Acts 26:9-23 Bible Teaching

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If you haven’t been with us we have deconstructed these gatherings down to the essentials:

We begin with prayer
Sing the Word of God set to music (as a means to get it into our heads) and then we sit for a moment in silence here at the Church/Studio.
When we come back we pick up where we left off last week in our verse by verse study.

So Paul, last week, was petitioning to King Agrippa II to believe in the Resurrection.

At this point he steps back into his biography and begins to admit that he himself had things against this Jesus of Nazareth, saying (at verse nine)

Acts 26.9-23
September 17th 2017
Milk

9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.
12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,
18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

So back to verse nine. After petitioning Agrippa and those in his audience to consider the resurrection of the dead, Paul sort of steps back and admits that there was a time when he too stood against Jesus and so he says:

9 I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

This begins Paul’s retelling of his conversion and he begins by rehearsing, (as he has done a number of times before) exactly how he came to know the Lord Jesus.

It’s funny, but even today the song remains the same for us.

I mean I have a story of how God revealed Himself and His Son to me. And you have a story, and my daughters have their stories, and one is not better than another.

Why?

Because each experience is respective to the person involved. Just imagine if the experience was cookie cutter for everyone. It would suggest that God is cookie cutter and would greatly smack in support of one true religion, wouldn’t it?

It would also convey to us the idea that God is not really aware of each of us intimately nor of our specific make-up or needs.

But when every single conversion story has its own narrative – with some very very different from others – God seems to be revealing to us that He knows us individually, that He respects our individual natures and make ups, and that He is, in fact, a personal God and not some corporate-minded scion who punches out conversions like Ford punches out cars.

Some of you have stories that have taken years to unfold. And perhaps you are still in process. Others of you have stories that unfolded in minutes.

There is no right way. And I would add that there is no wrong way, either. God is God, we are humans, and He can and will do as He pleases when it comes to reaching us with the light and truth.

I happen to think that in Paul’s day the way Jesus approached him was commensurate to the times and expectations of a Nation that was still an age of miracles, dreams and visions.

And I think if Paul had not had the type of experience he had then perhaps it may not have stuck.

But it did, and the rest is history. There is no need to encourage those who have had an immediate experience with God like Paul to encourage them but I always like to take a moment and encourage those who do not have the momentus, Pauline-like experiences.

Trust Him. All of us walk by faith and perhaps God’s call on your life is to never really have an experience but to simply be expected to have faith in what you have come to believe.

If we know anything from scripture we know that God does not like to be boxed in. Unfortunately for you those who have had a miraculous story like to tell it, and it often leaves those who haven’t with the feeling of spiritual inferiority.

Perhaps it’s the reverse, and God sees no reason to send you angels when perhaps you are closer to being one than the rest of us already.

In the midst of all the clamor give yourselves a break and simply walk in faith knowing that whatever you have received of Him it is purposeful . . . and right.

In any case, Paul commences here (one last time) to offer an account of his conversion whereby he presents the evidence that he was called of God to do what he had done.

He begins by saying that it was not because he was originally disposed to be a Christian, but instead he was violently and conscientiously opposed to Jesus of Nazareth.

Being convinced that Jesus was a fraud, Paul says that within his own self he believed that he ought to do what he did.

Perhaps if he had elaborated on the contents of his heart he would have said:

“I thought that I owed it to my country, to my religion, and to my God, to oppose in every manner possible the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be our Messiah.”

Though misdirected, we see that Paul was conscientious, and that a man may be conscientious even when engaged in enormous error.

And from this we learn that even in the presence of a good conscience people can be really wrong in their actions. Especially when religious beliefs are called into question.

I mean no small amount of really evil things have been done by people who genuinely believed that they ought to act because God would want them to.

So we must be extremely careful to appeal to sound scriptural principles, taken in context of time and place, before we choose to “act for God.”

The scripture makes this pretty easy on us when we think about it as ALL of the Law and the Prophets hang on the two great commandments – LOVE God AND love neighbor as ourselves.

They go hand in hand. So much so that I believe that if there is a doctrine or practice that does not support genuine, active, love (as it is described in 1st Corinthians 13) it might be considered an unacceptable doctrine or practice.

Perhaps in light of the two great commandments we can qualify ourselves and the things we have chosen to believe.

Suppose that as a teacher I decided it was important to teach you to really truly hate a certain action in the lives of others – for examples sake, let say that I really make an effort to preach against dancing.

Boy do I go after it – almost weekly – the evils of dancing. Before long our group becomes a group of anti-dancers. This causes us to not only write posts against dancing shows (like Dancing with the Stars) but we actually begin to point fingers at dancers themselves – and really ripping into them.

Does the doctrine contribute to love, we might all ask ourselves, and if it does not, with love being defined by scripture, then I think we have a built-in system of detection to tell us that the doctrine is faulty.

Similarly, if the doctrine does not effect our love then it might be considered a non-event position.

Being zealous for God Paul confesses that there were “many things” that he did that were contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

The problem is – and this is where it gets dicey – he could have also justified his behaviors as loving God and Man – under the Law.

This is why the New Testament definition of Christian love puts away the zealous actions of religionists like Paul because the love we are told to possess is

Longsuffering
Thinks no evil
Is kind
Patient
Humble etc.

So Paul went after the Christians “as much as possible.” He was not satisfied with just a few things – a few words, or purposes, or arguments – but he felt bound to do as much as possible to put down the new religion.

I would point out that this title that Paul uses here, “Jesus of Nazareth” is used twenty-one times in the New Testament and is one of the most popular ways to describe Him. Paul goes on (Verse 10)

10 Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.

We are aware of the details of these things Paul is describing but there is one revelation here that is new – he says:

“And when they were put to death.”

In the biblical account there is no record of any Christian being put to death except Stephen (which we covered in Acts 7)

Because he was a prominent Christian it is likely that he is mentioned in scripture but from this it appears that there were more.

To whom Paul, “gave his voice.”

The Syriac translation of the New Testament put this line this way:

“I joined with those who condemned them.”

I think we can safely say that from his heart Paul was inclined to murdering Christians. And it is from the place of our hearts that matters, right? (verse 11)

11 And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

This is an interesting passage. Did you catch it? In addition to punishing Christians in the synagogues, he says that he “compelled them to blaspheme.”

Now, Paul was a Christian when he was bearing this witness. And he was an ardent follower of God when he was persecuting Christians, so we KNOW that when Paul says that he caused the Christians to blaspheme, it HAD to have been again Christ and/or the Spirit of God because he would have never caused them to blaspheme the one true God, right? The one He believed in. So the blasphemy HAD to be against Jesus.

The Greek term “blasphemeo” does NOT mean it can only be done against God – it can mean against sacred things – but my point is that Paul considered his getting people to speak against Christ as a blasphemous act.

We can lay this in our foundations of faith – from the mouth of Paul, to speak against Christ or the things of Christ made known by the Holy Spirit is blasphemy.

In all probability he accomplished this by getting them to deny Him or call Him an imposter. But the point is Paul considered the actions blasphemous.

He adds, “and being exceedingly mad,” meaning he HATED and raged against Christians.

All reason was set aside.
All of his knowledge of the scripture – blind.
He wanted extermination.

So much so that he even says that he pursued them “unto strange cities,” or to places outside Judea.

Which leads us to his journey to Damascus (verse 12)

12 Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

And the story, one more time

13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.

Paul includes some things here in this recitation that are omitted from the version Luke records in Acts 9.

Perhaps he dwells on them here because he is being tried and wants to explain why he does what he does.

At verse 16 Paul says that Jesus also says to him:

16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose:

(Ready for the purpose that Jesus has appeared to Paul),

to make thee a minister (hoop-ay-ret-ace)
and a witness (martoos)
both of these things which thou hast seen,
and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

In the English Jesus has told Paul that he has done this to him to make him a minister but the Greek term translated minister means oarsman in the Greek – perhaps even better, it means a subservient oarsman.

I love that.

Ministers are nothing but people who are in the boat rowing under the direction of another.

To pure and total servanthood Jesus has called Paul.

And a martoos, which simply means a witness and is where we get our term, martyr or those who suffer especially by being put to death for their witness.

I have appeared unto you Paul to make you a sub-servant and a witness.

Witness of what? Jesus says:

1st both of these things which thou hast seen,
and
2nd of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;

There is a faction of people today – always have been – who criticize Paul and His writings.

But I would strongly suggest that without Paul we would not be very well informed on how Jesus’ work among His own translates to those who are gentiles.

Paul was the oarsman and the witness Jesus chose to bring all of this information forth – without him we would be lost relative to the who, what, where, when and why’s of Jesus life and death.

He would be a witness of the things he had seen and then Jesus says (in King James awkwardness)

“and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee,”

Meaning, and of those things that I will show you in the future. And these things would include (verse 17)

17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

In other words, you’re gonna be persecuted by your people (the Jews) and also the Gentiles – unto whom now I send thee,” but I will deliver you until you have completed what I want you to do.

So again, to verse 17

17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,

(and 18)

To open their eyes,
and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins,
and inheritance among them
which are sanctified by faith
that is in me.

Paul, I (Jesus said,) I am sending you to your brethren and the gentiles

(ON BOARD)

To open their eyes,
and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins,
and inheritance among them
which are sanctified by faith
that is in me.

So let’s go to the board because what we are reading is important but there are some things to understand about them contextually so we don’t get ourselves all discombobulated.

There is a lot going on right now about the Second Coming approaching us fast.

For many the solar eclipse, the hurricanes of late, unrest with Korea are certain signs that the Second Coming is upon us.

It’s a really important event in biblical Christianity because with it comes a whole bunch of things wrapping up.

If the Second Coming hits us (beginning Sept 23rd of this year as many are suggesting) then there will be a wrapping up of all thing relative to this entire world.

That is how the text is understood.

But, if the Second Coming occurred when Jesus and the apostles said it would, then we have to accept another view of scripture.

Let’s take what Paul has said here as an example:

Paul’s Job
PRIOR TO THE 70 AD DESTRUCTION

To gather as many as possible (from the House of Israel and from the Gentiles as PROPHESIED in the Old Testament) to be His bride before the closing of the doors and the wedding feast to begin!

Jesus said:
Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

Jesus said to His apostles:
Matthew 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

Our Job
POST 70AD DESTRUCTION
(Post His Coming – Fulfillment)
1st Corinthians 15

21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

To open their eyes

Paul was to preach to get them to see before it was too late, before destruction fell upon them and their fate sealed.

We seek to open eyes to Him so people can be liberated from bondage and live unto God. This is better than living to the self and it plants people in the garden of the Children of God hereafter.
and to turn them from darkness to light,

before it was too late.

We seek to have eyes opened to Him so people can be liberated from bondage and live unto God. This is better than living to the self and plants people in the garden of the Children of God.
and from the power of Satan unto God,

true as Satan and hell were still in effect.

Based on the above Satan and hell have been cast into the Lake of Fire so we are seeking to help people to turn from the power of dark and self.
that they may receive forgiveness of sins,

Upon seeing and repenting they were forgiven for their sins under the Law.

Sin has been forgiven. It’s now a matter of accepting and believing this as a means to have new life and to become His children. Of course sin still has its ugly effects, and does have the capacity to bind us and keep us ineffective.
and inheritance among them

As His brethren there was an inheritance awaiting those who receive Him.

As members of His body we will receive our inheritance which are based on sowing to the spirit over the flesh – another reason we share
which are sanctified by faith

True dat.

Same.
that is in me.

Only in Him.

Only in Him.

Now, reiterate the contents of 1st Corinthians 15

So Paul continues speaking to King Agrippa and says, wrapping it up:

Acts 26:19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should . . .

“repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.”

Metan-o-eh-o and Metanoia

That they should “change their mind” (metanoeho) and do works that show they “feel badly for the way they used to think” (metanoia).

We have talked a lot about repentance. It is always part of the Christian conversion but it must be taught rightly or else it will quickly become a perfunctory system of religion.

Certainly Paul was telling the Jews to repent from the mindset that allowed them to kill and reject the Messiah.

Change your mind about this and then show through your lives that you really mean it.

To the Gentiles, who had no law, however, repent (change your mind) is part and parcel of first having faith, believing, and accepting the message of Christ.

So Paul went and did as Jesus commanded. And he says (verse 21)

21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, (and he repeats his point that he opened with before King Agrippa) saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come

And what are those things? (verse 23)

23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.

This ends Paul’s speech before King Agrippa II. And we will continue with the response he gets back next week.

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