Preaching the Gospel from Acts (Part 2 of 2)

When the Apostle Paul was in prison, he had opportunities to speak in front of high-ranking government officials, but instead of pleading his own case, Paul felt compelled to deliver a more urgent message. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg examines what we can learn from Paul's passion to proclaim the Gospel. We're in Acts chapter 26.

The scene is straightforward. The humble apostle stands before this representative of the morally corrupt house of Herod. Agrippa has declared that he would like to hear, and so here he will. He gives permission to Paul to speak, and notice the little eyewitness observation.

So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense. So he gives this explanation. When you have explanation, then you get into the journalist approach, which is the who, what, why, where, when, and so on. If you get that, then you can begin to put your paragraph together. So sometimes I come to someone like this, and I just use the same questions.

All right? Question number one, why? Why was I doing this, King?

Why did I all of a sudden get out and start doing this? Answer, because I was appointed. Because I was appointed.

That's the why. Where? Appointed where? You read it in verse 20. In Damascus, in Jerusalem, in Judea, to the whole world. To the whole world.

Wesley said, the world is my parish. We'll go where we're sent. We will do what we're asked.

We will stay and do as we're told. What? Why? Because I was sent. Where?

Everywhere he sent me. What? What is it that I am on about? Well, you've got it very clear there.

Verse 18. I'm just trying to encourage people to learn how to vote properly. I'm seeking to register them so that we can overturn the implications of the Roman Empire. I'm dealing with the problems of homosexuality in the Roman Empire. I want to address that. I'm seeking to get a movement on the go in relationship to a number of these things. I'm putting together a very... No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

What is it that you're on about? Well, I have been sent to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith. That's quite a calling, isn't it? To open their eyes. Let me ask you, how many people's eyes have you ever opened? Spiritually? None. That's right.

I'm glad you know that. How many people have you turned from darkness to light? None. How many spiritual resurrections have you presided over? Zero.

Why? Only God raises the dead. So when you preach, what possibility is there of that happening?

Of people's eyes being opened, of people being brought from darkness into light, of people being resurrected to new life. One can plant and another can water, but only God can make things grow. Who said that? The same Paul who said, this is what I'm doing.

I'm opening people's eyes. Well, you are and you aren't, right? Because God ordains people to salvation, but he also ordains the means whereby they come to salvation. And he uses our words and our stumbling and our bumbling. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any place at all in the economy of God's redemptive purposes.

It's a great privilege, but we've got to know our place. And all he says I've been doing is in keeping with the prophets. You can read that for yourself. There's nothing novel, he says. I haven't come up with anything new.

These people ought to know that. I haven't come with a new bag of tricks. Resist the temptation to think for a minute, especially you younger fellows, that the congregation is just waiting for you to get out there with the greatest and the newest idea.

There isn't a new idea under the sun. And what our congregations need is not so much novel or new information as they need to be reminded of what the prophets have written. They need to be reminded of what the Scripture says.

And that's why Paul and Peter do it all the time. I intend always to remind you of these things so that after my departure, you may be able to bring them to mind. Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Remember, remember, remember.

And I'm, says Paul, not coming to you with anything novel or new. Why? Because I'm sent. Where? Everywhere. What? In keeping with the prophets.

Nothing novel, basic Christianity. And to whom? Verse 22. To whom? I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.

To small and great alike. Here's another fallacy that you'll read about. You won't be able to preach to anybody unless you've actually experienced what they experience.

Right? You won't be able to do it. Because you have to be able to contextualize the thing to the individual. If you think about that, who are you going to talk to? How large your congregation going to be?

Maybe one person, two persons, maybe three people? How are you going to talk to factory workers? You didn't work in a factory. How am I going to talk to the cardiac surgeons at the number one cardiac hospital in the world, the Cleveland Clinic? I'm not a cardiac physician. How am I going to speak to the musicians at the Cleveland Institute?

I can't play the cello. What do we know? That whether it is Romania, Bulgaria, Korea, China, India, France, Germany, the United States, the heart of man is desperately wicked. And the framework in which that man lives, no matter how much we endeavor to bridge the gap into where he lives, at the end of the day, we speak the same message to small and to great alike. The same message to the intellect. The same message to the child. The same message that in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is the one who has come to bear all of our alienation, all of our sin, all of our rebellion. We tell that to the children in the Sunday school. We sit with the attorney in Cleveland as he announces the fact that he's climbed to the top of his ladder and he doesn't know why he feels the way he feels with such a sense of futility and emptiness. And we say to him, have you ever considered the possibility that you propped your ladder against the wrong wall?

What does that mean? Well, here. And what do we do? We tell the same story. Now, at this point, Festus interrupted Paul's defense.

It's great, isn't it? So actually, in the morass of my notes, I've now moved from an explanation that is clear, and the explanation involves why, where, what, and to whom. And now we have this interruption, which is in verse 24. Perhaps Festus was beginning to feel the impact of Paul's words. Perhaps he was regretting the opportunity that he created to have Paul speak. Maybe the whole deal really did sound crazy to him.

Certainly, that's what he does. You're out of your mind, Paul. You're off your rocker. You're too clever for your own good.

I know this is finals week or getting close to it. Some of you might wish that the final phrase of verse 24 was really true of you. Your great learning is driving you insane.

I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be the absence of your great learning that's driving you insane. But I don't want to unsettle you, especially at this point in the morning. There's plenty of time left in the day. So you've got an interruption. What do you do with an interruption?

Well, here is Paul. You'll notice, first of all, that if his explanation is clear, his response to the interruption is kind. It's kind. You notice he deals with it respectfully.

I'm not insane, most excellent festus. Okay? He's not unkind. He deals with it not only respectfully, but candidly. What I'm saying is true and reasonable. The reason that some of us are up a gum tree is because what we're saying is only vaguely true, and it sounds horribly unreasonable. The apostolic patter is rationality on fire.

It is Augustinian. It is faith seeking understanding. It is both true and reasonable. He responds respectfully. He responds candidly. He responds skillfully. That is what he does. The perfect lawyer here, he divides to conquer. He's speaking to festus, and he says, the king is familiar with these things.

Nudge, nudge. Unlike yourself, apparently. He doesn't say that.

It's there by inference. The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I obviously can't speak freely to you because you're the one who's interrupting. He doesn't say that. He just knows that festus will put the pieces together. I can speak freely to him. I'm convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, unlike your notice, old festus boy, because it was not done in a corner. It's a great phrase that, isn't it?

Because it wasn't done in a corner. This is an opportunity for us to say that there is light, that there is transparency to the Christian gospel and to the Christian message. This is not Scientology. Where on State Street in Santa Barbara, when you find the Scientology place and you look at it from the outside, you say, I don't think I'm going in there. And it's probably a good idea, because when you go in, you go in and in and in, it gets darker, it gets deeper, it gets more desperate, like a Mormon temple.

Darker, deeper, more secretive, more desperate. Not remotely Christian. The closer you get in the Christian life, the closer you get to light and to transparency and to openness. And Paul is able to say the king gets this because it wasn't done in a corner.

So the explanation is clear. He deals with the interruption in a way that is kind. And finally, his application is then compelling.

His application is compelling. He's referred to the king in the third person, and now he breaks the bounds of normal accepted practice. And while the king does not sit in the formal position as a judge, nevertheless, he is really assuming that role.

And the one thing, the one thing the prisoner doesn't do is address the judge directly. But Paul is so much committed to his agenda now that he breaks the bounds of propriety, and he says to the king, King Agrippa, do you—I've got a question for you. Do you believe the prophets? Do you believe the prophets? You know the prophets. You know what the prophets said. Let me ask you, do you believe the prophets? That's one of the things that we can say to our Jewish friends when we speak to them. Do you believe the prophets? That's not to bang anything over their heads. That's a good question.

It's a legitimate question. Do you believe the prophets? The fact of the matter is most of my Jewish friends don't even know who the prophets were.

They've never even read them. They don't know what they said. And many times they will say, I don't really know what the prophets said. Then we have an opportunity to say to them, well this is what they said. They said that a king would come to rule over all of our rebellion. They said that a priest would come to deal with the predicament of our sin. They said that a prophet would come to speak to our ignorance. Do you believe the prophets?

And then notice this little nudge. I know you do. It doesn't go, do you believe the prophets? Oh, probably not.

No. Do you believe the prophets? I know you do. There's something about winsomeness in preaching that can't be taught. And the way we read this out loud will determine the way in which we understand Paul's approach.

So for example, if you imagine that he was some kind of remote Anglican, he said, do you believe the prophets? I know you do. It's possible. It's possible. I don't think so. He was Jewish. Do you believe the prophets?

I know you do. Paul has a question for Agrippa. Agrippa has a question for Paul, presumably caught off guard. He responds in standard political fashion. If you don't know how to answer the question you're asked, respond with a question of your own. Agrippa said to Paul, do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?

Wow. That's what you call a layup. Now all he's going to have to do is catch it and just slam it right down through the hoop.

And that's exactly what he does. Casting his gaze around the room, and perhaps with a wave of the arm with which he had motioned in the beginning, or perhaps, we don't know, with both of his arms, he seeks to gather his listeners to Christ. A short time or long, Agrippa, I pray that not only you but all who are listening to me here might become what I am, except for these chains. The king rose. The door of providence had swung open for him to hear, for Paul to preach.

Dialogue, explanation, interruption, clarification, invitation, all present, winsomeness, boldness, urgency. And I'll tell you what, if you've never read this before, you get to the end and you go, oh, man, I can't believe the way this finishes. Oh, no. The king rose, and with him the governor burn us, and those sitting with him, and they left the room. If you've watched any movies from Britain, you know that when the king rises or the queen rises, everybody else rises.

If you remember Mrs. Brown, the Judi Dench played Queen Victoria. You know, if she took her soup spoon, everybody took their soup spoon. She put it down, everybody put it down. She starts, everyone starts, she stops, everyone stops.

It's unbelievable that someone can have that much authority, and that's exactly what you have it. Now, let me—do you think you can make me a Christian in such a short time? I'll tell you what, I'd like to make you a Christian, everybody in the room a Christian. The king rose. We're done now.

All rise. Was it that they were so stirred that they wanted out? Was it that they were completely unaffected? They were bored. They'd had enough. They wanted to move on.

They arrived with great pomp. They now leave, and Luke tells us the kind of conversation that was going on as they walked out. You know at the end of a graduation when the faculty walk out, you know, and they're kind of embarrassed because everybody's still looking at them. They've got the dumb hat on, and they're walking down.

They're walking down, and they go, spend it on diddly-dee, diddly-dee, whatever they're saying. You know, you don't know if they're saying that to each other. And they left the room, and while talking with one another, they said, this guy hasn't done anything to deserve death.

The person says, no, I couldn't agree more. In other words, you're just overhearing a little snippet of the conversation, and Agrippa, he says to Festus, this guy could have been set free if he hadn't appealed to Caesar. Now, when I was looking at commentaries, I found a commentator who said that the imperfect tense, whichever one it is, the imperfect tense describes the eager conversation of the dignitaries about Paul's wonderful speech. I'm like, how do you get that from an imperfect tense? The imperfect tense describes the eager conversation of the dignitaries about Paul's wonderful speech. I don't think so. I think it describes the routine jibber-jabber that happens every time you preach the gospel.

Every time you lay your heart out, every time you proclaim the news in such a way that people may have their eyes opened, may have their heart stirred, may be brought from darkness into light, may be given forgiveness and a place with those who are sanctified and within a nanosecond of the amen of the benediction. The people are saying, are you going to Arby's or where are you going to go for lunch? Did you notice he wore the green tie this morning? I'm surprised.

I thought he usually wore the blue with the gray suit. The game starts at two o'clock. What do you think we should do?

Are you going to be back at four o'clock or where will you be? My dear friends, it would be enough to drive you to complete distraction were it not for the fact that you believe that God's Word does its work. This is the apostle Paul. This is the commissioned servant of God. This is him laying out the story to the best of his physical human ability. And they walk out the door addressing legal technicalities.

It's a bit like the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, isn't it, in T.S. Eliot and all the people come and go with talk of Michelangelo. How would you finish? Well, if I were preaching this to my congregation, I would say to them, how are you going to leave?

How are you going to leave? Will you bow down as Paul bowed down and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and King? Or will you simply stand up and walk out the door this Sunday as you've done on so many Sundays, passing off what has been said in a way that is trivial and in a way that is extraneous?

And then I would have said, please don't do that. I beseech you on Christ's behalf. Don't dash off to deal with these trivial matters until you've first dealt with this great matter.

For nothing matters more than this matters. I beseech you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God.

And then our duty is discharged. Each one of us is called to know how to proclaim a clear gospel message. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. Alistair will be back to close this program with prayer in just a minute, so please keep listening. Our message today reminds us that the Apostle Paul had strong convictions, and he wasn't afraid to share his faith with others. But he didn't just preach with urgency. He prayed with boldness, too.

There's a lot we can learn from his example. That's why we want to encourage you to request our current book offer. It's a book titled Pray Big, Learn to Pray Like an Apostle. It's a book written by Alistair. It's a short book that examines Paul's prayers for the Ephesian church and teaches us how to put Paul's approach to prayer into practice.

There's a tremendous amount we can learn by studying what Paul prayed for, how often he prayed, and the confidence with which he came before God in prayer. Whether you pray in public or on your own with your family, with your Bible study group, you'll benefit from the book Pray Big. Request your copy when you donate today. The book comes with a corresponding study guide.

Simply click the image in the app or call 888-588-7884. Now here's Alistair to close today with prayer. Our gracious God, how we thank you for the Bible, that it really is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Thank you that we're not left with Time magazine and Newsweek and a bunch of crazy nonsense to try and dream up something to say. Thank you that if we were to expend our whole lives teaching the Bible, we would never complete it, we would never run out of material, we would never exhaust the immensity of its truth, the wonder of its loving impact. And I pray for those who are the students of your Word, who are in the process of being set apart to the ministry of your Word, that you will free them from all sense of personal preoccupation and grant that together we might look away from ourselves to Christ, who is ultimately the preacher.

He is ultimately the great teacher. And so help us to this end, we pray. Thank you for this time, for one another, for those whom we represent. May the grace and mercy and peace from God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with each one today and forevermore.

Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. Join us tomorrow as Alistair concludes this series by turning to the final book of the Bible, the scene in the book of Revelation where we see a great multitude that no one can count. Is your face pictured in that crowd? Listen Tuesday. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.