Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Standing Tall as Paul Stood │ Msg 1922

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Standing Tall as Paul Stood │ Msg 1922 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Go back to that hymn for just a moment. Would
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Speaker 1: you turn to number three? I think it's the second stanza.
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Speaker 1: It refers to the cherubim and the seraphim that fall
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Speaker 1: down before him. It's good to know what we sing.
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Speaker 1: In the Hebrew language, the I-M ending is plural. So
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Speaker 1: if it's a cherub that's an angel, then the plural
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Speaker 1: for cherub is cherubim. Seraph Seraph means flame. And the
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Speaker 1: flaming angels, in plural, seraphim, flood the throne of God,
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Speaker 1: according to Isaiah chapter 6. And they have six wings.
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Speaker 1: With two, they cover their faces. With two, they cover
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Speaker 1: their feet. And with two, they fly. Isn't that magnificent?
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Speaker 1: And the throne room of God is full of these
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Speaker 1: worshiping seraphim. Angels are named in other places. Michael is
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Speaker 1: one of them. And yet they are rarely named and
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Speaker 1: they are rarely if ever seen, but they invisibly adore
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Speaker 1: the Father and they witness our worship and they learn
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Speaker 1: from us. There's an old gospel song that ends, holy,
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Speaker 1: holy is what the angels sing. And I expect to
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Speaker 1: make the courts of heaven ring. But when I sing
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Speaker 1: redemption story, they will fold their wings For angels never
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Speaker 1: felt the joy that my salvation brings. Let's pray. I
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Speaker 1: want to thank you this morning, Father, for the presence
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Speaker 1: of art, for the arts you have created. You have
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Speaker 1: put together all of the of the theories of song
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Speaker 1: and of music. And long before there ever was an earth,
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Speaker 1: you filled the stellar spaces with the singing of the
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Speaker 1: stars together. Thank you for instruments that express your praise.
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Speaker 1: In the ancient days, there were instruments, and in these days,
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Speaker 1: thank you for fingers that play notes and for lips
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Speaker 1: that play horns and for hearts that make music from
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Speaker 1: stringed instruments and for vocal cords that sing your songs.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Father, for loving us enough to get beyond
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Speaker 1: the functional and the practical and lifting our spirits to
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Speaker 1: the place where our soul's deepest needs are met in
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Speaker 1: words written by poets and and lyricists who know how
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Speaker 1: to say what we feel in ways better than we
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Speaker 1: could express them. Thank you, Father, for giving us a
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Speaker 1: place inside, away from the harshness of the weather, that
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Speaker 1: we might gather and turn our hearts to you. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for loving us, though we are so often unlovely,
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Speaker 1: Thank you for calling us to yourself when we weren't
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Speaker 1: even looking. Thank you for helping us make sense out
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Speaker 1: of things that seem senseless. And purpose out of the purposeless.
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Speaker 1: And meaning beyond the shame and heartache of sin. And
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Speaker 1: thank you now, Father, that you have granted us, above
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Speaker 1: all other creatures, the ability to give now. something to you.
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Speaker 1: Out of the abundance which you constantly provide, shelter over
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Speaker 1: our head, clothing for our bodies, food for our stomachs,
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Speaker 1: great literature for our minds, encouragement for our hearts, you
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Speaker 1: provide us with a wage, a living. And it's out
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Speaker 1: of the abundance of that we have the joy of giving,
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Speaker 1: not out of obligation, but out of joy. And we
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Speaker 1: do it now because we want you to know how
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Speaker 1: greatly we love you and how deeply thankful we are
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Speaker 1: for the arts and people about us and family and
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Speaker 1: friends and laughter and forgiveness through Christ who loved us
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Speaker 1: and gave himself for us. In his strong name, I pray.
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Speaker 1: And all of his people said, Amen. We're engaged in
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Speaker 1: an in-depth study of the life of Paul. We first
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Speaker 1: met him at Tarsus, and he was known as Saul
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Speaker 1: of Tarsus, same man. But after converting to Christ, he
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Speaker 1: became Paul the Apostle. And we have in most recent
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Speaker 1: days sort of focused on some of the Well, the
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Speaker 1: areas of his life where we might find a sense
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Speaker 1: of identity. For example, we have traveled as Paul traveled,
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Speaker 1: not the same places, but we've learned how he traveled
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Speaker 1: and what was involved in traveling well. We've seen Paul
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Speaker 1: preach on Mars Hill, the Areopagus, and we've learned his
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Speaker 1: technique and how he taught and his skill in communication.
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Speaker 1: We then looked at how he leads. learning leadership skills
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Speaker 1: from how Paul led, and then responding to hardship as
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Speaker 1: Paul responded. Most recently, we have thought about thinking straight
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Speaker 1: like Paul thought, and this last time, handling criticism and
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Speaker 1: dealing with it like Paul dealt with it. All of
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Speaker 1: this not to suggest that Paul is our model. He
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Speaker 1: is not the sine qua non of humanity. Christ is.
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Speaker 1: But he is a wonderful hero, if you will. Sometimes
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Speaker 1: it helps to have someone with skin on if we're
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Speaker 1: looking for heroes. Our Lord Jesus, of course, is the ultimate.
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Speaker 1: But certain lives that he changes who learn to stand
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Speaker 1: tall become heroes. for us models to follow. Webster defines
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Speaker 1: a hero as a person admired for achievements and noble qualities,
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Speaker 1: one who shows great courage. My definition isn't nearly as sophisticated.
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Speaker 1: I think a hero is someone who stands tall while
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Speaker 1: others shrink back. A hero is someone who swims against
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Speaker 1: the current rather than with it. Someone who speaks up
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Speaker 1: when he should or she should when others are staying
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Speaker 1: silent when they shouldn't. The Bible is full of them.
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Speaker 1: I think, for example, of the Valley of Elah where
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Speaker 1: young David, still a teenager, came to the scene where
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Speaker 1: Goliath was, oh, marching back and forth and taunting the
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Speaker 1: armies of Israel. And Saul and his troops were frightened
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Speaker 1: over his stature and his words and David came on
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Speaker 1: the scene and said, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that
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Speaker 1: he should defy the armies of the living God? Remember
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Speaker 1: his brother's response? Oh, you're here to sort of show off,
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Speaker 1: aren't you? Well, how are those little woolies back there
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Speaker 1: in the Judean hills and the ones you left, daddy's sheep?
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Speaker 1: And his response was remarkable. He looked out across the
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Speaker 1: way and said, Is there not a cause? The point being,
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Speaker 1: isn't there a reason? Isn't there a principle at stake?
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Speaker 1: Isn't there an issue worth fighting for? And how wrong
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Speaker 1: it is for us to shrink back when it's time
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Speaker 1: to stand against this giant? Esther comes to mind. One
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Speaker 1: of the earliest examples of a Jewish Holocaust was upon her,
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Speaker 1: but she didn't know it in her protective palace. And
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Speaker 1: thanks to Mordecai, who showed up and sent a message inside,
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Speaker 1: he said to her, you have attained royalty for such
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Speaker 1: a time as this. She believed him and realized the
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Speaker 1: significance of her position and of the moment. And her
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Speaker 1: response was in her heart, I must do something. And
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Speaker 1: her verbal response was, if I perish, I perish. She
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Speaker 1: presented herself, although it was against protocol, to the presence
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Speaker 1: of Artaxerxes, the king, and the rest is history. Haman
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Speaker 1: was exposed and the plot was foiled and the Jews
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Speaker 1: were saved. David stood tall and became a hero. Esther
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Speaker 1: stood tall and became a hero. There was Daniel, I
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Speaker 1: could name him as well, who winds up in a
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Speaker 1: lion's den, not for doing what was wrong, but for
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Speaker 1: doing what was right. They could find no corruption as
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Speaker 1: he was in the midst of a corrupt government and
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Speaker 1: because they couldn't they conspired a plot against him and
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Speaker 1: made it necessary for everyone in the kingdom there to
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Speaker 1: bow before the idol and Daniel of course would not
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Speaker 1: do that. They caught him not bowing before the king
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Speaker 1: but bowing before his God. And they threw him in
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Speaker 1: a lion's den. Nothing happened to Daniel, as a good
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Speaker 1: friend of mine says, because he was three-fourths backbone and
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Speaker 1: the rest gristle. Because Daniel was made of the stuff
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Speaker 1: heroes are made. And he stood tall when others shrank back.
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Speaker 1: I've noticed a pattern. about heroes. In fact, I've noticed
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Speaker 1: a pattern about what's involved in standing tall. Never read
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Speaker 1: this anywhere, but it just occurs to me when I
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Speaker 1: thought about it. First, something wrong is going on. There's
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Speaker 1: something wrong on the scene, the cultural scene, the setting
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Speaker 1: in front of us, the battle scene. Something is going wrong. Second,
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Speaker 1: there's a principle at stake, always a principle, an issue.
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Speaker 1: There's something that isn't being stated that is being sacrificed
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Speaker 1: because this is going on. Third, to do something is
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Speaker 1: to risk. And to risk is to be misunderstood and
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Speaker 1: misrepresented and often maligned and mistreated. But there's risk involved
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Speaker 1: in doing something. But you are able to do something
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Speaker 1: about it if you will, though you don't have to.
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Speaker 1: If you do nothing, it only gets worse. But if
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Speaker 1: you do something, you'll probably act alone or certainly in
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Speaker 1: the minority. That was true of William Wilberforce who stood
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Speaker 1: against the principle of slavery. He stood against the issue
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Speaker 1: and against the vote of fellow members of the parliament.
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Speaker 1: Wilberforce said it is wrong and went to his grave
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Speaker 1: saying it is wrong and his cause won. Patrick Henry
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Speaker 1: stood against tyranny. When all others were thinking, oh, couldn't
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Speaker 1: I just raise my crops and raise my family out
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Speaker 1: here in this northeastern countryside of this new land of America?
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Speaker 1: It'll be okay. Don't worry about the British. Patrick Henry said,
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Speaker 1: you give me liberty or you give me death. And
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Speaker 1: he becomes a hero. The same of Martin Luther, who
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Speaker 1: saw the corruption in the papacy and the enormous expenditure
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Speaker 1: of funds to the extreme in the Roman Church and said,
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Speaker 1: it is wrong. And though himself a Roman Catholic monk,
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Speaker 1: stood alone, stood tall, was misunderstood, misrepresented, maligned, and mistreated,
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Speaker 1: but he became for us another long line of heroes.
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Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Jr. comes to mind. At a time
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Speaker 1: when Many of us had our arms folded and were
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Speaker 1: looking the other way because of the way we were raised,
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Speaker 1: passing off the thought of prejudice as though it is
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Speaker 1: someone else's fault or problem. Martin Luther King put his
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Speaker 1: finger on the nerve center and said, segregation is wrong.
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Speaker 1: He wasn't perfect, nor was Wilberforce, nor was Luther, nor
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Speaker 1: was Patrick Henry, nor was David or Esther or Daniel
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Speaker 1: or you or me. It's not about perfection. It's about
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Speaker 1: standing tall when that's what we ought to do. And
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Speaker 1: because he did that, he became one of our heroes.
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Speaker 1: Most recently would be the firemen and the police force
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Speaker 1: of New York City. As the majority were racing or
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Speaker 1: doing their best to get out, they were racing to
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Speaker 1: get in. As many of us would have run to
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Speaker 1: save our lives, they ran in to save another's life.
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Speaker 1: And in doing so, they, by the dozens, yes, by
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Speaker 1: the hundreds, stood tall. I don't feel it here, but
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Speaker 1: I think I would in many settings. Some of you
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Speaker 1: may feel this is a bit of extreme position to
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Speaker 1: take in this day of great diplomacy. Well, for you
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Speaker 1: who may feel that way, who listen right now to me,
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Speaker 1: I want you to hear the words of Charles Briggs,
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Speaker 1: who describes the alternative life. I quote, if your ambition
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Speaker 1: is to avoid the troubles of life, the recipe is simple.
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Speaker 1: Shed your ambitions in every direction, cut your wings of
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Speaker 1: every soaring purpose, and seek a little life. With the
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Speaker 1: fewest contacts and relations, tiny souls can dodge through life.
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Speaker 1: Bigger souls are blocked on every side. As soon as
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Speaker 1: men and women begin to enlarge their lives, their resistances
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Speaker 1: are multiplied. There are always those who advocate peace at
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Speaker 1: all costs, who offer band-aids for bone-deep wounds, who propose
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Speaker 1: quick fixes that fix nothing, who choose only the path
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Speaker 1: of least resistance, who preach peace when there is no peace,
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Speaker 1: who leave unresolved conflict and simmering resentments in their wake.
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Speaker 1: Should these peace seekers be regarded as wise? No. Those
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Speaker 1: who want to live lives of significance will be hated
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Speaker 1: and opposed. Expect it. When you play in a military
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Speaker 1: band and you finish the march, there is a little
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Speaker 1: note at the end. It's called a stinger. I like
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Speaker 1: that name. This has a stinger to it. When Briggs
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Speaker 1: finishes his words, he says, expect it. Remember my comments
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Speaker 1: from Emerson? To be significant, said Emerson, is to be misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: Some of you are living your lives right now misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: And you quite likely feel there are more against you
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Speaker 1: than there are for you. I understand. There may be
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Speaker 1: more for you than you realize, but it feels like
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Speaker 1: the more of the People around you are against you.
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Speaker 1: For your sake especially, I have two more simple comments
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Speaker 1: before we look into the book of Acts, chapter 25.
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Speaker 1: Allow me to clarify a couple of things. First, heroes
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Speaker 1: don't seem like heroes at the time. Heroes don't seem
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Speaker 1: like heroes at the time. It's usually not until later
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Speaker 1: that we realize how heroic an individual was. At the time,
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Speaker 1: all of those people I've named had folks around them
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Speaker 1: who must have thought, why go over the edge? Why
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Speaker 1: make waves? Why think like that? Leave it alone. They
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Speaker 1: don't seem like heroes at the time, but later on
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Speaker 1: we look back and think that was a person who
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Speaker 1: stood tall enough to be a hero. And by the way,
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Speaker 1: I need them. Don't you? There's hardly a day that
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Speaker 1: passes in my life that I don't focus on one
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Speaker 1: of my heroes. And I am grateful for that. Some
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Speaker 1: of them are living, most of them are dead. But
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Speaker 1: their heroic lives motivate me to go on and to
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Speaker 1: do better than I have done before. The second comment
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Speaker 1: I want to make is that heroes are not biologically birthed.
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Speaker 1: We'd like to think they are, especially when our darling
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Speaker 1: baby is born. I just gave birth to a hero. No,
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Speaker 1: you can't say that. You really can't say that. You'll
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Speaker 1: have to tell me that later. Because heroes are mentored
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Speaker 1: by those who stood tall. That's how we become the
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Speaker 1: people we are. It's not because we were born and
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Speaker 1: three weeks later we were heroic in style or character. No, no, no.
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Speaker 1: We learned how to stand tall from those who have
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Speaker 1: stood tall before us and beyond us. Now with all
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Speaker 1: that in mind, I want you to turn to a
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Speaker 1: magnificent story that unfolds out of the book of Acts.
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Speaker 1: And I'm looking toward Acts chapter 25. Let me catch
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Speaker 1: you up with a little context here. Paul has been through,
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Speaker 1: better word is endured, four trials, all of them somewhat
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Speaker 1: like mockeries. They're like kangaroo courts. Remind you, no evidence
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Speaker 1: has been found against him, though he's still held under arrest.
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Speaker 1: I remind you that he has not been proven guilty,
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Speaker 1: but he has been kept in confinement. He has appealed
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Speaker 1: to Rome, which in other words means Nero. And he
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Speaker 1: is living for the day. He can stand before Nero,
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Speaker 1: though we have no biblical story that contains that. We
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Speaker 1: believe he ultimately did have the chance to testify before
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Speaker 1: the emperor. And the trial we're looking at today in
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Speaker 1: chapter 26, a little later on, is the fifth of
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Speaker 1: five trials that he endured. Let me set the stage
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Speaker 1: for that fifth trial. Look at 2512. When Festus had
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Speaker 1: conferred with his council, Festus is the procurator or the
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Speaker 1: governor of the day, in Caesarea where this happens, Caesarea
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Speaker 1: by the sea, Festus answered, you have appealed to Caesar,
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Speaker 1: to Caesar you will go. He's speaking to Paul at
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Speaker 1: the end of the fourth trial. Now when several days
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Speaker 1: had elapsed, King Agrippa, mark these names, and Bernice arrived
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Speaker 1: at Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. While they
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Speaker 1: were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul's case down
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Speaker 1: before the king, that's King Herod Agrippa. Festus laid Paul's
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Speaker 1: case before Herod saying, there is a man who was
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Speaker 1: left as a prisoner by Felix. And when I was
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Speaker 1: at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the
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Speaker 1: Jews brought charges against him, asking for a sentence of
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Speaker 1: condemnation against him. Verse 21. But when Paul appealed to
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Speaker 1: be held in custody for the emperor's decision, I ordered
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Speaker 1: him to be kept in custody until I send him
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Speaker 1: to Caesar. Then Agrippa said to Festus, I also would
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Speaker 1: like to hear the man myself. Tomorrow, answers Festus, you
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Speaker 1: shall hear him. So, On the next day, when Agrippa
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Speaker 1: came together with Bernice amid great pomp and entered the
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Speaker 1: auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of
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Speaker 1: the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in. Now, pause.
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Speaker 1: Let me acquaint you. Little background will really help if
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Speaker 1: you'll concentrate. King Herod I, a wicked man, before he died,
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Speaker 1: attempted to kill Peter, who escaped. Not long after the escape,
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Speaker 1: Herod died a miserable death. However, during his lifetime, he
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Speaker 1: had at least three children, even more, but these three
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Speaker 1: are significant for the story. He had a son, whom
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Speaker 1: we would say today he called Junior. Agrippa II. That's
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Speaker 1: this Agrippa that appears before the scene in Festus' life.
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Speaker 1: So there is Herod Agrippa II. In this particular time,
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Speaker 1: he's a 32-year-old leader among the Jews. Herod also had
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Speaker 1: a daughter named Drusilla and another daughter named Bernice. You'll
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Speaker 1: remember Drusilla. We met her when we studied Governor Felix.
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Speaker 1: What I didn't tell you is that he seduced Drusilla
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Speaker 1: to leave her husband and to marry Felix, his third marriage.
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Speaker 1: So we've got Felix with Drusilla. Drusilla's sister is Bernice,
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Speaker 1: who happens to be Herod II's sister. And she moves
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Speaker 1: in to live with her brother in an incestuous relationship.
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Speaker 1: The whole thing is a moral mess. And these are
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Speaker 1: the people who have set themselves up as judges and
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Speaker 1: jury over Paul, of all things. I mean, this is
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Speaker 1: not the pot calling the kettle black. This is the
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Speaker 1: trash can calling the Waterford cut crystal cheap. These are
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Speaker 1: sorry human beings, garbage, morally cheap. sitting before Paul, who
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Speaker 1: appears before them. Chains and all. He's manacled. He comes
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Speaker 1: with chains on his wrist, and he stands before them
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Speaker 1: in the courtroom, the only man in chains, but the
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Speaker 1: only man among them free. What an irony. And they,
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Speaker 1: without chains, caught in the bondage of their own moral
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Speaker 1: misery and sin. That's why I smile when I read
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Speaker 1: that they appeared before him with great pomp. When I
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Speaker 1: read that, I think that's all you've got when you've
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Speaker 1: got to cover up. One man writes, they would have
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Speaker 1: on their purple robes of royalty and the gold circlet
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Speaker 1: of the crown on their brows, doubtless Festus, to do
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Speaker 1: honor to the occasion had donned the scarlet robe which
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Speaker 1: a governor wore on such occasions. And following them in
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Speaker 1: the pageantry of the procession were both high-ranking officers, the
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Speaker 1: military tribunes who were members of the procurator's staff and
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Speaker 1: the leading men of the city. And when they had
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Speaker 1: taken their seats at the command of Festus, Paul is
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Speaker 1: brought in and he's brought in in chains. This reads
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Speaker 1: like a novel. Sitting on the bench are the people
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Speaker 1: who needed to be judged. Standing as the prisoner before
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Speaker 1: them is the only one who's free. But this is
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Speaker 1: his moment in court. After a brief presentation, and I
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Speaker 1: do give Festus the credit for admitting there's no evidence,
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Speaker 1: verse 24, King Agrippa and all you gentlemen here present
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Speaker 1: with us, put gentlemen in italics, I mean, just to
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Speaker 1: set the record straight. You see this man about whom
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Speaker 1: all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both
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Speaker 1: at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not
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Speaker 1: to live any longer, but I, sounds like Pilate, doesn't it?
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Speaker 1: I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death,
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Speaker 1: and since he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided
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Speaker 1: to send him. Yet, I have nothing definite about him
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Speaker 1: to write to my lord. Isn't that great? I want
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Speaker 1: to send him to Nero, but the page is blank.
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Speaker 1: I don't have any charges that I can prove, and
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Speaker 1: so perhaps... By bringing him before you today, especially all
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Speaker 1: of you, including King Agrippa, after investigation has taken place,
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Speaker 1: I may have something to write. So listen carefully, because
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Speaker 1: we can't find anything wrong. Bring him in. And they
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Speaker 1: bring in Paul. And Agrippa scoots up to the edge
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Speaker 1: of his bench and leans forward and gets his first
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Speaker 1: close look at this notorious man. who was once a Pharisee.
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Speaker 1: Their eyes met. Paul's approach is classic. His opening is
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Speaker 1: just charming. It's genuinely courteous. Paul stretched out his hand
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Speaker 1: and proceeded to make his defense, stood before them in chains,
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Speaker 1: He didn't hold out his hands to call them to silence.
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Speaker 1: I think he held out his hand as if to
27:16
Speaker 1: bless the young king. As he begins, in regard to
27:20
Speaker 1: all things of which I am accused by the Jews,
27:23
Speaker 1: I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about
27:27
Speaker 1: to make my defense before you today, especially because you
27:32
Speaker 1: are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews. Therefore,
27:36
Speaker 1: I beg you to listen to me patiently. Is that
27:43
Speaker 1: disarming or what? I mean, this is not your basic
27:47
Speaker 1: fundamentalist opening, okay? Listen, you moral mess shacking up with
27:54
Speaker 1: your sister. Listen to me. Doesn't do that. He says,
28:02
Speaker 1: it is a privilege that I have to appear before
28:06
Speaker 1: this court and I would like to share my story.
28:12
Speaker 1: By the way, let's learn a lesson from our model here,
28:17
Speaker 1: from our hero. When you have an opportunity to be
28:22
Speaker 1: with those of high rank and significant authority, be courteous.
28:32
Speaker 1: Be gracious. Treat them with respect. You may not agree
28:40
Speaker 1: with their lifestyle and you may not be where they are.
28:46
Speaker 1: And nevertheless, it is a privilege for you to be heard.
28:54
Speaker 1: Handle that carefully. When a man's ways please the Lord,
28:59
Speaker 1: he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
29:01
Speaker 1: Proverbs 16, 7. A brother offended is harder to be
29:06
Speaker 1: won than a strong castle and their Contentions are like
29:09
Speaker 1: the bars of a castle. No need to offend. Your words,
29:18
Speaker 1: your testimony will offend. But you don't need to be offensive.
29:24
Speaker 1: And with this gracious opening, I beg you to listen
29:27
Speaker 1: to me patiently. Paul gets on with it. In fact,
29:30
Speaker 1: the way Luke records it is just magnificent. I like
29:34
Speaker 1: the way it sort of rolls off the page. Verse 4,
29:36
Speaker 1: so then... Verse 9. so then, he's telling a story.
29:44
Speaker 1: So then this happened and then that happened. Paul looks
29:48
Speaker 1: around the room standing there manacled with no notes and
29:55
Speaker 1: All Jews know my manner of life from my youth up,
29:58
Speaker 1: which from the beginning was spent among my own nation
30:00
Speaker 1: and at Jerusalem. He looked around and perhaps saw a
30:06
Speaker 1: face or two of one of his contemporaries, maybe someone
30:09
Speaker 1: who was in the class with him with Gamaliel. My
30:13
Speaker 1: life's an open book. Jewish friends here know that this
30:17
Speaker 1: is my background. I lived in and schooled at Jerusalem.
30:23
Speaker 1: Verse 5, since they have known about me for a
30:25
Speaker 1: long time, if they are willing to testify that I
30:28
Speaker 1: lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of
30:33
Speaker 1: our religion, they could tell you I was in the
30:39
Speaker 1: ranks of the Pharisees. And now I'm standing trial for
30:43
Speaker 1: the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers.
30:47
Speaker 1: He's referring to Messiah. The promise to which our 12
30:51
Speaker 1: tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night
30:55
Speaker 1: and day. And for this hope, oh king, I'm being
30:58
Speaker 1: accused by Jews. We have the same hope and I'm
31:02
Speaker 1: being accused for anticipating the hope. And in fact, as
31:05
Speaker 1: you will see, meeting him. Verse 8, I love the question.
31:12
Speaker 1: Why is it considered incredible among you people if God
31:16
Speaker 1: does raise the dead? Of course, to believe in Messiah
31:19
Speaker 1: would forced one to believe that the one who was
31:22
Speaker 1: crucified was raised from the dead. Why is that so incredible?
31:27
Speaker 1: In fact, I learned in Basic Theology 101 under Gamaliel
31:30
Speaker 1: that we believe in the resurrection. Agrippus, listen closer. He
31:39
Speaker 1: is riveted to Paul. So then, I thought to myself
31:47
Speaker 1: that I had to do many things hostile to the
31:50
Speaker 1: name of Jesus of Nazareth. That's what Pharisees did. And
31:57
Speaker 1: this is just what I did in Jerusalem. Ask around.
32:01
Speaker 1: They could tell you. And he names the six things
32:03
Speaker 1: he did. Not only did I lock up many of
32:07
Speaker 1: the saints in prison, having received authority from the chief priests,
32:11
Speaker 1: when they were being put to death, I cast my
32:13
Speaker 1: vote against them. I did that. And as I punished
32:17
Speaker 1: them often in the synagogues, I did that. I tried
32:21
Speaker 1: to force them to blaspheme. I did that. And being
32:26
Speaker 1: furiously enraged at them. Those are strong words in the Greek.
32:31
Speaker 1: Furiously enraged. I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
32:38
Speaker 1: There was no limit, no restrictions, no reservations. While so
32:43
Speaker 1: engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority
32:47
Speaker 1: and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King,
32:54
Speaker 1: I saw something and then I heard something and then
32:57
Speaker 1: I did something. This is a testimony from a man
33:01
Speaker 1: whose life has been transformed. And I believe it was
33:05
Speaker 1: delivered in the most gentle, sensible manner one could imagine.
33:10
Speaker 1: I was on my way to Damascus pursuing Christians that
33:13
Speaker 1: may have been hiding out in the far reaches of
33:16
Speaker 1: our boundaries. And on the way, at midday, there was
33:20
Speaker 1: a light that I saw, brighter than the sun, shining
33:24
Speaker 1: all around me and those journeying with me. And when
33:27
Speaker 1: we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a
33:29
Speaker 1: voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, I heard
33:33
Speaker 1: it in Aramaic, my mother tongue, and he knew my name.
33:40
Speaker 1: He called me Saul, Saul. Why are you persecuting me?
33:49
Speaker 1: It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
33:54
Speaker 1: It's a Greek proverb for useless resistance. You're wasting your
34:01
Speaker 1: time kicking against me. And I said, tis I courier.
34:13
Speaker 1: Who are you, sir? Who are you, Lord? And he said, ego,
34:19
Speaker 1: I meet Jesus. I am Jesus. I saw him. I
34:34
Speaker 1: heard him. And then Jesus gave me my commission. 16
34:44
Speaker 1: through 18, I have appeared to you. I have appointed
34:48
Speaker 1: you a minister. I will rescue you in the process
34:53
Speaker 1: from Jew and Gentile alike who don't understand. And I
34:56
Speaker 1: am sending you to them. You are my messenger, apostolos.
35:01
Speaker 1: You will go as I send you in my name. Now,
35:06
Speaker 1: this is maybe not a good time to interject a thought,
35:09
Speaker 1: but Imagine Agrippa and Bernice and Festus. That's it. This
35:25
Speaker 1: is the moment. So King Agrippa, I did not prove
35:35
Speaker 1: disobedient to the heavenly vision. How could I? And I
35:41
Speaker 1: kept declaring both to those of Damascus first and then
35:45
Speaker 1: at Jerusalem. And then he enlarges the circle. And then Judea,
35:48
Speaker 1: the province surrounding Jerusalem. And then to the Gentiles. I mean,
35:52
Speaker 1: I've gone all around the known world, Agrippa, making this
35:56
Speaker 1: known that they should repent and turn to God, performing
36:01
Speaker 1: deeds appropriate to repentance. They should turn their lives, as
36:05
Speaker 1: I have, over to the Lord Jesus Christ. I've done that.
36:08
Speaker 1: And For this reason, some Jews seized me in the
36:12
Speaker 1: temple and tried to put me to death. So having
36:21
Speaker 1: obtained help from God, I stand to this day. That's
36:24
Speaker 1: where I get the thought of standing. It's like Martin Luther,
36:31
Speaker 1: here I stand, I can do no other at the
36:34
Speaker 1: Diet of Arms. I cannot shrink back. And I stand
36:42
Speaker 1: to this day testifying to small and great, stating nothing
36:47
Speaker 1: but what the prophets and Moses said was going to
36:50
Speaker 1: take place. And what was that? That the Messiah was
36:53
Speaker 1: to suffer and by reason of his resurrection from the
36:56
Speaker 1: dead would be the first to proclaim light both to
37:00
Speaker 1: the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. It fits the
37:03
Speaker 1: pattern of the Holy Scriptures, the very Scriptures you people believe.
37:10
Speaker 2: While Paul was saying this, Festus said, stop. It's Paul, Paul.
37:23
Speaker 1: You're out of your mind. Your great learning is driving
37:27
Speaker 1: you mad. It's the word for maniac. Maniac is the word.
37:34
Speaker 1: It's maniacal. Paul, all this, well, Eugene Peterson does it well. Paul,
37:40
Speaker 1: you're crazy. Good night. Paul, you're crazy. You've read too
37:45
Speaker 1: many books. You've spent too much time staring out into space.
37:48
Speaker 1: Get a grip on yourself. Get back into the real world. Paul,
37:53
Speaker 1: stop it. You know why he said that? I'm convinced
37:59
Speaker 1: because Agrippa really wanted him to go on. Agrippa doesn't talk,
38:04
Speaker 1: and it's Agrippa's court. Festus looks furtively in both directions
38:10
Speaker 1: and realizes, I mean, Bernice is jerking on his robe
38:13
Speaker 1: about raw, and he's looking over at Agrippa thinking, if
38:17
Speaker 1: this thing goes on, this thing's going to get out
38:18
Speaker 1: of hand. Just stop. Just stop right there. This is nonsense.
38:24
Speaker 1: You've gotten really weird, Paul, since you've been hanging around
38:28
Speaker 1: these jail cells and reading all these manuscripts. Back off, man.
38:35
Speaker 1: Now this is where it gets, oh, this is delicious.
38:38
Speaker 1: This is wonderful. Dialogue. Paul now turns from the focus
38:42
Speaker 1: to the group to Festus. And then watch how he
38:46
Speaker 1: changes to Agrippa. Look. Paul said, verse 25, I'm not maniacal.
38:56
Speaker 1: Uses the same word. I'm not a madman. Most excellent
39:00
Speaker 1: Festus was that great. We'd have been tempted to say,
39:04
Speaker 1: you schlock. Shut up till I get a chance to
39:08
Speaker 1: talk to a great. He doesn't do that. He's I'm
39:11
Speaker 1: not crazy. Oh, excellent Festus, your honor. But I utter words.
39:17
Speaker 1: Look closely. I utter words that are sensible and truth
39:21
Speaker 1: and true. My words make sense. And they are true.
39:30
Speaker 1: Look at the darting of his eyes. For the king
39:35
Speaker 1: knows who's the king. It's Agrippa. He turns from Festus
39:41
Speaker 1: and he looks directly at Agrippa. He says, the king
39:43
Speaker 1: knows about these matters. I speak to him also with
39:47
Speaker 1: confidence since I am persuaded that None of these things
39:50
Speaker 1: escape his notice, for this has not been done in
39:52
Speaker 1: a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I
39:59
Speaker 1: know that you believe them. Boy, is that a great moment.
40:03
Speaker 1: Agrippa was like, yeah, yeah. I mean, he is connecting.
40:09
Speaker 1: Do you believe the prophets? Of course, you're Herod.
40:14
Speaker 3: Yeah.
40:15
Speaker 1: Yeah. I know that you do, Agrippa replied to Paul.
40:22
Speaker 1: In a short time, you will persuade me to become
40:24
Speaker 1: a Christian. Yeah! Duh! That's it. This is the moment
40:34
Speaker 1: that Paul's been waiting for the latter half of his life.
40:39
Speaker 1: One sentence. And I want you to notice the genius
40:42
Speaker 1: of his response. Paul said, I would wish to God
40:49
Speaker 1: that whether in a short or long time, not only you,
40:53
Speaker 1: but also all who hear me this day might become
40:57
Speaker 1: such as I am. Accept these chains. Isn't that a
41:04
Speaker 1: great moment? Agrippa, would to God that you and all
41:11
Speaker 1: those around you are just as I, freed from the
41:15
Speaker 1: sin of our lives through Christ's power Without chains. Look
41:28
Speaker 1: at what happened. Look at their answer. No answer. The
41:36
Speaker 1: king stood up. Can't you see him straightening his robe?
41:43
Speaker 1: Kind of coming back to himself. Bernice, you know, get
41:49
Speaker 1: a By the way, Charles Spurgeon does a masterful job
41:57
Speaker 1: with this scene, and he points out the reasons that
41:59
Speaker 1: Agrippa responds like this. Why did he put it off?
42:08
Speaker 1: Why did he delay the decision? Well, there was Vestas,
42:14
Speaker 1: losing face with Vestas. There was Bernice. He's got to
42:19
Speaker 1: live with her. And then There was this image. I mean,
42:26
Speaker 1: what would people say? So they get up in silence,
42:35
Speaker 1: brush themselves off. And verse 31, when they had gone aside,
42:42
Speaker 1: they began talking to one another. They don't do this
42:45
Speaker 1: in front of Paul. Paul walks out with the chains rattling.
42:51
Speaker 1: They're back behind the hallway or in a private chamber,
42:55
Speaker 1: and they're saying, this man is not doing anything worthy
42:59
Speaker 1: of death or imprisonment. How did Paul know that? Luke.
43:06
Speaker 1: Luke is over there by the door. He's writing this.
43:13
Speaker 1: He's writing this. He's like the reporter. Did not do
43:18
Speaker 1: anything deserving of death. But isn't it interesting, they talk
43:23
Speaker 1: about Paul's case, they don't talk about their own souls.
43:28
Speaker 1: Cheap talk, easy talk, obvious talk. There's no vulnerability. And
43:38
Speaker 1: Agrippa said to Festus, this man might have been set
43:41
Speaker 1: free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Paul is free.
43:48
Speaker 1: Just happens to have chains. He's the only one free.
43:54
Speaker 1: I wonder if Grepa thought himself as chained, wishing to
43:59
Speaker 1: be free. This is an epical moment. Paul slips through
44:11
Speaker 1: the door and is gone. His words linger in the place.
44:16
Speaker 1: They sort of get absorbed into the woodwork. Whether sooner
44:21
Speaker 1: or later I pray God that not only you but
44:24
Speaker 1: all who are listening to me today may become what
44:27
Speaker 1: I am except for the chains. Would that you could
44:31
Speaker 1: come to Christ by faith alone. We leave a couple
44:44
Speaker 1: of thoughts with you. When you stand tall You're so focused,
44:53
Speaker 1: you operate as though you are invincible. I don't miss this.
44:59
Speaker 1: Some of you have never been there because you have
45:03
Speaker 1: never allowed yourself to be in a threatening setting because
45:06
Speaker 1: you've always played it safe. You've always let someone else
45:11
Speaker 1: do the talking for you. Somebody else stick their neck out.
45:16
Speaker 1: When you personally stand tall, you become so focused, you
45:21
Speaker 1: operate as though you are invincible. The odds mean nothing
45:24
Speaker 1: to you. You are unconcerned about yourself. You are unimpressed
45:28
Speaker 1: with who's sitting or standing in front of you. You
45:30
Speaker 1: are unintimidated by the odds. You are uninhibited in your
45:33
Speaker 1: zeal and determination and convictions. And that's what makes you significant.
45:39
Speaker 1: At that moment, you are God's voice for that hour.
45:44
Speaker 1: Such was Paul. When you stand tall, you are so focused,
45:50
Speaker 1: you operate as though you were invincible. It's called a
45:54
Speaker 1: spirit's presence in your life. Second thought. When you stand tall,
45:59
Speaker 1: you are so passionate, you are unaware at the moment
46:03
Speaker 1: of the impact you are making. It's not about making impact.
46:09
Speaker 1: It's about standing for the principle and letting the chips
46:13
Speaker 1: fall where they may. Paul's audience simply got up and left.
46:21
Speaker 1: It looked as though it was a total failure. Waste
46:24
Speaker 1: of time. It was neither. For Paul, life returned to
46:29
Speaker 1: the routine. Who can say what others did with his words?
46:32
Speaker 1: Who knows what Agrippa dreamt about that night? Who knows
46:39
Speaker 1: whether Bernice may have even left him? Or Festus? Compromising Festus.
46:50
Speaker 1: Who knows if he didn't toss and turn for weeks
46:52
Speaker 1: to come. Peggy Noonan is a writer I have enjoyed
46:57
Speaker 1: for years. She was a speechwriter for President Reagan and
47:04
Speaker 1: then later for President George Herbert Bush and still does
47:10
Speaker 1: some writing. Has written a fine book called Simply Speaking.
47:13
Speaker 1: I've read it twice. Wonderful little book. She closes with
47:17
Speaker 1: a story that is worth our time. Stay with me.
47:22
Speaker 1: She covers the story of Mother Teresa who had been
47:25
Speaker 1: invited to the National Prayer Breakfast back in 1994, February
47:31
Speaker 1: 3rd to be exact, held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
47:36
Speaker 1: Mother Teresa was introduced and came from behind a parted
47:40
Speaker 1: curtain to walk to the podium. She was small and
47:44
Speaker 1: moved slowly, hunched forward slightly as those with osteoporosis often are.
47:50
Speaker 1: She wore white, blue-edged, floor-length habit and looked weathered, frail,
47:58
Speaker 1: tough as wire. As she stepped up onto a little
48:02
Speaker 1: podium that had been placed beneath her, there was a
48:06
Speaker 1: great applause. She nodded, took her speech in her hand,
48:10
Speaker 1: and began to read it in a soft, sing-song voice.
48:15
Speaker 1: She began, Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow
48:20
Speaker 1: men throughout the world who live and die in poverty
48:22
Speaker 1: and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their
48:26
Speaker 1: daily bread, and by our understanding, love, give peace and joy.
48:32
Speaker 1: There was no thank you, no smile. She just stood
48:37
Speaker 1: there holding the speech and looking down at it. She
48:39
Speaker 1: didn't look up or make eye contact, nor did she
48:42
Speaker 1: gesture with her hands. A little later on, this came
48:46
Speaker 1: from her lips. In the families of the West, it
48:50
Speaker 1: is not unusual that the father and the mother are
48:53
Speaker 1: so busy they have no time for their children, or
48:55
Speaker 1: perhaps they are not even married or have given up
48:58
Speaker 1: on their marriage. So the children go to the streets
49:01
Speaker 1: and get involved in drugs and other things. This is tragic,
49:05
Speaker 1: she said, for it is within the child that the
49:08
Speaker 1: love and peace of adulthood began. Therefore, it is within
49:11
Speaker 1: the family that love and peace must reign. There was
49:15
Speaker 1: a bit more shifting now for an audience composed of
49:17
Speaker 1: humans is an audience composed of sinners. and an audience
49:21
Speaker 1: dominated by busy boomer parents is composed of veterans of
49:25
Speaker 1: sin she continued but I feel that the greatest destroyer
49:30
Speaker 1: of peace today is abortion because Jesus said if you
49:36
Speaker 1: receive a little child you receive me So every abortion
49:40
Speaker 1: is the denial of receiving Jesus, the neglect of receiving Jesus. Well, silence. Cool,
49:49
Speaker 1: deep silence in the cool, round cavern for just about 1.3 seconds.
49:55
Speaker 1: And then applause started. On the right-hand side of the
49:59
Speaker 1: room and spread and deepened and now the room was
50:02
Speaker 1: swept with people applauding and They would not stop for
50:05
Speaker 1: what I believe was about five or six minutes. As
50:07
Speaker 1: they clapped, they began to stand in another way from
50:10
Speaker 1: the right of the room to the center and now
50:12
Speaker 1: to the left, but not everyone applauding. The President and
50:18
Speaker 1: First Lady, the Clintons, seated within a few feet of
50:22
Speaker 1: Mother Teresa on the platform were not applauding, nor were
50:26
Speaker 1: the Vice President and Mrs. Gore. They looked like seated statues.
50:29
Speaker 1: They glistened in the lights and moved not a muscle,
50:34
Speaker 1: looking at the speaker in a determinedly semi-pleasant way. I
50:39
Speaker 1: was applauding at my table, and most of my table
50:41
Speaker 1: mates were standing, and I turned to look at what
50:43
Speaker 1: the friendly and intelligent woman to my right was doing.
50:46
Speaker 1: We had a nice conversation before the speaking began. She
50:49
Speaker 1: was a lawyer, the wife of a member of the
50:51
Speaker 1: Clinton administration, a modern and attractive blonde-haired woman in her
50:54
Speaker 1: late 40s or early 50s. She was not applauding. She
50:58
Speaker 1: was staring straight ahead. Impassively, if you can call white
51:02
Speaker 1: lips and a stricken expression impassive. Now, Mother Teresa is
51:07
Speaker 1: not perhaps schooled in the ways of world capitals. And
51:11
Speaker 1: perhaps she did not know that having said her piece
51:13
Speaker 1: and won the moment, she was supposed to go back
51:15
Speaker 1: to the airier, less dramatic assertions on which all agree. Instead,
51:20
Speaker 1: she said this. Abortion is really a war against the child,
51:26
Speaker 1: and I hate the killing of the innocent child, Murder
51:29
Speaker 1: by the mother herself. And if we accept that the
51:32
Speaker 1: mother can kill even her own child, how can we
51:34
Speaker 1: tell other people not to kill one another? How do
51:38
Speaker 1: we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always,
51:41
Speaker 1: we must persuade her with love. The father of that child, however,
51:45
Speaker 1: must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother
51:48
Speaker 1: does not learn to live, but kills even her own
51:51
Speaker 1: child to solve her problem. And by abortion, the father
51:53
Speaker 1: is taught that he does not have to take any
51:55
Speaker 1: responsibility at all for the child he has brought into
51:58
Speaker 1: that world. So that father is likely to put other
52:01
Speaker 1: women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to
52:04
Speaker 1: more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching
52:08
Speaker 1: its people to love one another, but to use violence
52:11
Speaker 1: to get what they want. This is why the greatest
52:14
Speaker 1: destroyer of love and peace is abortion. Again, applause. And
52:21
Speaker 1: I looked once more at the woman to my right.
52:23
Speaker 1: As the applause spread, she sat back in her chair
52:25
Speaker 1: and folded her hands on her lap. Then she briskly
52:28
Speaker 1: reached for her purse and took out a notepad. And
52:32
Speaker 1: then she took a slim gold pen, gleamed in the
52:36
Speaker 1: ballroom lights, and she started writing down words. I couldn't resist.
52:43
Speaker 1: Appeared as unobviously as I could to see what she
52:47
Speaker 1: was writing. Shop right, it said on the hospital white pad. Cleaners.
52:56
Speaker 1: She was making a to-do list. That is how she
53:01
Speaker 1: detached from the moment. She did not like what she
53:03
Speaker 1: had heard, but she couldn't walk out, she couldn't boo,
53:07
Speaker 1: so she made a little list of things to do.
53:09
Speaker 1: I looked toward the platform. Hillary Clinton was still staring
53:13
Speaker 1: straight ahead, unmoving. I imagine her looking at my table
53:17
Speaker 1: mate and yelling over, don't forget the tide. Mother Teresa
53:24
Speaker 1: now spoke of fighting abortion with adoption, of telling hospitals
53:28
Speaker 1: and police stations and frightening young girls, please don't kill
53:31
Speaker 1: the child. I want the child. Give me the child.
53:36
Speaker 1: I'm willing to accept any child who would be aborted
53:38
Speaker 1: and to give that child to a married couple who
53:41
Speaker 1: would love the child and be loved by the child.
53:44
Speaker 1: It was at this point that the Senator turned to
53:47
Speaker 1: his wife and asked if his jaw was still up.
53:52
Speaker 1: It was something, the silence and the surprise with which
53:56
Speaker 1: her words were received. It was all so unadorned, not
54:02
Speaker 1: a great word, explicit, impolitic, and it was wonderful. Mother
54:11
Speaker 1: Teresa seemed neither to notice the applause nor care. She's
54:18
Speaker 1: invincible this moment. She finished her speech to a standing ovation,
54:25
Speaker 1: turned and left as she had entered silently through a
54:28
Speaker 1: parted curtain in a flash of blue and white. Like Paul.
54:41
Speaker 1: He'd said it all And he walked out. And these
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Speaker 1: officials were left with their conscience throbbing in their chests,
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Speaker 1: unable to ignore or turn off this invincible messenger, sent
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Speaker 1: by the Holy Spirit for that moment in time. Will
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Speaker 1: you bow your heads, please? Close your eyes. Just you
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Speaker 1: and God. It's like it will be someday. Just you
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Speaker 1: and He talking over your life. I promise I will
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Speaker 1: not beg and I need not plead. The Spirit of
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Speaker 1: God will take everything that's been said And we'll help
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Speaker 1: convince you what you need, what you're missing. But if
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Speaker 1: you're without Christ, listen for the rattle of the chains
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Speaker 1: when it's quiet tonight. Or when you're in that hospital
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Speaker 1: room and it looks pretty bleak, listen for the chains
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Speaker 1: that rattle. When you're left alone with your thoughts and
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Speaker 1: your mate has walked out, Or the crushing blows of
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Speaker 1: life have crumbled in on you. You've lost your job.
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Speaker 1: Or you've finally been found out. Remember, the offer is
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Speaker 1: still good. The one who comes to the Father will
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Speaker 1: never be turned away. The one who comes to Christ
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Speaker 1: will never be rejected by the Father. But you must come.
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Speaker 1: You must come on your own. As many as received Christ,
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Speaker 1: to them the Father gives the authority to become the
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Speaker 1: children of God, even those who believe in the name
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Speaker 1: of Christ. Today's the day. Come today. we pause our
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Speaker 1: Father with deepest sense of gratitude for your presence among
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Speaker 1: us and during this period of time when we've looked
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Speaker 1: again at a life that was really worth living. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for this man whom you protected and used in
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Speaker 1: such a magnificent manner. Thank you for his courage. Thank
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Speaker 1: you for his trust in you, freedom from bitterness so
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Speaker 1: that when he was able to speak, It didn't spew
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Speaker 1: out in venom, but it flowed in love and gentleness.
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Speaker 1: And thank you that that message of hope in the
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Speaker 1: risen Christ is as good today as it was back
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Speaker 1: then in the 10th and 15th and 18th centuries as
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Speaker 1: it is today. I pray, Lord, that you will cause
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Speaker 1: this sense of hope to give us a renewed determination
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Speaker 1: to be people who stand tall without concern for others' responses.
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Speaker 1: To do what is right without tiring of it. And
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Speaker 1: to do so the rest of our lives. That we
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Speaker 1: might be, amazing thought, that we might be for some
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Speaker 1: the hero that they've needed. Whether it be one of
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Speaker 1: our children or grandchildren. One of our neighbors or friends.
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Speaker 1: Or someone who we've never really that closely met. May
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Speaker 1: we live that kind of life. While the chains rattle.
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Speaker 1: And we live free. I ask for Jesus' sake. And
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Speaker 1: everybody said. Amen.
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Speaker 3: The preceding message, Standing Tall as Paul Stood, was copyrighted
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Speaker 3: in 2001, 2003, and 2024, and the sound recording was
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Speaker 3: copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights
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Speaker 3: are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use
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Speaker 3: is strictly prohibited. In the preceding message, Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.
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Speaker 3: is grateful to Peggy Noonan for permission to quote from
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Speaker 3: the book Simply Speaking, copyrighted in 1998.