Acts 26 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00Acts 26:1 [music]
2. 0:02Agrippa said to Paul,
3. 0:05"You are permitted to speak for [music]
4. 0:07yourself."
5. 0:08So, here Paul is
6. 0:10in front of the governor Festus, now in
7. 0:13front of the King Agrippa and his wife
8. 0:15Bernice, and so much pomp and
9. 0:18circumstance, [music]
10. 0:20commanders and generals and the
11. 0:23auditorium and
12. 0:25and here's Paul.
13. 0:28Then, Paul stretched out his hand and
14. 0:30proceeded [music] to make his defense.
15. 0:34"In regard to all the things of which I
16. 0:36am accused by the Jews,
17. 0:39I consider myself fortunate,
18. 0:42King Agrippa, that I am about to make my
19. 0:45defense before you today,
20. 0:48especially because you are [music] an
21. 0:50expert in all customs and questions
22. 0:53among the Jews.
23. 0:54Therefore, I beg you to listen to me
24. 0:57patiently.
25. 0:59So, then, all Jews know my manner of
26. 1:02life from my youth up,
27. 1:04which from the beginning was spent among
28. 1:06my own nation and at Jerusalem.
29. 1:10Since they have known about me for a
30. 1:12long time, if they're willing to testify
31. 1:16that I lived as a Pharisee according to
32. 1:19the strictest sect of our religion.
33. 1:23And now, I am standing trial for the
34. 1:26hope of the promise made by God to our
35. 1:30fathers.
36. 1:31The promise to which our 12 tribes hope
37. 1:35to attain as they earnestly serve God
38. 1:38night and day.
39. 1:40And for this hope, O King, I am accused
40. 1:43by the Jews.
41. 1:45Why is it considered incredible among
42. 1:48you people if God does raise the dead?
43. 1:52So, then, I thought to myself that I had
44. 1:55to do many things hostile to the name of
45. 1:57Jesus of Nazareth.
46. 2:00And this is just what I did in
47. 2:02Jerusalem. Not only did I lock up many
48. 2:05of the saints in prison, having received
49. 2:07authority from the chief priests, but
50. 2:09also when they were being put to death,
51. 2:11I cast my vote against them.
52. 2:16And as I punished them often in all the
53. 2:18synagogues, I tried to force them to
54. 2:20blaspheme.
55. 2:23And being furiously enraged at them, I
56. 2:26kept pursuing them even to foreign
57. 2:29cities.
58. 2:31Paul is saying,
59. 2:32"This is crazy. The Jews know that I was
60. 2:35more like them than they are. I was the
61. 2:38most zealous of them. I was raised like
62. 2:40them. I believed like them. And I
63. 2:42persecuted the church like them.
64. 2:45While so engaged,
65. 2:47as I was journeying to Damascus with the
66. 2:50authority and commission of the chief
67. 2:53priests, at midday, O King,
68. 2:57I saw on the way a light from heaven
69. 3:03brighter than the sun,
70. 3:05shining all around me and those who were
71. 3:08journeying with me.
72. 3:10And when we had all fallen to the
73. 3:12ground, I heard a voice saying to me in
74. 3:16the Hebrew dialect,
75. 3:18'Saul, Saul,
76. 3:21why are you persecuting me?
77. 3:26It is hard for you to kick against the
78. 3:30goads.'
79. 3:32And I said, 'Who are you, Lord?'
80. 3:37And the Lord said,
81. 3:39'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
82. 3:45But get up and stand on your feet. For
83. 3:48this purpose I have appeared to you to
84. 3:51appoint you a minister and a witness not
85. 3:53only to the things
86. 3:55which you have seen, but also to the
87. 3:58things in which I will appear to you,
88. 4:02rescuing you from the Jewish people and
89. 4:06from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending
90. 4:09you,
91. 4:10to open their eyes so that they may turn
92. 4:13from darkness to light and from the
93. 4:16dominion of Satan
94. 4:18>> [clears throat]
95. 4:18>> to God,
96. 4:20that they may receive forgiveness of
97. 4:22sins and an inheritance among those who
98. 4:25have been sanctified by faith in me.'
99. 4:30So, he says, "This is what Jesus called
100. 4:32me to,
101. 4:34to bring hope to the Gentiles and not
102. 4:36just the Jews,
103. 4:37to be a witness." And he's got great
104. 4:39courage because he tells this Gentile
105. 4:41king in this whole pompous
106. 4:43court that God's going to rescue him
107. 4:46from the Gentiles and from the Jews.
108. 4:50And he tells them
109. 4:52that God is sending him to open the eyes
110. 4:57so that they may turn from darkness to
111. 5:00light,
112. 5:01from the dominion of Satan to God.
113. 5:05And in this, we understand Paul's view
114. 5:08of the dominion.
115. 5:09Kingdom is king dominion.
116. 5:12>> [clears throat]
117. 5:12>> So, when he says that
118. 5:15he is turning people from the dominion
119. 5:17of Satan, he's saying Satan's dominion
120. 5:20is darkness, confusion, and falsehood.
121. 5:24And God's dominion is light and truth
122. 5:28and the Holy Spirit.
123. 5:30That they may receive forgiveness of
124. 5:31sins and an inheritance among those who
125. 5:35have been sanctified by faith.
126. 5:38So, King Agrippa, I did not prove
127. 5:42disobedient to the heavenly vision.
128. 5:45But I kept declaring both to those in
129. 5:47Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem,
130. 5:50and then throughout all the region of
131. 5:52Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that
132. 5:55they should repent and turn to God,
133. 5:58performing deeds appropriate to
134. 6:01repentance.
135. 6:03Well, Paul thinks that repenting and
136. 6:05turning to God is not merely a mental
137. 6:07thing,
138. 6:09but it includes performing deeds
139. 6:12appropriate to repentance.
140. 6:15Repentance is not something in your head
141. 6:17and heart only, it's in your actions.
142. 6:20For this reason, because he's preaching
143. 6:23this to the Gentiles, some Jews seized
144. 6:27me in the temple and tried to put me to
145. 6:28death.
146. 6:30So, having obtained help from God, I
147. 6:32stand to this day testifying both to
148. 6:35small and great, stating nothing but
149. 6:39what the prophets and Moses said was
150. 6:41going to take place.
151. 6:44That the Christ was to suffer,
152. 6:46and that by reason of his resurrection
153. 6:48from the dead, he would be the first to
154. 6:51proclaim light
155. 6:53both to the Jewish people and to the
156. 6:56Gentiles.
157. 6:58While Paul was saying this in his
158. 7:00defense, Festus said in a loud voice,
159. 7:03"Paul, you are out of your mind. Your
160. 7:08great learning is driving you mad."
161. 7:13But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind,
162. 7:17most excellent Festus,
163. 7:19but I utter words of sober truth.
164. 7:23For the king knows about these matters,
165. 7:26and I speak to him also with confidence,
166. 7:29since I am persuaded that none of these
167. 7:32things escape his notice. For this has
168. 7:36not been done in a corner."
169. 7:39He's [snorts] saying, "What happened to
170. 7:40Jesus and what Jesus did and how Jesus
171. 7:43arose, I know in my heart Agrippa is
172. 7:46aware of it, for it was not done in a
173. 7:49corner."
174. 7:53"King Agrippa, do you believe the
175. 7:55prophets? I know that you do."
176. 8:00Agrippa replied to Paul,
177. 8:02"In a short time, you will persuade me
178. 8:05to become a Christian."
179. 8:08And Paul said, "I would wish to God that
180. 8:12whether in a short or a long time, not
181. 8:15only you, but also all who hear me this
182. 8:17day might become such as I am, except
183. 8:21for these chains."
184. 8:23The king stood up and the governor and
185. 8:25Bernice and those who were sitting with
186. 8:27him. And when they had gone aside,
187. 8:30>> [music]
188. 8:30>> they began talking to one another,
189. 8:32saying,
190. 8:33"This man is not doing anything worthy
191. 8:35of death [music] or imprisonment."
192. 8:37And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man
193. 8:40might have been set free if he had not
194. 8:43appealed to Caesar."
195. 8:46Agrippa
196. 8:47acknowledges.
197. 8:50He doesn't answer Paul's direct
198. 8:51question. [music]
199. 8:53Did he believes the prophets?
200. 8:55But he does.
201. 8:56And he says, "Paul, if you keep going
202. 8:58like this,
203. 8:59I'm going to become a Christian."
204. 9:01And he stands up as if he can't take
205. 9:04[music] the preaching any longer. And he
206. 9:06goes aside and he tells Festus, "This
207. 9:08guy This [music] guy should not be in in
208. 9:11prison. He certainly shouldn't be on
209. 9:13death row.
210. 9:14But, he appealed to Caesar."
211. 9:17This is an example of the courage that
212. 9:20it takes
213. 9:22to turn your disaster, [music]
214. 9:25the mockery, the lies, the slander, the
215. 9:28accusations, into an opportunity to
216. 9:31declare something that [music] makes
217. 9:33Gentile kings almost become a Christian.
218. 9:38And Paul says, "I would that you would
219. 9:40almost and altogether, everyone else
220. 9:42under the sound of my voice,
221. 9:45would become a Christian, become just
222. 9:47like I am, except for these chains."
223. 9:51What a witness.
224. 10:12>> Mhm.