Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What is the all-encompassing, overarching, and ultimate purpose of your life?

This is probably a lot to ask before lunchtime on a Sunday, but I really want us to think about it this morning.

What in the world are you living for?

I know we all do a lot of stuff… We give time to working at our jobs, we put effort into fixing up our houses, we spend money to maintain our cars, we play with our kids, spend time with our spouse, build relationships with our friends, and many of us also have other hobbies and goals we chase on top of all of that… But I’m asking, “What’s it all for?”

What is that all-encompassing, overarching, and ultimate purpose that gives all of those details consistency and motivation?

Are you just working and fixing and building and playing so that you can just keep doing it all again tomorrow?

Or is there some bigger purpose for your job than just your paycheck?

…a bigger purpose for your house than just having a nice place to store your stuff?

…a bigger purpose for your life than merely living another day?

In today’s passage we are going to see a man whose life is marked by a single-minded perspective of what in the world he is living for.

The Apostle Paul had an all-encompassing, overarching, and ultimate purpose… and I think, though we are not Paul, and we are not capital “A” Apostles, we can certainly see Luke recording this scene in Paul’s life as a sort of snapshot for Christians who would read about it to understand their own place in this world.

Our passage this morning is also something of a culmination and summary of the book of Acts… but this will only be obvious to those of us who have been following along with the storyline.

A quick reminder won’t hurt any of us, and it will probably be a help to most of us.

The book of Acts begins with a form of the Great Commission and the establishment of the New Covenant people… complete with its own foundation of twelve, just like Israel of old… though with the New Covenant people the twelve are Apostles and not physical descendants.

And Christ’s Apostles, and all those who believe their message, are to be witnesses in all the world.

Of course, they are all to be empowered by God’s or Christ’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit), who did indeed show great power in the conversion of thousands on the first day of Pentecost after Jesus’s resurrection from the dead.

And after that first public gospel announcement, the Apostles and other believers spread throughout the known world, sharing the gospel, and seeing sinners brought out of the kingdom of Satan and this world and brought into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.

About a third of the way through the book of Acts, Luke focuses most of his attention on one particular Apostle and his missionary exploits – the Apostle Paul.

Paul was an Apostle “untimely born” (as he puts it himself in 1 Corinthians 15), but Paul was a hard-working and faithful witness for Christ… all the way through to the end.

So far, in Acts, we’ve seen the gospel go out to Jerusalem, to Judea more broadly, to Samaria, and now Luke is telling us how Paul got from Jerusalem all the way to Rome.

In our passage this morning, we’re picking up at an episode where Paul has already been in prison in Caesarea for more than two years.

He’s been accused of all sorts of things he hasn’t done, and he’s been writing letters to churches both to encourage and to correct them during his time in captivity.

What will Paul do with this now fourth opportunity for him to defend himself against his accusers?

What will be the focus of his efforts?

Will he aim to be free… or will he continue to make the gospel the emphatic center of his defense?

And, what will he urge his hearers in the courtroom to do?

Let’s all find out as we read Luke’s account of Paul’s appearance before the commonly known king of the Jews, Agrippa, and the rest of the court.

Scripture Reading

Acts 25:23–26:32 (ESV)

23 So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city.

Then, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.

24 And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish people petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

25 But I found that he had done nothing deserving death.

And as he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him.

26 But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him.

Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write.

27 For it seems to me unreasonable, in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him.”

1 So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

2 “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, 3 especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews.

Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 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.

6 And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship night and day.

And for this hope I am accused by Jews, O king! 8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 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.

11 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.

12 “In this connection I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

13 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.

14 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.’

15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

16 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, 17 delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 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.’

19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

22 To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: 23 that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

24 And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.”

25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words.

26 For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly.

For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner.

27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?

I know that you believe.”

28 And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?”

29 And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

30 Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them.

31 And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.”

32 And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Main Idea:

The gospel of Jesus Christ comes to sinners from God, who has been working throughout human history toward a final day of judgment, and Christ Himself offers the gospel of grace through sinners who repent and believe.

Sermon

Verses 22 and 23 of Acts 26 provide a sort of outline for our whole passage this morning.

Paul says that he has had “the help that comes from God” from the first moment of his conversion all the way to “this day,” when he was standing as the accused in front of a Roman king (v22).

Paul also says, in v22, that he has been preaching and teaching “nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass.”

And in v23, Paul says that Christ Himself was the one “proclaiming light” to the Jews (or “our people”) and also to the “Gentiles.”

And, of course, the hanging question throughout this passage (really throughout the Gospels and Acts) is there in v27, “Do you believe the prophets?”.

These verses form the structure of my sermon today: (1) Paul’s help from God, (2) the gospel from the Old Testament, (3) preaching light in the darkness, and (4) Paul’s prayer for his hearers – he wants them to repent and believe.

1. Help from God

When Paul said that he’d always had “the help that comes from God” (Acts 26:22), what did he mean?

Well, for one thing, Paul believed that it was by God’s “help” that he was “standing” there in front of Festus and Agrippa that day.

Paul said, “To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here…” (Acts 26:22).

This was in spite of the Jewish leaders’ attempt to “seize” Paul “in the temple” and their attempts to “kill” him (Acts 26:21).

It wasn’t for lack of trying that Paul was standing there alive that day.

From the time when Paul was first converted to Christ, he was a bold evangelist, “proclaiming Jesus” as the “Son of God” in “the synagogues” of Damascus (Acts 9:20).

But so too was the Jewish leadership, in every town along Paul’s way, flatly against Paul and against his message.

In Damascus, “the Jews plotted to kill him” (Acts 9:23).

On Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem as a new Christian, the “Hellenistic” Jews (or Greek-speaking or Greek-cultured Jews) “were seeking to kill him” there as well (Acts 9:29).

When Paul began his missionary efforts in Antioch in Pisidia, the Jewish leaders there “reviled” (or “blasphemed”) Paul, and “stirred up persecution” to “drive [him] out of their district” (Acts 13:45, 50).

And it was the same in Iconium and in Lystra.

As a matter of fact, many of the Jews from Antioch and Iconium actually traveled to Lystra and stirred up a mob that “stoned” Paul to death, or so they thought (Acts 14:19).

They believed they’d killed him, and Luke says they “dragged” his body “out of the city” to rot as the condemned corpse of a guilty man (Acts 14:19).

The list of reasons and opportunities for Paul to be dead (instead of testifying in front of Agrippa) is long, and Paul knew that it was only because of God’s help that he had survived.

Paul summarized a good bit of his troubles in 2 Corinthians 11… he said, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (2 Cor.

11:24-27).

I’m laboring this point again today, because we are so easily and so often encouraged to think about God’s help in unbiblical ways.

It was God’s “help” that brought Paul through all of this horrible affliction and distress; it was not God’s “help” to ensure that Paul would avoid affliction or distress.