No Other God

And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent.
Mat 26:62-63

For several months now, we have considered the Apostle Paul as he has been on trial. His situation is very similar to that of the Lord Jesus in our text today. Both were falsely accused by the Jewish leaders, both were viewed by their own countrymen to be guilty of crimes deserving of death, and both were brought for examination before Gentile authorities. However, our text highlights one big difference. Though Christ spoke very little and often “kept silent” as in our text, Paul had much to say.

So, why was Paul’s response so different from the Lord’s? Since he didn’t follow Christ’s example, was he wrong in defending himself? Absolutely not! To understand why, we must understand the purpose of both situations. Jesus had come to lay down His life, and that time had come. It wasn’t an hour to give His defense. In fact, just a few verses before our text, Christ made an important statement about these events: “But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” (Mat 26:56) And what had the prophets said about this moment? In Isa 53:7 we read, “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” Thus, when questioned, Jesus kept silent. That behavior was the requirement for his experience.

Paul on the other hand couldn’t seem to be quiet! Beginning in Act 22, chapter after chapter the apostle gives his defense. But the purpose of Paul being on trial was completely different from Christ. While Jesus’ trial was about Him being condemned to die, Paul’s multiple trials were about him having an opportunity to preach the gospel while he got an all expenses paid trip to Rome! (God promised that was his destination in Act 23:11) And so, though Paul’s behavior was not at all like Christ’s, he did exactly what was appropriate for his situation.

Here’s the point. We need to understand the unique will of God in each circumstance. There is no cookie-cutter way to follow the Lord. Ecc 3:7-8 highlights this fact stating there is, “A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace.” Faith requires us to stay on our knees before God to discern the way the Wind of the Spirit is blowing in any given situation. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2Co 5:7) You and I may be in the exact same circumstances similar to the way Paul and Jesus were but be required to behave completely differently from each other. It’s not easy to walk by faith. We like things to be cut and dried, but God likes us to approach Him as a little child, crying out, “Abba, Father,” confessing our inability while acknowledging that He is able. (Rom 8:15) As the old hymn rightly says, “I need Thee every hour…”

Jamie

Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar.
Acts 26:32

This verse above might make one think that Paul had just wasted his breath. That seems to have been Agrippa’s view. The apostle had labored for 28 verses to give his defense concerning the accusations made by the Jews while also sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. What Agrippa failed to realize was that Paul’s dialog wasn’t for Paul’s benefit at all. It was for Agrippa! It wasn’t an appeal for the apostle’s freedom. Paul saw it as an opportunity to preach the word of God to him that he and those with him might be saved.

How often are we guilty of the same as Agrippa when we hear the word of God? We think of who else would have profited from the word, and we wish they could have heard it. We don’t see the word as being for us, but better suited for another. “If only so-and-so had been here…” Well, he wasn’t! What we fail to recognize in those moments is that a sovereign God has determined that WE would be the ones who did hear it. If God sent it to us, then we need to examine our own hearts against what we’ve heard and not other men’s hearts. There’s, of course, nothing wrong with sharing a message with someone who missed it because we think it would be a blessing to them, but we must first measure ourselves against the word we have heard.

Paul’s preaching that day was not in vain. (1Co 15:58) It wasn’t wasted effort. God in His great mercy had sent a man to declare Jesus Christ to Agrippa and those with him. Rom 10:14-15 asks a series of questions: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” Saving belief starts with God sending someone to share the good news, and that’s exactly what He had done through the Apostle Paul. God had sent a man to Agrippa that he might hear and thus believe and call on the Lord!

As much as that fact exalts God’s grace and mercy, it also comes with a frightening reality. If God has sent someone to give us His word, we are then accountable for it! The Lord speaks of those in Rom 1:18 who have known the truth but refused to believe it. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” The sad ending to Paul’s declaration of such glorious truths before Agrippa was that he responded to the apostle, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” May we believe and obey the gospel every time we’re privileged to hear it, recognizing that the next time we hear God speak to us may be in eternity…

Jamie

Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come–that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Acts 26:22-23

Why do you believe the Bible over all the other religious books of the world? What makes Christianity so unique to you? Is it simply because that’s how you were raised? I hope not! I pray you could defend your faith to the Buddhist, the Muslim, or the person who is not religious at all. I trust you could explain that you believe in something that is more than a series of “cunningly devised fables.” That’s the phrase that Peter used to contrast Christianity with the religions of the world: “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” (2Pe 1:16) Peter mentions in this verse something that humanity understands is necessary to validate that an event is historically accurate–firsthand eyewitnesses. We have multiple accounts from men who saw the miracles that Jesus did and witnessed him alive after his death! In fact, the eleven apostles, who were scared and fled when the soldiers took Jesus to crucify Him, believed so fervently that they saw Him alive after his death that they laid down their own lives testifying of this very truth! They were eyewitnesses to these things.

Peter lists another confirmation concerning Christ a few verses later in 2Pe 1:19-21 “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” This “prophecy” spoke of the ministry, death, and resurrection of Christ hundreds and thousands of years before He arrived on the scene! It is this convincing argument that Paul uses in our text today. All the prophets along with Moses said that Messiah would come and that His coming would be known by certain events, namely:

1) “Christ would suffer”
The first message of Christ’s suffering was actually preached at the very outset of Scripture by none other than God Himself! When man fell into sin in Gen 3, God immediately reveals a Savior, the “Seed” of the woman, who would one day crush the head of the serpent. This man would, however, first suffer because the serpent would “bruise His heel.” (v. 15) In that suffering, the Savior would exclaim, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” but even those words were written long before our Lord uttered them in agony on the cross. David penned them hundreds of years earlier in Psa 22. This psalm reveals the tremendous suffering of One who says, “They pierced My hands and My feet.” (v. 16) Of course, David never experienced this level of suffering, but as a prophet, he wrote of the Messiah’s death, the One Who the prophet Isaiah would declare as a “Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (Isa 53:3)

2) “He would be the first to rise from the dead”
As you follow Isaiah’s account of this Man of sorrows, you see that He ultimately dies. In v. 9 we read, “they made His grave with the wicked,” and v. 10 speaks of Him being “an offering for sin.” However, the story doesn’t stop there as v. 12 reveals His glory AFTER death! “Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” David speaks also of the resurrection of this One who dies but whose body never decays: “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol [a reference to the grave], nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” (Psa 16:10)

3) “would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles”
One of the most disturbing things to the Jews about Christ’s ministry (as well as the Apostle Paul’s) is that the Gentiles were included in God’s plan of redemption. As a Gentile, I’m very thankful of that crucial point! 🙂 The reality is that the Jews should have known this glorious truth because the prophets declared it. Isaiah wrote, “By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.” (Isa 9:1-2) Jesus reminded His Jewish listeners when He first began to preach, “…many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah…but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Luk 4:25-27) God’s plan from the beginning was to extend mercy to men of every kindred, nation, and tongue!

Let us thank God for such a sure word of prophecy! He has validated His word over and over again to those to whom He has sent it. Man is truly left without excuse! May we “always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear”. (1Pe 3:15) This gospel and the Lord it declares is not one choice among many. It is the only infallible word of God, and this Jesus Christ which it reveals is the only Way to the Father!

Jamie

Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
Acts 26:19-20

We considered last week the glorious work of the Lord which He said He would accomplish as He sent Paul to preach to the Jews and Gentiles. God in His sovereign grace and mercy would use the apostle “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.” (Act 26:18) It is this heavenly vision that Paul refers to in v. 19 of today’s text to which he says he was not disobedient. A blind man cannot give himself sight, and so v. 18 describes what only the Lord could do as He opened their eyes, freed them from the power of Satan, and gave them light. But as we find over and over again in Scripture, when God works in His sovereignty, man still has responsibility. Notice in our main text today that, though God would be responsible for opening their eyes, Paul was specifically instructing men to do something. They weren’t only acted upon, but they also had to act! The three activities listed in v. 20 sum up how man is to respond to the gospel call, and they reveal three key points that we must not overlook in faithfully declaring God’s word to a lost world:

1) Repent

I have said repeatedly that this topic is the missing note from many pulpits today. It is, however, absolutely essential to the preaching of the gospel! We MUST return to preaching repentance. Repentance is a meaningless concept unless man is taught of his guilt as a sinner, but it seems that too few want to talk about sin. Instead, preachers only tell people that Jesus will help their hurting, dry their tears, and solve their problems. Yes, Christ is my hope in every difficulty, but I only see my need for Him as my Savior if I realize that the root of all my problems, indeed of all the world’s problems, is sin! Do you remember the message John the Baptist began to preach, that Jesus began to preach, and that He sent His disciples to preach? Repent! (Mat 3:2, 4:17, Mar 6:12) Read Peter’s message on Pentecost, and the first word out of his mouth after bringing the sins of his audience to bear upon them was, “Repent!” (Act 2:23, 38) It is against the backdrop of sin that forgiveness through Jesus Christ is seen to be such good news!

2) Turn to God

True repentance always involves turning from your sin to seek after God, and it cannot be a 90 degree turn. It must be a full 180! Some have tried to walk the tightrope of serving God while seeking what this world has to offer, but Christ makes it clear in Mat 6:24 that the two don’t go together: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, the thing that assured him of their salvation was that they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God”. (1Th 1:9) In true regeneration there is always a “turning from” and also a “turning to”.

3) Do works befitting repentance

Eph 2:8-9 tells us clearly that salvation is a work of God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” And yet, the next verse is just as plain in declaring that we have works to do in response to that salvation: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10) If there are no works which evidence salvation, then simply put, a person has not been born again! James acknowledged that some will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” But James’ response to such a statement was, “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” (Jam 2:18-20) A person who only has a belief in God but no works to evidence that belief is in no better shape than a demon!

I don’t think the apostle could have made his message to the lost any clearer. So, are we just as clear? When we present the gospel to a soul, does he understand that he needs to repent and turn to God? Does he know that his repentance must produce a change in his actions as he seeks the Lord? I pray we’ll be just as plain as Paul so that the path of salvation is well lit!

Jamie

I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
Acts 26:17-18

As Paul describes that which God had called him to do, we are given a glorious description of what the Lord does when He saves a sinner. This experience involves the opening of eyes. As John Newton put it in Amazing Grace, “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see.” What a blessing to be found, to be given eyes to see, to have the darkness removed and be bathed in light!

This turning from darkness to light is a similar thought that the apostle uses in other passages. He writes to the Ephesians, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…” (Eph 4:17-18) Our state prior to salvation was one of darkness. We were trapped in the darkness of our understanding and the blindness of our hearts until God give us light. Col 1:12-14 says we should give “thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

In our main text, the apostle highlights that being turned “from darkness to light” is as being delivered “from the power of Satan to God”. Satan’s kingdom is one of darkness. How thankful we ought to be that we can be set free and can enjoy light! The state of Satan and the demons is described by Jude as follows: “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day…” (Jud 1:6) Notice the adjective describing their chains in their darkness?  Those chains are “everlasting”!

2Pe 2:4 reads, “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment…” The word “hell” which Peter uses is an interesting one. It is the only time in all the Bible that this Greek word is listed. Similar to the way Paul used the “unknown God” of the Athenians to preach Christ (Act 17:23), Peter chose the Greek word “Tartarus”, a place in Greek mythology which was the deepest abyss of Hades, the place where Zeus banished the Titans. It was reserved for the worst offenders, the vilest criminals. There was no more horrible state of existence, and such is the case for Satan and the devils. They fell from their glorious standing with God when they sinned, and there is never any chance of parole from their eternal chains of darkness. They are forever blinded and can never be saved!

Oh, redeemed sinner, how we ought to give thanks to God that we have been set free, that our chains were not everlasting! God in His mercy sent those like the apostle Paul to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and free us from our deplorable state. Satan fell and can never enjoy the redemption of the saints. He is devoid of light, filled with hatred, and is the thief that only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But in strong contrast, Jesus came to set the fallen in humanity free from their chains. He came that “they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (Joh 10:10) We were born blind, born enslaved, born in darkness, but “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8) Satan is eternally bound, but we have been eternally liberated; let us then eternally praise our worthy Savior Who set us free!

Jamie