This man might have been set free

Good morning. Here in Acts of the Apostles, chapter 26, verses 19 through 20, we'll be working our way through this passage. And as we've had before, and this will actually be, I believe, the last time, here shows Israel from Jerusalem in the south to Caesarea farther north and along the coast. And so what's taking place today, as it has been for the last few weeks, is Paul has been in Caesarea. This is a computerized reconstruction of Herod's palace in Caesarea, right as you see immediately on the Mediterranean coast, in the eastern Mediterranean there.

This would have been a view inside the palace where Paul would have been given a place in the palace prison. Now, palace prison doesn't necessarily imply that the prison was palatial. but rather that it was probably better than a lot of the Roman prisons would be, but it was at least a place where Paul was safe, and as we've read earlier, he's given some freedom.

The introduction to this gathering told us that there was great pomp in the bringing of Agrippa and Bernice to this gathering. That likely included a military parade, And that also included the civilian leaders there, along with musicians of Roman style. The whole gathering altogether would be anybody who was, everybody who was anybody, rather, was brought together at this gathering, which was uniquely, in the whole New Testament, using this word auditorium. So it was a larger gathering of people, And in an auditorium, this was an ideal evangelistic opportunity for the Apostle Paul.

We point out, as Paul initially laid it out, Paul had presented that the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament as we call them, okay, the Jews didn't call them the Old Testament. If you went and said, hey, let's talk about the Old Testament, they would have said, huh, right? Because there wasn't any such thing then. But the Old Testament gave God's promises.

The Messiah would die for our sins and be buried and rise again. He would be resurrected. That would be the key and central message that Paul would have had. Not only would there be a resurrection on the last day, as all the Pharisees would have believed, but the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, He was the one who was crucified, this would be outside of what the Pharisees would typically believe, was also resurrected. Christ was resurrected.

That was the key message Paul had to say, having been crucified, having been buried, Christ the Messiah was resurrected, and Paul testified to these very people and to others, he had seen Christ personally on the road to Damascus, as he references here and in prior times as we've seen in the book of Acts, chapter 9, chapter 22, and here in chapter 26 he makes reference to it. Now, last week we presented, and so some of you may have missed it. For the rest of you, it will be important to look at kind of reinforcing it. There are three biblical principles of spiritual opportunity that not only draw upon this passage, but others in Scripture. And the first one of which was, God has prepared good works that we might walk in them.

That's Ephesians 2.10. And we are called to walk in dependence upon and fellowship with Christ. This is the first principle of spiritual opportunity. Get that, okay? Alright.

The first principle of spiritual opportunity here is that There is no good work that is your responsibility that God has not already prepared. How many good works do you have to look for that God hasn't prepared? How many? Zippo, nada, nothing, okay? God has prepared every good work And we are called to walk in dependence and fellowship with Christ in fulfilling those. How many things does God want you to do, all of your own strength and effort? Zippo. Nada.

So this first principle is a biggie, okay? And it's not a most of the time this is what God has in mind. This is all the time this is what God has in mind. Principle number two. Pray and give thanks and everything, also praying that God will open the doors of opportunity. Isn't it interesting?

The Apostle Paul here is a guy personally discipled by and trained by the resurrected Jesus Christ. Here is the Apostle Paul who actually in 2 Corinthians 12 admitted to going to paradise. That's heaven, right? Going to paradise, but he was forbidden to talk about it. That's John's job, right? Here is the Apostle Paul who is capable of carrying out phenomenal miracles as an apostle. And you know what? He still asked other people to pray for open doors of spiritual opportunity. So if Paul could ask for that, we can too. Praying that the Lord open doors of spiritual opportunity for all of us. And by the way, who do we have opportunity with?

All kinds of people, unbelievers we run into. One of the things I've noticed over time, is that Nancy is someone easy to talk to. That's probably how we got started in our relationship. But people will come up and start telling their life story to Nancy in the line at the grocery store, right? Guess what? That gives her spiritual opportunity, right? We all have opportunity. Opportunity with people we run into. Opportunity with people we've known for a long time. Opportunity with family. Husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, family, our children. Lots of opportunity.

Pray about it. Pray about it. Go to the Lord about it. There is no spiritual opportunity that the Lord has prepared that He doesn't want you to pray about. Isn't it great to have these biblical principles where it's not just sort of a generalization, it's absolute? So how many spiritual opportunities has the Lord prepared for you that he doesn't want you to pray about? Zippo, none, nada, right? These are absolute truth principles, which is great. If you're ever looking for clarity, these are it.

Number three, when God opens the door of spiritual opportunity, go through the door. As we mentioned last week, this isn't quite like Yogi Berra's, when you find a fork in the road, take it. But when God opens a spiritual door of opportunity because He has prepared it, when He opens a spiritual door of opportunity because you've been praying about it and you've asked others to pray about it, and when God opens that door, take it. walk in faith through that door that He has prepared and done everything to put in front of you.

Now, since being arrested by the Romans in Jerusalem, and now being held in the palace prison in Caesarea for two years, Paul has now made with this, he's going to complete it, five defenses. since that day. First one, Jewish mob at the stairway at Fortress Antonia. That was his first defense. Rough time, but nonetheless it was a spiritual opportunity. Number two, before the Sanhedrin, what did Paul testify? I'm here before you today because I believe in the resurrection. Mayhem followed, but it doesn't mean that what he said was the wrong thing, right? Number three, Felix. Governor Felix, who had been the governor before Festus. That was another defense and another spiritual opportunity for Paul. Number four, Festus. This is Porcius Festus. By the way, his first name means pig. Pig Festus. Which, by the way, we look at and we kind of turn up our nose or worse. To the Romans, that was an honorable name because they really like pigs. So anyway, if that causes you to kind of wonder, that's fine.

Anyway, so then finally, and what we're seeing in this passage, as we've seen the last couple, is Herod Agrippa II, great grandson of the Herod the Not-So-Great, and he is the one who is the king over the temple and everything in it and all the people in charge of it. That's what he's a king of.

And he is the one now with this final presentation, this final defense we're looking at today. Paul in these cases not only made his defense, but he also proclaimed the gospel in these as he does in this particular message. And he does so clearly that we're going to see Festus get afraid. He's going to do what we call in modern vernacular, he's going to freak out, right? That's what's going to happen to Festus. But he proclaimed the gospel message, he shifted the issue from the false claim of the temple violation to the true claim of the resurrection of Christ. And Paul could say, I'm not just blowing smoke here.

I saw Christ alive. I have seen Him alive. I am testifying to you. Christ, the one who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, you guys, being the officials, have record of it. I'm testifying to you today. I have seen Him alive. As a matter of fact, I've seen him alive since I was arrested. He is alive. I'm telling you guys. It's the truth. Here's Acts 26, 19, and 20.

So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I kept declaring, both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem, then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

He uses the word heavenly now for the first time in Acts, which I think is indicative. He has begun to have a heavenly understanding, which is why he starts here. This is the first time in Acts, as a matter of fact, it's the only time in Acts, and this is the only place in the New Testament where we find the words heavenly vision. The Apostle Paul is beginning to bring out things heavenly even here before he gets to Rome, before he writes Ephesians, before he writes Philippians, before he writes Colossians. He brings it out here because he has had that heavenly vision and he's beginning to see more and more that it is what is heavenly that counts.

The vision that Paul is speaking of was, of course, seeing Christ starting on that time on his road to Damascus. Christ, the risen one who is ascended and seated in the heavenlies. And by the way, has Paul been to the place where Christ is seated in the heavenlies?

Yes. At this point, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he's been there already. But he's forbidden to talk about it. Why? It's John's job, right? But he has been there, he wrote about it before he was arrested here, before he went to Caesarea. He had been to the heavenly scene.

This he is talking about here starts off, the heavenly vision begins where Paul had met the Lord face to face on the road to Damascus. So he proclaimed the gospel of Christ, that is, of Jesus, that is Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, that he died for our sins on that cruel Roman cross, and cruel, yes it was, that he was buried and that he rose again. He is now seated in the heavenlies. That's why Paul could say this heavenly vision. Paul proclaimed the life-saving gospel, and I don't mean just life like save a life here, the eternal life-saving gospel to the Jews who are in Damascus and in Jerusalem and Judea and to the many Jews and Gentiles in the lands outside of Israel on, at this point in time, three missionary journeys. He has just begun the fourth one, which is all under Roman imprisonment. But he had in fact well begun, though he's not done, well begun presenting the gospel in all these places.

He talks about in here, repent and turn to God in repentance. These are big words in the book of Acts. Early on, Peter is the one who begins using repent. And by the way, repent. And he keeps saying repent, right? And repent in New Testament terms always means a change of mind, but one very important essential ingredient, repent in the New Testament context means to end in belief. The dirty and simple meaning of the word repent is to change one's mind. In the New Testament context it always means to change one's mind so as to end in belief. That's the core meaning in the New Testament context.

The word turn, here used together, but both these words are used throughout the book of Acts. The word turn means to turn from what you're doing, very similar to a change of mind, to end in belief. Both repent and turn mean to end in belief. We've got a supplement there on the cabinet to your right that addresses both those words and the way they're used in the book of Acts.

Both of them are used together here. Repentance, as the words used in Acts, is a change of mind so as to believe what is real, true, and spiritually deep, not superficial. True repentance shows itself, as Paul expresses here, in reality, in action, in real, true living out by the life of Christ.

True repentance is not, I am determined to try really hard next time. True repentance is not, I feel terribly, terribly sorry, and every time I think about it, I feel even worse. This is not, I got the blues. It's not that. True repentance is a change of mind that ends in belief, no matter how you feel. You see that? We tend to think of repentance and turning as how you feel. That's a message our culture has been delivering for decades. That's not what repentance is. That's not what turning is. Feelings may accompany it, but it is a change of mind that ends in belief. Turning is turning from one thing to the other that ends in belief. That's the New Testament biblical context for those words.

Acts 26.1, for this reason some Jew sees me in the temple and tried to put me to death. So the Jews in Jerusalem had tried to kill Paul based on false claims about him violating the temple. And in fact, as we read through, it happened twice. First there in the courtyard and then in front of the Sanhedrin.

In doing so, the Jews broke the Law of Moses because they didn't ask for two or three witnesses who told the same story. Instead, they didn't ask for any witnesses, a rumor got around, and all of a sudden, they're ready to kill the guy, right? They also violated the laws of Rome. How many witnesses were required under the Law of Moses? It says two or three, a minimum of two. You know how many witnesses were required under the Law of Rome? Two. So they were absolutely in agreement. How many witnesses did the Jews have?

Zippo. Nada. None. Zilch. Paul brings to light the real reason he was being charged by the Jews here. So he says, here's the real reason, guys. And that's this. He was proclaiming the truth. He was proclaiming the one gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. And that is precisely why. He was being brought to charges. And because they had not one valid witness, that's why all the charges came to nothing. Here's Acts 26, 22 and 23.

So having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and to great, stating nothing but what the prophets and Moses said was going to take place. that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead, He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. So Paul had obtained real help from God.

Now, let's notice something. Sometimes people say, well, I need God to help. And what we mean by that at times is, I'm going to give it my own best effort. It might fall short by 5 or 10 percent, so I'm going to need to have God make up the difference. Do you know that God does not have that in mind? God is not here to have you give your best efforts and Him make up the difference.

Real help means 100% complete and total Him. He is the one who pulls it off. It was the only reason that Paul was alive. He was not alive because he did his best efforts, but he needed a little bit of help from God. The real help from God was absolutely essential. It was essential help, not supplemental.

And the other thing to bring out here, Moses and the prophets, what we call the Old Testament, had told the essentials of the gospel in advance that Christ would suffer for our sin and He would be raised. He talks about the essentials of the gospel here. But one of the things this passage makes clear, Christ is the one who actually proclaims the light. Did you notice that at the end of the passage? Christ is the one who does the proclaiming. A lot of times you might look and say, well, it was the apostles that did it. Yeah, but if it wasn't for Christ, they wouldn't have anything to say.

Acts 26.24, while Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind.

Your great learning is driving you mad. which in code means, Paul, you're scaring me, right? That's what his message was there. Paul, you're nuts because that's got to be because I'm not going to stand up in front of hundreds of people and say, you're really scaring me and I'm afraid. But that's really what he was saying.

He was actually interrupting what Paul was saying with this interjection, if you will, this gathering of everybody who is anybody in the city of Caesarea plus Agrippa and Bernice who are not from the city but instead were from Jerusalem and their court was all done because Festus was the one who had ordered it. It's quite clear that Festus, and I'm quoting this, was crawling out of the skin. This was really getting to him.

Have you ever met anyone who is presented with the gospel, but they're squirming not to embrace it. Nancy and I knew a girl, and this was actually decades ago now, we knew a girl, a young lady. Nancy was actually made, you know, one of the bridesmaids at her wedding. We had known this Girl, for some time, there were times when Nancy and I went away and we left our kids with she and her husband. But she had a number of Christian friends, including ourselves.

But here is what is amazing. She told us, she says, I know what the gospel is. I stand right outside the door. Isn't that scary? Will that get you there? Turns out, she died not long after that. She's been dead for some time now. I hope that she didn't stay outside the door, because that's not good enough. Here is Festus. He has been presented with the gospel, and it scares him. And instead of facing up to the truth, what does he do?

Paul, you're nuts. Paul, you're great learning. He didn't insult his great learning, except to say it's driving you mad. He had already shown himself to be afraid of what Paul was proclaiming. We've seen that earlier. He couldn't stand it anymore. He tells everyone, and I mean there are lots of people gathered there, that Paul has lost his mind, is being driven mad.

You're a great learning, and by the way, there was great respect for Paul's learning. He didn't dispute that. Paul was from Tarsus, a renowned university town. Paul had been trained under Gamaliel, the premier rabbi of the first century. He didn't dispute that Paul was a man of great learning, but he couldn't handle the gospel He couldn't deal with the gospel that Paul presented. Acts 26, 25, and 26.

But Paul said, I am not out of my mind most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice. For this has not been done in a corner.

Most excellent term was a term reserved for those of high standing, such as governors and high-level officials. So Paul uses it here. It's also, as Dr. Luke wrote to Theophilus, most excellent Theophilus. So that tells us Theophilus was one of high standing, whatever his particular position was.

So, Paul respectfully, notice he doesn't say, O Festus, you piggy kind of guy. O Festus, you porcinist sort of fellow. No. He instead says, most excellent. He addresses him respectfully, but he does correct him. He is not mad. He's saying words of, and literally what Paul said was, these are words of truth and rationality. These are words that are true and not false. I am not mad. I've not gone nuts.

But these things make a lot of sense. And this is something that's important for us to look at. The words of Scripture, the gospel, does make good sense. Is it something the world will easily grasp hold of? Of course not. But the gospel does make good sense. That's what Paul said right here. These are words of truth. They are true and not false. I didn't just make them up and I'm not going nuts. These are things that are rationally demonstratable.

Agrippa already knows the things that Paul is presented and Paul is proclaiming and it says in there that Paul is confident and he is persuaded about these things. They're openly known and evident. So this has not been done in a corner was actually a common figure of speech in Paul's day for something that was widely known and was evident to all. That was a way of saying, this has not been in a corner, meaning everybody can see these facts. Everybody has these available to them to see. Here's Acts 26, 27, and 28.

King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? So this is actually a rhetorical question because the answer is, I know that you do. Now what did he mean by that? It's not necessarily that he means all the message of the prophets and that he understands everything that he has just said about Christ. It does mean that he believes that what has been spoken and what we call the Old Testament is in fact inspired scripture. Agrippa did go so far as to believe that. I know that you do. Verse 28, Agrippa replied to Paul, in a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian. Wow. Well, let's take a look at that. So Paul asks this rhetorical question, do you believe, right?

So repent and turn and believe are all pointing to the same end, belief. Repent means to change one's mind so as to end in belief. To turn means to turn from a belief and an understanding and action in one direction to turn to a belief and understanding that ends in belief in the gospel. It's the same end belief.

Salvation is by faith alone and that's what the Apostle Paul is appealing to. He has openly proclaimed the gospel and is calling for the one and the only response that will bring and result in true and eternal salvation of Agrippa and everyone else, probably hundreds of those present. Do you believe? Do you believe? Here's Agrippa, he will persuade me to become a Christian. So Paul's message here has brought Agrippa nearly to the point of becoming a believer.

That's actually a frightening place to be. It's a good direction to head, but it's a frightening place to think about. It'd be like the friend that I shared about earlier, where the gal expressed that she stood outside the door. which is as good as not being even close. This is not horseshoes and hand grenades, is it?

Close doesn't get it. He knows what Paul's message means. He even appears to understand it. However, nobody gets 99% saved, do they? It's zero or 100%, that's it. Nobody will be saved by anything less than faith. Nothing else will do it. Remember in the campus newspaper at the college where Nancy and I went, they asked the question, just a general question of students, are you good enough to go to heaven? Now that odd quirk of mathematical complexity. Most of the people said that they were better than average. I'm not sure how that works out. But it doesn't work, does it? Salvation is 100% by faith. That's it.

Here's Acts 26-29, and Paul said, I would wish to God that whether in a short time or a long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, Agrippa and Bernice and all their court, Festus, and his wife, and all their court, and all the military officers, including the five commanders and everyone under them that was gathered, and everybody who was anybody in the city of Caesarea. Imagine being the secretary of sanitation. You were probably invited, right?

All of you who hear me this day, you might become such as I am except for these chains. What's he saying? The chains, that's superficial, and of course nobody would really want to have the chains on. This is a change, being what Paul is, is a spiritual change, not chains.

So, except in brief and respectful correction of Festus, Paul had been directly speaking mostly to Agrippa, but even with the idea that there were the rest there. Agrippa being the primary audience, but he was wanting all to hear to and hoping that they would respond to the gospel. But as Paul was speaking to Agrippa and intending everyone who's present in this auditorium would respond by hearing and then believing in the gospel and be eternally saved. This was Paul's and everyone else's spiritual opportunity.

Acts 26, 30, and 31, but the king, that is Agrippa, stood up and the governor and Bernice, the governor being Festus and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them and when they had gone aside they began talking to one another saying this man is not doing anything worthy of death or imprisonment. So what happened is these got up and went separate from this great grand gathering of what was likely hundreds of people in this auditorium and now they as this much smaller group get together and begin discussing this. Though there were many present that day in the auditorium, Agrippa and his court with Bernice and the Governor Festus and his court, they went aside to discuss their legal findings. These would be findings of what does the law say and what are the facts of this case.

There had been great pomp here at the entrance of King Agrippa and Bernice. Paul was given the opportunity to share the gospel with everyone, which is just a mind-boggling, God-prepared opportunity. In the end, it was a Roman legal review. That was the real focus of this. This Roman legal review. Decisions had already been made by both Felix and by Festus, but this legal review was necessary.

Why? Because Festus didn't want to write a letter, I'm sending Paul to you in chains, but he's not guilty of anything. That was going to sound foolish. So he wanted to have something of substance to write to Nero, the emperor. He'd been emperor for about five years as of this time. about why he was sending Paul. So here's Acts 26, 32. And Agrippus said to Festus, this man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.

Let's ask you this question. Does Paul want to be set free? No! Isn't that amazing? Paul does not want to be set free. That is exactly what he doesn't want. There may have been much more that was discussed that day, but Agrippa summarized the Roman legal finding to Festus at the end of the day. What's the bottom line here? Agrippa told Festus, this man might have been set free if he had not appealed the Caesar, but freedom was not what Paul or God wanted. Can you imagine that?

Hey, you could be set free! No, don't want that. Freedom would have exposed Paul to the Jewish death squad. As soon as he's let loose, what are the Jews wanting to do? Kill him! The only reason they hadn't done it before is because the Romans wouldn't let them. That also would not get Paul taken to Rome. So some of the takeaways from this passage, this week and prior weeks, there are many times when the gospel is not presented, as Paul did here, with biblical clarity.

Have you ever heard of or heard of someone expressing, oh, you want to become a Christian? Invite Jesus into your heart. But what chapter and verse does that come out of? Invite Jesus into your heart. Why would Jesus want to come into your heart? Right? That's not what the Gospel is. Jesus would not want to come into anyone's heart as an invitation. Why? Because there's sin in there. Right? It's not a place where Jesus would be at home.

Another one is make a commitment to Christ. Now, there are several different contexts in which they talk about commitment, right? And one of those is when people are put into an asylum, right? So being committed is not exactly what you're looking for.

God is the one who decides who is really saved and who is not. That is always the case. Do you and I get to decide who's saved? Do we get to do that? No. God is in the end the one who decides who gets saved and who does not. So when the gospel is not presented quite correctly, is it possible that someone saved anyway? Yeah, it could be. But God's the one to decide that.

We have, however, clear revelation from Scripture what ought to be presented as the saving gospel and what ought to be believed. Let me summarize it quickly. The gospel, the content of the gospel, that Christ the Son of God died for your sins, and mine, was buried and rose again.

Do you believe it? That's the content of the gospel to be believed. There isn't any commitment, there isn't any invitation, or any other way you can express it that sidesteps that. The content of the gospel, Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again, do you believe it? That's it. It doesn't take a minute to present the gospel in its simplest and most essential form. Something else here.

Do you see Paul saying at the end of this gathering, now all of you who are gathered together today, the organ peals, right? And all of you are gathered here together today who want to come to the Lord. I want you to come forward here to the altar. Of course, in Caesarea, there is no altar you want to invite anybody to. But anyway, so I want you to come forward today at the altar. The organ peal goes again, right? and come forward here and just stand here in front of me and we'll have you say the sinner's prayer."

Did Paul do that? No. Didn't happen. He didn't say, you know, are you repenting and feeling really bad about your sins before God? Right? No. But he had presented the gospel of salvation. Here's Christ, whom you guys crucified. It's a matter of official Roman record. And he was buried. That's the only way the Romans would allow someone to be buried, as if, yes, that person had died after crucifixion. And he rose again. Paul had declared that and said, do you believe it? Do you repent, change, and have faith at the end of that? Do you turn, ending in faith? Do you believe it?

Paul had presented that. He presented the gospel that day. How many people, is it clear, became believers that day? Do you know that we don't have clear indication that anyone said, oh me, pick me, I'm your believer today. Or a great throng coming up. Now, I think the evidence was that at least somebody became a believer.

Why? The discussion both before this great meeting and afterwards is recorded. And it doesn't sound like Dr. Luke was there. So guess what that tells us? There were some responders, or at least one responder, who was a part of Festus and possibly Agrippa's court. But it doesn't sound like there's any great throng of response.

And that brings us to this point. God is responsible for preparing the good works that we might walk in them. Did God prepare this day for the good works for the Apostle Paul to present the gospel. Yes, he did. He provides everyone 100%, put as many zeros after the decimal point as you want, of the opportunities that are laid before each one of us. There is an implied response, that is, we have record of both before and after conversations between Festus and Agrippa, This is a fantastic opportunity that God has prepared for the Apostle Paul.

But notice, God is responsible and knows about the final outcomes. Is it our job to know what the final outcomes are? It is not. God is the one who knows who is saved. God is the one who's responsible for the final outcome. Should we beat ourselves if the outcome isn't what we were hoping for?

No, it's not our job anyway. The Apostle Paul here, there's no evidence that he beat himself up for what appeared to be a fairly minimal, if not even subtle response. God graciously prepares the good works and he knows about them and is responsible for all the outcomes. Don't worry about it. That's his job.

The other thing we look at here, we may be the instrument through which the gospel is presented to others. They may indeed believe and be saved eternally and even Apparently, externally, through us, we do not get to claim the credit. Over the years I can look back, and I don't believe I have the gift of evangelism, but I can look back and say, now here's a place where this person became a believer, and that person became a believer. And I can remember their names, and I can tell you the stories, although I won't take the time now.

But did I do anything? No. God is the one who prepared every good work. There is no good work that I have ever done that's a really good work that He hasn't prepared and been entirely responsible for anyway. And He is responsible for the outcomes. We don't get to claim the credit. I don't get to put notches on my Bible. I don't get to put stars on my collar when I come to church. I don't wear a six-tie clasp because I brought six people to the Lord. None of those.

God is the one who made every provision for our salvation. Did I help in that? No. His Holy Spirit works in hearts. That is what John 14-16 talks about. Particularly that He is the one who does the convicting and convincing. Christ's life is only lived out in and through those who have been totally crucified.

Paul wrote, I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who, and I'll expand on it, it's no longer I who do the living, but Christ does the living in me. So is it my job to go out and try to do good stuff? Nope. Only those who have been totally and completely crucified are the ones that God's going to work through.

And Paul will go to Rome. He actually will, and as we know, did. He desired to go there, what? Because he said, oh, I really want to go to Rome, and that's just the thing I really, really want to do. Let me read from you excerpts from Romans 15, 25-33. I'm going to Jerusalem because I really want to. Because I'm willfully insistent. Because I know I shouldn't go, but it's unwise. No. I'm going to Jerusalem to serve the saints. I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ to Rome.

Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea. Was he? Yep. Okay. Rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, the prayer was answered, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints, it was, so that I may come to you, you believers in Rome, in joy by the will of God. That's terrible. Okay. We're going to snooze that. Okay. Thanks to Microsoft for that brief announcement.

Okay, so Paul had been granted a Roman citizenship which he takes advantage of here completely by grace. He had it from birth. What credit could he take for having this Roman citizenship? None, eh? He was born with it. It was God graced to him to be used at a very opportune moment like this.

The other point we want to make, the Lord stood at his side and said, take courage for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem. Did he solemnly witness to Christ's cause in Jerusalem? Yes. So you must witness at Rome also, Acts 23.11. Christ personally assured him and comforted him with that. The other point we make, Paul said here as he said uniquely in this passage and beginning to say for the first time to use this word heavenly. Paul had a heavenly vision, but you and I have a heavenly beholding. So here was Paul, and he was given a heavenly vision and a very specific revelation of Christ. And that was unique to Paul, wasn't it? You and I haven't had that. I don't know about you. How many of you have been to Damascus? How many of you have been on a road to Damascus? Probably not, right?

Every believer from Acts 2 to the Rapture, including every believer here today, has the blessed opportunity to behold Christ face to face. Is that intended to be just for a few of us? No. It's not just for a few of us. Every believer here today has this very special opportunity to behold Christ face to face, even this morning.

To behold the Lord. To behold the Lord through His Word. Here's 2 Corinthians 3, 18, But we all, that's you and me, Well, it almost sounds like Texan or something, but anyway. But we all, with unveiled face, that is unveiled by the law, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. Now, let's pray.

Lord, we thank you as we look at this passage, as we look at what you have revealed, because you love us, because you want us to learn from these things, learn about the opportunities that you put before us, learn about the character of the gospel that needs to be presented, and so we learn who gets credit for what. Thank you for that, and thank you that as Paul and Heavenly Vision, we are intended, every one of us, to behold the Lord Jesus through the Word.

We just give you thanks for that. We thank you for the encouragement that this passage and the ones before it have been. And even though Paul, as we're soon to see, will go through a difficult time, even though he will go through a horrendous time, it is still with the comfort that he will indeed make it to Rome. The difficulties do not diminish or delete the promise. Thank you for that. Thank you for the assurance we have from that. We pray in Jesus' name.