A Surrendered Heart - Acts 26
Matters of the Heart: Proverbs 4:20-23 • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
And
23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Paul’s context: In prison in Caesarea for 2 years. Almost 30 years have passed since his conversion on the way to Damascus.
Arrested in Temple in Jerusalem, Jews who had opposed his mission in area of Ephesus and Thessalonica.
Paul speaks in his own defense, but at story of his conversion and commission to the gentiles, ppl start shouting him down.
Ch 23 - Plot to kill him, tribune sends him to Caesarea in the middle of the night under huge armed guard, to Felix the governor
Felix, knowing a bit about Christianity, and married to Drusilla (Jewish, sister of Agrippa II), keeps him in jail for 2 years but makes sure he is easily accessible by friends, often summons him.
Festus succeeds Felix, goes to Caesarea and orders Paul be brought out, the Jews ask him to send Paul back to Jerusalem. Paul knows they plan to put him to death one way or the other if he goes back, so he appeals to Caesar
As a Roman citizen accused under Roman law, had the right to do so.
King Agrippa II arrives with his other sister, Bernice, and Festus discusses the situation. Felix left him a puzzle - Paul is accused by the chief priests and elders, but it seems like the whole matter surrounds this fellow Jesus, whom Paul says is alive. In short, they’re asking for the death penalty for what seems to Festus to be obscure theological reasons. He has to send Paul to Rome, but he needs to send word with him. Why is he being held in the first place? What’s the situation?
So as the scene opens at the end of chapter 25, Agrippa and Bernice enter in style - with an entourage of VIPs. Paul would have been in his sixties, brought in chains to stand before the king in his own defense.
But how did Paul get here?
When we look back to his youth and pre-conversion adulthood, young Saul would not have imagined this would be his place.
He learned at the feet of Gamaliel, the greatest Pharisee of his generation. But young Saul was more than just a Bible scholar. He quotes Greek and Roman poets as easily as you quote Star Wars. When he wants to, he writes like a Rhetorician, with precision and logic that astonish readers in every generation. He not only understands the Old Testament Law, but Roman legal procedures. His defense here in chapter 26 follows the Roman legal forms, but uses them not just to demonstrate his innocence, but also to proclaim the Gospel at the same time.
If he had not been called out of darkness into the light of Christ, he almost certainly would have been a household name anyway. But he would have done so without chains, without shipwreck, without poverty, without beatings and death threats and stonings. And without Jesus. Without eternal life and without any truly meaningful legacy.
But in Acts 26, we discover a man who has lived for 30 years in surrender to Jesus Christ. In those 30 years, he has discovered that there’s nothing better than to stop kicking and start walking where God leads.
When we looked at Proverbs 4:23, I said that what goes into the heart determines what flows out.
Org. Sentences: Acts 26 in 4 sections, and we’ll see that the words of Jesus changed Paul forever.
Q. How does the surrendered heart learn to trust Jesus?
I. Every Christian is a former enemy who surrendered to the LORD (vv1-15)
I. Every Christian is a former enemy who surrendered to the LORD (vv1-15)
Paul begins his defense with a few respectful words for Agrippa, and makes it clear that he’s addressing himself to the King, asking for patience. Then, in verse 4-8, he lays out the basics of the case:
His accusers know him. If they were honest, they’d say they knew him to be a devout Pharisee from his youth. The same promises from God that they claim, the same hope that they say they lean on, that’s the thing they want to use against him.
That’s what Paul has been saying all along, ever since they started trying to kill him. He says, “The resurrection is what we’ve always been hoping in. As a Pharisee, I grew up pinning my hopes on the fact that God would raise us up to eternal life in the Resurrection at the last day. But now that I say that Resurrection started with Jesus, all of a sudden, they want me dead.”
His question in verse 8 puts a fine point on it <<READ 8>>: in other words, “You believed in the resurrection till someone rose from the grave.”
But Paul doesn’t ask the question because he doesn’t understand; he asks it because he does.
Verses 9-11 retell how Paul first responded to the Gospel. In his Pharisaical zeal, he made good on his convictions. Paul himself did what his accusers are now doing. He threw Christians in prison, he voted for them to be put to death, he went from synagogue to synagogue and just like his accusers, he chased them to foreign cities. The chief priests who came down to Caesarea may even have been the children of the chief priests who had given Paul his marching orders.
But look at what happened, in verses 12-18: <<READ 12-18>>
The thing that Paul wants his hearers to realize - Agrippa, Festus, Bernice, VIPs, guards, even his accusers - the thing he wants them to see is that what he thought was faith was actually fury, what he thought was zeal was actually folly, so God knocked him down.
In the midst of his sin, he saw a light and heard a voice, and knew he was defeated. Throughout the book of Acts, Paul recounts his conversion, and each time, he includes different parts of the story, but every single time, he reports verbatim the first words of his conqueror:
“SAUL SAUL, why do you persecute me.” And each time, he gives his response the same way: “Who are you, Lord?”
There was no battle, no resistance, no question: Whoever this is, it is the Lord. But unless he was in the habit of persecuting followers of some other faith, perhaps he asked the question already fearing he knew the answer...
The reason that Paul, or Saul to use his Hebrew name, the reason he came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, and that He was the fulfillment of all his Pharisaical hopes of Resurrection, was because Jesus had won.
And Paul knows that every believer is a sinner conquered by grace.
Jesus is in the business of taking back His world from the devil, and He does it by saving sinners. Every Christian is a surrendered former enemy.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Or to put it another way,
Ephesians 2:1–5 (ESV)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
We don’t all persecute Christians before we get saved, but everyone - Jews and Gentiles, Romans and kings and commoners, children and adults - everyone is born into spiritual death and wrath.
But think about the hope that comes from knowing this. If Jesus can save Paul, then Agrippa wasn’t out of reach. Even Paul’s accusers were save-able.
Who seems furthest from the LORD, least likely to be rescued? Pray for the King of kings to initiate a Divine interruption. He is able.
And friend, if you are not yet a Christian, I have to wonder why not. A heart of wisdom will surrender to Him.
II. The surrendered heart stops kicking and starts following Christ (vv14-23)
II. The surrendered heart stops kicking and starts following Christ (vv14-23)
<<READ 14-18>>
Look again at verse 14. “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”
It’s an agricultural phrase. Harness your donkey to your cart, climb up onto the seat, and then poke him with your pointy stick, and instead of moving, he kicks at the stick.
It’s a picture of folly and stubbornness. "Hard” here doesn’t mean “difficult.” It means “hardened.” It’s the same word that comes into play in the Old Testament, when the LORD calls Israel “stiff-necked,” or “hard-hearted.”
And the word “kick” is extremely rare in the Bible, but there’s a related word in Deut 32:15, in the Song of Moses. He retells the story of Israel, including the Exodus. But in spite of God’s perpetual guidance, Israel turned away.
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
Paul hears Jesus loud and clear. His persecution is a stiff-necked, stubborn forsaking of the God he claims to serve. It’s the opposite of what he thinks it is. It’s the opposite of wisdom. It’s folly. Notice:
14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
Jesus wastes no time. He tells Paul exactly what to do. He’s the Lord, and Paul is going to be a servant and witness.
And Paul surrenders. He stops kicking, and follows the Lord.
He preached repentance and faith in Jesus to everyone - Jew and Gentile, just like Jesus commanded.
And he discovers along the way that Jesus is a trustworthy LORD.
<<READ 19-23>> (emphasize “TO THIS DAY”)
Notice how Christ promised to deliver Paul back in vv16-17? He’s done it, faithfully. Paul sees God’s grace in every step.
He said he’s blessed to get to talk to Agrippa, and in spite of all the fury and danger he faced on every side, God has been his help.
In effect, the man in chains looks at the man with the crown and says, “Mr King, actually, I’m the one in this room with real blessing, because I belong to Jesus.”
The surrendered heart recognizes the truth: if God is for us, who can be against us? If the LORD tells me He will be with me, what do I have to fear?
APPLY
Have you found Jesus to be a trustworthy LORD?
The surrendered heart will find it to be so. Every step, you will find that He is your help.
In my lifetime, I’ve seen politicians, newspapers, TV journalists, and even, on occasion, friends, prove to be untrustworthy. Even the best of them make rotten lords.
Wisdom teaches us that there are no good lords except Jesus.
<<PROV 3:5-6>>
So stop kicking, stand up, and go where He leads. You can trust that He will be the LORD who HELPS His people.
III. The surrendered heart has Good News to tell and nothing to fear (vv24-31)
III. The surrendered heart has Good News to tell and nothing to fear (vv24-31)
In verse 24, Festus has had enough. Paul’s defense was tightly reasoned. His brilliance is obvious. But just as Festus had said before he brought Paul out, it didn’t make any sense to him.
It’s important to remember that Paul has been addressing himself to Agrippa, who considered himself an observant Jew, not Festus. To Festus, a Roman new to Judea, Paul must have sounded like a man from another universe. Here’s a master of rhetoric, poetry, philosophy, but everything he says revolves around totally foreign concepts, like Resurrection, Messiah, Moses and the Prophets.
It’s like the first time you see a Chemistry equation. It looks like algebra, but the symbols are wrong, and there are way too many letters.
Paul is living out the truth of what he said in
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
But Paul presses on. He was mad once, like insane with rage, but now, he’s the opposite, and he turns back to Agrippa, who he knows must be familiar with all these things. He concludes again with yet another master-stroke. <<READ 27>>
Think for a moment. If Agrippa says he believes, Paul will say he must agree with what Paul already said in verse 23, that the Prophets and Moses said <<READ v23>>
But if he says he doesn’t believe the Prophets, then he would be a worse blasphemer than Paul in the eyes of the Jews.
But even more importantly, he’s driven the wedge into the log to the splitting point. If you believe the prophets, then you should believe Jesus. It’s the decision point. Just as Jesus Himself had said,
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.
And Agrippa is astonished. Paul is not just trying to prove his innocence; he’s evangelizing to the king. And not just to the king. <<READ v29>>
It’s just like he said in verse 22. “God’s the One who helped me get here, so I am here to do what HE sent me for. To testify to both small and great - to the KING and the GOVERNOR, and to the servant standing there behind the door.”
See, the surrendered heart realizes that God's help is help for the mission. Even the chains were evidence of God’s help. If his mission is to testify to small and great, it turns out that being chained up in Caesarea gave him unusual access to both. How could Paul have preached to Agrippa, Bernice, Festus, and earlier to Felix on multiple occasions, if he hadn’t been in chains?
Back in Acts 20, Paul told the elders from Ephesus, who came to see him in Miletus,
22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
But Paul trusted Jesus anyway, and kept going.
The surrendered heart trusts the LORD, even when it looks like you’re walking into a trap. And the surrendered heart knows that it’s ok to look crazy in front of the VIPs if it means you get to proclaim the Gospel to the king. Because the surrendered heart realizes its purpose lies not in earthly advantage, or adulation from men. Bethel, your purpose is like Paul’s - to be servants and witnesses to all that Jesus has said. So that all who hear, in a short time or a long time, would come to know Him.
Three times, Paul uses the word “light” in his defense. First, on the road to Damascus in verse 13, Christ confronts Paul in the light. And then, He tells Paul that his mission is: <<READ 18>>
And again, in verses 22-23, he says that his calling is to proclaim the same thing the prophets had said would come to pass - <<READ 23>>
Paul sees that even his accusers are in the darkness, just like he was, and they need the light. His prayer in verse 29 is that even his accusers, even Festus who calls him crazy, that all of them would turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and be saved by faith in the Messiah Jesus.
It was worth losing everything, worth losing his place among the Rabbis, worth every beating, worth losing even his freedom. As he says in
5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
But look how the chapter ends. <<READ 30-32>>
Have you ever read this before and thought, “Poor Paul”? That seems to be what Agrippa is thinking - he’s done nothing, he’s wrongly accused, too bad he appealed to Caesar; you could have set him free! But now you have to keep him locked up and then ship him off to Rome.
It looks like a tactical mistake. But just like his chains gave him an audience with Felix and Festus and Agrippa, now the bureaucratic red tape does something unexpected:
Before he even got to Jerusalem, he told his friends that he had to make his way to Rome. When Paul wrote his Letter to the Romans, he said he was continuously asking God to let him make it to Rome.
And in Acts 23, after he was arrested in Jerusalem,
11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.”
From a human standpoint, Paul’s appeal to Caesar might seem like a mistake. But Jesus uses it to get Paul to Rome and testify to the Gospel there.
A surrendered heart won’t necessarily look
Every step of the way, Paul remains the servant and witness. He’s not kicking against the goads, but he’s still the donkey pulling the Gospel cart.
Conclusion
Conclusion
A surrendered heart is a tonic for the dangerous sin of pride. The surrendered heart says, “Jesus, not me, drives the cart. His mission is mine. He’s the Almighty, the LORD, the Savior, and I can trust Him.
“I will go where the LORD leads, trust what He says even when I can’t see, and walk in step with His Spirit. Who knows? Maybe He’ll bring me before a king or something so I can testify.
“But if He has promised to give me the words to say and help me then, then surely He will help me testify today, around the dinner table and on Tuesday at lunch.”
Does that seem like a trap? So what if it is? The crazy, darkened world tells us it’s crazy to believe in Resurrection, just like in the 1st century. They say it’s crazy to trade your career for Missions, or to orient your life around Jesus instead of yourself. Have you figured out yet that the Festuses of the world aren’t the best judges of sanity?
Having Jesus is better than anything you lose to get Him. What you gain is better than what you pay.
His help is better than the praise and adulation of people.
So if it’s a trap, pray that the Lord would make it a trap with a testimony at the end. If they call you crazy, pray that He would use your crazy to make them Christians.
Don’t fear, Christian. You have the light. They need Him. You can trust Him.