WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.919 Now you may notice from the bulletin sheet that the title of the sermon this morning 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:09.919 is a royal audience and while I would love to say that that is in respect of the audience 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:16.460 that I have here today, which of course is highly royal, I was referring to the audience 00:00:16.460 --> 00:00:22.440 that Paul had to proclaim the Gospel to in this account that were given where he is before 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:29.320 King Agrippa and just for those who maybe aren't normally in church with us here or 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:35.280 who are not aware of where we are here, we are coming to the end of the story of Acts, 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:45.240 the early church and how that church blossomed and grew and Paul who had previously been 00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:50.560 vitriolic in his hatred of Christianity meets with Jesus Christ and becomes the great apostle 00:00:50.560 --> 00:00:59.880 and so much so that he is opposed for his proclamation of the Gospel and his own people want him 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:05.520 killed so they bring him to the authorities, the authorities see nothing wrong with him, 00:01:05.520 --> 00:01:10.800 he appeals to Caesar and on his way to Caesar because Paul is a Roman citizen although he 00:01:10.800 --> 00:01:19.159 was also a Jewish, he meets with King Agrippa here so that is where we are in the story 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:27.159 and Dr. Luke is keen to give us details about the spread of Christianity following its very 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:35.479 inauspicious beginnings, it didn't start well with a crucified leader and the 11 team members 00:01:35.479 --> 00:01:43.479 hiding in a locked room for fear of being next for crucifixion but that brings us to 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:52.200 where we are now with Paul, one of the leading contenders for the faith and one who had shared 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:59.159 the Gospel in Jerusalem Judea, Sumeria and Judea and throughout the known world he is 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:10.000 here before King Agrippa, Agrippa being a notorious historical figure as a ruler of 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:18.159 the region of Judea but under Roman authority and this account is interesting for us, we 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:23.840 believe the Bible is the living word of God, it contains, it is the word and it speaks 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:31.319 to us and it gives us the account that God wants us to have and it speaks to us through 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:36.800 the Spirit and we recognize it even though historically it is a long way from our own 00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:44.640 experience that it is really very up to date in all that it says, the majority of people 00:02:44.640 --> 00:02:50.880 in Edinburgh don't believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I was telling the folks 00:02:50.880 --> 00:02:56.439 here yesterday that there is probably not many and our own folks know this ad nauseam, 00:02:56.439 --> 00:03:01.000 there is probably not many more than 4% of the population of Edinburgh go to any church 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:06.919 whatsoever and so if we were asked the question of most people what you think of Christianity, 00:03:06.919 --> 00:03:10.919 there would be a wide range of answers that you would get from people, there would be 00:03:10.919 --> 00:03:16.000 a kind of benevolent disinterest from some folk, say that's okay, that's fine as long 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.240 as you keep it to yourself, I don't want anything to do with it but if that's what makes you 00:03:21.240 --> 00:03:26.479 tick that's fine, others might be inquisitive, they might be quite interested in why you 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:33.479 would believe in such things today, some think it's quirky, old fashioned, many would regard 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:37.239 it as being simply cultural, wow you were brought up in a Christian home, that's why 00:03:37.239 --> 00:03:43.239 you're a Christian but also there are a lot of people who think that Christians are completely 00:03:43.239 --> 00:03:50.879 crazy, that they are absolute builders for believing in the Gospel today and there's 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:57.039 a malevolence, not a benevolence but rather a malevolence against Christianity, these 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:04.799 are the people who believe in creation and have an outdated morality or bigoted who are 00:04:04.799 --> 00:04:13.800 homophobic, who are brainwashed and who are illiberal in their views and some may summarise 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:20.960 their thoughts of Christianity and what it is to be a Christian, similarly to the way 00:04:20.960 --> 00:04:31.920 Festus did it, who was the Governor Judea who passed on Paul's situation to King Agrippa, 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:37.920 in the previous chapter, chapter 25 verse 19 we didn't read it but as he's explaining 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:45.040 to King Agrippa why Paul is on trial and why he's being brought, he says these people 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:50.920 have an argument about their own religion, rather that they have certain points of dispute 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:57.400 with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead but whom Paul 00:04:57.400 --> 00:05:03.160 asserted to be alive, so that would be the, I guess, the position of many people about 00:05:03.160 --> 00:05:08.200 Christians who say, yeah, they believe in this guy called Jesus who died 2,000 years 00:05:08.200 --> 00:05:14.640 ago but who they assert rose from the dead on the third day. 00:05:14.640 --> 00:05:21.760 Interestingly, that's actually quite close to the matter for us, that we do believe in 00:05:21.760 --> 00:05:28.640 someone who died and we do believe the scriptures when they tell us that he rose again on the 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:34.079 third day. We've examined as Christians the historical claims of Jesus, especially about 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:42.039 his death and resurrection and we believe him to be alive and we've experienced him 00:05:42.039 --> 00:05:47.479 by faith as we have come to put our trust in him, so that in our perspective of living 00:05:47.479 --> 00:05:55.519 we have a recognition that death isn't the end, that God is God and that Christ alone 00:05:55.519 --> 00:06:03.680 can bring the light of everlasting life into our spiritual darkness. So Jesus is the center 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:09.079 of our faith, he is the center of what we believe and we have put our faith in him as 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:17.399 a person and in his claims and in his redemptive work on our behalf and because we have done 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:23.120 that and because our lives have been transformed by that, we believe he matters and we believe 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:29.360 he matters therefore to everyone because we are all in the same boat before God. 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:35.519 So I want to spend a little while just looking at this account and about what Paul says and 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:42.160 his reactions and those who reacted to him, you might find that you will dovetail with 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:47.560 some of the reactions, you might have experienced some of these reactions in your own walk of 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:53.879 faith and I hope you will find it helpful and challenging as we do so because Paul's 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:58.000 testimony and Paul's audit, we spoke about this a little bit last week, but Paul's audience 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:02.439 and Paul's testimony is very interesting and this is if God here in his living word is 00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:09.840 wanting to set up a really interesting juxtaposition because we have a juxtaposition of power and 00:07:09.840 --> 00:07:16.279 influence. So you have again in a part of the section that we didn't read in verse 23 00:07:16.279 --> 00:07:21.919 of chapter 25 which is actually really the beginning of this account, we have the entrance 00:07:21.919 --> 00:07:27.199 of King Agrippa, so we have got the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:31.919 and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of 00:07:31.919 --> 00:07:40.199 the city. Then at the command of Festus Paul was brought in, in chains. So you have got 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:45.599 this great juxtaposition that has been set up by the author here where you have got Marcus 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:52.720 Julius Agrippa II with all his power and pomp and authority, all the people around him and 00:07:52.720 --> 00:08:00.760 the people of the court and then you have little Paul in chains, enslaved and it seems 00:08:00.760 --> 00:08:07.320 to be a position where all the power is stacked in one place, isn't it? And Paul is absolutely 00:08:07.320 --> 00:08:13.240 powerless and that really is the juxtaposition that we are intended to understand from a 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:18.120 human point of view. But as it unfolds we see things differently from God's point of 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:23.920 view. It is a kind of David and Goliath story for us and it is a bit like sometimes how 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:29.400 we feel today as Christians in the absolute minority, completely powerless and shouldn't 00:08:29.400 --> 00:08:36.680 really be in the same room as sophisticated intellectual people who reject the gospel. 00:08:36.679 --> 00:08:45.759 There is no contest. But Paul is given the opportunity to address King Agrippa and speak 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:51.439 about his testimony and why he is there. And he shares certain facts with him and I am 00:08:51.439 --> 00:08:56.639 just going to go through these very briefly from verses 4 to 11 of the passage we read. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:02.079 He shares facts about his background against his accusers. He says, look these guys who 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:07.879 accuse me, they have known me for a long time. They have known exactly who I am. I was one 00:09:07.879 --> 00:09:13.759 of them. I came from the same religious background. I believe the same Old Testament scriptures. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:19.840 I rubbed shoulders with each of them. I studied with them. I went through education with them 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:25.960 and they know who I am. They know my personality. They know my history. I am not new to them. 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:35.519 And they were aware of my previous opposition and hostility, raging hostility against Christianity, 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:41.120 so that they appointed me to go out and search out Christians to imprison them. So he says, 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:46.680 they knew all about my background. He shares these facts about his background. Then he 00:09:46.680 --> 00:09:53.480 goes on to share facts about his changed life. In other words, he tells them why his life 00:09:53.480 --> 00:10:01.000 was changed, why he became from being an oppressor to being a sympathiser and a believer 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:08.360 and a follower and an apologist for Jesus Christ. He shares, for the third time in the 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:15.080 book of Acts we have the account of Paul's, what we have come to know is his Damascus 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:21.720 Road experience. His coming to meet with Jesus Christ and he explains it for himself for 00:10:21.720 --> 00:10:30.840 the second time and we have the events recorded to make it a third time that we have this 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:37.040 testimony shared that he meets with the risen Savior on the road to Damascus. Who is it 00:10:37.040 --> 00:10:43.680 that you are persecuting? It is Jesus Christ, the risen Savior. And he meets with the living 00:10:43.680 --> 00:10:50.920 divine Lord and he is transformed and he is given his mission by the living God. And the 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:58.919 basis of his changed life is meeting with Jesus Christ, is the resurrection. The resurrection 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:04.039 is central to, and we sung about that at the beginning, it remains the central plank of 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:10.360 the Christian faith is that we believe not in a dead Savior, not in simply a historical 00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:15.480 figure from the past but in the risen God. And in verse 8 he challenges them to say, 00:11:15.480 --> 00:11:22.080 why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? If God is God, if 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:30.240 God is who he says he is, then this is something that he, in his power, he can do and has done 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:38.000 in this very unique way in the person of Jesus Christ. And it is interesting that we focus 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:43.159 a great deal as Christians on Paul as the great apologist and the great theologian of 00:11:43.159 --> 00:11:52.199 the early church, which of course he was. But that apology and that theology is based 00:11:52.199 --> 00:11:59.759 in the fact of the resurrection, it grounds everything and in his testimony of meeting 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:07.240 the risen Savior. So his testimony is hugely significant that as he comes to know the risen 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:13.120 Savior it transforms his life. And so in your life and in my life as Christians, not only 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:20.720 the knowledge of the truth and doctrine and theologians hugely significant but the resurrection 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:28.799 and the personal testimony of faith that we have in the risen Savior is hugely significant 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:38.720 today as we live out our lives and share our faith. People are very suspicious of facts 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:50.080 or of truth as it is revealed or laid out. But they are very interested in our personal 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:58.399 testimony and will consider that as we think of the foundation of our faith based in that 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:03.040 truth that has transformed our lives. The fact of a changed life. Then thirdly he speaks 00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:09.159 about the facts of a powerful message. He doesn't simply lay out this truth and say well Luke 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:16.279 this is what I have experienced, take it or leave it. He is adamant that there is a message 00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:22.120 for all of them from the great, the high and the mighty and the powerful to whoever is 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:31.279 transformed and changed by the message, turn to God in verses 19 and 20 he says and repent. 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:36.039 Turn from having your back face to God to facing him and listening to him and considering 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:42.480 him and recognising him and responding to his message and to his person and know all 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:48.559 the benefits that come from entrusting your life to the Lord Jesus Christ that he knew 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:55.639 the forgiveness and the love and transformed heart and belonging and being made clean. 00:13:55.639 --> 00:14:01.439 Coming from darkness to light spiritually he saw that and that is a great and powerful 00:14:01.439 --> 00:14:09.279 theme throughout the gospels that seeing God's love for the first time and recognising the 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:15.480 significance of what Jesus had come to do for him personally and indeed for the world. 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:21.000 And that message that he gave in the Kings court was the same message he gave on the 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:27.759 streets of the different places that the gospel went out to that was transforming people's 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:33.799 lives which is of course why this powerful movement of the spirit of God was opposed 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:41.000 by the Jewish leaders because the power was changing. It was no longer in their hands, 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:45.639 it was no longer in the Romans hands but people's lives and people's freedom was being bought 00:14:45.639 --> 00:14:51.960 by Jesus Christ and their lives were being transformed and Christians were turning the 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:59.600 world of its day upside down but they didn't like that and so they tried to kill him. 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:05.919 So the facts of the powerful message and then also facts about God's revealed purpose in 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:16.319 verses 22 to verses 24 he speaks about how this was always God's intention, this was 00:15:16.319 --> 00:15:22.039 always God's revealed purpose from the Old Testament scriptures. 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:29.319 It's the irony isn't it that the Jewish leader, religious leaders who wanted him dead were 00:15:29.319 --> 00:15:34.319 the ones who shared the same Bible as he shared in the Old Testament and what Paul is saying 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:40.960 here is saying, look this is the Christ that if you will look has been predicted and prophesied 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:47.520 and taught and expected right through the Old Testament scriptures, the hope of the Messiah. 00:15:47.520 --> 00:15:54.040 This is always, there is no plan B, this was always God's plan for redemption and for hope 00:15:54.040 --> 00:15:59.320 and for life and for forgiveness. It's what all of the Old Testament look forward to, 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:05.520 it's what all of the New Testament looks back to the person and work of Jesus Christ 00:16:05.520 --> 00:16:15.120 on behalf of you and I, broken, spiritually dark and separated, lost and opposing God 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:23.120 with no hope beyond this life, only judgment and he brings that message of redemption and 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:27.040 hope through Jesus Christ. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:33.639 So there are many responses to the gospel, we will all have many responses to the gospel 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:40.319 here and wherever we try and present that gospel and live our lives as Christians and 00:16:40.319 --> 00:16:47.240 there are two responses here and they are rather predictable at one level. 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:54.039 Paul seemed to be a nobody yet under the power of God and even in chains here we know that 00:16:54.039 --> 00:16:58.159 through the ministry of the gospel that he was proclaiming the world was being turned 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:03.519 upside down, people were responding to the good news and following Jesus Christ. The 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:11.839 power brokers were scared that they no longer had the fear of the people, the people were 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:17.559 willing to be martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ. 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:21.920 But despite these facts and despite the fact that people's lives were being changed, there 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:28.440 are two responses here that are sad. So it's got a sad sermon, it's a sad sermon today, 00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:33.600 it's a happy day and will be a happy baptism but it's quite a sad sermon because sad things 00:17:33.600 --> 00:17:38.720 sometimes happen when the gospel is shared and there are two responses here from those 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:47.279 who are in positions of power and authority. The first is from Festus who in verse 24 where 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:53.519 Festus says, Paul you're out of your mind, your great learning has driven you out of 00:17:53.519 --> 00:18:01.200 your mind. Paul you are a nutter, that's the response that Paul is given to his presentation 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:07.680 of the gospel. Not on the basis of just being stupid but rather your insanity is due to 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:13.319 too much study. Your study of the books has just turned you cross-eyed, you have no idea 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:20.439 what you're saying, you're a complete nutcase and it is ridiculous what you're asserting. 00:18:20.439 --> 00:18:29.119 Festus was hugely uncomfortable by the presentation that Paul gives. He doesn't feel it's appropriate 00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:39.159 to be discussed in such an enlightened and significant company as we read from verse, 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:45.240 from chapter 25. He thinks it's a personal religious controversy and an outrageous claim 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:50.759 about a dead man being alive. He's crazy, he's mad a dead man being alive that you 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:56.680 wouldn't trust your life to. And that is often the response that we find that people will 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:04.680 give when they hear the Christian message. Rather than engage because the truths that 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:09.519 are presented are maybe outside of a person's worldview or their presuppositions or even 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:15.880 their comfort zone, rather than engage with that and wrestle with it and see whether there 00:19:15.880 --> 00:19:20.680 is any truth there, there's a tendency for us just to suppress it and just to wave it 00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:27.080 away as being the thoughts of craziness. And we judge that through ridicule, it's a very 00:19:27.080 --> 00:19:33.440 common way of rejecting anything today, it's through ridicule. People distance themselves 00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:42.960 from the claims of Christianity by ridiculing. We find that very often in the media and sometimes 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:49.680 maybe even the liberal elite, Christians are ridiculed as being absolute belters who have 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:57.200 nothing serious to add to the debate. It's not a new phenomenon and it is sad that that 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:02.000 is the case. And the Bible exposes that and it's not afraid to expose that that will be 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:09.440 a response that often is given. But also secondly we have the response in verse 28 of the King 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:15.680 himself who says, in a short time as this would you persuade me to be a Christian? 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.920 Now there's quite a lot of debate about exactly what he was saying here, whether he was quite 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:25.640 sympathetic or whether he was being very cynical. I think the tendency would be to think that 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:32.720 he is really being quite cynical here. He knows Paul is convincing. The facts that Paul presents 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:37.800 are clear and he later on recognises that Paul's innocent of the charges that are made 00:20:37.800 --> 00:20:44.840 against him. Agrippa may even have felt conscious stricken. He was no shrinking violet Agrippa. 00:20:44.840 --> 00:20:49.480 To get to the position that he had got to under the influence and power of Rome meant 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:54.720 that he had done very many dastardly things and therefore there may have been a sense 00:20:54.720 --> 00:21:03.559 in which he was conscious stricken. But he would not change. Really Paul? You think that 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:09.680 a simple presentation that you're going to change my life? Am I going to relinquish my 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:20.120 heart and the power over my own life that I have? The cost would be far too great. And 00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:25.479 it's an interesting response, isn't it? And it may be that that's how many people think 00:21:25.479 --> 00:21:32.479 today and it might be today, how you think. Where there's a sense in which it's compelling, 00:21:32.479 --> 00:21:39.119 your conscience struck by it. It may even be true but I'm not going to change. I don't 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:47.199 feel that I'm able to entrust my heart to this Christ that I can't see, that it isn't 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:53.080 scientifically proven. We're not willing to relinquish control of our lives at that level. 00:21:53.080 --> 00:21:57.279 But it is interesting, isn't it, that at different levels we are willing in our lives to relinquish 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:03.880 control. We'll do it at work under a boss. We'll do it medically when we come under 00:22:03.880 --> 00:22:08.920 the knife in a very dramatic way sometimes when we relinquish control of our lives to 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:16.840 a surgeon. We'll do it in our marriage if we have any sense. Now and again, we will 00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:22.559 relinquish control. We will compromise. We will share. We will recognize that we are 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:27.279 not always going to get our own way. But in a much more significant way spiritually, 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:35.039 are we willing just because we can't see God physically that we take the chance of 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:40.279 keeping, maintaining control, ignoring the facts of the gospel and the claims of Jesus 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:48.960 Christ and the evidence of creation and our own image and all that we are and all that 00:22:48.960 --> 00:22:58.200 we do and all that He claims without considering who Jesus Christ is. So lastly and very briefly 00:22:58.200 --> 00:23:06.079 here, can I just finish with Paul's comeback to these two responses? And I think they're 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:12.359 instructive for us as Christians as to how we should respond when people oppose our testimony, 00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:19.519 our Christian living as such and a reminder of our responsibility as to how we should 00:23:19.519 --> 00:23:26.480 be living. Interestingly, Paul's comeback are not necessarily how we would respond to 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:33.279 rejection. Sometimes we take the huff. Sometimes you say, well, I tried. Sometimes we just 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:39.319 reject people. But that isn't Paul's response. And that is really instructive and helpful 00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:48.599 for us. He reflects Christ in verses 25 and 26. In response to the claim that he was crazy 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:56.480 and mad, he says quite respectfully and seems in control. I'm not out of my mind the most 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:03.559 excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and irrational words. The King knows about these. 00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:14.079 And to him, I speak boldly. So his response is one of calm, respectful reason. He maintains 00:24:14.079 --> 00:24:19.319 simply that he's not insane and probably all in the court who were listening recognized 00:24:19.319 --> 00:24:28.279 that he wasn't insane. It wasn't a fair claim, a challenge against him. He maintains his 00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:39.439 faith is based on truth and reason. And nothing, he says, that has been done in the progression 00:24:39.439 --> 00:24:45.200 of the Christian gospel was done in secret. It was all public and it was open to the scrutiny 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:51.680 of all to see. That's very important, I think for us. It's important for us today if we 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:59.519 are provoked. And when the gospel and those who believe in the gospel are challenged for 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:08.080 believing in something without any reason, without any truth as fantasists or flat earthers, 00:25:08.079 --> 00:25:15.039 that we allow ourselves to take the time to express the reason behind what we believe in. 00:25:15.039 --> 00:25:22.240 The historical fact, the assessment of life, the creation around us, the reality of good 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:30.839 and evil, the reality of life and death, our own creativity, our conscience, our consciousness, 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:38.559 our morality, all of these things that we believe find an answer in the gospel and in 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:43.839 Jesus Christ. It is based on that reason. People might not like that, may choose to reject 00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:51.319 it, but it is not fantasy. And it's important for us to be able to share that truth. And 00:25:51.319 --> 00:25:58.279 the gospel has always been open to intellectual scrutiny, probably has been rigorously examined 00:25:58.279 --> 00:26:06.839 and looked at more than any other truth claim that has ever been made. And yet people's 00:26:06.839 --> 00:26:12.519 lives are still being transformed and people are still come to know the risen Savior, people 00:26:12.519 --> 00:26:19.960 from every class, every society, every intellectual strata, despite what the media will tell us, 00:26:19.960 --> 00:26:26.720 are coming to faith in the risen Savior. Don't lose heart. Continue with reason and with 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:34.720 gentleness and with respect to maintain why you believe. And added to that is the very 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:42.559 interesting second foundation that Paul responds with in verse 29, where in response to King 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:51.680 Agrippa he says, Paul said, whether short time or long, I would to God that not only 00:26:51.680 --> 00:27:00.320 you, but all who hear me this day might become such as I am, except for these chains. Isn't 00:27:00.320 --> 00:27:06.480 that a great answer? Isn't that a humble, prayerful answer? A great comeback, isn't 00:27:06.480 --> 00:27:12.279 it? That he exposes and he reveals his own heart that as he is sharing this gospel, he 00:27:12.279 --> 00:27:21.600 recognizes his dependence on the living God. He has shared his truth passionately and respectfully, 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:29.359 but he wants God to open the hearts of everyone there, the soldiers who are guarding him, 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:35.959 Festus, Agrippa, Candice, all the people who are there. He wants them to come and know 00:27:35.959 --> 00:27:41.519 the Lord Jesus Christ and be like him, except for his chains. He doesn't want them wearing 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:50.639 handcuffs. He has a longing for them to be free men and women and free, of course, spiritually. 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:56.160 He wants them to know the love of God that's transformed his life and offered him the forgiveness 00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:03.240 as the greatest of all rebels and the one who was most culpable against Jesus for what 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:09.640 he was doing in the early church and was transformed by that Damascus road experience. 00:28:09.640 --> 00:28:15.160 And I hope that that is, for us as Christians today, is also our longing as we often live 00:28:15.160 --> 00:28:24.279 lives where we feel powerless and small and voiceless and in a huge minority and where 00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:30.519 everyone tells us that we are crazy to be Christians or that we will never persuade others to come 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:37.720 to faith, that we will know where the power to transform hearts and lives lies. It lies 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:45.480 with the living God as Paul was willing to pray that God would act to transform their 00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:52.400 lives. So let us be people who share our testimony by the way we live, by our grace, by our 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:58.839 respect, by our humility, by our love, by our patience, by our long suffering, by our 00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:06.559 willingness to go the extra mile, by the way we treat those who treat us badly as we treat 00:29:06.559 --> 00:29:11.440 them with love and seek to do. As we share our lives and our testimony, as we defend 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:19.039 the reasonableness of our faith, may we assure people of our prayers. It is a great thing, 00:29:19.039 --> 00:29:25.960 isn't it, to pray for people, pray for each other as Christians. But I think also a lot 00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:29.599 of times people who aren't Christians, who are our friends, who are maybe wrestling with 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:35.919 issues of faith are very happy to know that we will pray for them and that we are praying 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:40.640 for them and that we can assure them of our faith that they too might come to know Jesus 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:46.640 Christ and Him crucified and all that it means for this life and the life to come. And I 00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:50.080 hope if you are not a Christian today, if you are visiting with us today, that you will 00:29:50.080 --> 00:29:56.920 be challenged by the truths of Jesus and by the worship that we have shared in today and 00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:03.200 by the message from the gospel. It is one that we seek to live, we make lots of mistakes, 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:08.960 we fail miserably in so many ways, but we long for people to share the Christ who has 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:14.480 transformed our lives and we pray for that, irregularly, for our friends and neighbours 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:19.840 and family members to come to faith in Jesus Christ. And it is something that through baptism 00:30:19.840 --> 00:30:26.039 that we believe is a significant truth and promise for our children. 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:35.240 Amen. May God bless His word that we have heard and considered together.