You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching we may present everyone mature in Christ. All right, well, let's start with a summary that you can help to summarize from last week. Last week, we had new people show up on the scene in Caesarea. Who showed up last week? Agrippa and Bernice, there you go. Agrippa and Bernice showed up on the scene in Caesarea. And this is just for Ben, after how long, it was some days. After some days. But the general idea, if you could, with last week and then as we continue on through this week and next week, the general idea is that Festus is in a pickle. What is the pickle that Festus is in? Should I or shouldn't I what? Yeah. He doesn't know what to do. Paul appealed to Caesar, right? And he has to send him to Caesar, but what is he supposed to write? What is he supposed to say to Caesar about this guy, right? So that's the pickle that Festus is in. What is he supposed to tell Caesar that Paul had done? What had Paul done? That's a trick question. Yeah, he had done nothing to deserve this but the wheels are so far in motion Festus did say in verse 19 from last week That there were no serious charges But rather certain points of dispute with Paul about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead But whom Paul asserted to be alive, that's what Festus says But we do find out then that Agrippa wants to hear from Paul himself. In verse 22, I would like to hear the man myself. And when is he going to hear from Paul? According to last week. Tomorrow. Exactly. Yeah. Tonight. So tomorrow comes, in the passage from last week, and Agrippa and Bernice arrive with lots of pomp and ceremony. I imagine a great parade and all kinds of festiveness. But they arrive to that audience hall of the governor's mansion with all kinds of pomp. and all just to hear this guy in shabby robes bound up in chains. So Festus opens up with comments to Agrippa about the goal. What is the goal? That he needs wise counsel on what to write to Caesar about concerning Paul. So, tonight we arrive at the first half of Paul's, well, you could call it a speech or a monologue of sorts. Next week, we'll get to the second half of that. But why don't we read Acts 26, verse 1 through 18. So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope, I am accused by Jews, O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. In this connection, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. At midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. May the Lord write the truths of his word upon our heart this evening. So what kind of questions arise from this first half? It's a shame we don't get the whole thing, but it is a little bit long. So from this first half, what sort of questions come up in your mind? Dina. I was just wondering how many other people are here? Like what's the audience kind of? Yeah. That's a good one. Technically, the answer to that is in chapter 25. Not that I need to answer them right now, but I will find that verse. Go ahead, Bob. The first line, I'm really fascinated why he calls Jesus, Jesus' master. Because I don't even see that in the book of Acts, anywhere in the book of Acts, even with Stephen. I mean, going back on Stephen's speech, I don't see Jesus being addressed that way. That's a good one. I had not thought of that one. Why does Paul consider himself fortunate that his hearing is in front of Agrippa? OK. That's a good one. Mandy. I don't know if it will be addressed, but I wonder. Neither do I. I wonder if Agrippa actually knows of the persecution that Paul caused the Jews from before he was executed. Sure. because he's involved in the Jewish community. I think that's why he also addresses Jesus out of Nazareth. I think it's to appeal to that concept of how he was referred to. Andrew. Yeah. Great question. That ties into a lot of other questions, too, as we keep going. Anybody else? No? OK. Just real quick to go back to chapter 25 in verse, is it 23? So when Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. So I guess that's the context potentially of the audience, at least from what they say the audience is, military tribunes and prominent men of the city, which is probably a mix of Jews and Gentiles in that crowd, but not necessarily Jews who had accused Paul. So this is a sort of different audience. Mandy, did you have another one? Right. That's a good one. I had a general one of this, which kind of, in some ways, encompasses some of what you had asked Andrew, but what is Paul's motivation in this address to Agrippa? What is he motivated to do? Does he have a purpose or a goal that he's setting out for? Is he trying to vindicate himself in any way? Is he trying to get out of the charges? that they had brought against him and he's just sitting there waiting in chains to be sent to Rome. Does he think at all that this would lessen the charges? Festus needs to know what to write. Could that potentially lessen what he's going to write about if Paul gives a good, you know, what would you call it? Well, defense. It says defense in this section, even though most people believe that that's not really what he's doing. What are goads? What is that phrase? Why? This is another one. I don't know if you picked up on this at all, but this account of Paul's conversion is different from the others. Technically, each one has been different. Little things that are different in each of them. Some new things that get added. So yeah. Yeah. Why does he ask you to listen to him patiently? I've never seen poems about anyone else. No, it's a good one. Yeah. Is it because of the position he's addressing a king? Yeah, I think in the short answer, yes, because of this audience that he has before him. I think Paul, and this answers some of these questions about why is his account of his conversion slightly different? Why does he say some of the things that he says here? One, he's had a long time to think through how is he going to present himself, present the gospel to these people? And he is operating with much decorum. like maximal decorum before this king. And he was told he was going to speak before kings and people of high positions. And so he was told that, this is your shot, he's prepared. I think all of these remarks that he gives are intentional and well thought out. People, as I was reading through this, said that this is, it's a masterclass. in oration, in particular with this speech that he gives. And that this is the longest one of these ones that he gives from this whole section. I think from chapter 20 onward, this is the longest speech. Which is why patience is needed on the case of the king. But let's start then in verse one. And one thing that we have to keep in mind now in this narrative, as we roll from last week into this week, is that this is not another trial. It's not another court proceeding. He's not being tried again for what he had done. Technically, most people agree that this is not necessarily a defense. as in a defense that you would make when you're in court proceedings. In a lot of ways, people believe that this is more like he's a witness. He's a witness for himself. So he's presenting this more like he's on the witness stand and less like he's the defendant. But this is not a trial, so it can take longer. He can have freedom to say what he wants to say because people aren't there to condemn him. He's already been tried. He's going to go to Rome. So we have to remember then that this is simply an opportunity for Agrippa to help Festus. Agrippa wanted to hear Paul speak. He wants to understand what is going on with this guy Paul who's been in jail for so long and Festus can't figure out what to do with him. So it's because of that that Agrippa essentially grants permission to Paul to speak totally freely. and to tell Agrippa everything that he would like to tell him. So he kind of has carte blanche, so to speak. You have my permission. And that's essentially what he's saying then in verse one, when Agrippa says to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself. And then Paul stretches out his hand and makes his defense, so to speak. Stretching out his hand is just something that they did in that time. As an orator would stand up and speak, they would stretch out their hand and they would gesture that they're beginning, we're starting, and I'm gonna start telling you all the things that I have to tell you. But this permission that Agrippa gives is permission for Paul to proceed of his own accord, tell us what you want to tell us. And surely he knew that they were trying to understand what it was that they were going to write down and send to Caesar. So he is going to tell Agrippa everything that he wants to tell him. And this is especially catered to Agrippa. This whole presentation is to a Jewish king. That's his audience. There are other people there, for sure, and they are hearing it, but the amount of times, I did not count them, but that he addresses Agrippa directly, whether he says, oh king, he uses his name, Agrippa, he says you, he uses those personal pronouns of you, have heard or understood. So there's a lot of interaction where he is almost directly interacting with this king and freely speaking his mind. The interesting thing in all of this is that just as they had this, there's a huge contrast between the dazzling robes and everything of this king and everybody coming into that audience hall. a big deal and Paul is in rags and in chains. And this guy in rags and chains is going to give a brilliant oration. He is going to give a brilliant speech to them, especially to the king. It's almost as if Paul's the noble. And it's ironic that they came in with this dazzling garb and all of that. But Paul displays a quiet dignity with this message that he has to give to him. So it does say that he made a defense. Most people say he's actually not defending himself. He's telling of the whole entire situation, but with the common goal of presenting the truth of the gospel. in this entire thing. So Paul is playing the part of a witness, not a defendant. Because ultimately, anything that Paul says, is it really going to make a difference? He's going to Rome, right? He appealed to Caesar and they said, You wanna go to Caesar? To Caesar you're gonna go. So nothing he says is gonna change that. They're essentially washing their hands from him. They just need to know what to tell Caesar, but he's going to Caesar, so nothing he says will affect that. So his request for that to happen, for him to go to Rome to appeal to Caesar, that is set in stone. Nothing is going to affect that. So this is just a free speech. I'll just say this is a free speech that he gets to give to a king. So he starts then in verse two. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you King Agrippa that I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews. Which technically he doesn't actually even acknowledge all the accusations they made. Especially so he's fortunate that it's to this king. He says especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently. Start at the end there in verse three. He's asking the king for patience because he knows he's gonna take a little while. So he's asking him to hear him out fully, to be engaged and to listen. But I think he is genuinely excited or thankful that he gets to present to this king Because there's familiarity there, doesn't necessarily mean familiarity between Paul and Agrippa, but he's not practicing insincere flattery. He really means it. This is really an opportunity for him to connect with this Jewish king, and this Jewish king should understand what he's gonna tell him. Because he's gonna speak, as we'll see in a little bit, about the resurrection. Not necessarily of Jesus, but resurrection in general as a doctrine. And that is all throughout the Old Testament. So he's going to have familiarity with all of what Paul is going to say. And Paul is going to try to make these connections so that this king really understands what he's trying to say. So he is truly thankful for this opportunity to speak to this king. Now this familiarity that Agrippa has is with, it says, all the customs and controversies. So all the customs, all the doctrines, all the practices, all the things encompassing what Judaism was, this king, Agrippa, was a Jewish king. He had familiarity with that. He knew. He knew what was in the scriptures. He knew all the customs that they practiced. The controversies, meaning between the different sects of the Jewish leaders and people, right? Sadducees, Pharisees, all of these people, all the different controversies that come up over points of doctrine. He knows all of that. He's heard all of it. Paul's acknowledging this familiarity. And he's not speaking to a Gentile ruler, he's speaking to a Jewish king. The literal translation then of what it says here, let me get my other paper. When it says, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews, the literal translation is really saying that Agrippa is especially expert. He is especially expert in the Jewish ways. So he's no slouch when it comes to everything pertaining to Judaism. He intends, in what he's going to tell Agrippa, he intends to show the king that Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Let's go to verse four and five. My manner of life from my youth spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee." So now Paul starts to give a description of his past. How he has always and technically will always be Jewish. Now is he necessarily a practicing Pharisee anymore? No. So this is his past. But his younger years were spent in Jerusalem learning and living under the strictest of Jewish laws and being brought up to be a Pharisee. When he was young his parents moved from Tarsus to Jerusalem so that he could be raised and educated there in Jerusalem. Paul was very very educated in all of these ways. Now he says essentially here that all of the Jews know me and know my entire life. There's a word for that. Hyperbole. Some people like to say hyperbole. Take your pick. But this is hyperbole. It's exaggeration. But essentially he's saying so many of the Jewish people know who I am. And not only do they know who he is because of all the things he's going to get into with punishing all the Christians and when he was ravaging the church, but even before then, being raised in Jerusalem under all of these Pharisaical teachers and teachings, These people would know who he was. And so he's pointing that out. Technically, it's ironic that they're the ones, not these ones in particular, but that those Jewish people that were accusing him knew full well who he was. They knew full well he was essentially a Pharisee of Pharisees as he described himself. They knew this. But what did they hate about him? that he was not one of them in that way anymore. They hated that he believed that Jesus had risen and was the Messiah. They hated him for that. So, as we move on at a quick clip here, and now I stand here on trial, verse six, Because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which our 12 tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship night and day, and for this hope I am accused by Jews, O King. Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? So this group of verses here, I have marked this down as essentially the meat of Paul's argument. He's going to talk for a long while longer, but this is the meat of his argument. He's asserting that it's because of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead that he is under fire from these Jewish leaders. He doesn't mention any of the other charges that were leveled against him by then, stuff about defiling the temple with a Gentile or any of that other stuff that they had brought up. He's pinning all of this on the fact that it has to do with this doctrine of resurrection, and why? Why does it have to do with that? Because they denied that one single person had been resurrected, right? And we'll get into this, but they completely, besides the Sadducees, the Jewish people understood the resurrection of the body. That was clear, that was a doctrine that was clear to them from the beginning, that there would be a resurrection. And we'll look at some of those places, but he is boiling this all down to that, and he's making this connection that you believe in a resurrection from the dead, but you don't believe that this Jesus, the Messiah, was resurrected from the dead? How can these two things go together? Now I already mentioned this, why were the Sadducees sad you see? It's the only way that I can remember that they didn't believe in the resurrection. They were sad you see because they did not believe in the resurrection. But the Pharisees did and Paul was raised to be a Pharisee. So he is essentially asserting that all Jews And we'll use that like he used that. All the Jews, they all believed in resurrection. So, in the Old Testament, let's just run through some of these examples. God raised the son of the widow of Zarephath through Elijah. You can read about that in 1 Kings 17. God raised the son of the Shunammite woman through Not Elijah, but Elisha in 2 Kings chapter four. So you have both of those instances that are very clear that they all understood and believed. You have in the book of Job in chapter 19, Job says, for I know that my Redeemer lives and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, so dead, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold and not another. And then he exclaims, my heart faints within me because of that excitement, that he will behold his Redeemer. But is he gonna behold his Redeemer while he's dead? Or is he going to be resurrected? And he's going to see him in his own flesh, right? In Psalm 1610, it says, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. Hopefully we've all heard that and we know who that's referring to, but it's talking about a resurrection. Your body not being corrupted by death. Isaiah 16, 19 says, your dead shall live. That's clear. Their bodies shall rise. Also clear. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy for your due is a due of light and the earth will give birth to the dead. Daniel 12, 2. says, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And then one last infamous one in Ezekiel 37, can these dry bones live? The whole entire narrative of those dry bones, and of course that's speaking about God bringing spiritual life, to the spiritually dead, but it's also a veiled reference to literal physical resurrection at the same time. So, all throughout the Old Testament, these are just some examples that we see, but resurrection from the dead is something that they clearly perceived from Scripture. Now, did they clearly perceive that Jesus would be the Messiah and he would be resurrected from the dead? Obviously not. Now they also knew that while Jesus walked on the earth, so we can head into the New Testament time period, he literally raised people from the dead as well. And his apostles did. So Jesus raised a widow's son from the dead in Luke 7. He raised Jairus' daughter from the dead in Luke 8. He raised the big one, Lazarus, from the dead in John chapter 11. And even in our own book of Acts that we've been in, in Acts 9, Peter raised someone from the dead. Remember her name? Dorcas or Tabitha, right? And in Acts chapter 20, six chapters before us, Paul raised somebody from the dead. Remember his name? Yup. So given all of this history of resurrection from the dead, Could God not raise Jesus from the dead? All these other people were raised. There's all these other examples. Could he not raise Jesus from the dead? And that's what Paul's pointing out here, especially in verse eight, when he says, why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? Why would you think he can't raise the dead? Well, you don't. You think he can raise the dead because you have clear examples of it. But why is it so surprising he'll connect it to Jesus being raised from the dead? That's like a little aside that he takes in his speech, even though it's kind of the meat of the crux of the issue that he declares. But now he goes on again to his history in verse nine. I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme. And in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. So Paul's pointing out here that even he himself was convinced voluntarily not by an outside force he was convinced in and of himself to oppose these Christians. Which is literally the same thing that they are doing to him. There's irony in all of this. But he was convinced to oppose the name of Jesus. Nobody ordered him to do that. Ultimately, Paul was blinded by unbelief, just like these people are blinded by unbelief. But he goes on to say that he opposed them fully and violently, locking them up, punishing them, raging fury against them. It couldn't be clearer that he was one of these people who were persecuting him. He was that person. He even says that when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. People argue about this phrase. It's not worth it to argue about this phrase. People think that he actually had a vote that he literally was able to cast against them. But back when Paul was ravaging the church, he was young. He's older now. When he was younger, he couldn't have been a part of the Sanhedrin. Those were the elders of Israel. They were all older, wiser, et cetera. So if anybody was having a vote, it was a Sanhedrin. And they would have had official votes that they could cast. So it's likely that he's saying that he was in full agreement whenever any of these kinds of votes or things were happening. Think specifically about Stephen. When they're saying, he needs to be killed, kill him, kill him, kill him, Paul's going, yes, yes, yes. That's his vote. Shake your fist in the air and yell, yes, crucify him, just like they all did with Jesus, right? Their votes were cast against Jesus. Paul cast his vote, so to speak, against these Christians. Also, though, remember in John chapter 18, verse 32, the Jews were not allowed to enforce the death penalty. Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. The Jews said to him, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. Talking about Jesus in that case. But the death penalty could be carried out by the Sanhedrin only when the sanctity of the temple had been violated. That's the only reason that they could actually cast a vote for the death penalty. Otherwise it was up to these Roman governors and people to execute. So we see this even in the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus I guess we should say, that they had to petition Rome to kill him. They could not do that themselves. So Paul's likely indicating he supported the opinion that these Christians should be put to death. In all of this though, if you can read between these lines, Paul is saying, I was a most zealous Jew. I was zealous to pursue them anywhere that they were and to punish them. Verse 12. He even makes this connection then himself, because he says, in this connection, that he sort of chased them to other cities, I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priest. This is his segue into the next section, that he traveled to Damascus to find and arrest these Christians. But this segue is leading him into something that changed his life forever. The occasion on the road to Damascus that would forever change the course of the rest of his life and is ultimately the reason why he is there in chains before Agrippa. So now he heads into another retelling of his conversion. Verse 13. I don't know about that, but I know that in the things that I was reading, it's likely that he did go to other places. And for whatever reason, what we have recorded in the Word is because of the conversion on the road. Yeah. But it was likely that he did travel. How far? Who knows? But he did travel to other places because, as he's pointing out, he was zealous to get them. He was going to go get them wherever they were. So he starts in on this account of his conversion and says, at midday, O King, when he was on that road to Damascus, so it was such an impression that it made on him, he knew it was noon. He knew that this happened at midday. I saw on the way a light from heaven brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads." So as we head into this technically third conversion account, we have to keep in mind these small differences that we referenced earlier, and this additional information that he presents. He doesn't mention here in this account being blinded. He also doesn't mention Ananias and Ananias' role at all. Those things get skipped. But if you think about who he's talking to, and his goal in who he's talking to, you can see this pattern in Paul's speeches and interactions, that the setting and the purpose of his different accounts contribute to the differences in how he tells the account. So he was always attuned to his audience. Was he talking to a Gentile audience? Was he talking to a Jewish audience? In this case, in a way, even though there's a lot of other people that are there, the audience is the king and he is going to cater this to the king. So he's in tune with the audience and with the goal that he has in retelling the account. Did they really need to know the details of him being blinded and that he was blind until he went to Ananias? And then Ananias essentially unblinded him, let's just say, right? Like, all of those things didn't feed into what he's trying to communicate here to Agrippa. This is also the only case where Paul talks about his traveling companions falling to the ground. In the other ones, he falls to the ground prostrate. But in this one it says his traveling companions also fall to the ground as the light shines all around them. Some that I read said it's possible that those companions fell to the ground and then rose back up quickly because they still had their sight. And so they got up quick. They could see what was going on where they were. And Paul stayed prostrate on the ground because he was blinded and couldn't see anything. We'll also see that specifically Jesus commands Paul to stand back up on his feet. So he was still on the ground. But in this retelling that Paul is giving, he wants Agrippa to clearly perceive that it was Jesus, the Jesus that they say is dead, that Festus even a little bit earlier in 25 was saying, Paul's saying this guy's alive, this guy was dead, that he's saying that this guy's alive. He wants Agrippa to hear, Jesus is the one who confronted me on this road. And that Jesus was the one that was responsible for turning Paul's religious zeal onto its head. to make that religious zeal that he had for this risen Christ. It wasn't to chase down the Christians anymore, but did he still have religious zeal and fervor? Yeah, he's talking to a king about it right now. He's gonna share the truth of God's word with this king. This is also the only account where we read that Jesus spoke to Paul in Hebrew. Again, he's talking to a Jewish king. The Jewish king is hearing, Jesus is the one who confronted me. He's alive. He spoke to me in Hebrew. All of these things are Jewish. This is all reinforcing this Jewish theme, so to speak. So this is just to further demonstrate to Agrippa that not only was Jesus alive and was talking to Paul on this road to Damascus, but he spoke in their native tongue. And this should have resonated then with Agrippa. The one thing that is always the same in all these conversion accounts that Paul gives is Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Verbatim, exactly the same in all of the conversion accounts. Except for there's added here, it's hard for you to kick against the goads. This is a, it's an old proverb of the day, and it was borrowed from an agricultural setting. So goads, what were goads? Yeah. A prod to move the animals, animals a burden as they're working. And so as they're prodding on the animal to do something, was it a fruitless thing if the animal would kick back against that sharp object? Right, it would make it worse for the animal. That's the whole point of this phrase here because it metaphorically points out that it's fruitless for Paul to resist God and what God had planned for him. There's no point in him kicking against the goads, right, of resisting what God was doing. But this account specifically informs Agrippa that this is the turning point in Paul's life. So he gave his history, talked about who he was. Why do these people hate him? Why is he different now? This was the turning point. This was what had happened. And to communicate with Agrippa that it wasn't something that Paul just decided to do on a whim. Now I'm gonna be a Christian guy. Instead of doing all this stuff against them, now I'm gonna just join them. It was a direct commission from God. Because we see then in verse 15, and I said, who are you, Lord? And maybe he paused to great effect. Who are you, Lord? And Agrippa's on the edge of his seat. Who was it? Who was it that's talking to you? Who was it with this bright light and all of these things? It had to be God, right? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. So Paul is pointing out and making a point of saying that this calling on Paul's life had a divine origin. It was a personal and a direct commission from Jesus. Even though Festus said, oh, well, you know, they're disputing about this Jesus guy who's dead, but Paul says that he's alive, all these circumstances paint this picture, that this was entirely divine. And Agrippa should understand that, given his understanding of the Old Testament and all the things that happened in the Old Testament. Divine commissions. Can you think of any divine commissions in the Old Testament? The prophets, Moses, yeah. There's so many, you probably couldn't even point them all out. Yeah, judges, all the prophets. I think about Isaiah being commissioned directly. All of that is woven into this conversion story, all of this speech that he's giving. And in the first two accounts of Paul's conversion, Jesus tells Paul to enter the city of Damascus where he'll be told what to do. In this one, we finally see that he was directly commissioned by Jesus. That potentially was skipped in the other ones. And Ananias further confirmed something that Jesus had already told Paul. So here in this account, Jesus directly commissions him to do what? To be a servant and a witness of Jesus, essentially. So the fact that Jesus identifies himself as speaking, means that this Jew with the name Jesus that they were talking about was still alive and shares God's glory and directs human affairs. Bob. Sure. For sure. Well, though he's blind. Though he's blind, technically, but I get what you're saying. He has an interaction directly with Jesus, an interaction directly. He doesn't have this anywhere else. Well, yeah, in the epistles. Directly from, yeah. But I'm talking about actually seeing the living Christ. Yeah, and regardless of whether it's here that he sees him, because he's blinded, or he sees him in some other instance, right? Because he goes away for a while to be taught and receives further revelations of the truths of the Old Testament that he's then going to take to the Gentiles. But he definitely had this interaction, for sure. Right. One untimely born. Yeah, and in all of this, if you think about the audience again, think about Agrippa and his familiarity with the Old Testament, He would also be thinking about the call to Isaiah, the call to all of these people to serve God, to be his mouthpiece. Now he's hearing Paul say, I was essentially given the same thing. Paul, we're not saying that Paul was a prophet, so to speak, but that connection is being made with Agrippa, that this is God who is directing this. And that's what should jump out at him. Now let's get to, this last verse real quick, because there's a lot of Old Testament then that comes into play in this last verse, because essentially Paul says he's to be a servant and a witness to Jesus. But to do what? What's the point? Why is he being sent and commissioned? It says, to open their eyes. so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." So to what end was Paul being commissioned? So that Jesus could go and open these people's blind eyes. that people could be receiving forgiveness of sins, that they would be converted to faith in Christ. Yeah, and in... Yeah, he's a kingdom builder. And again, because of this audience, does he really want to keep pointing out that he commissioned me to go to the Gentiles and to the Gentiles I went and I traveled here and I did these things to a Jewish king. Not to say that he's necessarily avoiding saying the Gentiles, he did say that in verse 17, that Jesus will deliver him from his people and from the Gentiles to whom I'm sending. But the whole idea then here in the purpose of what the work is that Jesus is gonna do through Paul, Agrippa should pick up on these illusions that Paul is making from the book of Isaiah especially. Think about Isaiah's commissioning. So Paul's talking about being commissioned. In Isaiah's commissioning in Isaiah 6, beginning at verse 9, He's commissioned to go tell the people keep on hearing but do not understand. Keep on seeing but do not perceive. So opening blind eyes is one of the points of Paul's mission. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. Isaiah 42, verses six and seven say, I am the Lord. I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. So out of the darkness to the light. And then in verse seven, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison, those who sit in darkness. A little bit further in Isaiah 42 verse 16, So this good news of the gospel of Jesus that Paul is alluding to, it opens blind eyes, turns people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Knowing the Old Testament well, Agrippa should resonate with all of what he's saying of these effects that Jesus has on people, opening blind eyes, taking them from darkness to light. This is all woven throughout the Old Testament, but Isaiah especially continues to talk about this idea of opening the eyes of blind people and unstopping ears. We see in 1 Peter 2.9, at the end of 2.9, it says that he called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. One of these effects that Paul tells Agrippa that Jesus told him about. Jesus himself said in John 9 39, for judgment I came into this world that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. So this whole idea in this last verse should just further cement and connect in Agrippa all of his knowledge of the Old Testament. He should see all of these things as being similar, as being technically what Paul is alluding to is that these are a fulfillment of all of what you are familiar with in the Old Testament. That Jesus fulfills this, that forgiveness of sins is a result of what happens when people have their eyes open. So when they come into the light and they return to God out of darkness, liberated from the power of Satan, this is the salvation that Paul has been going around and declaring and is now alluding to in this first half of what we cover here. So then the question as we go this evening, Speaking of these effects, these effects of faith in Jesus, has this happened to you? These effects. Do you profess and possess faith in Jesus? Have your sins been forgiven? Do you walk in light and not in darkness? Do you have sight, true sight? Or are our eyes still blinded? like Paul's were. So, next week, we'll get into more of what Paul has to communicate with Agrippa the king. But for now, just Take away from tonight this audience that Paul is speaking to and that the reason why he's framing things the way he's framing them is trying to lead Agrippa to an understanding of all the things that he already knows about the Jewish people and the Old Testament. So keep that in mind as we head on to the second half. Why don't we pray. Lord we thank you so much that you speak to us by your word. Lord that you emboldened Paul even to be so eloquent in front of all kinds of people even all the way up to kings. Lord that we would have even half the boldness that Paul had. And Lord that we would be able to make all of these connections and consider our audience when we have interactions with others. Lord that we can clearly articulate the truths of your word and your gospel. that your son really was sent to this earth and lived perfectly on behalf of sinners and died on behalf of sinners and was raised again as Paul alludes to here, that Lord we would be able to communicate these things just as effectively. So Lord we thank you, we pray for continued protection for us even tonight as we go. that Lord you would bring us all back together safely again on Sunday. We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen.