Last verse. All right, go back to Acts 26
with me, Acts chapter 26. The Apostle Paul was in prison
for preaching the truth. That's why he's there. He had become everyone's enemy
for telling the truth. He was hated and despised by
everyone for telling the truth. Unbelievable, isn't it? That's what the Lord said would
happen, though. He said that would happen to all who believe,
not just Paul, but you who believe. He said, You shall be hated by
all men for my name's sake, for the gospel's sake, for the truth's
sake, for my name. He's Lord. I mean, he really is, not just
in name, not just in word, but he really is God. doing all things,
working all things, choosing whom he will, his power, his
glory, his right. But in spite of man's hatred
of the truth, those who know and love the truth, like Paul,
they're going to tell him. They've got to. They've got to. Paul said, he said this, the
Holy Spirit witnesses to me that if I go to Jerusalem, they're
going to kill me. to tell the truth, but like the Lord before
him, he set his face. You've got to tell it. Peter
said this, didn't he? Peter said it can't help but
speak the things we've seen and heard. It can't help but. It can't help
but speak out in defense of your God, who they're dishonoring.
It can't help. You're really in it for his glory.
You've got to You've got to glorify Him. But who has really seen
Christ? Who is it that's seen Jesus Christ? I mean seen Him in His glory. Who is it? It's the person who
talks about Christ. Are you with me? Who is it that
really knows Jesus? Who is really a Christian? It's
the person who talks about Christ and Christ only. And I mean,
you know, you know what I mean. Who's really seen his glory?
Who's really seen his glory? The glory of God. Who's really
seen God's glory? Who's really seen God's glory
as he is, what he does, why he does it? Well, that's a person
who insists upon his glory. Right? Who's been elected? Who's been elected? Well, it's
a person that insists on telling everybody they've been elected.
That God elected. That God does elect. Right? Well, Paul is in prison for telling
the truth. He's been taken everywhere. He's
been ferried around from person to person, Caiaphas, the high
priest, Tertullus, the governor, Felix, the governor, Festus.
Paul, what he was saying, was turning the world upside down. Everybody had heard about him.
And now King Agrippa, Caesar Augustus Agrippa, the Roman Caesar
at the time, heard of Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus. Book of chapter 25, verse 22, Agrippa said to Festus, the governor,
that's who had Paul at the time, Agrippa said to him, I want to
hear the man myself. I heard about him, now I want
to hear what he has to say, personally. Everybody had heard about him.
Verse 23, And so on the morrow, Here, the next day, when Agrippa
was come, the king came and burnt Bernice, we call it Bernice,
with great pomp. Now imagine this scene. Here
comes Caesar and his queen. Oh, she's something, isn't she? And they were entered into a
place, verse 23, came into the place of the hearing, the court,
with the chief captains. principal men of the city. Man,
this is some entourage, isn't it? This is big doings. A great pompous show of people. Everybody who's anybody. Dignitaries,
politicians, religious leaders, all the priests and so forth
coming into this courtroom. About like what probably took
place in many religious places this morning. Great show of pomp. Well, Paul is brought in. He's probably in prison garments. Very poor robe or dress. In prison garb. Paul, the fact
is, Paul was not much to look at. Paul was small and They believe
he was a bald-headed man, a very plain-looking fellow. He had
very poor eyesight, and was just not much to look at. Now, all
these people came to hear him. All these high and mighty people
came in to hear, and they brought him in, and Festus said, verse
24, the governor said, King Agrippa, they brought Paul in, in chains. He was in chains. King of Rippa
and all men which are here present with us, you see this man? This is him. This is the one that the Jews
have dealt with me in Jerusalem, everywhere. Everybody's crying
out they want him dead. This is him. This is what the
whole world has turned upside down about this man. I believe Agrippa was probably
disappointed. Don't you? You think Agrippa
was disappointed? He heard great things about this
Paul. And now they brought him in,
and here he is. He sure isn't much, is he? I think he was probably disappointed,
as most visitors. I thought about this. You know,
most visitors, when they come into a place where the gospel
is preached, and that's all that's done. They come into a place,
and it's not elaborately adorned, and they don't see a lot of pomp
and show, and the creature himself is generally just a very plain-looking
fellow. I believe most people are kind
of disappointed. Is this it? I know they are. Is this it?
This is where you go? You bring somebody in, and they
say, Is this where you go? Well, they, is that all they
do? That's all you do is sit and
listen to this guy. I turned the TV on last night,
the religious channel, and they were having this big Easter play,
you know, all dressed up, and they had a whole orchestra, big
place here in town, had a full orchestra, horns, bass, strings,
wind instruments, everything. Real entertaining. You wanna
go there? Ain't no gospel there. Well, what are they gonna get from
Paul? The truth. And nothing but the truth. That's
it. Every time. Well, we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. That's the reason God says, don't
use this stuff, all this flesh. Don't use it. Don't. It's my
word. It's Christ that men are to be
taken up with, not the man. Men, we come to hear Christ,
not the choir. We glory in the treasure, not
the vessel. We come to hear the message,
not see the man. Right? Well, the preacher wasn't
much to look at, but boy, his message was something to listen
to. And here he begins in verse 1
of chapter 26. Now, Paul had been taken all
over the place before various wants. And every one of them, Kelly,
every one of them said, now tell us your story. Perglas said,
tell us, Paul. And he'd tell them the same thing.
He'd go to Felix. Felix said, now what is this
all about, Paul? And Paul would tell them, story,
story. Tell the same thing, the gospel.
Take him, go to Festus. And Festus, in the previous chapter,
Festus said, now tell me, Paul, what is this that they're accusing
you? He'd tell a gospel, tell a story. He preached Christ.
And now here he is before Agrippa. Now, he'd been telling this everywhere. And now he's standing before
Agrippa, and Agrippa says, Now, Paul, tell me, what is this all
about? And Paul said in verse 2, I'm
just so happy. I thought you'd never ask. Here I am happy to tell you.
I just never grow tired of telling it. How do you know the gospel
is good news to somebody? It's good news. It's new. It never grows old. That's why it's called good news,
not good old's. Good news. How do you know the
gospel's sweet to you? How do you know you need the
gospel? How do you know you love the gospel? Well, do you delight
to hear it all the time, every time? Do you grow tired of it? Paul said that in Philippians
3. He said, to write the same things to you is not grievous
to me. Oh, Griffith, I'm just so happy. I'm just so happy that I have
this opportunity to tell it one more time. You know, we're sinners till
the day we die, and the person that realizes it, they're going
to want to hear mercy at every opportunity. They're going to
want to hear grace every time. An old sinner never gets tired
of hearing forgiveness. Somebody who really needs Christ
never gets tired of hearing that bloodshed for the remission of
their sin, do they? No, it's good news! Paul says,
I'm just delighted to tell you what the Lord's done for me.
Just delighted. Thought you'd never ask. He won't
tell that again, Paul. I bet you old Festus said it.
Festus? Yeah, I bet Festus said, oh,
he won't tell it again. I heard this like yesterday. Say, I'll be delighted to tell
it again. I'm going to answer for myself. Good news. Verse 4. Paul said this. Now, my manner of life for my
youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem,
would know all the Jews. They'd known me from the beginning,
if they would admit it. But after the most straightest
sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. Paul says, I was
religious from the beginning. I was raised, they know my mama,
they know my daddy. I was raised here in the temple,
brought up in religion. I was a moral, upright, upstanding
young man who everybody bragged on me. I was a model child. I was religious from a boy. I
served God from my youth. You know that I believe Paul
is that rich, young ruler in the Scripture. I really do. I believe he is. It says Christ
loved that man. Well, anyway, Paul said everybody
that knew me watched me grow up. I've been raised in religion
and a fine home and moral and upright. And I was destined to
be a preacher. Everybody knew I was going to
be a preacher. And I did. I became a Pharisee. I went to school. decided to
enter the ministry. That's just what Paul said. I
decided to enter the ministry, so I got the best seminary that
I could find, Gamaliel's. I went to study under Gamaliel
and got my Ph.D. M.D. of what are they? M.D. of
Ph.D. T.H.D. I got all my B.D.' 's
and degrees and I became a man at his best. Pharisee. But he says, I was lost. I didn't know God. I didn't know
God. But now I do. But God, who's
rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith he loved me,
yes, me, even when I was dead and trespassing sin. has quickened
me by his grace. Yes, it's by grace that I was
saved. God, when it pleased God, revealed his Son in me. I didn't
know God, but God revealed himself to me in Christ. In verse 6,
he says, And now I stand, and am judged for the hope of the
promise made of God unto our fathers. Paul said, I was raised
in religion, I was serving God, but I was without God and without
any hope. Thought I had a hope because
I was so moral, but didn't have any hope. But now God has given
me hope. That's the only hope there is,
hope in Christ. He's our hope, my hope, through
the knowledge of him. Verse 7, and he said this is
the promise that God gave to our fathers. The Twelve Tribes,
this is the promise, it's the hope that's been prophesied throughout
the Old Testament scripture. All of the Old Testament says
man only has one hope. Only hope for the sons of Jacob is in the mercy of God freely
given. The only hope for the sons of
Jacob is in the Christ, the coming Christ, to take away their sins. who establish righteousness for
them. There's only one hope of salvation, and it's Jesus Christ. That's all I'm saying. That all
that stuff I was in before, all that religion, all that stuff
I did in religion, and all that morality I thought I had and
goodness and all that, that was lost time, and now but God has
revealed the truth to me. And now I have hope of eternal
life, and my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ's
blood and his righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
brand, but wholly lean or stand on his blessed name, on Christ
the solid rock I stand. Agrippa, here I stand. I can
do no other. If I'm going to stand before
God, Agrippa, I'm going to have to stand on Christ, and so will
you. And they're judging me for this.
Men hate me for this. They hate me for this. For just
insisting on the truth. Look at verse 7. For which hope's
sake I'm accused of the Jews. Verse 8 and 9. be thought a thing incredible
with you, that God should raise the dead? Why should it be thought
a thing incredible that God is God? All I'm doing is saying
that God is God. Why should that be incredible?
Why should anybody balk at that? Why would anybody hate the fact
that God is God, that the Creator controls all things? That's all
I'm saying is that God is God. That you don't let Him be God.
He wouldn't be God if you let Him be God. He either is God
or you gotta make Him God. Well, He is God. Why is it so
incredible? Why doesn't anybody believe me? Why is this world getting mad
at me? Why do creatures reject God being
in control of his creation. Why is that incredible? God,
who is life, man is dead in sin. Why is it so incredible to believe
that God must raise a man from the dead that he can't raise
himself? Why is that so incredible? Why do people balk at that? Would
you tell me? This is what Paul said in a group. If God is God, why is it so incredible
he raised the dead? Hmm? God is God, why is it so
incredible that he does the choosing, the electing, he does the keeping,
he does the saving, huh? Shouldn't be anything incredible
about that. But now he says, verse nine, I barely thought
with myself, I thought The same thing. I thought I ought to do
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Verse 10,
which thing I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints I shut
up in prison and received authority. Everybody was behind me on that,
that I should, to apprehend people. And when they were put to death,
I gave my voice against them. Paul said, I used to think wrongly
about God too. I did. He used to have God all wrong.
And I used to hate the truth. Now people, this man's story
is probably some of your story. And I'm trying to make this relevant. It's probably some of yours.
Raised in religion, moral, just clean as a hound's tooth? Huh? Thinking God's pleased with you? Anybody in here was like that? Serving God? Living for the Lord? Anybody in here? Didn't even
know Him. Didn't even know the living and
true God. And used to hate the gospel. You might have heard
the gospel. You might have heard somebody
talk about the sovereign God. Heard somebody talk about God
choosing the people, electing the people before the foundation
of the world. I heard somebody talking about it's Christ's righteousness
that mans his filthy rags. If there's nothing you do, God
will accept. Oh, I made you mad. You mean
all my life never counts for nothing? And the preacher said,
nothing. Oh, I don't like that. And you didn't like it either.
Hated those who liked it. Hated those preachers who preached
it. All those people who believed in heretics, doctrines of devils,
you called it. Huh? Anybody? You probably said they think
they're right and everybody else is wrong. You probably said,
well, if what you're saying is so, I ain't saying. Did you? That's what Paul said. That's exactly what Paul said.
I hated everybody and just believed it. And he said, I punished them. Verse 11, I compelled them to blaspheme,
exceedingly mad against them, became furious. Paul said about himself over
in 1 Timothy, he said, I was before a blasphemer and injurious. Now Paul was a preacher serving
the Lord, bringing people to the Lord. He's blaspheming. He's taking
people to hell. He said in Juria, I was a blasphemer.
You know, until you know the true and living God, whatever
you said about God was blasphemy before. You know? Whatever people are saying about
God, if they don't know the true and living God, it's blasphemy.
They're blaspheming. And whatever preachers compel
people to believe, they cause them to blaspheme. They're taking them down with
them. Paul said, that was me. Verse
12, he said, I was on my way to Damascus with authority, commission. I was on a little missionary
journey. Paul was on a missionary journey, and sent by all sent by the local
Southern Jewish conference down to Damascus. Verse 13, he said,
Now at midday, high noon, O King, something happened to me that
I didn't want to happen. Something happened to me that
I wasn't looking to happen. Something happened to me that
I didn't know needed to happen. This is my story, Dan Ogle. Something
happened to me one day, high noon, when the sun was lifted
up. Something happened to me that
I wasn't looking for, wasn't seeking, didn't think I needed
it. If he'd have told me before I
was going to have it, I wouldn't have wanted it. That's right. We said last week,
didn't we? Salvation is God Almighty, Stephen, to violate our will. You see, salvation is for God
Almighty to take us by the heart and say, You're wrong, everything
about you is wrong. Now hit the dust. You don't know
me, but you're about to. He said in verse 13, I saw in
the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining
round about me. Yes, God, who caused the light
to shine out of darkness, shined in my heart to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ.
Everybody who's really been dealt with by God, that's what they
see. They see the glory of God. That
God is God. It's no longer a thing incredible.
It's a thing to be believed. God's God. Not a thing to fight. It's a thing to bow to. The light
of the knowledge of the glory of God, and I see it in the person
and the work of Jesus Christ. in the face, in the God-man,
that God became a man, not to show men how to live, but to
live for them, to do for man what man cannot. With man it's
impossible, but with God it's not. So God became a man. I see a face. I've seen God's face, and He's
Jesus Christ. Verse 14, he said, we all hit
the dirt. We all fell to the earth. Another
version, Paul says, I fell to the earth trembling. Trembling. Brother Roy, this is the beginning
of wisdom, the fear of the Lord. It's not coming to a knowledge
of the doctrines of grace. It's fear of the Lord. Oh, it's not, I understand, A,
B, C, D. Fear of the Lord, who God is,
and you're in his hands. Paul, see, he thought, well, let's read on. He says
in verse 14, I heard a voice speaking unto me. First he saw
the light and then heard a voice. You know, this is the word of
God, the light. That's what first happens. God,
through his word, you don't see signs and wonders and miracles.
No, no, no, no. That's not what God uses to open
people's eyes. No, he uses this word. This is
the light that opens up the understanding, the light. People do see, they
do, through the word. They hear the word, they say,
oh, oh, Like, turn the light on. You
were in darkness before, and when the Word is preached in
all of its veracity and truth and power, you say, hey, God
is God. But it's more than that. You
hear a voice. Not only the Word of life, but
God speaks to you. Christ said, My sheep hear my
voice. Every one of my sheep are going
to hear from me personally. I'm going to deal with every
one of them personally. Salvation is not you accepting
Him as your personal Savior. It's Him accepting you as His
personal sinner. Is that all right to say that?
It's Him accepting us as His personal sinner to reveal Himself
to. You're dead. You're blind. You can't do anything. But Christ
ascends upon you, descends upon you. Opens your eyes with a light. Opens your ears and says, Hey!
Dude! It's me. You didn't know me before. You're going to. That's salvation. I heard a voice. He spoke to
me. Everyone who hears this gospel,
everyone who, when they finally hear the gospel, I hear them
say, and other preachers hear them say, you were speaking to
me, weren't you? That was just for me. I felt
like I was the only one in there. That was just for me. That's
right. My sheep hear my voice, every
one of them. I know them, and they want to
hear me speak to them personally. And I'm going to say, You're
mine. And they're going to say, And you're mine. You're mine. Well, Paul didn't
know. He knew. I heard an old preacher
say this, or the Pharaoh of Griswold. I heard him preaching from this
one town. He said, Paul didn't know the
Lord. An old Alabama accent. He said,
Paul didn't know the Lord, but he knew whoever it was that knocked
him off his high horse was Lord from now on. Whoever this is that I'm trembling
in the dirt before, Jesus? I thought he was just
a man. Jesus? I thought he was in my
hands. Jesus? I thought he was knocking
at my house door. Jesus? Well, I'm in your hands, aren't
I? Jesus? For you can kill a man you're
related to. Hold on. He thought, He can kill me right
now and be just to do it. Jesus! You're Jesus! The Lord is Jesus! God is Jesus! Oh, Lord Jesus! What would you have me do? Oh, following around, serving
the Lord. I like this, verse fourteen. He said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against
the bricks. I like that. Oh, I like that. A wild ass is cold, and that's
every one of us by nature. A wild ass is cold. We buck and kick against the
truth. Wild ass is cold. Sons of Adam
don't like the truth. They don't like authority. They
don't like anybody to tell them what to do. They don't like anybody
reigning and ruling over them. They don't like anybody to tell
them what they can't do, what they can do. They don't want
God. They don't want God to be God. They don't want to answer
to Him. They want to just run, and kick,
and buck, and fight, and just do anything, just eat, and snort,
and sleep, and do anything. A wild ass is cold. Leave me
alone! Isn't that a wild ass that's
cold? The fenders know what I'm talking about. Bucking, kicking, blowing the
first time you start to put that halter bridle on, oh man. They'll kick you if they can.
If you get on it, what's a horse do, Brother Kelly, when you first
get on it? Never had a human being on it
before. Hard? You don't want to be ridden
in this business. Neither do we. Neither do we. But Christ, now, when the Master,
when the Master says, gives the commands, When the master man-tamer gives
the command, like in that story, he said, there's going to be
a wild asses coat in town. You go in there, and you put
a saddle on him, and you put a bit in his mouth. He said it
to his disciples, didn't he, Stan? Put a bit in his mouth,
bridle over his head, and a saddle on his back. I'm going to ride
him into town. Oh, but he's never been ridden
before. I'm going to ride him, and he ain't going to kick a
leg. I know how Lord did it. He did. He got on that colt that had
never been ridden, got on it, and it didn't kick a leg. And he rode it into town, leaving
captivity captive. Look where I've been. Look what
I do. I ride the wild ass's colt. heart
kick against Brexit. All these foolish preachers today. Don't move. Don't even muscle
move while the Holy Spirit's moving. Don't disturb the Spirit. Don't sneeze. When God Almighty's working,
you can't kick. You can't kick. What you'll do
is bow. Yeah, you will. Quit bowing,
quit bucking. I mean, quit bucking, start bowing. Quit kicking and start believing. Standing, standing. That's the
first thing you got to do, Brother Kelly, is make them just stand. And Paul said, Here I stand.
Paul was running here and there, here and there, here and there,
and the Lord said, Stand still! and see the salvation of the
Lord. You have nothing to do with it.
It's of me. Stand there. You stand there
and let me tell you what I've done. I love this story. Verse sixteen. I'm Jesus. But he said in verse sixteen,
But rise and stand upon thy feet I have appeared under thee for
this purpose, to make you a minister." Now, Barbara Paul already was
one. Paul had already gone to school
to be a minister, hadn't he? He decided to enter the ministry,
didn't he? Earlier on in life, Paul decided to enter a ministry,
so he went to school and became a minister, and everybody gave
him his credentials. He went out and he was a merrily minister,
wasn't he? He didn't have a clue. Christ makes his own ministers. Christ calls his own ministers.
Men don't do it. Christ puts them in the school
of the prophets, and not this one out here on the road. This
one right here. He puts them in his school. He
teaches them himself. He's the master. We don't have
many masters. We got one. And he teaches them. He equips them. And he sends
them out. He calls them. And Paul, you know, Paul knew
exactly what he wanted to do and where he wanted to go. I'll
go here. I'll go there. I'll evangelize the world. Paul, after when the
Lord called him, he said, Lord, what will you have me to do? I don't know where to go or what
to do or what to say now, but you'll tell me. I'll do it. Well, verse 17, he said, I'm
going to send you to the Jew and Gentile, verse 18, to open
their eyes, read on, to turn them from darkness to light,
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sin and inheritance among them that are set apart by faith.
How? How? How's Paul going to do all
that? The Lord says he's going to send
him to open eyes, to turn from darkness, from the power of Satan,
cast out devils, that they may receive forgiveness. How? What's
he going to do? How? He's doing it right now. Preaching
the gospel. That's it. That's what opens
your eyes. The gospel. That's what turns from darkness
into the gospel. That's what leads captivity captive. The gospel. That's what gives
forgiveness of sin. The gospel. That's what sanctifies
and sets apart and grants praise. It's the hearing of the gospel.
If I almost send you out to do what? Preach the gospel. And then stand back and watch
me work. So he said, verse 19, I did it. I did it. Oh, what did the Lord
do through the preaching of Paul? He did it. He's doing it now.
Right now, 2,000 years later. Still doing it. Still doing it. Look at down here you got to
see this. That's the first 25 bestest who heard all this before
and I hear that again. First 25 bestest said he couldn't
help it. He spoke out saying he said,
Oh, you're just mad. You're crazy. Don't always read and you're
just crazy. Paul said, I'm not mad verse 25. I'm not mad. I used to be. Remember back there he said,
I was exceedingly mad against, I used to be crazy. I used to
be out of my head. I used to be out of my mind. Those that don't have the mind
of Christ are crazy. They're insane. Those that don't know God, who
are living under the Those who were eating God's food,
drinking God's water, being clothed by God, breathing God's air,
basking under God's sunshine, breathing God's breath that he
gives them, in God's hand, and don't acknowledge God at all,
they're crazy! Nuts! And those who broke the truth,
the only way, the only hope of any human being before this God
is in Christ and Christ alone. The only way to be righteous,
the only way to be forgiven, is one way. That's Jesus Christ. One hope. For anybody who doesn't
get that, they're crazy. Now, I'm not mad, Festus. I'm not crazy. I used to be.
Crazy to think I could please God. Crazy to not debunk the
truth. It's crazy. You can't fight it. Crazy! You fight truth, you're
fighting God! That's crazy, isn't it? Isn't it, Roy? Isn't it crazy
for a man to shake his fist in God's face? That's what all these human beings on
earth are doing. I don't believe in God! I'll
jump off a building with a sheep. I'll tempt God every way possible.
I don't believe I'm defying death. Yeah, you are. But it ain't gonna
last long, and men will see. God doesn't answer every ant.
Every ant. I don't walk through the yard
and every ant that shakes his fist at me, I don't stop and
deal with it. Neither does God. And all things
are working according to His purpose. And a man's crazy! He doesn't know about a God.
Crazy. I'm not mad. No, this is true.
And this is a serious festus. And Agrippa, and remember on
down there, Paul said, I wish everybody here was like me. Except
he's changed. There they sat in all their finery
and pomp and show, you know, had the world by its hand on
a downhill pull, you know, had all the finery, no worries, no
troubles. Here Paul stood and changed,
about to die for what he believed. And Paul said, I wish you all
were like me. Don't you know Bernice and all
of them? What? Yeah, you're rich in increased
goods and have need of nothing, but knowest not that you're miserable,
poor, black, naked, and blind, and going to have to go before
God with whom you have to do. I got a hope. I got a hope. And here I stand,
judged by you, but uncondemned by God. Standing on Christ the
Rock, you're on shifting sand. Drisking a robe of righteousness,
you just got that silk. The worm's gonna eat it again.
They spit it out, they're gonna take it back. Yeah, that was
you like me. Yeah, you're crazy, Paul. No,
I'm enclosed in my right mind. Am I right now? Well, I don't know. We're going to
try that again tonight in Kentucky. I'm going to try it again. Somebody
will hear it. Number 16, the Green Hymnal.
Number 16. The Lord is King. We're going
to hit the road. Me and Indiana are going to leave
without talking to a soul. So don't stop listening.