I'm back to Acts chapter 25. Acts chapter 25. We ended last week, chapter 24,
Paul preaching to Felix and his wife Drusilla, how he preached
to him concerning faith in Christ, and he reasoned with him of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment. And Felix trembled over that
message, but he left lost. But Felix had hoped that money
had been given to him, so he visited Paul more often, trying to get some money on the
table. But after two years, Porcius Festus, it says there in verse
27, came into Felix's room. Felix was removed out of that
position. And evidently, he did not tell
Festus anything about Paul. No one takes demotion graciously.
He was demoted, so he probably had the attitude you figured
out. And he just left. So Festus comes into his place
now. And the Jews were not happy with
the way Felix dealt with Paul. Because they wanted Paul dead. And Felix left him alive. Left
him in jail and left him as a prisoner for two more years. But they
wanted that man dead. They were not going to rest until
Paul was dead. So when Festus took over, he
went up to Jerusalem. And while he was there, the Jews
talked to him about Paul. They hadn't forgotten Paul. And
they wanted him to bring Paul up to Jerusalem so they could
judge him there. Get him on their turf. That's
what they wanted. What they wanted to do and what
they were hoping to do was assassinate Paul. They were going to assassinate
Paul on his way to Jerusalem. That's what these godly men were
going to do. So-called godly men. But this is a real picture. This is a true picture of how
much religious lost men hate the gospel of Christ. Hate it
so much that they want to kill the ones who preach it. But Festus,
he would not send Paul to Jerusalem. And the reason why he would not
send Paul to Jerusalem is this. God wouldn't let him. God's in control of this. Now
you've got to realize, Festus wants to do them a pleasure,
just like Felix did, willing to do the Jews a pleasure. They
all courted the favor of the Jews, because they knew if there
was going to be trouble, then they were going to have to go
to Rome and answer to Caesar. I bet you none of those guys
were happy to be governor of Judea, because they figured they
were always going to have to be answering for something that
the Jews were upset about. But God wouldn't allow it. God
knows how to take care of His own. He knows how to protect
us in all situations. God knows how to take care of
His own. Now those Jews brought many accusations
against Paul. Festus came back down and then
some Jews came with him and he took the judgment seat. And they
brought many accusations it says there in verse 7 against Paul
which they could not prove. After I read this, I thought,
our Lord said, they hated me without a cause. The same thing
can be said of God's service. They are hated without a cause. When they brought Paul to the
judgment seat, they brought up all these accusations, but not
one of them could stick. They couldn't make one stick.
They couldn't prove anything they were saying because of this.
They were all fabricated. It was an out lie on Paul. That's all it was. But Paul lets
Festus know, over here in verse 8, Paul answered for himself,
he says, neither against the law of the Jews, neither against
the temple, or against Rome, Caesar, the law of Rome. He said,
I haven't done anything. I haven't offended or done any
harm to anyone at all. So Festus, he says, OK, Paul, will you go to Jerusalem and
be judged? Will you go up there and let us hear this case and
decide this situation and get it over with? And Paul, no, no, I'm not. Stubborn man. Paul, why don't
you just do this and get this thing over with? Paul said, no,
I'm not going to. I'm going to go before Caesar.
I'm a Roman citizen. I've been falsely accused. I'm
going to go before Caesar. Now listen, Paul used his lawful rights to
clear his name. And there's nothing wrong We
see this here. There's nothing wrong with using
lawful means to clear our name. Paul says, no, I'm going to go
to court in Rome. This is the Supreme Court. Paul's
going to the Supreme Court. He said, I'm going to go there.
I'll stand before Caesar and I'll let my case be judged there.
I'm not going to Jerusalem and do that. They're lying on me.
I know what they want. They want my life. So now comes
in King Agrippa. This is the brother of Drusilla,
which was the wife of Felix. This is her brother, King Agrippa. I thought as I read this, it's
amazing how God brought governors and kings before Paul. Paul put
him in prison. Here's the governors, here's
the king, here's the principal men of the city. They all come
together and the gospel is going to be preached to them. Do you
see the hand of God in this? Do you see how God can turn? Where or how would you be able
to bring all these people together to hear the gospel? Well, God
does it. He does it. All are in His hand. Everything's in the hand of our
Lord. Well, we should take so much comfort in that. The heart
of the king is in the hand of the Lord. Like the rivers of
water, He turns it whithersoever He will. He turns the rivers
of waters whithersoever He wills. You look at all the water courses
on this earth and how it all flows to the sea. Well, guess
who did that? He said, well, that's just nature.
That's just the force of nature. God did that. That's the force
of God. It's God. And in Festus, here in verse
14, he tells King Agrippa about Paul. He really didn't know much,
really. This pagan governor is kind of
in the dark here. But he tells him about Paul and
how he has nothing to write. He said, I have no charges against
this man. I just don't know what to say. You know, Paul is such a hot
potato that they keep trying to pass him off. This is what's
happening. So Festus is now trying to pass him off on King Agrippa.
That's what he's trying to do. They just keep trying to pass
him off to someone else because they don't know what to do with
him. Don't know how to handle him. And here's the charge that Festus
comes up with. Verse 19 is going to be the verse
that I'm going to deal with. Festus tells Agrippa, King Agrippa. He said, here's what I know about
this whole situation. Here's what I know. Here's the
problem, King. Verse 19. But certain questions
against him of their own superstition and of one Jesus which was dead,
whom Paul affirmed to be alive. Here is an outsider. This struck
me when I read this. Here is an outsider, a pagan. He's just a pagan governor. And
he hears both parties. He listens to both parties speak. And this is what he comes away
with. when he speaks to King Agrippa. He said, I've heard
the one party, the Jews, they say that this man has something
against their religion. See, they speak of their religion. They speak of their ceremonies.
They speak of their laws, their feast days, their creeds, and
their catechisms. He said, they have a problem
here with Paul because of their religion. But this man Paul, when I heard him speak, he didn't
speak about the religion, he spoke about a person. They spoke
of their religion, Paul spoke of the person. Big difference. Big difference. Paul spoke of a man, he said,
named Jesus. You know, when he went away with
the Jews, they spoke about their laws and their ceremonies. He said, but this Paul spoke
of one named Jesus. Paul's whole religion and preaching
was centered around this person, Jesus. He said his whole His
whole religion. And preaching centers around
this man named Jesus. Christianity is a living union
with Christ. That's what Christianity is.
True Christianity is a real living union with Jesus Christ. Even this pagan ruler knew who Paul was preaching.
When Paul finished preaching, he knew This man, Paul, is preaching
about a man named Jesus. That's the whole problem here.
They're talking about their religion and how Paul's against it, but
he said when Paul speaks, he just speaks about this person
named Jesus. Even that pagan ruler knew this,
and the Jews knew it also. They used that as a front. They
used it as a way to bring accusations against them, but they knew who
he preached They knew who Jesus Christ was. They knew. That's
why they wanted to kill him. Paul preached that the one whom
they crucified is alive and well. He said Paul was preaching that
this one whom they despised and rejected, whom they hung on a
cross, is alive. That he's not dead, he's alive.
That he is the reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Paul
preached life by his death. Paul preached the atonement by
his blood, the atonement of our sins by his blood. Not by the
blood of bulls and goats that they offered up continually. Paul preached that the blood
of the bulls and goats could not put away sin. But the blood
of this man puts away sin. Paul preached acceptance through
his righteousness, and that was the offense of his
message. That was the offense of Paul's message. Paul preached to them substitution. He said here, and one Jesus which
was dead. He said he preached this one,
this Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified on a cross. You see,
the Jews believed they put to death an imposter. They believed they put to death
a blasphemer, not the Son of God, not the Messiah. But Paul preached that this one
Jesus is the Messiah. He's the promised Messiah, and
you put Him to death. But he's not dead. He's not dead. He's alive. At this very moment,
the man Christ Jesus, in the flesh, in the flesh, is seated
at God's right hand. Right now. He said Paul affirms. They had questions. He said the
Jews had questions about their religion. Paul had an affirmation. Paul said he's alive. They had
questions, which is what all rebels have, is questions. They
question everything. They question the Word of God,
put a checkmark on everything. It's a question mark. But Paul
had an affirmation. Jesus is alive. He's alive. Christ died for the sins of his
elect. which included Gentiles and Jews,
and that upset them. The fact that we were allowed
in the house, that upset them. And Paul preached righteousness
by his obedience. The Jew believed that righteousness
came by his obedience to the law. That's what he believed.
But Paul preached that righteousness came by his obedience, not ours. And you know they had to think
Well then why have I done this all these years? You mean to
tell me that I have kept the law all these years and God hasn't
taken notice of it? No, you haven't kept the law
at all is what I mean. Not you've kept the law and God
hasn't taken notice. You haven't kept the first letter of the
law. Not the first letter. At all. And so Paul preached
righteousness by his obedience. Salvation by his righteousness.
Salvation by his blood. And they knew it. Paul preached
that the law and the ceremonies and the pictures and the texts
were all fulfilled by Christ. And these things were done away
with. All Paul did was tell them the truth. He just told them
the truth. And they hated him for it. They loved going about
doing all those ceremonies and keeping all their traditions.
They just loved it. They didn't want to do away with
anything. It's hard to get people to break tradition, isn't it? God has to do it. God has to
do it. And Paul preached that this one
Jesus who was crucified, this one that
was dead, and he died, he died a real death, he died a real
death, is alive. Isn't that our hope? If not our hope is this, he lives. We worship and serve a risen
Savior, a risen Christ. A dead Christ is not going to
save anybody. But a risen one will. A live one will. We have a living, Scripture says,
we have a living sacrifice in the blood of those bulls and
goats. They did not have a living sacrifice when they killed the
goat, when they killed the lamb, when they killed the ram. It
stayed dead. It was not a living sacrifice.
But Christ, who was put to death, is seated at God's right hand,
right now, alive. He is able to save unto the uttermost,
them that come unto God by Him, seeing He walked, ever living,
to make intercession for them. A dead person can't make intercession
for you, but a living one can. And there is a living There's
one named Jesus living at God's right hand who is the salvation
of all of God's elect. That's what Paul preached. Paul
claimed that he had seen the Lord and that he was alive. There were many, many witnesses
of his resurrection, bodily resurrection. When we talk about this Jesus
being alive, being raised from the dead, Paul's talking about
the bodily resurrection of Christ. He said, I saw him. The Lord
said, Thomas, touch me. Spirit has not flesh and bones. Touch me. There was a real bodily
resurrection of Christ from the dead. And this gospel that Paul
preached agreed 100% with the Old Testament. With the Old Testament. Look over in Psalm. I'll just
show you a few scriptures. Look over in Psalm chapter 2. What's amazing is how a person
can read the scriptures and just be totally blind to the truth
of it. In verse 7, I will declare the decree. The
Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Now, turn over to Hebrews chapter
1. He says in Hebrews 1 verse 5,
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art
my son, this day have I begotten thee. And again I will be to
him a father, and he shall be to me a son. Total agreement.
Absolute agreement. Turn to Psalm 16. I'll just give
you a few. I've got several written down.
I'll just give you a few. Psalm 16 and verse 10. He says, For thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to
seek corruption. Now turn over to Acts chapter
2. The message Paul preached was
in total agreement with the Old Testament. In Acts chapter 2,
look in verse 27. He said, Because thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy ones
to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and
buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, and knowing that God hath sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He, seeing this
before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither his flesh, to seek corruption." See
the harmony of the Old Testament and New Testament? Look over
in Isaiah 26. In Isaiah 26, verse 19, he said, Thy dead men shall live
together with my dead body, shall they arise. Awake and see that
dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the
earth shall cast out the dead. Now, turn over to Matthew 27. In Matthew 27, verse 52, And the graves were opened, and
many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of
the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city,
and appeared unto many. I've got a lot of scripture and
other scripture we could go on and on, but the Old Testament
and the New Testament are in perfect harmony over this person,
over the Lord Jesus Christ, this one named Jesus who died. In
the Old Testament, Paul said, I'm not preaching a new gospel.
I'm not preaching a new message. I'm not saying anything different
than God Himself said back in the Garden of Eden when He talked
about the seed of the woman bruising the head of the serpent. And
the serpent would bruise his heel. It's the same message.
It's not changed. It's more fully revealed. But
it's not changed. It hasn't changed. They're in
perfect harmony. And the Jews, they knew. Those religious leaders knew
that if this were true, they fought anyway. We're in a lot
of trouble. We are in a lot, if this is so,
if this gets out and proven that it's so, we are in a lot of trouble. We crucified the Lord of Glory.
But what they did not realize, here's what they didn't realize,
is the good news that came out of it. The honey that came out
of the eater. The very blood they shed is the
only blood that can put away the sins of Shadid. That's what
they didn't realize. The very blood that shed is the
blood that puts away all our sins. It was shed for sin, and
it puts them away. They didn't realize that the
only one who could save them was the one they put to death. Oh, they just realized that.
The only one that could save them from the wrath to come is
a risen Christ. This Jesus that was crucified
but is alive. He's the only hope you have.
He's the only hope. I'm going to give you three things
briefly. What His resurrection assures
us, and then I'll close. His resurrection, it assures
salvation to all of God's elect. It assures salvation to everyone
for whom he died. Our Lord said this, because I
live, ye shall live also, because I live. And then secondly, it
assures that all for whom he died shall be born again. Everyone for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ died shall be born of God. He's the first fruit. He's the first fruit. And then
all those who are born after that are the harvest. They're the harvest. And then
it assures that all who die in the Lord... Listen, this is comforting. This is real comforting. It assures
that all who die in the Lord shall be raised again from the
dead." As I said, he's the first fruit.
And all others will be the harvest. Look over in 1 Corinthians 15.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, by which also you are saved, if ye keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. It assures us that all who die in the Lord
will come out of that grave. They'll come out of the grave
and forever be with the Lord. Paul preached Christ. He preached
a person. He didn't preach a religion.
He didn't preach questions. He didn't deal with questions.
He affirmed. He knew what he was preaching.
He knew who he was preaching. He affirmed it. He preached him
so effectively that even a pagan ruler knew that he was talking
about a person, not just a religion. I hope we can be accused of this.
Jesus Christ is our message. He's the only message we have.
to a lost and dying world. He's the only hope God has given.
He's the only hope any sinner has. He's alive. Paul said he's alive. He's alive and well. He's seated
at God's right hand.