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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the Bible and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts. We’re going to look at chapter 26 this morning. Paul was in a heap of trouble, but everything was under control. Always remember that just because everything seems like it’s followed apart doesn’t mean that God is not in control. God doesn’t know what’s going on. God does know. What I want you to do is we go through this, see how much of your own personal life can relate to things that are happening to the Apostle Paul.

And sometimes you can see the providence of God, the hand of God, moving behind the scenes. It’s a wonderful thing. Sometime in your personal life, when you’re going through the storm, you can’t always see it. But sometimes after it’s all over with and you look back and you can say, my Lord sure was good to me. Well, I can see how the Lord brought me through this. But if you’ll notice there in chapter 25 and verse 24, it just kind of gives us a little introduction to the next chapter.

And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present, with us, you see this man, among whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem and also here, crying that he ought not to live….. any longer. I guess they thought Paul had lived long enough. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him, of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my Lord.

Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and especially before the O King Agrippa, that after examination had I might have somewhat to write. For it seemed to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not with all to signify the crimes laid against him, especially now that they knew that Paul was a Roman citizen. So they had no right to bind him, to scourge him, or even put him in jail without a cause, and they couldn’t find the cause.

Only that the Jews were going to kill them in the chief captain in order to save Paul’s life delivered him out of their hands and Paul appealed to Caesar because he didn’t want the Jewish people to sit in judgment upon him. But what’s the charge? Well, they want to kill him. Well, what’s the charge? Why did they want to kill him? Well, because he talked about the resurrection, mainly the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So there’s most of those that were in the Sanhedrin that did not agree with Paul, and so they wanted him dead.

In chapter 26, Paul is now going to go before King Agrippa. Remember the Lord had promised him that he was going to have an opportunity to witness before kings. Well that time has come and God has opened up doors and even when Christ was talking to his disciples in the days to come he says, don’t worry about what you’re going to have to say. He says, I’ll give it to you in the hour that you needed. But in verse one, didn’t King Agrippum, so did Nepal, Thawart permitted to speak for thyself.

Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippum, because I shall answer for myself this day before the touching all the things where I am accused of the Jews, especially because I know the to be expert all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. Now he knew that King Agrippa knew the Jewish law. He knew what was right and what was wrong. So he wasn’t a novice.

He had been there for a while. Paul wanted to make his appeal. Paul was not only seeking to defend himself against the accusation. He was also looking for the opportunity to preach the gospel to anybody that he could. He actually wanted to try to King Agrippa to Christ. And I think King Agrippa knew that. So Paul wasn’t just talking to them, he was trying to win. So he makes a statement here in verse four, my manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among my own nation at Jerusalem know all the Jews.

They knew what I had done as a youth, how I’ve lived, my religious upbringing, my devotion to the nation of Israel, being a Pharisee. He says, everybody knew, because none of this was done in the corner. So he says there in verse 5, which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most strictest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers.”

In other words, I believe the Scriptures. In the Scriptures, in the Old Testament Scriptures, the Scriptures talks about the Messiah that was to come, how that he would be crucified and he would die and so forth and come back from the dead. He said, all All that was prophesied in the Scriptures. He was just simply saying, hey, it happened. Am I wrong because I believe the Jewish Scriptures? The Old Testament. So he says there in verse 7, unto which promised our 12 tribes instantly serving God or intently, serving God day and night, hope to come.

So it’s not only me, all the 12 tribes. That’s why I don’t believe there’s a lost in tribes. Paul is talking here and it doesn’t say that he has a lost. You’ll hear a lot about that there and they went into Europe and then they went into England and then now they come over here. And America is the new Israel. No, it is not. That’s junk. That’s not the Bible. That’s somebody who’s got an agenda that’s unscriptural. Always trying to steal things away from the covenants promises that belong to Israel.

But anyway, he says here concerning the hope that was to come, for which hopes say here in verse 7, King of Griffin, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought, anything incredible unto you, that God should raise the dead? I mean, if there is a God, can’t God raise the dead? Didn’t God promise in the Old Testament and God would raise the dead? And he makes the statement here in verse 9, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

And that’s what he did. He persecuted. He had him killed, put men and women, put in them in prison. All the things that he did. He says, everybody knows what I did. So he says there in verse 10, which thing I also did in Jerusalem and many of the saints that I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest. When they were put to death, I gave my voice against them, and I punished them often in every synagogue and compel them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even under strange cities.

Whew, he was a bad man, wasn’t he? He’s admitting to all the things that he did because the chief priests told him to do it, and he did it. Verse 12, whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. At midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven. Now he’s given his personal testimony again. See, that’s It’s one of the most powerful things you have going for you, and that’s your personal testimony, how you came to know Christ as your Savior.

Because it’s a story, and it’s what happened to you. You’re not preaching to somebody else, you’re just telling them what happened to you. That’s why you should always learn how to share your testimony. But he says here in verse 13, at mid-day O King, I saw in the way of light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. When we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecuted?

Stop me. It’s hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he says, I am Jesus whom thou persecuted. All Paul is doing is just telling the truth. He’s telling what happened. But he’s also getting a chance to tell the gospel. And he says, this was the hope of the fathers, all those Old Testament saints, this is what they look forward to. They yearn for this, all the whole 12 tribes of Israel.

And so now they want to put them to death. What? Because I simply believe what it said. And in verse 16 says, but rise and stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared in the thee for this purpose. Now here’s where you and I are supposed to understand, just like whenever you the book of Jeremiah in chapter 1, where the Bible says that God did the same thing for Jeremiah. And he says, before you was in the womb, he said, I knew you.

To believe that you were not only placed here by God, but there was a purpose in your being here at the time that you’re here. Did you ever wonder why you weren’t born in some other age in your period of time? God designed you for this period of time in which you live. And he told Paul, he said, I have appeared on the, for this purpose, I’ve got a reason. This is what every Christian ought to really understand is, there’s something that’s on the inside of you that says, you know, God has something special for me.

God wants me to do something. So serving the Lord is seeking to find what is that purpose that God has for my life. and believing that. Otherwise, if you don’t really believe you have a definite purpose in life to live, you really don’t have much to live for. But to live for the Lord, and whatever it is that He has for you, is one of the most powerful greatest things that you can ever experience in your whole life. To know and to believe that God is using me where I am, and regardless of what happens.

Look what he says. He said, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou have seen and those things in the which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people, from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes. Remember now the Jews did not like Gentiles, but he’s letting them know that the Lord appeared to me. And remember the Pharisees, well they They believed in spirit. They believed in the resurrection.

They believed in angel. And whether or not an angel or spirit appeared on him, we don’t know, but we don’t want to be fighting against that. Paul used this argument to split the Sanhedrin. And so they began an argument. This is why he wound up where he is. He says, I was sent to the Gentiles, which the Jews did not like, but he did it. In verse 18, and here’s what his goal was. You ought to look at this.

this is one awesome verse. You talking about a purpose in your life? He says, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive. And here’s those three little words, forgiveness of sin. Did you know that forgiveness of sins is salvation? Being saved means you have been forgiven of your sins, plural, all of them. That means that you don’t have to pay for your sins because God forgave you of your sins.

And the only way he can forgive you of sin is that Christ had to die and pay for that sin so that God can be just when he justifies the unjust. So he says that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Now, when you take and put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are made pure and holy. And whenever he was reading it down through here talking to you, he talked about those saints.

I’d perseated those saints because he knows now that’s what they are. They were made pure and holy and set apart for the Lord. And so he says here in verse 19, We’re upon O King Agrippa. I was not disobedient under this heavenly vision. God gave him a vision and without a vision, people perish. Did you know if you don’t have a vision, your life is zero? You’ve got to have a vision. You’ve got to have a purpose for living.

You’ve got to see what God wants you to do. And then the people that you’re supposed to reach without a vision, the people perish. But without a vision, so do you. Now you may have eternal life. You’re going to have it when you die, but you’ll waste your life when you don’t have a vision. And there’s a lot of people today who live their Christian life without a purpose to live. Just going in circles. The word of God is designed to challenge and to motivate us, concerning the purpose that God has for us.

Look at verse 20. He said, but showed first unto them of Damascus and of Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, change their mind. No man’s religion can save him. The Judaism couldn’t save him. All the religions of the Gentiles can’t save. So everybody is to change their mind and turn to the Lord. Trust Christ as their Savior. Look what He says here. He makes a statement.

And do words fit for repentance. In other words, if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, should you live like it? I believe I should. I also believe that the fruit that’s mentioned in the book of Matthew chapter seven is talking about the fruit of your lips, giving thanks, fruit of your lips giving praise. By the testimony that we have, what do you trust in end to get you to heaven? You see, I believe that only way I can tell if a man is really saved or not is by what does he trust in end to get him to heaven.

Can an atheist go to church? Yes, can you wear a three-piece suit? Can he carry a Bible and be as lost as the hound dog in the end of a suitbone? Well, you might look at him and say, well, I know he’s saved. No, you don’t. He can even sing in the choir. You watch everybody’s going to be watching everybody in the choir this morning. But you judge, brother or not. I believe that if I know Christ is my Savior, and if I love the Lord, that I should have fruit in my life, I believe that if I love the Lord, it says, if you love the Lord, it shall be known of you.

And Christ says, how can you love the Father when whom you can’t see, if you can’t love people that you can see. But look what he says. In verse 21, for these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me. So Paul is telling them why they wanted to kill him. He’s defending himself. But do you think he’s also explaining the gospel. Look what else he says. In verse 22 and 23 are two great verses because later on he asked King Grippa, he says, I would the God that you would believe it and that not only you but everybody who hears me this day would believe it.

Now, I want you to look there in verse 22. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continued unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come. Get verse 23, and this is what he said, that Christ should suffer, and he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. So he doesn’t apologize for this.

He could want to kill him just because he wants to reach the Gentiles. The Jews hated the Gentiles. But in these two verses, tells you an awful lot about Paul’s message, what he was preaching, what he was about. And he says, all I’m doing is telling you what the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied. So Paul knew prophecy, but it was always around the gospel and now and reaching people for the the Lord so that they would hear and understand and believe.

In verse 24, and as he thus spake for himself, Festus, which said with a loud voice, Paul thou art be side thyself. Much learning hath doth make thee mad. He’s called him the madman. This isn’t a court of law here. But notice what he says. In verse 25, but he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness for the king, and he’s talking to King Agrippa. Festus is the one that wanted him to talk to King Agrippa, because Festus didn’t know what to write in order to send Paul to Rome.

So he said, we got to have a here. We got to find out, what are we accusing this man of? What crime has he done? So he says he’s mad. He’s a mad man. Paul says, I’m not a mad man. He says here in verse 26, for the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely, for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him, for this thing was not done in a corner.

And then get this verse. King Agrippa, believe us thou the prophets, I know that thou be leavest. Does that mean that he must be saved? No. He’s talking about what he had mentioned up there in verse 22 and 23 about what the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would come and rise from the dead. You see, you can believe that it’s going to happen. Many did, but that’s not trusting him as their Savior. And that’s why he says here in verse 28, then a grip of Seton to Paul, almost the opportunity to be a Christian.

Now wait a minute, if Calvinism is true, how could anybody be almost persuaded? As you see, you can’t be almost persuaded unless God chose you and gave you the faith. So what did God do? Give him some and then yanked it away from him? If he was one of the chosen ones, what he would believe? And if he wasn’t one of the chosen ones, why did he want to be? Or even desire to be? Or almost persuaded to be?

I see a problem with the teachings of Calvinism. I am not a Calvinist. I do believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, paid for all the sins of everybody so that everybody can have eternal life. And it is responsibility of God’s people to take the gospel into all the world. And verse 29 says, and Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and all together, such as I am except for these bonds.

When he had thus spoken, the king rose up and the governor and Bernays as was his wife. And they that set with them, and when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves saying, this man, talking about Paul, doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. Then said a gripper, unto fastest, this man might have been said at liberty if he had not appealed unto Caesar. He could have been a free man. Paul didn’t want to be free, not in Israel, because if he was free, what would the Jews do to him?

That he got him and killed him. So by him appealing to Caesar, now the government has to pay all of his expenses to go to Rome. And God has already told him, you’re going to Rome. And you are going to bear witness, just like you did here, you’re going to do it there. You see, God is moving behind the scenes and making all this stuff work out. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing that God has done. So that is the end of Acts chapter 26.

Take your Bible and turn now to the book of 1 John. The book of 1 John, 1 John in chapter 1. And I want you to notice that when we talk about serving the Lord, we’re talking about our walk with God. When we talk about our walk with God, you have to discuss the walk with man. Because you see, our fellowship is truly with the Father. So in verse John in chapter 1, notice what the apostle John has to say.

And he says there in verse 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands of handled of the word of life. Talk about we saw God. Jesus Christ is God. We saw Him. He was manifest to us. We touched Him. We heard Him. We walk with Him. We know Him. And so He says in verse 3, that which we have seen and heard declare, oh we unto you.

You see that’s really all God wants any of us to do is just to declare to others what we’ve seen and heard. And he says that he also may have, and here’s a word that’s very good fellowship with us. He said, what’s fellowship? That’s two fellows in a ship. And you have to kind of get along, or you’re out to vote too much and somebody going to fall out. He said, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ.

See if our fellowship between me and my heavenly Father, if that is right this way. I don’t have to worry about it this way. This will take care of itself. Because he, when you walk with the Lord, God says, don’t say, I am in fellowship with the Lord. I am in harmony with my Heavenly Father. I am walking with my Father if you’re walking in the flesh. Does everybody have an old sinful nature? Yeah, you’ve got one. And if you have an old sinful nature, and if you walk in the flesh, and how do you know when you’re walking in the flesh?

the hatred and the envy and the jealous and bitterness and all those things and list a whole bunch of in the book of Galatians in chapter 5. So if you’re having that in your light then you know that you’re walking in the flesh. But the Lord says, He is light. Walk in the light. That’s the new birth. So you got two of them. One is flesh and one is spirit. And so God wants every one of us to walk in the light.

And he says, our fellowship is with the Father. And if you have fellowship and you’re right with the Lord, then that’s the power that you need to be right with other people. And see if that’s missing and you’re not right with Him, you’re not going to be right with people. And if you’re right with the Lord, you see, people don’t have to always love you and appreciate you. You have all the strength and grace that you need from Him.

His joy, His love, His peace is all you need to keep going and to stay strong. You see a lot of Christians want to use other people as a reason not to be faithful to the one who loved them, the one who died for them. So So they have excuses. That’s not what God wants. So He says in verse 4, And these things right we unto you that your joy may be for. God wants every one of His children to have joy, full joy.

And one thing that will ruin your walk with the Lord, and that is sin in your life that you tolerate. That you don’t call it what it is, you just overlook it. It’s not as bad as you think. Therefore you make excuses for yourself. So God says that whenever we do that, then the truth is not in us. We’re not walking according to truth. We’re being deceived and we’re lying to ourselves. You’d be surprised what we do as Christians.

We can be filled with envy and bitterness and hate, all these things jealousy. But when it comes to the Lord, You can’t fool God. Do you want God to bless you? You want His peace and His love and His joy? Then you need to confess things in your life that are not right between you and Him. And that’s why in verse 9, if we believers confess our sins, a lost man doesn’t confess his sins to be saved. He simply confesses he is a sinner.

He confesses he is an apple tree. You and I have to confess the apples, the things that we do against our Heavenly Father, since we’ve been saved. He says, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and do cleanses from all in righteousness. So this verse is excellent for the child of God who wants to have good, clean fellowship between Him and His Father, because sin can do an awful lot of damage and it can rob us of a lot of joy and a lot of happiness in our life.

Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy.

There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771, or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Man. The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634.

And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Tada can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.