Agrippa Not Persuaded
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2024 · 21 April 2024
This is Paul’s encounter with Agrippa. Let me begin with just an introduction that may set our thoughts. What is our goal this year? We’re responsible to God. We have answers for people and we need to make them available. Any believer who walks in the Spirit is reproductive. If every one of us only won one person to Jesus Christ in 2024, what a fantastic impact we would have.
We’re committed to sharing the gospel boldly. If I’ve learned anything at all in the study of Acts, I’ve learned that you present Christ with boldness and fearlessness. Paul was bold, wasn’t he? And that he saw, as the directive in his life, to win somebody to Christ and mature them in the faith. A Christian who is not doing that is a contradiction. A Christian is a reproducer by definition.
And so as we study this passage, here is Paul, and he’s under all kinds of pressure. He’s a prisoner now. He is having to give his testimony over and over again, but every time he gives his testimony, in which he declares his innocence, and even though he’s innocent they won’t let him go because of Jewish pressure. His testimony is a presentation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Christian is a soldier who has a sword and the sword is for attacking. And the sword is the Word, and the world is the objective, and we go at it. We may have to fight through the demons to get there, but that’s the point. Paul here faces this King Agrippa. And in Acts 26 Paul begins his testimony. Now, Festus had no accusation because Paul hadn’t done anything wrong.
Agrippa came along with Bernice because they wanted to have good relationship. He was a vassal king, a nothing king. He nevertheless did order the temple worship and appoint the priests, so he had some position of leadership. So when Agrippa arrived Festus figured maybe this guy will pick something out of Paul’s testimony that will help me to have something to accuse him.
So Paul is here to defend himself. He is to speak to the issue of his imprisonment and the crimes that he is supposedly to have committed. But instead of it being a defensive, it is an attack and he attacks Agrippa. I mean he zeros in on Agrippa. And when he’s all done and Agrippa says, “Are you trying to convert me?” And he says, “Right, not only you but everybody else in this place.”
So Paul said, “Agrippa and Bernice, I was a zealous Jew and I was a Pharisee. I was catching Christians who believed in Jesus. One day I was walking down the road to Damascus and this happened. A light brighter than the sun hit me and everybody with me and we hit the ground. And I heard a voice, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
And I said, ‘Who are you Lord?’ And He said, ‘Jesus whom you persecute.’ And you know what happened Agrippa? Jesus then said to me, ‘Get up, get on your feet for I have appointed you as a pastor and a witness, and I want you to tell the things that you have seen. I have delivered you from the Jews and from the Gentiles to send you back to them and here’s your message,’”
Verse 18, “To open their eyes, turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith in Me.” I was literally transformed by Jesus. He is alive. And, out of heaven the living Christ spoke to me and blinded me and commissioned me to preach and told me what my message was.
Paul summarizes the transformation. And what he wants Agrippa to know is he is not a traitor, he is not a studied antagonist of Judaism. He has been victimized by almighty God, and a resurrected Messiah has transformed his life in an instant. Now that’s the sovereign act of God in the conversion of the apostle Paul. But I want you to notice something before we go any further.
Notice in verse 18 you have a tremendous pattern for the approach of evangelism. Where did the four spiritual laws come from? Basically, the right method of evangelism in its skeletal form could be taken right out of verse 18. First thing to do is conviction. Show them what they really are. So there must be an opening of their eyes. This is conviction, a recognition of sin and judgment.
The second thing, is illumination and turn them from darkness to light. So you have conviction then illumination. Then you have conversion. When the response comes they are turned from the power of Satan to the power of God. Taken out of the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness and given to God. And with that comes sanctification that they may receive forgiveness of sins.
They are made holy. The penalty is paid, the power of sin is broken, and their life is purified positionally. And so you have sanctification. And then you have promise, the inheritance among them who are sanctified. You tell them what’s in the future for them. So the approach of evangelism is simply conviction, illumination, conversion, sanctification, and then promise for the future.
And so Paul tells Agrippa and everybody else what he was called to do and at the same time gives them the gospel. So we see Paul’s testimony commencing. “Agrippa,” he says, “God did this to me. The living resurrected Christ did it.” Here comes the culmination of Paul’s testimony, notice, in any act of the sovereignty of God there is also the necessity for human will to respond.
We see his commitment to this call of God in verse 19-21, “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and were trying to kill me.”
For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple and wanted to kill me. Why did they want him dead? Because he was offering equal salvation to Gentiles. The Jews could not tolerate equality with Gentiles. And so Paul says, “They wanted me dead because I offered an equal salvation to Gentiles.” They wanted to kill me in the temple. That’s how he became a prisoner to begin with.
Obedience is the response that God asks. Now, this is part of the paradox of sovereignty and responsibility. God acts sovereignly to bring about His will, but He demands, within that sovereignty, a human response. When you say, “One day I committed myself to the Lord Jesus Christ.” You did it consciously, as an act of the will. Yet, the Bible said it was a sovereign act of God before the world began.
God sovereignly moves on your will, but your will has to be activated. Think about Moses in Exodus 4. God said, “Moses, I’m telling you to speak for me.” Moses says, “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” I stutter. And the Lord was very clear with him and He said, “Who made man’s mouth? Who made the deaf and who made the dumb and who made the blind? Have not I the Lord?”
Then there was Ezekiel. God says, “Ezekiel, go do this.” “No.” So God just picked him up and moved him. It says in Ezekiel 3, God just picked him up and he says, “My Spirit was kindled within me.” God just went “Um-hmm,” and put him where He wanted him, but he’s fighting it all the way and it caused him a lot unnecessary grief. Now God may just overrule you and you’ll suffer for it.
The worst thing that can happen though is God will say, “All right,” and abandon it. And then you spend your whole life being what you shouldn’t be, right? I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about service. I’m glad God did with me what He did. But I didn’t want to be in the ministry. I wanted to be an architect and I really fought it. And the Lord had to deal with me strongly.
What is obedience? Let me give you some things about obedience, give you some principles. Number one, obedience is a mark of conversion. If you’re saved, obedience should mark you. Secondly, it is a recognition of authority. When you obey you are saying Lord, You're in control and I am in submission. When you do not obey God you are playing God. And that is what goes on most times.
Thirdly, obedience is a characteristic of faith. Hebrews 11:8 says, “And Abraham obeyed God by faith.” When you disobey, you say God. I don’t trust you. Fourth, obedience is proof of love. Don’t tell God you love Him unless you obey. Jesus said, “If you love me you will keep My commandments. Whosoever keeps My commandments he it is that loves Me.”
Verse 22-23, “To this very day, I have had help from God, and I stand and testify to both small and great, saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would take place— 23 that the Messiah would suffer, and that, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.” Paul was converted in Damascus and started preaching in Damascus.
Paul says, “Hey Agrippa, the central hope of the Jew was the resurrection and the resurrected One. There is a living Messiah. There was a resurrection. The resurrection – resurrected one spoke to me. I saw His glory. I heard His voice. I could do nothing but obey. He commissioned me into His ministry. Instantly I obeyed. I began at Damascus and then at Jerusalem.
But following his capture he says, in verse 22, “I have had help from God,” He always was getting that. In Lystra they killed him outside the city. The Lord raised him from the dead. In Philippi they put him in jail, the Lord brought along an earthquake and let him out. And here you have the dichotomy of human effort and divine sovereignty. We work hard and at the same time it’s all His power.
Look at the consequence of Paul’s testimony. Agrippa didn’t say a thing. He just listened. Verse 24, “As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, “You’re out of your mind, Paul! Too much study is driving you mad.” Today we think much learning makes people intelligent. But in those days Festus says, “You’re crazy.” Festus couldn’t handle the resurrection.
The human mind gets to the place where it says, “Well if I can’t understand it, it just must be insane.” That’s the most supreme egoism. If you don’t understand it, it isn’t true. Well, so Paul in interrupted. I don’t know what he was going to say after that. But he didn’t say it because Festus stopped him. But Festus’ interruption just sets the stage. So now comes the invitation.
Verse 25-26, “But Paul replied, “I’m not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. On the contrary, I’m speaking words of truth and good judgment. 26 For the king knows about these matters, and I can speak boldly to him. For I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, since this was not done in a corner.” What things? The death and resurrection of Christ. That was common knowledge.
Verse 27, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe.” Here we are 25 years later and Agrippa is not dumb. He knows what the Christians taught. Agrippa, don’t you? You know there are people who believe there’s evidence for this.” Paul presented to Agrippa the whole gospel and now he just forces him to a conclusion that he probably wouldn’t have made on his own.
By the very fact that Agrippa didn’t say anything he acquiesced. The case is clear. The king knows it. Anybody who believes Moses, and anybody who believes historical fact must conclude that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. I’m not mad, Festus. King Agrippa knows the truth. You see how he makes Agrippa responsible. He wants to do for Agrippa what he wants him to do for himself.
Well Agrippa’s stuck. If Agrippa says, “Yes, I do believe the prophets,” then he has admitted that he believes Jesus is the Messiah and he’s in real trouble with his whole nation. If he says, “No, I don’t believe the prophets,” then he’s still in trouble with his nation. So he can’t say yes or no. Verse 28, “Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily?”
See, he avoids the question. Verse 29, “I wish before God,” replied Paul, “that whether easily or with difficulty, not only you but all who listen to me today might become as I am, except for these chains.” That’s real honest. You know, Paul wasn’t bitter. They had everything in the world but they had nothing, right? “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and loses his own soul?”
That’s sincere evangelism with love. How could you resist that kind of impact message and how could you resist that kind of concerned love? Verse 30-31, “The king, the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them got up, 31 and when they had left they talked with each other and said, “This man is not doing anything to deserve death or imprisonment.”
Verse 32, Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.” Oh you dirty coward. You see what he did? They could have let him go. There wasn’t any reason to appeal to Caesar now. There wasn’t any case. Caesar hadn’t heard a word about it. Christianity is not a heresy. Christianity is a spiritual relationship to the living God. Let us pray.