May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we continue our meditation in the Acts of
the Apostles. Let's turn then to chapter 26
and we'll read verses 22 and 23. The Acts of the Apostles,
chapter 26 and reading verses 22 and 23. Having therefore obtained
help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing
both to small and great, saying none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come, that Christ
should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise
from the dead and should show light unto the people and to
the Gentiles. Well the Apostle Paul is coming
towards the end of his statement before King Agrippa and Festus
and all those people. And as he comes to the end of
this statement, what a wonderful testimony he's able to give.
and how he directs the people to none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ and his death and his resurrection. It's wonderful
to know that the Apostle Paul was blessed with the wonderful
ability and clarity in order to speak those things which were
so important And yet, as we mentioned, he was wonderfully favoured to
have such a company to speak to. If he had not been imprisoned,
if he had not been taken captive by the Chief Captain and then
transferred, he would never have had this opportunity. But we
see how God ordains wonderful things. in his way. And those ways are usually far
better than our ways. In fact, we could say they are
always better than our ways. The Lord never makes a mistake.
No doubt Paul thought as he was in prison, well, he was being
hindered. He couldn't now preach the gospel. He couldn't speak of the things
of God. But you see, the Lord had a greater and a better plan. for the Apostle Paul. And so
he's able to confirm and how he does give God the honour and
God the glory. He tells us here, having therefore
obtained help of God. He didn't speak of his own ability.
He didn't speak of those who had encouraged him in a way and
had been useful to him. But he comes now directly before
a griffin, makes this statement so true, having therefore obtained
help of God. It was only because the help
he had obtained from God that he was able to speak such words. It was only because of the help
he'd received that he'd come to this position. He'd been given
grace, he'd been given wisdom to speak so wisely on so many
occasions. Well can we not glory in the
wonderful grace of God, set forth so clearly in the Apostle's life,
and indeed still today in the lives of his people. May each
of us be able to agree with the Apostle and say from our heart
this same truth, having therefore obtained help of God, I continue
unto this day. And of course we shall continue
by the grace of God. And so we're thankful for this
testimony, thankful for the record that we have of God's wonderful
help to the Apostle, And as we traced out his life thus far,
we've seen the very many exceedingly difficult and trying times he
had to face, being stoned, being beaten, being imprisoned, being
criticised, being wrongly condemned. And yet he's able to confirm
this great truth that he had in the midst of all these things,
received help from his God. And so he tells us, having therefore
obtained help of God unto this day. And what did that help achieve? He tells us, witnessing both
to small and great, saying none other things than those which
the prophets and Moses did say should come. His conversation
was in the things of God. He did not speak of any other
words from other people, any other words of any other philosophers,
or those who perhaps had spoken favourably or had not spoken
favourably. He comes here and tells us so
very clearly, saying none other things than those which the prophets
and Moses did say should come. He was relying on the Word of
God. He didn't step outside the Word
of God. And what a good testament that
is for us today. As we might find ourselves in
trying situations and perhaps faced with difficult questions
and having to make a stand for the truth, to be found relying
only upon the Word of God. Not relying upon other men's
sayings, but relying upon the Word of God. That's what the
Apostle relied upon. And he tells us that he was able
to witness both the small and great. Yes, those who were important,
those who were wealthy, those who were poor, those who we might
think were unimportant. It didn't matter to the apostle.
Whoever they were, he was found witnessing of the truth of God. And how, again, a wonderful example
for us today, isn't it? As we may look at our lives,
can we say, like the Apostle did, that we have been blessed
and that we've continued to witness about the things of God to everyone? We don't have to think, don't
we, of the times when he was found in the marketplace at Athens. And then as he traveled through
the countries and into the cities, meeting various people, and then
hauled up before important people, whatever the situation was, he
was still able to witness of the truth of God. That was the
work the Lord had given him to do. That was the great work.
That was the work he was involved in. That was the work he rejoiced
in. That was the work he didn't back
away from, however difficult it was, however hard. Yes, he
persevered. And so we have these statements
here. Let us not pass over them. Having
therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing
both the small and great, saying none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Well, there
was the whole truth. of those things which would come
and those things which he was able to testify had come. And therefore, as we move on
to this 23rd verse, how important this is. He tells us, and he
was telling Agrippa and those eminent people, directing them
straight to none other than the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and pointing out what Christ did, that Christ should suffer
and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead
and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. In just a few words, how comprehensive
is this statement? How important it was that Christ
should suffer and how important it was that he should die and
therefore be the first that should rise from the dead and that he
should be that one who was the light of the world and he should
show light unto the people and the Gentiles, confirming really
that here he was speaking not only to his people, the Jews,
but also to the Gentiles. And this of course was clearly
setting forth the truth of the whole Gospel, that Christ should
suffer. He had to suffer. He had to die. He had to satisfy the holy law
of God. And therefore that could not
be accomplished, the fulfilment of it, without him giving his
life. And in giving his life, of course,
it must involve suffering. And it did involve suffering.
And it involved terrible suffering. It involved suffering that nobody
else would have to pass through, to an extent. Because it was
not only, of course, the physical suffering. Let us not forget
he carried the sins of his whole church. and he suffered in their
place. And he died in their place. And in so dying, he gave that
wonderful evidence through his shed blood, and to know that
without shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness, there's no remission,
how clearly that was necessary in the suffering Saviour. But
not only did he die, If he died, and if that had been the end,
well there would be no hope for us today. But that should rise
from the dead. He did rise. He conquered death. The devil was defeated. Did we
not glory God today for what he did on that wonderful occasion
when he died and then after three days he rose from the dead? and to think of the wonderful
light that was set forth. That light, that light which
he gives to his people, that light which once given never
goes out. It is an eternal light and to
think that he is the light of the world. The Old Testament
worthies, the Old Testament church, they look for that light. They
looked to see it come. They were longing for it. They
were praying for it. My friends, how it was gloriously
set forth in the Word of God. And so here we have this statement,
which he said, saying none other things than those which the prophets
and Moses did say should come and the things which were spoken
of should come, did come, and what they were was that Christ
should suffer and that he should be the first that should rise
from the dead and that he should show light unto the people. Now, it's wonderful to know that
in the Old Testament There are many, many references to the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have here a list of 44
prophecies in the Old Testament which were fulfilled and were
confirmed in the New Testament. It's a wonderful thing that,
isn't it? We perhaps don't often realise what a glorious Word
of God we have, and how true it is, and how solid it is, and
how confirming it is for us to realise that the Word of God
does contain these soul-edifying and strengthening prophecies,
right as I'm sure you will know from that third chapter in Genesis,
when it was clearly set forth in the 15th verse that the Messiah
should be born of a woman. Yes, and he should suffer, but
he would bruise the serpent's head. Oh, what an amazing word
that was in that Garden of Eden after that tragic occasion when
Adam and Eve disobeyed the word of God and listened to that great
tempter of the devil. But there it was, right back
in the beginning. And then Just going through this,
we've got a little bit of time tonight, so just going through
this list for your encouragement and our strengthening. We're
told that where Messiah should be born? Born in Bethlehem. The minor prophet Micah tells
us that in the fifth chapter and the second verse. Well, it
came to pass. All those years before, And then
that great glorious truth that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus,
should be born of a virgin. Something which was naturally
impossible, that which of course no doubt the Church of God had
puzzled over. But it set forth in Isaiah chapter
7 and verse 14. And so it came to pass. And then also We know that the
Lord Jesus came from the line of Abraham. How wonderful to
think the promise given to Abraham was fulfilled, and it's spoken
of clearly in Genesis chapter 12 and verse 3. And not only coming from the
line of Abraham, but also that he would be a descendant of Isaac.
And that's set forth also in Genesis in chapter 17 and verse
19. And then further on, it's wonderful,
isn't it? We see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And here we have set before us
that he would be a descendant of Jacob in Numbers 24 verse
17. And all these also have New Testament
references, which I won't mention tonight, but they're all before
us. And a wonderful truth it is.
And that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. you
see again obscure but there was the prophecy and it came to pass
and it was set forth so clearly again in Genesis 49 verse 10
10 and then that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,
would be heir to the throne of David. Yes, to King David's throne,
the great and blessed Saviour. Now, we can imagine, can we not,
the Apostle Paul here, you know, before these people, And you
know he was well-versed, wasn't he, in the Old Testament. He'd
been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. He was well-qualified. And, of course, not only had
he been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, he'd then gone into
Arabia for those three years where, no doubt, he learned first-hand
from the Lord himself all these great and glorious truths. So
he would have been familiar with them. And here you see he told
the people that he said, none other things than those which
the prophets and Moses did say should come. And now you see
he's able to illustrate it. We don't have actually the complete
detail, but no doubt many of these words were referred to
by the apostle. And then he tells us that the
Messiah's throne will be anointed and eternal. So it is. Psalm 45, verse 6-7. The Messiah would be called Immanuel. God with us. It's a glorious
truth, isn't it? You would think, wouldn't you?
How possibly, with all these established truths being set
before Agrippa and Festus and the others, how could they refuse
these great truths? It was because, of course, their
heart was hardened and didn't want to receive these great truths. And then also that he would spend
a season in Egypt. Hosea 11 and verse 1, and then
a massacre of the children would happen at Messiah's birthplace,
as we know, clearly set forth in Jeremiah 31 verse 15. All these things, you see, which
were necessary and came to pass, the detail of them. And a messenger
would prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. Again in Isaiah 40
verses 3 to 5, and we know of course that John the Baptist
was that messenger who was sent forth. And then the Lord Jesus
would be rejected by his own people. Well, how tragic. Psalm 69 verse 8 and also Isaiah
53 verse 3. How wonderful, isn't it? We have
Isaiah 53 to describe in wonderful detail that which would occur
to the Lord Jesus and that which did occur. And then we're told
he would be a prophet, he would be preceded by Elijah, he would
be declared the Son of God, He would be called a Nazarene. He
would bring light to the Gentiles, to Galilee. And he would speak
in parables. All these things are set before
us in the Old Testament. And then the Messiah would be
sent to heal the brokenhearted. And He did come, didn't He? And
He has come. And He is, we know, still today,
the One who heals the brokenhearted. And then He would be a priest
after the order of Melchizedek again reference in the Old Testament
and set before us so clearly in the New Testament and that
he would be called the king wasn't that amazing that Caesar you
say he Pontius Pilate II he wrote those words Jesus the king of
the Jews, the king of the Jews. And he put it in those three
languages that so there was no doubt. And of course, they didn't
like it. So he said, but We know that those words were
true, and he said, what I have written, I have written. How
true it was, a fulfillment of prophecy. And then, Messiah would
be praised by little children. And then also, Messiah would
be betrayed. Psalm 41 verse nine, yes he was
betrayed. In Zechariah 11, 12 to 13, And then the price of the Messiah,
money would be used to buy the potter's field. Yes, the price
of his betrayal. And then he would be falsely
accused. And then he would be silent before
his accusers. And then he would be spat upon
and struck. and he would be hated without
cause. All these things you see. Isn't
it amazing? To think they were fulfilled.
And again, just meditate and think. There, before Agrippa,
the Apostle Paul able to set such things before them. And also, that he would be crucified
with criminals, and that he would be given vinegar to drink, and
his hands and his feet would be pierced. We think of the detail,
the detail which the Old Testament gave with regards to the life
and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it was just impossible
for anybody to have made up a story which would have confirmed that
which was to be and did come to pass. And then the soldiers
would part and cast lots upon his garments. One of his bones
should be broken. He would be forsaken by his God. Psalm 22 verse one. Messiah would
pray for his enemies. The soldier would pierce his
side. The Lord would be buried with
the rich. and the Messiah would be resurrected
from the dead and he would ascend to heaven and he would be seated
at God's right hand and that the gracious Lord would indeed
be a sacrifice for sin. Well, that's a list. I'm sure
it's not a comprehensive list, but it gives us some idea, doesn't
it, of the wonder of the truth of God. And we can imagine, can
we not, how the Apostle Paul here was able to describe so
clearly before Agrippa and Festus 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. Well, tonight,
can we not rejoice indeed in the great truth of Scripture
and be strengthened in our faith to know the Word of God is true
and that we can rely upon it for our salvation. And we should
be so thankful tonight for the great and glorious detail that
we have in the Old Testament which refers so gloriously to
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to think that because of
that, because of his great goodness to us, we have these things set
before us in the New Testament to confirm those truths, and
may it confirm our faith May we strengthen and rejoice in
what God has said and in what God has done. Amen.