May God be pleased to be with
us this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the Acts
of the Apostles chapter 26 and reading verses 22 and 23. The
26th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles 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. In just a few words the Apostle
Paul is able to declare before King Agrippa and Festus and the
company that were with him the gospel which God had ordains
him to preach and he confirms that the Lord has enabled him
to continue in that work notwithstanding all the opposition that the Apostle
Paul faced more or less continually as he was called by God to declare
the uncertain riches of Christ So as the Apostle was faithful
in this, he gives God the honour and God the glory. And how wonderful
it is that we read such words as this, having therefore obtained
help of God. He lays the honour immediately
upon his God. He doesn't claim it himself.
And I'm quite sure of this, that God's people will always desire
to bring honor and glory to God. If they attempt to bring honor
and glory to themselves, then there won't be that blessing,
there won't be that favor, and there won't be that result. But
we read it again and again in the Word of God that God's people
were concerned to give the honor and glory to God. We have it
right through the Scriptures. And there's many examples, I
won't go through them, there's many examples where the people
desired to acknowledge it was the Lord God who had helped them. It was the Lord God who had been
with them. And so what a blessing it would
be for us in our little lives to be able to confirm, yes, this
truth, having therefore obtained help of God. Help of God now,
the Apostle, was able to tell us the help that he had and the
reason for it. And the help he had was that
he was able to continue and it was witnessing the things that
God had instructed him in. So he had been able to continue. What a blessing it is for us
today. If you are not able to continue in the things of God
Those things which God has revealed to us, like the Holy Spirit had
revealed them to the Apostle. And bless God, if in light manner,
here a little and there a little, God has opened our eyes and instructed
us so that we have indeed beheld some of the precious truths that
the Apostle speaks of here and that we have been able to continue. What a testimony, isn't it? To
God's grace, to look back in our lives and be able to confirm
that we have continued because of the help we've obtained from
God. Here was the apostle in this
company, this important company, King Agrippa and Festus and those
others with him. He desires not to take any credit
himself. He desires to seek and to speak
of his God. That God who had wonderfully
and gloriously quickened him into life on that Damascus road
in that wonderful way and how we know the Apostle recalls that
on several occasions as he speaks one another and records in the
Acts. Yes, he was not tired of declaring
the things that God had done for him in a way that God had
spoken to him. And he declares the office that
God had called him to and the work that God had given him to
do. And I want to just make us realise
that he wasn't just speaking to his neighbour, wasn't just
speaking to a friend, he was there before this austere company
and really he was speaking for his life as it were because he
was going to be on trial and here he was and the opportunity
to speak before these people who of course could have greatly
helped him but yet he remained honest to his God and he spoke
and he said the Lord spoke to him and said that he called him
to be a witness both of these things which thou have seen and
of those things in the which I will appear unto thee Now,
my friends, God had called the apostle to be a witness. And the truth is that God calls
his people to be a witness in this dark world. And he tells
us in these words, I witnessed both of those things which thou
hast seen. He wasn't able to witness the
things which he hadn't seen, and it's good for us to limit
our ability, as it were, to the things which God has opened our
eyes to observe and to see, and to not go beyond that knowledge
which God has revealed to us. Because the Apostle was able
to say those things which God has spoken to him, which thou
hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto
thee. There were going to be those
revelations which God was going to give the Apostle so that he
would be able to witness of those truths. But as it were, he wasn't
allowed to run. He had to walk to start with.
And then the Lord blessed him. And so it's good for us to realise
that the Lord deals with us in a similar way. That as he's revealed
simple things perhaps to us, those things which are revealed
to us, those things belong unto us, and those things which are
not revealed to us belong unto God. And so the Apostle here
was able to declare this, and he goes on to say, delivering
thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I
send thee. Yes, the Lord had decreed that
the Apostle shall not only speak to the Jews but also he was sent
to the Gentiles and he was sent for a very great and wonderful
reason 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 And so, a number of things. First of
all, he testifies of the faith that he received. And you and
I will only be able to witness the things that God as the Lord
has given us faith to believe in those things which God has
given us. But it's a blessing if God has
given us faith and we do have those things which God has revealed
to us. And so that we are able then
to declare those things. And what a blessing it is. You
know sometimes you may think, well of course these things are
just related to the ministers of the gospel. Well it is of
course principally that. But the word of God does speak
in Isaiah in these terms, ye are my witnesses. And that really refers to every
person, every true believer is a witness. for God and that we
should not therefore hide and think well of course that only
belongs to ministers and therefore I haven't got to do anything
or I haven't got to say anything I can just carry on in a secret
way and pretend that I'm really just an ordinary person. No,
the Lord has called every one of us to be a witness for Him
and therefore He says to King Agrippa he wasn't disobedient
unto the heavenly vision and that's a blessing to not be disobedient unto the heavenly vision it's
a blessing in our lives if we're not disobedient to the word of
God not disobedient to his decrees to his promises to his words. You know, if we are disobedient,
what does it mean? It means we're rebellious. And what's the effect of that?
We're told the rebellious dwell in a dry land. And that's true. Really it means this. The Lord
says if you walk contrary to God, I will walk contrary to
you. That's a very solemn statement.
It's a very true statement. My friends, God has written these
things for our instruction and for our encouragement. And therefore
we have an account like this to encourage us in our pathway. As the Apostle was able to say,
he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Well may we
remember such a statement in our lives. And therefore he was
able to do that which God instructed him, but showed first unto them
at Damascus and at Jerusalem and throughout all the coast
of Judea and then to the Gentiles. that they should repent and turn
to God and do works meet for repentance this was the work
that God had given the Apostle to do and here he is declaring
it clearly before King Agrippa and he now comes and says having
declared that it was for these things that the Jews caught me
in the temple and went about to kill me the apostle was a faithful man
by the grace of God he was able to stand firm and so he was able
to bring this statement before King Agrippa and then he comes
and says having recounted that he then wants to reinforce it
by these words having therefore obtained help of God I continue
unto this day he started and the time of his conversion in
a few words he runs through that and now he comes up to the present
moment of time some 20 years or so later and all those years
and all that time he is able to give glory to God and to say
in these words having therefore obtained the health of God I
continue unto this day What a blessing to be able to confirm that in
our little lives. Yes, the blessing of the Lord
has helped us. Perhaps we've got many failures.
Perhaps we're ashamed of our testimony, our witnessing, our
life. If we think, if we understand,
before a king or queen and give an account. It might be very
different from what the apostle was able to do. But nonetheless
the truth is that he was able to declare it and to say in these
terms, having therefore obtained help of God I continue unto this
day. And now he declares what he had
been speaking about. what he was witnessing he tells
us who it was to small and great everyone really he was speaking
to and he of course went back to Moses and the prophets the
new testament of course wasn't written perhaps it was being
written perhaps something had been written but he was referring
to the old testament and there he was proving from the Old Testament,
proving from the words of the prophets and Moses, the things
that they said should come, had come. What an evidence of God's faithfulness. There's really nothing more powerful
is there, than to be able to look into God's word and to find
out those things which God has spoken came to pass. So many times in the Bible we
read these words, and it came to pass. And it's proving the
faithfulness of God, and it came to pass. What a blessing that
is. And may we be encouraged to believe
it in our little lives, and to be able to say, and it came to
pass. Yes, when God perhaps has given
us a promise, perhaps God has told us what we would learn,
and we've been able to prove, and it came to pass. You know, in these evidences,
surely our little faith is strengthened. Does it not bring joy in our
heart and thankfulness as we prove God's wonderful faithfulness,
and we're able to know, yes, it came to pass, What the Lord
said has come to pass. And that was what the apostle
was preaching, had been preaching. He had been testifying of those
things which Moses and the prophets had said. And was able to now
declare they come to pass. And they come to pass in a wonderful
way. They come to pass in relation
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he says saying none of
the things and those which the prophets and Moses did say should
come and then he says that Christ should suffer and that he should
be the first and should rise from the dead and should show
light unto the people and to the Gentiles just in a few words
there we have a wonderful summary of the Lord Jesus Christ We have
his birth, we have his death, we have his sufferings and we
have his resurrection and we have his wonderful work of showing
light to the people and to the Gentiles. Now this is what the
Apostle was called to set forth and this is what he declares
before King Agrippa He says, having therefore obtained help
of God to speak of these great and glorious things that Christ
should suffer. It's interesting the order that
he puts these things in. That Christ should suffer and
that he should be the first and should rise from the dead and
should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. It was important
that he should testify of the sufferings of Christ. Ken Griffith
would have been, I'm sure, familiar with that which had occurred
at Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ had indeed
been crucified. And as we think of those things,
remember what the Apostle was saying, He brought to pass, he
brought before Kent Dripper what Moses and the prophets had said.
And surely there is no greater evidence of the sufferings of
Christ than that wonderful testimony that we have in Isaiah's prophecy
of the 53rd of Isaiah. And what a testimony that is.
And what a revelation it is. and how truly it was fulfilled. Oh, what wonderfully firm ground
the Apostle was on, as he would have gone through this and declared
the truth of it to the people. And that's what he's speaking.
He's speaking about the sufferings of Christ. And he would have
spoken about him and would have said, as was so true, there was
no comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. How true that had been fulfilled. And no doubt he was able to declare
that and had declared it to the people and described the Saviour
who was despised and who was rejected of men in a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Then, more directly, he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. We know that the Apostle would
have declared these truths, as indeed Peter did, What Peter
had done at an earlier time and he declared so clearly the sufferings
of Christ. How important it is to set forth
a suffering Saviour. To give some picture of what
the Saviour endured so that we might be blessed with a great
gift of eternal life. This was the ordained way of
Almighty God. And so he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The justice
and our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. And he goes on to say he was
oppressed and he was afflicted He was taken from prison and
from judgment and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief
when thou shalt make his solemn offering for sin. He shall see
his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand he shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. Having therefore obtained help
of God help to continue to declare these great and important truths
relative to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Christ
should suffer. And he continued speaking these
truths. He had not failed. That's what
he brought before the people, how important it was, how important
it is for us today to set before the people a despised and crucified
Saviour. That Christ should suffer. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
suffer because He had to give His life as a sacrifice for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
die. He had to shed His blood. There was no other way that had
been signified right through the Scriptures. And so as the
Apostle is able to declare this truth, saying none other things, he just spoke of the things about
Christ. How important it is in our day
and age that Christ is lifted up, that Christ is exalted, because
it is through Christ that we are drawn, and we may read many
accounts for this and that, but really it comes down to this
very great and glorious and simple truth, it's through Christ's
merits that we are saved. So the Apostle sets it before
them and he tells them so clearly, saying none other things than
those which the prophets and Moses did say should come that
Christ should suffer. This is what the Apostle so clearly
sets before us. and how necessary it is for us
today perhaps to remind ourselves of the vital importance of it. It is to set forth the suffering
saviour. The suffering saviour is a suitable
saviour and he is the one that so gloriously came into this
world. So if possible this goes on to
say that he should be the first, yes, he should be the first and
the first born and we know that the word of God tells us of this
occasion and he tells us in Colossians 1 verse 18 and he is the head
of the body, the church who is the beginning, the first born
from the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. You see the Apostle now comes
again directly to the sufferings. And how He made peace through
the blood of His cross. by him to reconcile all things
unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Precious, you see, are the sufferings
of Christ. Needful are the sufferings of
Christ. And how we need to realize in
our own personal lives that we enter in some way to the glory
and the preciousness of the sufferings of Christ. To know that He suffered
on our behalf. And he died, the just for the
unjust. And in doing so, he bore the
curse for us. The curse of our sin, the soul
that sins it shall die. And there we are, helpless, ruined
in the fall, sinners of the deepest die. And yet this great and glorious
Saviour He suffered in our place. Yes, and He brought peace. Peace through the blood of His
cross. Peace through the blood of His
cross. And, as the Apostle says, that Christ should suffer none
of the things that these did the Apostle desire, He should
suffer and should be the first. Well, we know that the Apostle
spoke of it Apostle Paul and also the Apostle John spoke about
it and he said in Revelation the first chapter and the fifth
verse and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the
first begotten of the first begotten of the dead and the prince and
the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood now you see what is that set forth
the sufferings of Christ washed us from our sins in his own blood
that was the cost that's the cost of our redemption it's being
washed in his blood and then the Apostle goes on to say, and
hath made us, we who are wretched, undone, hell deserving sinners,
we have nothing good in our own flesh. The word says, and hath
made us kings and priests under God and his Father, to him be
glory and dominion for ever and ever. The result you see, As
the Apostle was commanded to preach these truths, it was to
draw men unto Christ, and in so doing to bring glory to His
great and holy name. What a wonderful thing then to
be blessed with these things, the reality of them, and to rejoice
in them. And you see, the Apostle goes
on, is not only of course the first born, he says also that
should rise the dead. Yes, rise the dead, how important
indeed is the rising from the dead. when the Apostle wrote
to the Corinthians in that well-known chapter, that 15th chapter in
the Corinthians, and he speaks in that, and he tells us, If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men
most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Well we have this
testimony there, the apostle confirms, but here we have that
he traces back the prophecies in the Old Testament and proved
to the people that those things which Moses and the prophets
had declared related to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ
in this way, and this was the things which he spoke of none
other, none other. Perhaps we might think, well,
do we perhaps spend a lot of our time wastefully? Yes, speaking about many things.
Here was the apostle, homing in on this great and glorious
truth. My friends, the nearer we are
to Christ, the more blessed it is. The union with Christ is
the most blessed occupation that you and I can enjoy on this earth. And union with Christ on this
earth is a foretaste of eternal union. with the Lord Jesus Christ,
that Christ should suffer and that he should be the first and
should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people
and to the Gentiles. Now the people are sat in darkness. My friends, the Church of God
has sat in darkness until the Spirit of God comes. Or they
had indeed walked in darkness and Isaiah says in the 9th chapter
he says the people that walked in darkness have seen a great
light. Now the Apostle saw a great light
didn't he? He knew what a great light was, the light from heaven. In his case It was above the
brightness of the midday sun. It was an amazing light. But
nonetheless, in God's people's lives, there is a time when the
light shines. And the evidence is that we've
passed from darkness to light. The people that walked in darkness
have seen A great light. It is a great light. It is a
great light. It's an eternal light which will
never go out. God has therefore blessed us
with this light. It's a light that won't go out. It's an eternal light. What a
blessing it is. And that light shines in the
face of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
light of the world. And if the Spirit of God reveals
to us a suffering saviour, the light will shine. Oh bless God,
if that light of the suffering saviour is shone into our hearts,
to give the light and the knowledge of the glory of God. and should
show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. And so the Apostle
was here declaring his faithfulness as he was able to speak of these
things. Now let us remember, the Apostle
was faithful. He was able to say, having therefore
obtained help of God. help of God to declare these
truths but you know that help that he received and how wonderful
it was yet he still tells us of those things which he had
to endure there is an enduring there is a suffering for God's
people today and he tells us For we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that
we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that
we despaired even of life, that we had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great
a death, Yes, that eternal death and doth deliver in whom we trust
that he will yet deliver us. He had confidence in his God. My friends, may you and I today
have confidence in our God. May we press on against storm
and wind and tide because the journey He is rough. The waves sometimes are high. But we can be sure of this. The
Lord goes with His people. He doesn't leave us. He doesn't
forsake us. He's with us in the storms. And
He brings us at last as He brought Israel of old into Canaan. And
so as we read in Psalm 107. So He brings them to their desired haven. Now,
if you have a desired haven, if you're looking forward to
glory at last, it'll be to be with a suffering
Saviour. It'll be to be found there in
order that you can praise and honour and glorify Him for all
that He's done in dying in your place and in your stead. He who deserved eternal punishment,
he bore the punishment instead. Having therefore obtained help
of God, I continue unto this day Yes, no failure. Day by day, day by day, he continued. What a blessing it is to read
that. How encouraging for us today. I continue on to this
day, witnessing, both to small and great, didn't matter who
you came in contact with, wherever it was, wherever it was, saying
none other things from those which the prophets of Moses did
say should come. You see these sure and certain
things and the day we have the word of God which declares to
us sure and certain things 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. He is speaking
here of those prophecies which shall and did come to pass and
so today we can glory can we not in these truths which we
are able to read and are thankful that God has ordained that we
might have such an account as the apostle was able to record
or rather Luke was able to record the words the Apostle spoke on
this occasion when he spoke before King Agrippa for the honour and
glory of God. Amen.