what do we need to hear?
The words of truth. the words of truth spoken with
soberness, spoken in a serious way. Paul continued to declare
the truth of the gospel by speaking the words of truth, by saying
the same thing that the law and the prophets did declare unto
them. The last part of verse 22, having
therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing
both to the small and great, saying none other thing than
those things which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Remember to him, give all the
prophets witness that the Lord Jesus Christ should suffer. that
he should be the first to rise from the dead. We read a moment
ago in Romans 4, 25, he was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification, and that he would show light or give light
and salvation unto his people, Jew or Gentile. All the prophets tell us about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said to those Pharisees,
you are those which search the scriptures, but they are they
which testify of me, and you will not come to me, he said,
that you might have life. And then the Apostle Paul in
verse 26 and verse 27 fixes and turns his attention toward King
Agrippa. He said to Festus, I speak the
words of truth, the words of truth that Christ should suffer,
That he's the fulfillment of everything that was written for
the king knoweth of these things before whom I speak freely For
I'm persuaded that none of these things are hidden from thee for
this thing was not done in a corner It was not done in a corner.
Evidently Agrippa had some knowledge of the record of Holy Scripture
and of Jewish history and of the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul declared the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry was public. His miracles, his
teaching were public. His crucifixion was public and
his resurrection is well known. He said this thing wasn't hidden.
He was done out in the open. His ministry was public, well-known
and published throughout all Judea. King, you know these things. Verse 27, King Agrippa, believest
thou the prophets? That's a question. I know you
do. Now, how Paul had that knowledge,
I'm not sure. But evidently, Agrippa, maybe
like The Ethiopian eunuch had been reading Isaiah, the prophet,
or Jeremiah, or others. I know you have read. I know
you believe what you have read. Then Agrippa said, Paul, almost thou persuaded me to be
a believer. Now notice the king's answer,
verse 28. And I think it's said in a way
of criticism. I think when Agrippa answers
this question, it's one of criticism. Paul, do you think you're going
to persuade me to be like you? Do you know who I am? I'm the
king. I'm the king. Do you think by
telling me about Jesus Christ, the one that you say fulfilled
the scriptures, you think by what you've said about Jesus
Christ, that you would really persuade me to follow him, to
be like this despised Nazarene, to be a follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to be a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why,
Paul, don't you know who I am? I'm the king. I'm King Agrippa. I would not stoop to be like
you, a Christian in chains. You're under arrest. You stand
before me and I have the power to kill you or the power to let
you go. You're in chains. Being a Christian
hasn't brought you anything but grief, heartache, and persecution. I don't want to be like you.
I don't want to be one of them Christians. I think Agrippa there
is mocking the Apostle Paul. But notice what Paul does here.
He doesn't say, well, King Agrippa, I know you're the great mighty
king, and boy, it'd be nice. I would really be a happy man
if I was like you. He doesn't do that. He turns
the tables on him. And he said, I would to God that
not only thou, not only you, and Festus, and Felix, and Bernice,
but also all that hear me this day were almost and all together,
such as I am, what I am by the grace of God, except for these
chains. I wouldn't want to put you in
chains, although you put me in chains. Notice carefully, the
Apostle Paul turned the table on him. Paul didn't say, boy,
I'd like to be rich like you. I wish, boy, I wish I'd sit on
the throne, had power and popularity like you, King Rippa. Not at
all, just the opposite. Paul desired for them that heard
him to be blessed with the gospel like the Apostle Paul. Not almost,
but altogether. I like that word. Altogether
such as I am. Not almost, but altogether such
as I am. You see the difference there?
Big difference, isn't there? Paul desired for them that heard
him to be blessed with the gospel just like him, a sinner saved
by the grace of God. Now, I think he describes the
blessedness he has in the gospel. In verse 18, to open That's what God has done for
me. He's opened our eyes. That our darkness would be turned
to light. That we might receive the forgiveness
of sins. Agrippa, I wish you were just
like me, having the light turned on, having deliverance from darkness
to light, having received the forgiveness of sin, having an
eternal inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be totally sanctified
before God in the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish you were just
like me. I don't want to be like you. Altogether like me. And those blessings we receive
in the gospel. Well, what happened? Verse 30
says this, And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and
the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them, and
when they were gone aside, they walked off. They walked off. Remember what Felix said to him?
I'll call for you again when I have more convenient time. And when they were gone aside,
they talked between themselves. I wonder what they said. I know
what Festus said. Paul's crazy. Maybe what Agrippa
said. Well, he's preaching what the
scripture said. And then they came to this conclusion. According
to Roman law, he's done nothing worthy of death or bonds. Now,
I thought about this. When they ship him off to Rome
and he spends two years there in jail, the record of Scripture
is silent on his death. The record of Scripture says
nothing other than the fact that he says in 2 Timothy chapter
4, the time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I'm willing to depart. So, we
know that he was, after two years, executed there for the gospel,
gave his life for the gospel, even though according to Roman
law they executed him against the law. Then said Agrippa, verse
32, Undefestus, this man might have been set at liberty if he
had not appealed to Caesar. Now, it was determined that God
sent him to Rome. Determined and appointed for
him to preach two years. Determined and appointed for
him when he died. Most people think he was beheaded
there in Rome. Never being convinced and persuaded
they needed Mercy, the mercy of God in Christ, never receiving
the Lord Jesus Christ, they walked away. Walked away from the gospel. Being a believer is to be fully
convinced and powerfully persuaded in your heart by the power of
God. You believe the gospel because
you have no other option. Do you? When God grants you faith
and repentance, there's no other option but to repent and to believe
the gospel. Being a believer is to be fully
convinced and powerfully persuaded in your heart by the power of
God that in salvation the Lord Jesus Christ is not something,
He's everything. Christ is all and in all. Saving
faith is persuaded faith, not almost persuaded, but fully persuaded,
totally convinced, all together sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, I've come to this point in
the message. What is saving faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ fully persuaded and totally convinced about?
What is saving faith totally convinced about and persuaded
about? Well, let's see if we can find out. Turn to Romans
chapter 4 again. Romans chapter 4, we started
Romans chapter 4. Believers are fully persuaded
that, verse 20, Romans 4, he staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised God
was able to perform. Saving faith is persuaded altogether
that what God said is true, that He is able, giving God all the
honor and glory. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving God
the glory, being fully persuaded. His word is true. His word is
so. In the book of Romans, turn to
Romans chapter 8, We're persuaded this, Romans chapter 8, verse
32, he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for
us all, Romans 8, 32, how shall he not with him? Also free to
give us all things with him. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. A brother
that is risen again from the dead, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the
day long, we're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all
things, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us, for
I am persuaded. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things that come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in the Lord Jesus Christ." What persuasion are you? I'm persuaded
of His love is real. Those for whom He loves cannot
perish. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, which
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to 1 Timothy. I've got the
wrong reference. It's 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter
1. Turn there. I quoted a moment
ago from Philippians 1.6. God, who has begun a good work
in you, being confident, being persuaded of this very thing,
that God, who has begun a good work in you, he will finish it.
Now, 2 Timothy 1, verse 11, verse 2, he says, I'm appointed a preacher,
an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which cause
I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed, And I'm persuaded. I'm persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him
against that day. What have we committed unto Him?
Everything. Everything. We've committed everything
to Him. I'm fully persuaded that He is able. He is able to keep
that which I've committed unto Him. Now, here's another reference. Turn over to Hebrews, Hebrews
chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. He is able,
we are persuaded, Hebrews 7 verse 22, By so much which Jesus made assuredly
of a better testament, And they truly were many priests because
they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this
man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood,
wherefore he is able. We are persuaded he is able to
save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them. We are persuaded he
is able. For such a high priest became
us, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher
than the heavens." We are persuaded that He is able. Hebrews 11, turn there. Hebrews
11, verse 13. Hebrews 11, verse 13. These all died in faith. Abraham looked for a city which
has foundation to build her and make her as God Hebrews 11 verse
10 Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive
seed and was delivered of child When she was past the age because
she judged him faithful who had promised Therefore sprang there
even one and him as good as dead so many as the stars of the sky
and multitude and of the sand which is by the seashore innumerable,
these all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off. How'd they see them? By faith.
And were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed,
like Abraham, they were strangers and pilgrims on this earth. We
are persuaded that he is able. Turn to one other reference.
Right before the revelation, the last book in the Bible is
this little book of Jude. The book of Jude, verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now
and forever. We are persuaded he is able I
just thought of another scripture. Don't turn them and read it to
you. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we
look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, who shall change our vile
body, that he may fashion it like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself. We are persuaded altogether persuaded
that he is able, that he is able. Believers are persuaded that
the word of God is true and inspired and preserved of God. What you
hold in your hand, what we've read this morning, these are
the very words of God, all scripture, inspired, God-given. We read
it as such, treat it as such, receive it as such. Believers
are persuaded that the word of God is true, inspired and preserved
and given of God to teach us the gospel. Faith comes by hearing.
Hearing by the Word of Truth. Secondly, believers are persuaded
that Jesus Christ is the only well-beloved Son of God, the
Messiah. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh.
Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Saving faith is persuaded that
He is God. He is God, our Savior. God, our Savior, our only Savior,
the Messiah, the Christ of God, the Word made flesh and dwelt
among us. He's the only mediator, there's just one, between God
and men, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one
advocate. Do you need an advocate, a mediator?
Boy, I do. I'm a sinner. There's only one
advocate with the Father, that's Jesus Christ, the righteous.
There's only one intercessor, He ever lived to make intercession
for us. There's only one Savior. Neither is there salvation in
any other. I was reading Isaiah 43 this
week, and it says, I am the Lord beside me. There is no other
Savior. I am the Lord. I'm the Savior,
Isaiah 43, 11. He's the only Redeemer. Don't
look for another. He obtained eternal redemption
for us with His own blood. He's the only righteousness that
we have before God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's the only
one who can put away our sin. He said, I am he that blotteth
out thy transgression for my own namesake and will not remember
thy sin. He's the only atonement for sin.
Here in his love, not that we love God, he loved us. And he
sent his son to be our propitiation, our sacrifice for our sin. I'm
altogether persuaded that he is it. that he is able, that
he's the only savior. Believers are fully persuaded
and totally convinced that Jesus Christ accomplished all our salvation
by the sacrifice of himself. How is sin put away? If righteousness
come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. How is sin put
away? Not by the blood of bulls and
of goats, but with his own blood he obtained for us eternal redemption. Saving faith is altogether persuaded
Christ put away our sin, really did. So much so that God said
their sin and their iniquity will I remember no more. Believers
are fully persuaded that salvation is all of the grace of God. Saving faith is persuaded that
He is able. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace the promise might be sure to all to see For
by grace have you been saved through faith and that not of
yourself. It is a gift of God Agrippa that day was not Persuaded
to trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation he was unwilling
to bow to the sovereign lordship of Christ and as far as The record
of scripture tells us Agrippa died the same way he was born.
How was he born? Dead in sin. How did he die? Our Lord said, if you believe
not that I am, you'll die in your sin. How about you? How about me? Have you been persuaded? Have you been persuaded by God
the Holy Spirit that the Lord Jesus Christ is God your Savior? Do you look to another? Our Lord said, look unto me,
all the ends of the earth, I am God, beside me there is no other.
Saving faith is persuaded faith. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. But uh-oh! The wrath of God abides
on him. I've got one of those crazy computer
programs, when I make a mistake, it always goes, uh-oh, uh-oh. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son,
the wrath of God, the wrath of God abideth on him. We studied in 2 Corinthians 5,
For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that everyone may receive the thing done in his body according
to that he has done, whether it be good or bad." Wow. Knowing therefore, the Apostle
Paul said, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, What
do we do? We persuade men. I persuade you
to believe the gospel. That's what Paul was doing there.
Persuading men to believe the gospel. Now, I turn to one scripture
and I'll let you go with this one. You can go home with this
one. Back in the book of Acts, the
last chapter, 28, Acts 28, verse 23. Acts 28, verse 23. All judgments committed to the
Son. Acts 28, 23. And when they had
appointed him a day, there came many to him and to his lodging.
This is Paul in Rome, in prison, to whom he expounded and testified
the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, the Lord
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and of the prophets from
morning till evening. Preaching, preaching, preaching.
Some believe the things which are spoken, some believe not.
Now in the same chapter, Acts 28, turn to verse 30. And Paul
dwelt two whole years in his own hired house. Now, he was
still in prison, but he had his own hired house and received
all that came in under him. He's under house arrest, preaching
the kingdom of God, teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, all persuasion, altogether persuaded,
forbidding And no man forbidding. He said, do you want to hear
about Christ? I'll tell you about it. Just come over here and listen
for a while. Almost persuaded. I trust God
has made you altogether persuaded. That's what saving faith is.
That's what saving faith does. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God.