As you all are aware, yesterday was a major holiday that is
celebrated in the United States.
Halloween, or as it was once known, All Hallows Eve. Believe it or not, All Hallows Eve was
originally a religious holiday.
When I was a kid, we just thought of it as a time to dress up in
costumes. It was pretty harmless.
Unfortunately, today it seems to have gained an association with the
dark side that I do not think is beneficial. I won’t go so far as to say that I think that Christians cannot
participate in some way, but I would say that we need to be careful with the
things with which we associate or in some cases, glorify.
However, how many of you are aware that there was another
holiday yesterday as well? Any
guesses as to the nature of that holiday?
It was Reformation Day. It
is celebrated as the day in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses or
objections to certain Roman Catholic practices and doctrine on the door of the
church in Wittenberg. His act was credited with the start of the Protestant
Reformation.
Luther’s theses began by criticizing the selling of
indulgences, which were fees paid to elevate one’s loved one through stages of
purgatory. Luther declared that
the Pope had no authority over purgatory and that the Catholic doctrine of the
merits of the saints had no foundation in the gospel. As the Reformation
gathered steam though, the protestant position would eventually incorporate
doctrinal changes such as sola scriptura and sola fide; or by scripture alone, and by faith alone.
And it’s important to realize that Reformers made further
distinctions when they spoke about faith. They spoke about faith as composed of
three elements: in Latin; notitia, assensus, and fiducia. Notitia means the content of faith, or
those things that we believe. We place our faith in something, or more
appropriately, someone. In order to believe, we must know something about that
someone, who is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Assensus is our conviction that the content of our faith is
true. You can know about the Christian faith and yet not believe it to be true.
Genuine faith says that the content — the notitia taught by Scripture — is
true.
Fiducia refers to personal trust and obedience. Knowing and
believing the content of the Christian faith is not enough, for even demons can
do that (James 2:19). Faith is only effectual if, knowing about and assenting
to the claims of Jesus, one personally trusts in Him alone for salvation. So in order for a man to have true saving
faith, he must have all three; knowledge, assent, and trust.
Today we are looking at a man that had a certain degree of faith;
primarily knowledge and a degree of assent, but he was lacking the crucial
element of trust. Paul himself
said that King Herod Agrippa was an expert in all customs and theological
questions of Judaism. Paul said in vs.27 that he knew that King Agrippa
believed the prophets. That was a
reference to the prophetical books of the Old Testament who wrote concerning
the Messiah. So he knew the
scriptures and he also had a position as king that gave him the authority to
ordain who would be high priest in Jerusalem. So we can fairly assume he assented to the facts of the
Jewish religion concerning God as the scripture indicated. And yet we can also
fairly assume from his answer in vs. 28
that Agrippa did not have saving faith. He said in vs. 28; “In a short
time you will persuade me to become a Christian.” A better possible translation of his answer is “Do you think
that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” He is not a picture of someone who is
on the cusp of becoming a Christian, but of someone who is backing away from
the possibility. But irregardless
of how you translate it, by his own words he admits he is not saved. Almost persuaded, but lost.
And I am afraid that there are many people sitting in evangelical
churches like that today. People who have a certain knowledge about the gospel,
and have given a degree of assent to the gospel, but they have not trusted the
gospel by submission of their lives to Christ’s rule, and therefore they are
not actually saved. As I said last
Wednesday evening at Bible study, trust is stepping out on the bridge of faith,
believing that it will support you.
Not just seeing a bridge and thinking that it would probably hold you,
but walking out on it. That’s
trust.
Just this week, I was reminded of some people that have been
in our church at one time or another, but no longer attend regularly. And I found myself questioning,
wondering if somehow I had failed to explain the gospel thoroughly enough. Because from my perspective, I have to
wonder if some of those people that came regularly for weeks, or months or even
years are truly saved. There is
very little evidence today to suggest that some of them ever came to a saving
knowledge of Christ. And yet I
feel that I preach salvation so explicitly and continuously so as to sometimes
be offensive and even so people manage to come to church for a while, nod
appreciatively from time to time, and then fade away without ever apparently
coming to Christ. They may take
away enough knowledge about Christianity to feel educated, but never
transformed by the truth of the gospel.
And that is a tragedy.
And so I want to use this text today to speak to the nature
of true Christianity. I want to
cause each of you to really examine yourself. If necessary, I want to make you uncomfortable and start
asking questions that you really need to be able to answer. And I do all this in hope that perhaps
somehow God will open the eyes of the blind. And just let me add this; I was listening to an online seminary lecture the other day
and the professor was saying the same thing that I am saying now, but to
seminary students. Men that already
should have been saved. Men that
claimed to be called by God into the ministry. He was urging them to consider the source of their
salvation, to make sure of their calling and election. He talked about an occasion when he
presented that lecture to seminary students in the past and had someone
approach him later and give their heart to God. So please understand something; even preachers, pastors, priests can be unsaved. It’s possible to be very religious, to
be a really nice person, to be absolutely sincere, and be lost. Don’t rely on the fact that you have
been in church all your life. Don’t rely upon some ritual like baptism or
church membership. Don’t rely on some experience that you had in a time of
crisis. You need to understand
what it means to trust in God. You
must be born again into new life
in Christ.
Now that is my introduction and much of our time has already
gone. I do not plan on exegeting
the text today. It is a story, and
we read the story. I’m sure you are able to follow a story without me retelling
it. But what I do want to do is in
light of the text examine what is in fact a Christian. What constitutes salvation? And then I want to look at three
examples of why people do not become Christians.
First of all, what constitutes becoming a Christian? Well, the outline to the answer to that
question is found in vs.18. Five
points to Paul’s message of salvation. Acts 26:18 “to open their eyes so that
they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been
sanctified by faith in Me.” This
is the message that Christ gave the apostle to preach to the Jews and
Gentiles. This is the whole
message of the gospel.
So first of all, there is the need to open the eyes of the
blind. There is a need for eye opening truth. Not just knowledge, but truth. It’s possible to be puffed up in knowledge and yet somehow
escape knowing the truth. Paul as
a Pharisee before conversion had great knowledge of the scriptures and the
traditions of Judaism. He studied
under Rabbi Gamaliel. That’s was
equivalent to having a divinity degree from Yale. Yet Paul equates it with being blind. In fact, God also equated it with
blindness, by striking Paul blind on the road to Damascus. A blinding light came down out of
heaven as Paul was traveling to persecute Christians and a voice called out to
him, “Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting Me?” And Paul had to ask “Who are you Lord?” Paul was so blind that he did not
recognize Jesus as the Messiah and was in fact persecuting Him.
This is the primary reason for the people I spoke about
earlier that sit in church for extended periods of time, sometimes even years,
and yet go away unsaved. They have
not had their eyes opened. Paul
said in Corinthians that is because the devil has blinded their eyes. 2Cor. 4:3
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in
whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so
that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God.”
So the first thing you need your eyes opened to is the truth
of the gospel. You need to see it
as the truth of God which is essential to life. Jesus said “I am the way, the
truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.” When Peter
confessed that Jesus was the Son of God in Matt. 16, Jesus said, “because flesh
and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” So it is a miracle of grace by which
God opens the eyes of the blind to see the truth.
Secondly it
means that you have your eyes opened as to your sinful condition, the
repugnancy of your sin, and that it is an affront to God and separates you from
God. It means that God shines a
light on your sin, through the preaching of the word of God, that causes you to
recognize your sinful condition and how desperately you need a Savior. That is the light of the gospel. That God saw man in his depravity and hopelessness
and so He provided the means for man’s salvation by the substitution of Jesus
Christ, who paid for man’s sin with His blood on the cross that we might be
saved. According to John 16:8, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. “And
He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and
judgment.” So the Holy Spirit convicts the blind of their sinfulness and need
of a Savior.
The second fact of being a Christian according to Paul’s
message in vs. 18 is that they have turned from darkness unto light.” If you
look down at vs. 20, you will see that Paul summarizes his message by saying,
“that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to
repentance.” Notice that Paul
equates repentance as turning.
That is what repentance is; turning away from sin. Turning away from deeds of darkness to
the light. In the Greek the word translated repentance is metanoia, which means
a change of mind. Repentance is
described by F.F. Bruce this way, “"Repentance involves a turning with
contrition from sin to God; the repentant sinner is in the proper condition to
accept the divine forgiveness."
Notice what Bruce says; repentance is the condition needed
to accept forgiveness. It is the plow that breaks up the hard stony ground so
that it may receive the seed of new life. Where there is no repentance, no
turning away from sin, no contrition, then there is no forgiveness. This I think is very often the culprit
with those people that tend to fall away from the church. I have to wonder if they have attempted
to establish some sort of relationship to God based as a result of finding
themselves in a predicament or crisis at some point in their life. Maybe there was a time when they cried
out to God to help them, and maybe God in His compassion did help them. But they failed to understand what
Romans 2:4 says, “that the kindness of God leads you to repentance.” So then when the crisis is past, their
emotions respond to some new stimuli, and their relationship with God grows
cold because they never truly turned away from sin to God and received
forgiveness of their sins and a new life in Christ. 1Peter 2:9 “But you are A
CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN
POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light.”
See, that new life in Christ is the third aspect of
Christianity according to Paul. To
be transferred from the kingdom of dominion of Satan to the kingdom of
God. Now that simply means that
you are a citizen of a new King. You live by a new creed, you follow a new
constitution. You are no longer ruled by the old passions, no longer ruled by
the lusts of the flesh, but you are ruled by the Sovereign of the Universe, the
Lord Jehovah, the Almighty God.
Instead of being enslaved to sin, you become a servant of the Most High. As Christians we have been called out
of the world to live godly lives for the glory of Christ. This is often the most telling evidence
of a lack of true salvation. This
is where we not only believe, but we trust and obey, forsaking all that was
before, and following after that which is new.
As Col. 1:13-14 declares; “For He rescued us from the domain
of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we
have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” That brings us to the fourth point
of Paul’s message; “that they might receive the forgiveness of sins.” Now
forgiveness of sins is first of all purchased by the blood of Jesus
Christ. That is what makes it
possible. God made Jesus, who knew
no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
Him. Now that act of God
predicates our forgiveness. But
how forgiveness is made efficacious for us is by repentance. Listen to what Peter had to say in two
different sermons regarding that principle. In Acts 2:38 Peter said to them,
"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.” Listen to that – how do
you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Through forgiveness of your sins.
The Holy Spirit cannot indwell you until you become holy. And if you don’t have the Holy Spirit
then you cannot live holy lives, because He is the strength that God gives us
to enable us to live holy lives. Listen,
the Holy Spirit is not a feeling or a force field to be experienced. I sometimes hear people talk about
feeling the Holy Spirit, that the air was thick with His presence or some such
nonsense. As if He is a force to
be felt and then you can move in or out of that place. The Holy Spirit is a person who dwells
in you, He is the Spirit of Christ who lives in you, if you have been born
again by the Spirit, and have been made holy by the transference of your sins
to Christ and His righteousness to you.
Peter says again in Acts 3:19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be
wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the
Lord.” That’s the new life found
in Christ, a new spirit, a new heart, a new life. And all of that comes from forgiveness, which comes from
confession and repentance.
1John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Fifthly, Paul says the last affect of being a Christian is receiving
an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Christ. Now there is so much in that phrase
that I cannot possibly address all of it in this message. But suffice it to say that our
inheritance is in heaven. We are
promised a citizenship in heaven, reserved for us, when we will receive the
reward. Now we received a deposit
of that inheritance now – that is the Holy Spirit who has already given us new
life, even eternal life. But at
the resurrection we will receive the full inheritance. We will be changed into His
likeness. We shall be like Him for
we shall see Him as He is.
Furthermore we will rule and reign with Christ. The church is the bride of Christ, and
we will be seated at His right hand as co –inheritors with Him. Pretty amazing stuff.
But there is a practical, earthly application to this as
well. We are sanctified, Paul
says, by faith. There are two
aspects of sanctification. One is
positional. We have been set apart
at the moment of salvation- our sanctification- which means we have been made
holy. But we are also to be holy
even as He is holy, that is, sanctified practically by walking in the Spirit, not
according to the flesh, so that we might become conformed to the image of
Christ. 2Cor. 5:7, 9 “for we walk by faith, not by sight—“ and then vs. 9, “Therefore we also have as our ambition,
whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” And so we walk to please Him in all that we do, knowing that
our inheritance includes receiving a reward when we see Him, as described in
vs.10; [2Cor. 5:10] “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to
what he has done, whether good or bad.”
Now that is the message Paul received from Jesus directly as
a result of His conversion. And he
summarizes what our response to that message should be in vs. 20, that they should repent and turn to
God, and do the deeds appropriate to repentance. Now that is the response that is necessary for the gospel to
be efficacious for you. You can
hear that message and agree to it on an intellectual basis. You can acknowledge that it is
true. But to be saved you must
trust and obey that message. Repent, turn away from your sins, turn to Christ, and do the
deeds of repentance. When you respond in that manner, then you are saved
according to the gospel, and then there will be no uncertainty as to your
salvation. The problem is that
this message is rarely preached in most ecclesiastical circles today. But don’t be deceived, this is the
gospel, and the gospel hinges on repentance.
Now as Paul wraps up his message, there are people who responded
as recorded in the text. The first
is that of Festus. Vs. 24, Festus
says in a loud voice, ““Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving
you mad.” Festus leaves little to
the imagination as to his thoughts about the gospel. He says it’s lunacy.
He recognizes that Paul is a greatly educated man, but he thinks that he
has gone crazy in his learning. He
has become a fanatic. And the fact
that Luke emphasizes that Festus speaks loudly indicates that there must have
been a measure of mockery in his response.
The second response is that of King Agrippa. Paul knows that Agrippa is familiar
with the story of the gospel. He
knows that the King is familiar with the prophecies of the Old Testament. And so Paul says to him, Acts 26:26-27 "For
the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence,
since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has
not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know
that you do."
And suddenly King Agrippa is put on the spot. It was one thing to listen to Paul
speak. It may have thought it a
certain measure of entertainment to hear him. He may have been curious about the gospel. But now suddenly the spotlight is upon
himself and he is decidedly uncomfortable. He wants to dodge the question. He wants to avoid the light of the gospel. It’s getting much too hot. And so he says in an offhand or even
sarcastic way, “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so
quickly?”
And Paul’s response is that he does indeed wish to persuade
all of them of the necessity of becoming a Christian. But let’s consider for a moment what stopped Agrippa short
of salvation. Why did he almost become a Christian and yet turn away from the
gospel in the end? Well there are
three possible answers to that question, and they are illustrated by three
people that were there that day.
The first stumbling block could have been the person sitting
next to him - Bernice. She was his sinful, immoral companion. She was actually his sister and he was
reported to be living in an incestuous relationship with her. He probably correctly realized that
becoming a Christian would mean losing her and his other immoral friends. He
was unwilling to make that sacrifice!
How many men and women come short of the kingdom of God because they
love someone more than they must love God. Adam chose to love Eve rather than obey God and he forfeited
all that God had prepared for him.
I know more men that have fallen because of a woman than I can even
count. Jesus said in Matt. 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than
Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not
worthy of Me.” You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your
soul, and all your mind. That is
why it is so important that men especially be the spiritual leader in their
homes. Our allegiance must be to
God above all else.
Then on the other side of Agrippa sat Festus, the
governor. A colleague, a friend, a
person of consequence. And someone
who thought Paul was crazy. Perhaps Agrippa thought, "I can't become a
Christian! Festus will think I'm crazy too!" And because he wanted the
praise of men, he rejected Jesus.
And in front of Agrippa is Paul - a man Voltaire the famous
18th century philosopher
called an ugly little Jew.
Paul, a man despised by his contemporaries. A man with the reputation of a trouble maker. No body seemed to like Paul. And furthermore, he was a
prisoner. The fact that he was
innocent of any crime may not have mattered. Agrippa just sees a man in chains. So Agrippa might possibly say, "Well,
if I became a Christian, I might end up in chains like Paul!” Or at least he
thought I don’t want to associate
with him! He will hurt my reputation.
If I want to stay popular
then I can’t be associated with people like that.
Spurgeon said, "O that men were wise enough to see that
suffering for Christ is honor, that loss for truth is gain, that the truest
dignity rests in wearing the chain upon the arm rather than endure the chain
upon the soul."
Well, unfortunately, King Agrippa’s only real legacy to the
world was this tragic statement, made famous in the KJV; “Almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian.” Such a sad and tragic statement. To have come so close and yet still be
so far, and to die without receiving the gift of salvation. King Agrippa’s famous words were the
basis for a hymn written years ago which I quoted from last week. And I would remind us of them again
this week as we consider the author of those words.
“Almost persuaded” now to believe;
“Almost persuaded” Christ to receive;
Seems now some
soul to say,
“Go, Spirit,
go Thy way,
Some more
convenient day
on
Thee I’ll call.”
Almost persuaded,” harvest is past!
“Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last;
“Almost”
cannot avail;
“Almost” is
but to fail!
Sad, sad that
bitter wail—
“Almost—but lost!”
I pray that is not a statement that is true of anyone here
today. The gospel message is so
clear, so simple; repent, turn to God, and do the deeds appropriate to repentance. Forgiveness has already been purchased
and is waiting for you to trust and obey.
Be now persuaded, oh, sinner, hear!
Be now persuaded, Jesus is near;
His voice is
pleading still,
Turn now with
heart and will,
Peace will
your spirit fill—
Oh, turn today!
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