In a previous generation, believers in Jesus Christ spoke of being saved with more frequency than today. One song writer expressed it this way, “But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace.” Another wrote, “Life now is sweet and my joy is complete, for I’m saved, saved, saved!” The Bible speaks of being saved. In a familiar verse, Ephesians 2:8, the Apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Jesus spoke of His role as the Savior of lost souls in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the verb “to save” is sozo and the noun, “salvation,” is soteria. Both words are used over one hundred times in the New Testament to speak of the salvation provided by the Savior, Jesus Christ. When the New Testament speaks of the salvation provided by the Lord Jesus, it means it is the work of God that delivers lost souls from sin and its penalty, restores to a right relationship with the Lord, imputes the righteousness of Christ and grants eternal life. God accomplished and is accomplishing the work of salvation only through His Son, Jesus Christ.
The Bible focuses on three aspects of God’s gracious salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification. At the moment a lost soul receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are instantly and eternally justified before God. Sin as a barrier between the person and God is forever removed and he or she is place in a never-ending sphere of God’s grace. Immediately upon being saved, the new Christian enters the life-long journey of sanctification, during which God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit makes him or her increasingly more holy as Jesus is holy. Ultimately every saved believer will be entirely glorified in the presence of the Triune Godhead.
Salvation is completely by grace because it has to be. From the moment sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden through Adam and Eve, all people are guilty of deliberately and freely choosing sin and are consequently sinners. Romans 5:6-10 uses the words, “sinners,” “ungodly,” and even, “enemies of God,” to describe the true human condition. As a result, we exist in a state of spiritual death, and although most people can tell the human race has a grave problem with evil and moral impurity, both individually and collectively, we are so blinded that we cannot know what the problem is. And, even if we could recognize our sinful state, we could do nothing about it because we are lost. Yet it is precisely while we are in such a desperate state that Christ died for us. The good news is that Christ gave His life as a sacrifice so that we can be saved out of this sinful condition.
Along with singing about being saved, previous generations of Christians would stand at church gatherings and tell how they came to receive Christ as their Savior. Many called this, “giving a testimony.” I remember, early in my Christian life, sitting in church services and having the pastor ask if anyone would like to stand and give their testimony of their salvation. Often, several people would rise and tell how they were saved. Some were saved as children and others as adults. But they all told how they had received the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal Savior. I think being able to give a testimony of salvation in Christ is a powerful witness of God’s truth and grace. I think grandparents should tell their grandchildren how they became Christians. Families should know how the other family members came to trust in the Lord. Giving a testimony is one of the keys to effective evangelism. If we cannot explain how we were saved, how can we encourage another person to be saved?
Today, we will observe the Apostle Paul giving his personal testimony of salvation in Christ to an audience composed of the political elite and much of the local aristocracy. It is an audience most Christians never see and rarely get to present the gospel message, yet Paul stands before them and tells how he was saved and then encourages them to believe in Jesus and be saved. It provides one of the most dramatic spiritual moments in the New Testament. We begin with how the Lord prepared an audience for the Apostle’s testimony.
DIVINE PREPARATIONS FOR PAUL’S TESTIMONY. Acts 25:13-27
Governor Festus Met with King Agrippa. In the previous verses in this chapter, Paul’s case was taken out of Governor Festus’ hands. Jewish leaders had traveled to Caesarea to accuse Paul of capital crimes with the intention of having him executed. After hearing the case, the governor decided to offer to have Paul transferred to Jerusalem to be tried there. Paul insisted in his innocence and the Jewish leaders had no proof of their allegations. Festus’ offer came when he found it politically expedient to not find Paul innocent and pronounce an acquittal. But Paul had to agree to the change in venue and he refused. Instead, he appealed his case to the emperor. This meant Governor Festus could not give a verdict and that Paul must be transferred to the empire’s capital city of Rome.
Before arrangements for Paul’s journey to Rome could be made, Festus received a state visit from King Agrippa, whose kingdom was just north and east of Judea. Festus reviewed Paul’s case with Agrippa. After hearing the facts of the case, Agrippa asked to hear Paul’s case himself. So, Festus arranged a hearing for the next day.
God Gathers a Crowd to Hear Paul. Herod Agrippa II (also known as Marcus Julius Agrippa) was the last in the line of Herods who figure prominently in New Testament history. He ruled the northern part of Palestine. His father, Agrippa I, was the Herod who killed the Apostle James, arrested the Apostle Peter, and met an untimely death by being eaten by worms after failing to give God glory. His uncle, Herod Antipas was responsible for murdering John the Baptist. His great-grandfather was Herod the Great, who ruled at the time of Jesus’ birth and murdered all the infant boys in Bethlehem in an effort to kill the newborn King. His consort, Julia Bernice was actually his sister and first-century historians report their incestuous relationship. They arrived wearing royal purple robes, along with all the splendor attached to Roman heads of state.
Also in attendance were the five commanders–the five tribunes who were then commanding officers of the five Roman legions assigned to Caesarea, obviously wearing the dress uniforms of high-ranking Roman officers. Also, there were prominent men of the city–Caesarea’s aristocracy. It was quite an amazing crowd to hear this lone Christian missionary.
The Governor’s Dilemma. At the command of Governor Festus, Paul was brought in. Likely in prison clothes, he made quite a contrast with the opulent wealth and political power around him. The governor’s problem was that he had nothing to write to the emperor about why he was sending Paul to Rome. There were no charges of crimes against the empire and Festus did not know what to do. To send Paul to Rome without any charges would be embarrassing to the governor. So, he sought advice from Herod and the others in attendance.
PAUL’S LIFE BEFORE SALVATION IN CHRIST. Acts 26:1-11
Paul’s Defense Is His Testimony. Can you imagine coming up out of the Roman prison and walking into that crowd? I have no doubt that Paul understood immediately that God had uniquely arranged this audience so that he could present the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. Paul politely thanked King Agrippa for this opportunity and appealed to the king’s knowledge of Judaism as he proceeded.
Paul’s Past–He Was a Strict Pharisee. Paul, a man in his mid-sixties, began all the way back in his childhood and claimed that he had lived an exemplary life. All the Jewish leaders, from the synagogue leaders in his hometown of Tarsus to those in the rabbinic school in Jerusalem knew all about his strict life. There is no doubt Paul was religious, but he wasn’t saved. He was a devoted student of the Old Testament Scriptures. He understood all of God’s promises made to Paul’s biblical ancestors–Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the others. And although Israel no longer lived in the tribal lands given as their inheritance, Paul knew the twelve tribes still existed in God’s mind and they all believed in the hope of the resurrection taught in the Old Testament and known by the Jewish people. Paul confessed that it was because of this hope in Israel’s future resurrection that he was on trial.
Looking around at the Gentile faces in the room, none of whom likely believed the dead would ever rise again he asked, “If God is all-powerful and mighty, what makes you think He cannot raise the dead if that’s what He wants to do?” It was a good question and it was designed to make his audience think.
Paul’s Past–He Persecuted Jesus of Nazareth and the Church. Paul moved on to his days as a young Jewish theologian and scholar. His zeal for the Law was so great that he could not tolerate believers in Jesus Christ, so he chose to do many hostile things to Christians because of Christ. He confessed to locking up Jewish Christians in prisons, having been granted authority by the chief priests. He likely cited the incident with Stephen, when he consented to Stephen’s martyrdom. He was relentless. He pursued Jewish Christians to the synagogues in which they met and tried to get them to blaspheme. He probably tried to get them to say Jesus was Lord and God, which to Paul, was blasphemous. Paul said he was so “furiously enraged” at these Christians, that he was pursuing them to foreign cities, far from Jerusalem. Why did Paul have so much hatred and murderous inten-tions? In his own words he said it was because he was “dead in his trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
PAUL’S SALVATION EXPERIENCE. Acts 26:12-18
On the Journey to Damascus. So what happened? What changed this murderer into a missionary? How did a man who hated Christians become one himself? What happened to make him give his life to Jesus of Nazareth? He was traveling north from Jerusalem to Damascus in Syria in order to find more Jewish Christians to drag back to Jerusalem and put them on trial. But then something quite extraordinary happened to him. Paul said he saw a light from heaven, even brighter than the midday sun. The brightness of the light stunned the group and all of them fell to the ground. Next, Paul heard a voice speaking to him in Hebrew, asking him why he was persecuting Him.
If you will look back to Acts 9, you will find that there Luke records the historic details of Paul’s salvation. What Paul is doing here in Caesarea is telling this crowd of social elites his testimony of salvation in Christ. Why is he doing this? It is because Paul had a passion to see men and women come to know Jesus as their Savior. He knew they all were lost and that their only hope was receiving Christ. He used his own personal experience to illustrate how someone believes in Jesus Christ.
Saul Was Saved by Grace. At the instant of his salvation, Paul recognized the One talking to him as the God of Israel, calling Him “Lord,” which to the Jewish mind was God’s covenantal name. It was the Yahweh of the Old Testament who was speaking to him. It was the God of the burning bush who told Moses to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. It was the great I Am who spoke to Paul. Who are You? Paul asked. Without ambiguity, the answer was “Jesus.” Jesus is God, equal in every way with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And only by coming to receive Him can we be saved. Jesus Himself said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Paul believed and was eternally saved. And his life was never the same again.
Called Into Ministry. The Lord Jesus was not finished with Paul–He had a ministry for him. He was to be a minister and a witness. He was to go and tell others what had happened to him. The Lord specifically sent him to both the Jewish people and the Gentiles and gave Paul his mission in three parts. First, his preaching and teaching would “open their eyes.” They must see the reality that Jesus Christ is the crucified, risen, and exalted Messiah, Savior, and Lord who alone can save a person’s soul.
Second, Paul’s ministry would empower people to turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God. All people have been captured by Satan but they can and will be instantly liberated when they accept the truth that Jesus is Lord. Third, Paul’s preaching would enable people to receive the Lord’s forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is the result when people have their eyes opened, when they turn away from darkness, when they receive freedom from the dominion of Satan, when they choose to come into the Light, that is, when they turn to God. They will receive an inheritance–a share in salvation of the people who have been cleansed of all their sinful impurities.
Notice, please, how the Apostle Paul described those who have never come to faith in Christ: they are blind and have to have their eyes opened, they are in darkness and need to come into the light, they are in the dominion of Satan and need to be transferred to God’s, they are guilty and need forgiveness, and they are alienated and need to receive and inheritance with God’s redeemed. And now, please notice how that happens–Jesus said it is “by faith in Me.” Believing in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved.
PAUL’S LIFE AFTER SALVATION IN CHRIST. Acts 26:19-32
Paul’s Message: Christ Suffered and Was Raised. Paul declared to Jewish people and Gentiles alike that they should “repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” Repentance meant that they changed their mind from rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord to receiving Jesus Christ as Lord. That change of mind must be followed by changing the direction of the orientation of their lives, from disobedience to God’s Word to obedience. Having faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the focus of saving grace, but to get there a person changes his or her mind about sin and God and turns to the Lord to receive His offer of salvation through Jesus.
Paul’s message agrees with God’s revelation given in the Old Testament. He said he had stated “nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place.” The suffering and death of Jesus the Messiah was predicted in Isaiah 53, where Isaiah wrote, “He Himself bore our griefs,” “He was crushed for our iniquities,” and, “The Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. In that same chapter of Isaiah, Christ’s resurrection was predicted.
“Paul, You Are Out of Your Mind.” Festus was a Roman and did not believe that the dead would ever live again. In their thinking, this life was all there was. When Paul insisted again that Jesus died and lived again, his only conclusion was that Paul must be crazy. But Festus was wrong. Like Festus, many people today really do not believe there is life after death. Many more are confused about how to have life after death or think doing good things may help them. But there is only one way to eternal life and that is by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. Only He can give you everlasting life.
“You Will Persuade Me to Be a Christian.” While Festus refused to believe in Jesus, Agrippa was under conviction to believe. He knew the prophecies that concerned the Messiah and knew Paul had just proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah and had fulfilled those prophecies. But Agrippa was not willing to believe. He had come so close, yet was still far from believing in Jesus. Almost, in a short time, but that short time never came. Paul extended his invitation to all who were present. Maybe someone in that place repented and received Jesus Christ as Lord. None of those in attendance gave Festus a charge to write about Paul to the emperor. But they did agree he was innocent. There was no choice. Paul had to be sent to Rome to stand before the emperor.
Paul had been a religious man and could have contended his religion was enough. But it wasn’t. He still needed to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the third chapter of John’s gospel, another religious man, Nicodemus, was told his religion was not enough and that he must be born again, which we discover, is believing in Jesus. The pagan Greek jailer of Acts 16 had no faith at all, but recognized salvation was only in Jesus Christ, and believed in Jesus and was saved.
What about you? Where do you stand on your personal faith in Jesus Christ? Have you repented and turned to the Lord? Have you believed that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead? If you have not, right now is the time to trust in Jesus. Agrippa had his opportunity and failed to believe. What will you do with Jesus Christ?
