"Almost Persuaded."
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I. Introduction & Scripture Setting.
I. Introduction & Scripture Setting.
There were more than forty altogether....
Forty men took a blood oath in the light of a guttering torch.
They were bound together as one, by hatred for a preacher: A man who spoke truth.
“We will not eat or drink until we have spilt his life’s blood!”
Just hours before, the Apostle Paul was very nearly torn limb from limb by the mob in Jerusalem!
Had it not been for the quick actions of the officer on duty, Paul would not have lived to see another day!
But that Roman Officer, being charged with peace and Civil order, stepped in and spared Paul from the baying mob!
Now the way things are supposed to work here and now, is that if you are charged with a crime, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty!
Much of the rest of the world still looks at it the way Rome looked at it they night Paul was taken into custody:
They figured you were guilty until proven innocent, and good luck with that!
Even so, I can imagine that Paul was grateful to be spared. I sure would be!
Locked up in the fortress, temporarily secured behind iron and stone, it was not possible for those killers to reach him.
But they knew...
As a Roman citizen, He would have to be transported the 60 miles to Ceaserea for a proper hearing.
Far easier to take a man’s life in the commotion of a roadside ambush!
And so they swore their oath.
“This man must die!”
But Paul’s nephew, overheard what they intended to do!
The Romans must be told!!! And he did.
It’s all right there in the book of Acts!
Had you lived on that street that lined the road from the fortress, had you gotten up, perhaps due to insomnia or maybe to fetch a drink of water, you would have seen a procession of wood, bronze, leather and cold steel!
The crunch of 800 hob nailed battle sandles passing by your door is a thing you won’t soon forget!
Two hundred heavy infantry and two hundred spearmen, their weapons a moving forest, swaying and dipping in the starlight.
The clip clop of 280 iron shod hooves, no trader’s swayback nag these, but trained, Cavalry, heavy horse!
Almost half of all the Roman military stationed in Jerusalem, formed a protective detail and escort for Paul that night!
A Roman on his way to Roman justice.
The Governor would hear his case!
The Bible tells us that Paul arrived in one piece!
And that’s about the time that the lawyers got involved.
Now folks, let me say that there are some good, solid and Christian people practicing law.
But then there are the other kind.... uhhuh...
They did their best to make Paul look bad and get him released to their gentle custody.
Good for him they did not!
As it happens, the Roman Governor Felix held Paul on ice, hoping for a bribe!
Two years....
How would you like to be held for two years without trial?
That’s a lot of pushups folks!!!!
And Paul has work to do!
The burden for millions of lost gentiles rests on his heart, He has got to get out of here!
Two years!
Finally another Governor replaces Felix. This one’s name is Festus.
And Festus is a politician.
He needs peace and the goodwill of the Sanhedrin in order to secure his new job!
Paul was a small price to pay for that.
The Jews wanted Paul released to them for trial in Jerusalem and Paul knew that if they got him back to Jerusalem, he was done for!
A knife between the ribs, a club or even an accident could be arranged on the way there!
And so He did the only thing he could: He did the one thing that every Roman citizen could do as a last, last resort for justice: He appealed to Ceaser!
This meant that He would have to be transported to Rome and brought before the judgement of Ceaser himself!
It would take years of hardships, further incarceration and waiting, but it was the only thing left for Paul to do!
Now while arrangements were being made to ship him off to Rome,
King Agrippa II, had come to visit the new Governor Festus, and Paul was brought before them to answer for himself once more.
This brings us to Acts 26.
As we hear his words this morning, I have to take my hat off to Paul!
As frustrated as he must be, to keep his cool and communicate well, clearly and concisely, it is amazing to me!
He was so smart you see!
And he knew that it is impossible to antagonize and persuade someone at the same time!
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:
I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews: Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them: And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.
“Almost Thou Persuadest me to be a Christian.”
“You almost had me Paul....”
“…Almost Persuaded.”
These are some of the saddest words you’ll ever hear.
Agrippa knew the law and prophets!
He recognized the clear ring of truth!
He could have chosen to believe and obey!!!
He could have wrapped his heart around the message and changed his life forever!
He could have stepped that day, directed his feet and those of his family, away from a broad way that leadeth to destruction!
He could have chosen the narrow way that leads to life everlasting!!!!
All it would have taken is one moment of openness and honesty!
One moment of change!
One stand! For life and peace!
Paul brought him there with his words and conviction!
Closer and closer Paul urged him until finally Agrippa stood on the edge of decision:
Here it is: You’re gonna have to choose!
And Agrippa chose wrong.
He chose the here and now.
He rejected eternal things!
He rejected the God who loves mankind enough to save and change him!
He chose the comfortable and familiar trappings of power and politics.
His choice found words as he looked at Paul and said:
“You almost had me.....”
Almost persuaded.
II. Scripture Support.
II. Scripture Support.
I think of Lot, who preferred the easy city life and well watered plains.
“Take it easy, will ya?”
I think of the rich young ruler, who came so close to discipleship, so close to relationship with Jesus, but at the last, found the cost too great.
He almost made it!
Almost persuaded.
It is the sad story of so many today!
Missed opportunities!
I think of Jeremiah lamenting a nation who almost repented: The saddest words you’ll ever hear:
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Remember the ten foolish virgins, who left to buy oil, and while they were otherwise occupied, the bridegroom came!
They almost made it!
Salvation and celebration was sooooo close!
If only they had stayed full!
Almost persuaded!
How can a city welcome Messiah with tears of joy one day, and string him up the next?
And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
That’s kinda morose Pastor Louw!
A real downer!
Why do you have to talk about this?
Well, I don’t have to...
I could give you “Ten ways to be happy,” or “Five ways to see increase,”
Then I could take up an offering, send you home and hold another service in exactly 45 minutes and repeat the process for a few years until I have some money!
Isn’t that the formula these days?
Pause...
I think I’d rather tell you the truth.
And the truth is that you can almost get to heaven.
You can almost see your family saved.
You can almost learn to live for God!
Almost have victory!
Almost have peace!
Almost do something for God!
You can almost be the man or woman God wants you to be and then lose it all!!!!
And if we don’t face those facts, we are not safe.
Every one of us needs a preacher to call right, right and wrong, wrong!
We need to face the fact that Satan goes about like a roaring lion, looking for a weak one, a sick one, someone out on their own and straying from safety!
We need to face it and make a choice:
“Almost is just almost, but that’s not good enough for me!
I want to be right with God!!!!”
I want heaven as my home!
I need my soul to be safe!
I want Jesus! I choose Jesus!
“This world is not my home, I’m just a a passing through, my treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue...
The angels beckon me, from heaven’s open door, and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore....”
I am asking you today:
I am begging you:
Please do not almost be saved!
Please, do not almost live for Jesus!
Don’t almost be happy!
Don’t almost find peace!
I say you oughtta dive right into the will of God!!!!
I say you oughtta let Jesus fill your lamp full of HIi Holy Life until you can’t take any more!
Throw yourself into his plan and purpose!
Give yourself to something greater and grander than any human endeavor!
Do what you know is right and do it now!!!!
Don’t wait!
Please don’t be almost persuaded.
II. Application
II. Application
Listen, there has never been a better time to get serious with God!
There has never been a better time to choose Jesus!
The cost has never been less!
The benefits have never been greater!
Now, I’ve talked about “almost persuaded” this morning, because I have to.
It’s my responsiblility as pastor.
But now I get to what I really want to say:
You almost lost it! Almost!
But God kept you!
God brought you here for such a time as this!!!!
David was a shepherd boy. Most likely illigitemate and a shame to his father. Put away in the fields to watch the stock.
The Prophet came to Jesse’s house to annoint the future king and He almost missed David.
“Don’t you have another son?”
David almost missed his chance!
But He didn’t!
The oil ran down, slopped down his young face, as his brothers gaped in astonishment!
When Goliath roared and spat curses at God’s people, David would not accept that.
He almost took on the giant with a set of armor that would have got him killed. Almost.
After the slaughter, after the victory, King Saul, a jealous man, a man who stood head and sholders above any in the land, took a spear...
He grabbed the wooden shaft of that Javelin, and with arms, sholders and torso, flung the razor sharp spear directly at David!
He would have been pinned to the wall, like a buttefly exhibit, had it not been for the grace of God!
I hear the voice of Saul’s daughter, David’s wife, who told him: “My dad’s men are at the door! I’ll try to stall them, but If you don’t get out that back window now, you’re a dead man!!!”
He almost didn’t make it!
What is it like to be an outlaw?
Hunted like an animal?
Your only friends, those as desperate and indebted as you!
I imagine him there at the cave of Adullum. 400 of the meanest, baddest hombres anywhere.
David’s the boss. He’s gotta be meaner, tougher, bigger and badder than them all!
It must have grieved his poet heart!
He could have taken a spare mount and rode off into the sunset.
And maybe he almost did.
Almost...
I know that he almost took vengeance upon himself!
He could have taken Saul’s life so many times during that chase, but he chose not too.
“Touch not God’s annointed.”
At one point, having been caught by his enemies, he rolled on the ground, frothing at the mouth as a madman!
He could have died that day.
And he did. Almost...
I remember when he had been so isolated from Isreal, living in no man’s land, working as a mercenary for the Phillistines, and he almost went to war against Israel.
Don’t tell me the elders of Israel would have ever made him king had he done that!
He almost lost his family.
Was almost lynched by his own men!
David was finally annointed king!
He finally took the throne of all Israel!
What a king he was!
Still, he made a mistake. A real bad one.
So bad in fact, he might have ended his own life or simply cut himself off from God and wasted his remaining years in excess and anger.
David was almost lost, life and legacy gone!
But this great man, this very human man, knew how to repent!
And sometimes, we all need to repent, don’t we?
Don’t wait...
All it takes is moments, to get right with God!
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I’m telling you, David almost lost it all!
But almost is just almost!!!!
And you friend, you almost went to a devil’s hell!!!
Your own feet were on that broadway that leadeth to destruction!
But somehow, the grace of God reached you!
I am only here today, because of the mercy and kindness and longsuffering of God!!!
He loves me and he loves you and he does not want that any of us should perish!
Now folks, out God has given us free agency!
He lets us make our own choices.
He never has forces mankind to do right or choose Him!
And yet the spirit of God woos the heart of mankind!
He draws us and leads us and steers us if we will listen!!!
He offers us the opportunity to walk after the Spirit and not the flesh!
There we are on the track of life and service.
And all around us is that innumerable cloud of witnesses!
They are cheering you on!!!!
Sure you almost lost it all! But you didn’t!
Somehow the prayers of a loved one reached your heart!!!!
Somehow in your midnight hour, when you had hit rock bottom and hit it hard,
The Love of God reached even to you and lifted you out!!!!!
Yeah, you were almost gone, but almost is just almost!!!!
And today, I am looking at blood bought, Spirit filled, children of the living God!
You almost lost out, but God kept you!!!!
How many more, is He working on right now?
Don’t ever stop praying for them!
Ask God to send his angels to protect them!!!
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Listen, if you think all the almosts were an accident, just pure chance, then think again!!!!
It was God all along!
The hand of God, that kept you alive!
That protected you!
That has brought you to this point, here and now!
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion
Perhaps you thought it was good luck.
No sir! No ma’am!
It was the hand of God that saved you!!!!
All these years, he has been wathching out for you!!!!!
100k heartbeats that God gives you every single day!
He does that on purpose! He loves you!
“Almost is just almost!”
Oh the mercy of God!!!!!!
A flood that should have wiped out all humanity!
A Pharoah that killed all the Herew boys but one!
Crocodiles that did not eat that floating basket with baby Moses inside!
Thre Hebrew boys that should have been burnt in that furnace and consumed!
Assasins that would have killed baby Jesus had Mary and Joseph not escaped to Africa!
A fish that swallowed a backslid prophet!
A den of savage, starving lions who would not harm the man of God!
Disaster almost!
Judgement almost!!!
injury, heartache and wasted years! Almost!!!!!
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Here it is folks, this is all I have to say and you this is what you need to hear today:
Please!!!!
If you are almost saved.
If you are almost persuaded,
If you are almost prayed through, then I beg you. Make your choice today!
Pray through to victory today!
Don’t leave here today with out peace!
Don’t walk out without perfect peace!
And then friend, if yuou are here today with a made up mind:
“I’ve have chosen Jesus over this world!”
Then what you need to do is thank God for his mercy and celebrate His love!
As I open this altar today, every one of us has a task that brings us to the altar!
You can get right now, or you can celebrate the day you did!
Either way, I invite you to leave your seat and let’s all talk to Jesus!
(Explain how to repent, ETC if there are new folks!)
“I am not almost saved, I am washed in the blood of the lamb!
No more fence sitting for this old boy! I want Jesus!
I want heaven!
I want righteousness!
I have been baptized in Jesus name and I live by that covenant!
My sins are washed away as far as the East is from the West!
I have a well inside of me!
A well of joy when life gets heavy!
A source of peace when troubles like the tide!
A place that I can go and walk with my savior, side by side!
The devil almost got me!
But almost is just almost!!!!
I am gonna make it!
I will do great exploits for my Jesus!
I will know joy and victory!!!!!