I hope you'll turn to the book
of Acts chapter 25 with me this morning, Acts chapter 25, as
I relate to you the story of the Apostle Paul before an old
king named Agrippa. Now, the Apostle Paul was in
prison for preaching the truth. He was hated and despised by
most everyone for declaring the truth. And that's what the Lord
Jesus Christ said would happen to all who believe and declare
the truth. He said to his disciples, and
the same is true today, that ye shall be hated by all men
for my name's sake, his authority, his power, his glory, his rights
as true Lord. But in spite of man's hatred
of the truth. Those who know and love the truth,
those who know and love the Lord, His person and His work, they
must and they will declare the truth in spite of man's hatred
and denial of it. Peter, the apostle, said, we
can't help but speak the things we've seen and heard. I'll tell you who has seen the
Lord Jesus Christ is the one who declares Him. as he truly
is. The one who has truly seen his
glory is the one who declares his glory. Well, the Apostle
Paul is in prison for telling the truth, and he has been ferried
here and there before Caiaphas and Tertius and Felix and Festus. His story, the Apostle's story,
was turning the world upside down. In chapter 25, In verse
22, Agrippa said to Festus the governor, I want to hear this
man myself. Tomorrow, said he, you will hear
him. And in verse 23, on the morrow,
Agrippa was come, and Bernice with his wife, with great pomp,
and entered into the palace of hearing with the chief captains,
principal men of the city, at Festus' commandment, Paul was
brought forth. This was a great pompous show
pageantry of dignitaries, politicians, religious leaders gathered together
to hear this man named Paul. And Paul was brought in before
this crowd of so-called great people. And Paul is in his prison
garb, a very short or plain fellow. King Agrippa was probably disappointed
in the man. But that's alright, because Paul
later on wrote, we have this treasure in earthen vessels that
the excellency of the power might be of God and not of men. This
treasure, which is the gospel, the unsearchable riches of the
Lord Jesus Christ, is found in earthen vessels. You see, the
glory is not in the vessel, but it's in the treasure. The glory
is to be seen in Christ, not the choir. You need to come hear
the message, not see some man. If you truly come to behold God's
glory, everyone and everything else will be obscured. In chapter
26, verse 1, Agrippa said to Paul, you are permitted to speak
for yourself. And then Paul stretched forth
his hand and answered, Thou art permitted. Tell us, Paul, tell
us your story. Again, Paul might have asked
again after appearing before kings and priests and captains
and rulers and people and courtroom after courtroom after telling
the same thing so many times. Everywhere he went, he told the
same story. Do I have to tell it again? No.
Paul said, verse 2, I think myself happy, King Agrippa. I think myself happy. I'm just
delighted to tell you one more time, and anyone who will hear
me, about my Lord and what He has done for me. I never grow
tired of thinking about or telling others about this great one and
His so great salvation. Verse 4 and 5, Paul goes on to
say, My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first
among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews. They know
this. They knew me. They knew me from
the beginning. And if they would testify that
after the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee,
Paul says and confesses before Agrippa and this crowd of people,
I was religious from the beginning. He said, I was religious, but
I was lost. And for all who hear me, this
lowly preacher in Rocky Mount, all who hear me this morning,
I say the same thing. I was religious from a boy. I was a son of a preacher. and raised religious, known by
many, yet I was lost. Lost. And maybe someone hearing
me this morning is religious, but lost. Well, Paul goes on
in verse 6 to say, And now I stand and am judged by all these people. I am judged. I am in condemnation
before people for the hope of the promise made of God unto
our Father. Paul says, I stand here before
you and am judged for the hope, one hope. Paul says, though I
was raised in religion, I was without God and without Christ,
without hope of real salvation. You see, Paul, all of his hope
was in his morality. All of his hope before was in
his religion. That is Saul of Tarsus. All of
his hope was in his works of religion, what all he'd done
for God, a God he didn't even know. He had all this hope in
himself and what he was doing for the Lord, but he didn't even
know the Lord. He was truly without hope of
real salvation because his hope was not in Christ alone, but
it was in himself. Maybe someone's listening to
me this morning who puts great stock in their morality and their
religion and their good works and so forth now, what all they're
doing for Jesus, so to speak. That won't merit you one ounce
of favor with God Almighty. But God, for the Apostle Paul,
God, rich in mercy, gave Paul hope through a knowledge of his
son. gave Paul faith, true faith,
in Christ and Christ alone. Not faith in his faith, not faith
in himself, but faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. His
righteousness, his blood, his works accepted in him and him
alone. This was Paul's hope, and it's
the only hope there is, the only true hope of salvation. In verse
7, Paul says, and this is the promise, unto which promise our
twelve tribes, serving God day and night, hope to come. For
which hope, saith King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jew." This
hope, this promise, the whole Old Testament scripture is written
about this hope of someone. You see, salvation is not in
what you or I do, but it is in what someone has done. The Old
Testament says somebody is coming, the Holy One of Israel, the Christ.
the Son of the Most High God, Immanuel, God with us, the only
hope of salvation. Well, Paul says, for simply believing
that He has come, our salvation, and declaring it, I am judged
and hated by men today. Verse 8 and 9, Paul goes on to
say before Agrippa, Why should it be thought a thing incredible
with you that God should raise the dead? He says, I barely thought
with myself, that is, this is what I thought in my own way
of thinking, that I ought to do many things contrary to the
name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I say to all who hear me
this morning, why should it be incredible to you? Why do men
and women? refuse to believe and think it
incredible that God is God. While the very things we insist
for ourselves, we deny or reject God to have. We insist upon our
own rights, that we have the right to choose and do what we
will with what we own and whom we will. No, men won't allow
God that right. Well, I'm here to tell you this
morning, He has it. and you don't allow Him to have
it, God will work and who shall allow Him? Who shall let Him?
Who shall prevent it? Why should it be incredible to
you that God is God? Sovereign, all-powerful, that
God purposes and carries out His purpose. He's God, isn't
He? That God does the choosing. That God keeps those whom He
chooses. Why should that be incredible
to you? That God should raise the dead, and that's what man
is by nature. That's what I was. That's what
all of God's people are until He gives them spiritual life,
until He quickens them with Christ. Man is dead and trespasses in
sin until God raises him from the dead. He can't raise himself.
And like Paul says here, I used to think wrongly about it all.
I used to think God was like man and man was like a god. And
all this talk of sovereign grace and a sovereign Christ was a
doctrine of devils. I used to think that too. But
God revealed Himself to me. And Paul goes on to say in verse
10 and 11, and I hated everyone who believed this way. I punished
them. And I thought they were blasphemers. I used to hate this gospel and
all who believed it, persecuted them, denouncing them, wanting
to shut them up, calling them blasphemers, when not knowing
all the time I was the blasphemer. And then one day, Paul says,
I was confronted by a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 13, he says, O King, I
saw in the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun
shining round about me and then which journeyed with me. and
we fell to the earth. I heard a voice speaking unto
me, saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the prism." Paul says, I heard a voice, the shepherd's
voice, the voice of the Son of God that awakens the dead, and
everyone whom God chooses will hear the shepherd's voice. They'll
hear his voice. Christ said, My sheep, hear my
voice, the all-powerful, irresistible, convicting, convincing, converting,
drawing voice of the Son of God through the preaching of the
gospel. And it is hard, yea, impossible to kick against these
pricks. Oh, a wild ass's colt will buck
and kick and don't want to be ridden or controlled. But once
the master gives the command, they stop kicking. And they start
believing. Paul didn't know who this was.
And he says in verse 15, Who art thou? And the Lord said,
I am Jesus. Rise. Stand. I have appeared
unto thee for this purpose, to make you a minister of mine.
Who art you? He said, I am Jesus. Why, Paul
thought he was just a man. Paul thought he was in his hands.
Paul thought he was dead. that Paul felt trembling before
the living Lord, the all-powerful, sovereign Lord in whose hands
he was, not vice versa. And the Lord said, You rise up
and stand. I have purpose to make thee a
minister. Paul didn't apply for the ministry.
Paul didn't decide to enter the ministry, and neither do any
of God's true preachers. The Lord Jesus Christ makes His
ministers His servants, His preachers. They don't apply for the job.
Well, have you heard of this true Lord? Have you heard from
Him? Has He called you by His gospel? Has He opened your blind
eyes and quickened your dead heart? I pray that He has. And oh, well, until next Sunday,
may the Lord work His great work of salvation in your heart. Amen. uh...