Acts 25-26
You can be seated and please
turn in your copy of God’s word to Acts chapter 25. Our reading
today will be Acts 25 and 26, and you can find that in the
pew Bible on page 934. We come to Paul’s last defense
of the Christian faith. Remember, to defend the faith
is often called an apologia or we get the study of apologetics.
Paul has appeared before the Jewish mob in Jerusalem. He’s
appeared before the council or the Sanhedrin. He’s also appeared
before Felix, the governor. And today we have sort of one
and a half appearances. There’s a brief appearance. before
Festus, who is the new governor. But then there’s this grand speech
before Herod Agrippa, the king of the Jews. And then when we
land next week in chapter 27, Paul will be making his way to
Rome to face Caesar. Hear God’s word with me. This
is Acts chapter 25, verse one. Now, three days after Festus
had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from
Caesarea. And the chief priest and the principal men of the
Jews laid out their case against Paul. And they urged him asking
as a favor against Paul, that he summoned him to Jerusalem
because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. Festus replied that Paul was
being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there
shortly. So said he, let the men of authority
among you go down with me. And if there is anything wrong
about the man, let them bring charges against him. After he
stayed among them not more than eight or 10 days, he went down
to Caesarea. And the next day he took his
seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. When he had
arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around
him bringing many and serious charges against him that they
could not prove. Paul argued in his defense, neither
against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against
Caesar have I committed any offense. But Festus, wishing to do the
Jews a favor, said to Paul, do you wish to go up to Jerusalem
and there be tried on these charges before me? But Paul said, I am
standing before Caesar’s tribunal where I ought to be tried. To
the Jews, I have done no wrong, as you yourselves know very well.
If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which
I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death, but if there
is nothing To their charges against me, no one can give me up to
them. I appeal to Caesar. Then Festus,
when he had conferred with his council, answered, To Caesar
you have appealed, to Caesar you shall go. Now in some days
had passed, Agrippa, the king and Bernice arrived at Caesarea
and greeted Festus. And as they stayed there many
days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king saying, there
is a man left prisoner by Felix. And when I was at Jerusalem,
the chief priest and the elders of the Jews laid out their case
against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. I answered them that it was not
the custom of the Romans to give up anyone before the accused
met the accusers face to face and had opportunity to make his
defense concerning the charge laid against him. So when they
came together here, I made no delay, but on the next day took
my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought. When the
accusers stood up, they brought no charge in his case of such
evils as I supposed. Rather, they had certain points
of dispute with him about their own religion and about a certain
Jesus who was dead, but whom Paul asserted to be alive. Being
at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether
he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there regarding
them. But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the
decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held until I could
send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus,
I would like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, said he, you
will hear him. 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,
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 in here, shouting that he ought
not live any longer. But I found that he had done
nothing deserving death, and he himself appealed to the emperor. I had decided to go ahead and
send him, but I have nothing definite to write to my Lord
about him. Therefore, I have brought him
before you and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after
we have examined him, I may have something to write. For it seems
to me unreasonable in sending a prisoner not to indicate the
charges against him. 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, that I’m going to make my defense
today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because
you are familiar with all of 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
and 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 and the promise made
by God to our fathers to which our 12 tribes hope to attain
as they earnestly worship night and day. For this hope I am accused
by the 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 priest, 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. Enraging
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 priest. 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? Is it hard for you to kick
against the goads? And I said, who are you, Lord?
The Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise
and stand up on 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
might 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. Therefore, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 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.
For this reason, the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to
kill me. To this day, I’ve had the help that comes from God.
And so I stand here testifying to both small and great saying
nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to
pass. which is 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.
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. But Paul said, I am not out of
my mind, most excellent Festus, but I’m speaking true and rational
words 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. King Agrippa,
do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. And
Agrippa said to Paul in a short time, you would persuade me to
be a Christian. 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. Then the king rose and the governor
and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they
had withdrawn, they said to one another, this man is doing nothing
to deserve death or imprisonment. And Agrippa said to Festus, this
man could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar. Amen. The word of the living
God for us, his children. You know, the great theologian,
Yogi Berra, he supposedly coined the phrase, it’s deja vu all
over again. Actually, I kind of wonder if
it wasn’t the apostle Paul. Because in this situation where
he finds himself, he’s at another hearing, another court proceeding
within the Roman courts. There’s increased hostility among
the Jewish population. And this now for several years,
they intend to murder him. Their anger, their wrath, their
judgment against him has not subsided, but he continues under
the delayed injustice of the Roman governors. They don’t wish to cause an uprising. They do wish to do the Jewish
population a favor. And so here goes Paul again into
another hearing. And you can imagine his discouragement
But you can also imagine in his mind and his heart, he knows
of the great opportunity. the great opportunity to confess
his faith before the watching world, to show to these men who
are full of corruption, his courageous spirit. And that’s what we want
to take a peek at today. These are long verses, a big
chunk of passage, but I think if you were to distill it down,
if you were to boil it down, you would find that in the midst
of a corrupt people, Paul, the apostle, is a courageous one
to speak of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remember that he’s been
in prison for about two years. Felix, the governor who was recently
recalled back to Rome because of his incompetence, more or
less. was replaced by Festus. And Festus,
as you can see from our passage, hits the ground running. He gets
off the boat at Caesarea from Rome, a long and difficult trip. And instead of staying by the
seaside there at Caesarea and maybe relaxing for 30 or 40 days
and, you know, getting some massages and getting some new clothes
for the new climate, all cut and sewn together, he goes instead
straight to Jerusalem. And there in Jerusalem, the Jewish
leaders are waiting for him. He’s the new governor. He’s fresh
meat. Let’s see if we can’t get him
on our side. And so he receives them and he
hears from them. And during those 10 days, they’re
first in line to say, you’ve got this prisoner. And what a
plague he is on the Roman nation. You’ve got this prisoner and
we’d love for you to Well, bring him here and we’ll do his trial
here. We don’t want to trouble you,
old good and new governor. And I’m sure Felix or Festus
figures this out. They want to bring him. They
want to ambush and they want to kill him. And, you know, this
presents an interesting dilemma in the mind of Festus. I could bring him here. They
can take care of business as it were. And this would clear
the docket of a troublesome case. This could clear the docket of
something that could disrupt my new regime of being governor
over Judea. But he says, you know, you need
to come on over to Caesarea. He’s there. I’m going tomorrow.
And as quick as you can get there, you come. And so there’s this
quick trial. Paul is brought in. And they’re
hurling insults, they’re swinging accusations against him. Let’s
throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks. And it becomes
obvious, I think, to Festus, as it had to Felix, as it had
to Lysias, the tribunal there in Jerusalem these last couple
of years. This guy is not guilty of anything.
He’s a model citizen of Rome. He’s a model man of the Jewish
faith, and he’s faithful and obedient to his Lord Jesus Christ. And so there is no crime worthy
of punishment, no crime worthy of death. But you understand,
it’s a hot potato. And so Festus gives Paul a dilemma. Why don’t we go to Jerusalem?
And the Jewish people can then bring all their witnesses, all
their evidence. They can get out their PowerPoint presentations.
They can do it up and I’ll judge you there. And can you imagine
what’s going on in Paul’s brain? No way. I’m not going for another
round of potential death, potential injustice and unfairness and
unrighteousness. I’ll take my chances with Nero. And so he appeals to Nero, the
emperor, let him decide my case. So if it’s to Caesar, you want
to go to Caesar, you will go. Now, Festus has to send a letter. He has to send a letter with
the charges. If you’re going to bother the emperor of the
Roman Empire and it’s well, it’s height. You’ve got to send something
interesting. You’ve got to send something
that will stick. You’ve got to send something
that will get some action. You can’t just say, well, here’s
a guy. They don’t like him. I’m not going to kill him. You
do something with him. He understands that if he acquits
Paul, which is still possible at this point, there would be
a great uproar. But if I send them to Rome, I’ve got to have
a letter that doesn’t make me look bad, that doesn’t embarrass
me. Well, it just so happens that
because he’s new in town, King Agrippa, so let’s make a distinction
here. King Agrippa is king of the Jews,
sort of like in line with King David and Solomon, though not
really. But he’s the king of the Jews.
And then there’s Festus, the governor for Rome and Judea. So it’s a state visit. They get
out to China. The dignitaries are invited.
They have the swing band and all the things they’re supposed
to do for a state visit. And so Agrippa and Bernice come
to pay the new governor an honorary visit. Now, we’ve noticed along
the way that these people judging Paul are in no position to judge
him. Remember, Last week, Felix and
his young 19-year-old bride, they weren’t married, they were
just live-ins, but they had stolen away from their former spouses
for one another. Well, it gets worse. Agrippa
who’s one of the Herods in line with those who cut off John the
Baptist’s head, those who put Jesus to death, those who killed
all the babies at Jerusalem. This is like four generations
of these Agrippas, Herod Agrippas. They’re not good people. And
this Herod Agrippa is more or less married to his sister. Right? Enough said, right? This is,
this is messed up business, messed up things, messed up judges looking
in on Paul. Well, during the state visit
Festus, who’s in a quandary, what do I write about Paul? It
says, maybe Agrippa can help. It may be because Agrippa is
the king of the Jews. He’ll give me some good advice and I can write in
my letter, Oh, emperor, here’s this rabble rouser. Even Herod
Agrippa doesn’t like him. Something of that sort. Well,
He wants advice. And so Agrippa says, let me let
me hear from the man myself. If there’s no charges that will
stick, nothing worthy of death, let me hear him. Let me hear
this religious matter. Let me hear of this dead man
they speak of. And perhaps I can help you with
this hot potato. of an issue. Well, the story
really gets interesting here. And I put on my sermon title,
uh, Paul feeding 5,000. Now, when you think of the feeding
of the 5,000, you think of Jesus out in the plains of Israel,
feeding all those who came without provisions to hear them. And
you think of the five loaves or the, the, the two fishes and
the little boy who gave away his, his lunch. Well, as Agrippa
says to Festus, I’d like to hear Paul. I don’t know how it came
to be. I guess because of these two
state visits, these two kings, these two rulers, there were
all kinds of people present at this palace at Caesarea. And
our passage tells us that with great pomp, Agrippa and Bernice
and Festus and the military tribunals and the leading men of the city,
most likely the merchants, and others gathered. There were some
5,000 people gathered into this great hall. where they would
hear Paul’s final defense that is recorded for us in the scriptures. I mean, you can imagine the military
colors. You can imagine the flags, the
dress uniforms, the rosy cheeks. You can imagine the heads held
high, the swords were shining and gleaming. You could imagine
the horses were high stepping. And, you know, we’ve just been
through a coronation of a monarch in this world. And you maybe
have seen on TV what all that looks like. That’s exactly what
was taking place there. And so Paul, the prisoner, Paul,
the apostle, Paul, the old man, has the opportunity of a lifetime. And it’s to speak to some 5000
people. And don’t you know, these corrupt people will see this
courageous little man, this blind, old, beaten and worn out servant
of Almighty God. And it’s interesting, I think,
that he quotes from Isaiah chapter 42 when he speaks of being sent to open the eyes of
those who are blinded and cannot see when he sent to speak to
those who are living in darkness, they’re living in Satan’s chains
and under sin’s dominion. And he sent to bring them from
that darkness into the marvelous kingdom of God’s light. And he
sent to teach them that they might receive the forgiveness
of sins that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. I can’t help
thinking of that Isaiah 42 connection all the pomp of Cyrus, all the
pomp of Persia and Babylon, all the pomp of that great empire. And it’s in the context of Israel
being stuck under the rule of the Babylonians and under the
rule of the Persians that Isaiah says basically a small, unimpressive,
King is gonna come your way. And that King is Jesus. And he
won’t be anything to look at. He won’t be anything remarkable
in this world’s eyes, but he will come as my servant. He will
come as my covenant maker, my covenant keeper, and he will
come redeem and rescue you from all the enemies of the earth.
And I can’t help but think Paul has that in mind. All the pomp
of the earth, all the, fantasy of kings and leaders and wealthy
people. it can’t open their eyes, it
can’t unchain them from their prisons, and it can’t lead them
to the forgiveness of sins. But here, little, stubby, unimpressive
Paul gets to stand in front of all of this, likely in prison’s
clothes, unshaven, unkempt, bearing the wounds and the bruises of
his missionary journeys, his shipwrecks and his beatings and
his being stoned and left for dead, all the infirmities of
his service to Jesus, there in front of him are all these 5,000. And so his mind is full of the
truth. His heart sees them as people
in need of the gospel. And all of his learning from
the schools in Tarsus and even sitting at the feet of Gamaliel
sort of come to fruition. Many guess that Paul had no time
to prepare. But if you read through his speech
to Agrippa, he gives him a courtesy. It’s good to be in your presence
today. He gives him a little biography.
I was raised in the same way as you and many others who are
present today. I was a strict Jew, a strict
Pharisee. I was zealous for the law of
God. I was even a chief persecutor.
If stones were cast at people like Stephen, I cast my lot to
kill them. I held the cloaks. I was full
of hatred towards others and even made pilgrimages to foreign
places to put out the memory, to put out the message, to put
out the ministry of these people who believe, according to you,
in a dead Nazarene. And so Paul then begins to speak
and he’s primarily eyeballs on Agrippa. Agrippa is his target
audience, but the 4,999 others are there as well. And he speaks
to them of the mission of the gospel. And it’s that same mission
that the John the baptizer speaks of. It’s that same mission and
message that Jesus speaks of. You need to repent. You need
to turn from your sins and you need to live a life of obedience
and keeping with your profession of faith. What a timeless message. What a gospel centered thing
to say and to preach and to press. And as he’s leaning in on Agrippa,
you need to repent of your sins. You’ve taken up with your sister.
You need to repent of your sins. You are the chief religious man
of what is becoming a dead faith, a dead religion. Do you know
that under Herod Agrippa’s tenure in just a few short years, all
of Judaism, as they knew it, would disappear. The temple would
be destroyed. The people would scatter and there would be Remnants of them here and there,
many would come to faith through the preaching of Peter and Paul
and others. But under him, Judaism, as he knew it, would sort of
end there in Israel, end there in the promised land. But as
Paul is pressing him to repent of his sins and to turn to Jesus
and to live a life of obedience, his sermon is abruptly interrupted. Now, some of y’all were here
a couple of weeks ago when everybody’s phones zapped because of the
tornado that was nearby. It must’ve been like that because
Festus hollers out, Paul, you’re nuts. Paul, you’re crazy. You’re out of your mind. You’ve
been reading too many books. You’ve lost your mind. And Paul
quickly makes an adjustment and he says, but King Agrippa doesn’t
think so. Do you, Agrippa? staring at him,
making it personal. You understand these things.
You believe these things, do you not? The gospel is being
pressed home before his very eyes and in his very heart that
day. Now, Agrippa says something that has become a statement of
fame today that’s used often. In a short time, you think you
can make me a Christian. And his response And as we’ve
seen other responses in the weeks past is it’s got to be rather
sad to Paul. He comes to open the eyes of
those who cannot see. He comes to lead those who are
in darkness to light. He comes to help them receive
the forgiveness of sins. And one of them calls him a madman. The other says, I’m not persuadable. in a short time, you can’t convince
me of this faith in Jesus Christ. And what we see here is rather
sad, but something that is before our eyes today in our culture.
We love the pomp and the circumstance and the shininess of this world.
And the simple gospel, the simple gospel of faith in Jesus, turning
from our sins to God is not something this world thinks much of. And people like Agrippa, people
like Felix and Festus and Lysias, they go to their grave having
tasted and seen that the Lord is good, but not having turned
from their wicked ways to life everlasting in the Almighty.
But we think of the Apostle Paul and Well, he really didn’t coin
the phrase it’s deja vu all over again, did he? That was indeed
Yogi Berra. But Paul has seen this over and
over in his ministry. I’ll go to the synagogues and
preach. And when I can’t get a foothold there, I’ll go to
the Gentiles. But here he is being faithful
to the message and the ministry and the methods of God Almighty. But a couple of warnings for
us today. Maybe maybe we’ve heard the gospel.
Maybe we’ve been in church. Maybe we know these things. We can repeat them. We can say
the creeds. We can say the confessions. We can go through the order of
the service. but I really want you to think
and ponder in your own heart. Have you met the risen savior? Have you met the servant of almighty
God who seeks to unchain you from Satan’s prison, who seeks
to turn you from darkness to light, and who seeks to implant
in you a new mind, a new heart, and a new life through the power
of his Holy Spirit? I hope that that is so of you. Let’s do pray together. Lord,
we thank you for the word that we heard today about salvation
and repentance and turning and walking in your ways. We pray
that it would mean something to us. Perhaps it would encourage
those of us who are old in the faith and it comforts us, it
builds us up, it encourages us to press on, but maybe others
of us haven’t really thought about our own faith, our own
laying hold of the gospel, our own turning from sin towards
righteousness. And so by your word and by your
spirit, help us to think through what has been before us. And
may we deal with it today. May we be dealt with by you,
by your grace unto salvation. We pray this in the name of Jesus,
our great savior. Amen.