Grace Baptist Church

Pastor Chris Bell: But if you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. I tell you, this chapter is just amazing. The more messages I do, the closer I think I'm getting to the end of the chapter, the more the messages keep multiplying. It keeps getting divided into more parts and more parts and more parts. We will not be finishing the chapter today, but Lord willing, we will make it through verses 19 through 23 as we split this into a two-parter again.

But before we approach the word, please pray with me that God would bless the teaching of His word and have His will in our hearts today.

Father in heaven, we are a needy people. We are laden with many cares. There are sins that we wrestle with and yet somehow have not yet attained the victory we seek over those things. There are pressures on our minds, there are afflictions that we have, there are worries that we face, and yet in all of these things, we thank You for the truth of the words that we have just sung, that Jesus will give us rest.

What a tender and merciful Savior we serve. We thank You that Jesus, in His tender care for us, will not quench a smoking flax, and He will not break a bruised reed. He is tender with us. He is patient with us. I pray, Father, that by the ministry of the Spirit, He would be patient and gentle with us even this morning, giving us exactly what we need from Your word.

Father, for those who need correction from the scriptures, I pray that He would gently and lovingly rebuke through the word. For those who are timid and feeling afraid to share their faith boldly as we need to, I pray that Jesus, through the word, would provide us with the boldness that we seek. Grow us in this way, move in our hearts, and I pray that in all things, Christ would be magnified, the saints would be built up, and You would be glorified. In Jesus' name, amen.

As we continue in our series through the book of Acts, we've been really focusing the last couple of weeks on the reality that the Lord gives light. He opens our blind eyes to the truth of His gospel, and He calls us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. But we've also really seen an emphasis in Paul's commission on the fact that once the Lord brings us into His light, He then calls us to shine that same light back out into the darkness of the lost and dying world around us.

But although this task has been given to us, it is not a task that comes naturally to us. Our flesh is very weak. Through the weakness of our flesh, we can feel timid in sharing the gospel with others or in talking with others about our faith. We've grown so accustomed to comfortability in virtually every single area of our lives that we fear any potential awkwardness that we may feel in getting over that initial hump to bring up spiritual matters in a conversation with someone or with the lost.

Or we may be afraid that we'll get made fun of for our faith, or we may fear that people will call us stupid for actually believing the Bible. Or we may harbor doubts, even about the faith, in our own mind. Perhaps we feel fearful that if we share with someone and they challenge us or want to contradict us, we won't know how to answer because we may even have some doubts in our own mind that we are working through.

But the same God who calls us to be a light for Him is also gracious and faithful to help, to empower, and to supply us with the resources that we need in order to be bold in our witness rather than overcome with a spirit of timidity. So, Lord willing, over the next couple of weeks, we're going to reflect on seven ways that we can, with the Lord's help, be bold in our witness.

This is going to be seen through the rest of Acts chapter 26, but today, we're just going to have time to reflect on the first three. I invite you to begin considering these seven points with me as, ultimately, what we are going to see together this morning and next week is that the Lord not only calls His people to shine His light into a dark world, but also graciously supplies all that we need in order to obey His call to shine the light with boldness.

Please follow along with me. We will read Acts chapter 26, verses 19 through the end of the chapter, while focusing on verses 19 through 23 today. This is the word of God to us this morning, beginning in verse 19: "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance."

"For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles." And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind."

But Paul said, "I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe." And Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?"

And Paul said, "Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains." Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, "This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment." And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."

So, we're beginning seven strategies for growing in our boldness in our witness for Christ, and today we are going to cover the first three of them. The first comes in verses 19 through 20, and that is namely to practice what you preach. Practice what you preach in verses 19 and 20. Beginning in verse 19, Paul says, "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision."

Therefore. That word "therefore" connects us to what came immediately prior in the passage. The immediately preceding verses recount Jesus's appearance to Paul when he was converted on the road to Damascus, and His commission of Paul to be His special witness as an apostle. So, the heavenly vision that Paul references is referring to his vision of Christ on the road to Damascus. He says that he was not disobedient to that vision. In other words, he obeyed.

Obedience is always the necessary fruit that flows out of salvation. This was the case in Paul's life, and it is the case in every believer's life. We do not obey in order that we might gain salvation, but we obey because we have been saved. The Holy Spirit cannot take up residence within you without changing you. It is an impossibility. Faith that doesn't result in obedience is not true faith at all; it is dead, to quote the words of James.

But we continue on, and he says in verse 20, "But declared." He declared. This verse shows us how it was that Paul was not disobedient, or how he was obedient. His obedience was seen in actually carrying out the commission that he was assigned with, that he was tasked with—to take the gospel to the lost, to open their eyes. If obedience meant declaring, then that means it would have been disobedient for Paul not to declare the gospel.

You see, there are sins of commission, the things that we actively do which violate God's commands. But there are also sins of omission, things that God commands us to do in His word which we neglect to do. In this case, it would have been a sin of omission if Paul were to not go on and actually declare the gospel as Christ had commissioned him to do. But Paul obeyed by preaching the gospel far and wide to both Jews and Gentiles, and we see that in even the geographical regions that he names.

It says he declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles. But notice an essential component of what this gospel message actually included. Continuing on in verse 20, he says he declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. So, a few comments on this.

First, we ask the question: what is repentance? The Westminster Shorter Catechism provides a good and time-tested definition. We have looked at this definition before in a previous sermon, but it's worth citing again. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, "Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience."

We noted a few observations on this definition in a previous sermon in Acts back when we were in chapter 20, verses 17 through 24, in the message entitled "Elders Exhorted and Encouraged (Part 1)." We won't go over all of that again right now, but we will stop and make at least a few additional comments on this. The second comment would be to notice from our text that repentance and faith are inseparably linked.

Back in verse 18, as we noted last week, Jesus said that people are sanctified or set apart as God's holy people by faith in Him. It is through faith that we become God's people in salvation. Yet Paul's message included the call for sinners to repent in verse 20. We must understand that though faith and repentance are not synonyms—they're not the exact same thing—they are necessarily linked in such a close relationship that one cannot exist apart from the other.

Faith is a turning to Christ, trusting in Him alone and His merits for our salvation. Repentance is a turning from sin. These are related to one another in such a way that they take place simultaneously at the moment of conversion. I hope an illustration will help make the point more clearly. We can imagine that the sinner here is oriented his whole life toward sin. If sin is on this side of the room, the sinner is going this direction. Christ is over here.

When the sinner places his trust in Christ, he is turning to Christ in faith, placing his hope in the Savior, yet he cannot turn to the Savior without necessarily in the same motion turning away from the sin that he was once pointed towards. It is a simultaneous turning from sin to Christ. One cannot take place apart from the other by the simple change in direction. Christ and sin are so diametrically opposed that turning from one necessarily involves a turning to the other.

Third, I want us to note that repentance bears fruit, yet it is distinguished from the fruit that it bears. Paul says that they should be performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. This, of course, was the message of John the Baptist. We see this very clearly in Luke chapter 3, verse 8: "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."

Last week, we noted some of the continuity between Paul's ministry and the ministry of those who had come before him, and even here we see another point of continuity, that he is bearing the same exact message with the identical language even as John the Baptist. We must understand that the proof of genuine repentance is not merely that we feel bad for our sin. The genuine proof of repentance in our life is whether it produces a change of direction in actual behavior over the sustained course of time.

Let me give you an example. A man may hear a sermon on the responsibilities of biblical fatherhood, and he might be confronted with how miserably he has failed to lead his family spiritually. He may feel very bad as his conscience accuses him, and he beats himself up internally for neglecting his duties as the spiritual leader of the home. Has the man repented? Well, the test will be whether things actually start to change.

Does the man start making efforts to lead his family in family worship in the home where as he once did not? Does the man start prioritizing that his family be in church where as he once let everything else come first? The best indication of genuine repentance will not be the conviction the man feels during the sermon, but whether that conviction actually translates into a change of course moving forward that can be tangibly seen over time. This does not mean that the change will be perfect.

In fact, it certainly won't be perfect. But there will be a change in direction, and that's really the issue when assessing the reality of genuine repentance. As I've heard it said before, it's not about the perfection of your life; it's about the direction of your life. Repentance bears fruit; always will. But we will also go badly astray if we fail to recognize that there is a distinction between repentance itself and the fruit it bears.

In verse 20, Paul says that sinners must perform deeds in keeping with their repentance, not that the deeds are their repentance. Why is that a crucial distinction to make? Because if I fail to make this distinction, I may think that I have only repented and am only saved once I have performed enough repentant deeds over a long enough course of time. In that way, repentance becomes penance, and the gospel is destroyed by becoming a system of works salvation.

It's as if the call of the gospel is to do enough penitent works to make up for our sins before we can actually have justification. But when we recognize that repentance is distinct from the fruit it will bear, we understand that repentance—that shift in the orientation of the heart from sin to God—takes place in an instant. Because repentance is fundamentally that shift in the heart's orientation, a person can truly repent in the heart and be saved instantly, even before there has been any passage of time for the fruit to be born in actions.

That's really good news for us. Why? Because it shows us that no matter how far down the road of sin you are, you can be forgiven the very moment you turn around. You don't have to backtrack a sufficient distance or amount of time before you can be forgiven. A lifetime of sin can be completely forgiven in a moment—the very second you turn around and repent in your heart. And then the long journey in the opposite direction, down the road of repentance, which is seen in actions, begins. Not to gain forgiveness, but out of the assurance of having already been forgiven.

How does all of this relate to the boldness that Paul had in witnessing and the boldness that we can have too? The key thing to see is that Paul didn't preach anything that he himself had not first done. He told the lost to repent and to perform deeds which flow out of repentance. He could say that credibly because he himself had already repented, turning from his persecution of the church to now proclaiming the truth of Christ.

His repentance was seen in his obedience to the heavenly vision, to be Christ's witness just as He had commanded. The truth is, we are not going to feel very bold or confident in sharing the gospel if we ourselves know that we're being hypocrites by living in blatant sin in our lives. It's very hard to tell others the truth if we know that we aren't living it ourselves. In one sense, we could all feel like hypocrites to a certain extent. Why is that? Well, because none of us obeys perfectly.

In our proclamation of God's word, we're always going to be proclaiming a standard that is higher than what we can actually perfectly attain to. But there is a big difference between one, endeavoring after obedience yet struggling and stumbling, and two, saying one thing while willfully and blatantly doing the opposite. Proclaiming the truth while warring against the flesh and losing some skirmishes is not hypocrisy. Proclaiming the truth while raising the white flag and surrendering to the flesh is hypocrisy.

You don't have boldness if deep down you know that you're a fraud. So, if you want to find boldness for your witness, strive to practice what you preach. There is a second means by which we may grow in the boldness of our witness in Acts 26, and that is seen in verses 21 and 22, the first half: trust in the providence and promises of God. Trust in the providence and promises of God. Why do we need to trust in God and His providence? One reason is that a bold witness often invites opposition.

This proved to be the case with Paul. Look at verse 21. He says, "For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me." For what reason? we ask. Well, certainly for Paul's preaching of the gospel. By and large, the Jewish nation did not approve of Paul's affirmation that Jesus is their promised Messiah, the only source of salvation. Also, the Jews did not approve of the way that Paul offered this gospel of salvation on equal terms to both Jew and Gentile alike.

In verse 20, Paul says that he preached not only in Jerusalem and Judea, but also to the Gentiles. In fact, it was this very issue which stirred the Jews to seize him at the temple, the very incident that Paul is now recounting. If you'll recall, back in Acts chapter 22, verses 21 and 22, Paul is recounting his vision of the Lord that he had in the temple, and Paul says, "And he [that is Jesus] said to me, 'Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'" Up to this word, they [that is the Jewish crowd] listened to him.

Then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!" You see, the Jews could not tolerate the concept of total equality between Jew and Gentile together as God's one unified people. So they opposed Paul fiercely. This was not a surprise to the Lord. The Lord had already told Paul in his commission that He would deliver Paul from the Jews and the Gentiles in His commission that we saw last week in verse 17.

The Lord made good on that promise. Look at verse 22. Paul says, "To this day I have had the help that comes from God." To this day I have had the help that comes from God. Despite the opposition Paul faced, the Lord was always faithful to help him. We've seen that help a lot of times over the last few months of sermons. The Lord protected Paul on numerous occasions. Just to recall a few of those times that we've seen recently. How the Lord used the Romans to rescue Paul from the crowd before they could beat him to death outside on the temple grounds.

The Lord protected Paul from Roman scourging by means of his Roman citizenship. The Lord used the Roman tribune again to protect Paul from being torn in pieces by the Sanhedrin. The Lord used the Romans to protect Paul from an assassination plot. We saw how the Lord's providence was in absolutely every detail, orchestrating the Roman army according to His own will to protect His servant, and using even the weak and insignificant means of Paul's nephew to bring that about as well.

The Lord promised protection for Paul, and then He came through on that promise by protecting Paul and He did so by means of divine providence. Divine providence. For anyone unfamiliar with that term, here's a definition from 17th-century Puritan Obadiah Sedgwick. He says, "Providence is an external action of God, whereby He conserves and governs all things wisely, holily, justly, and powerfully to the admiration of His own glory."

It's saying, "Look, in providence, God is not only conserving the world, upholding its existence by the word of His power, but He is also governing and guiding everything that happens in it in a perfect manner to the extent that God would be glorified supremely in the end." Through the doctrine of divine providence, we understand that nothing happens by chance. Everything is by divine design as He orchestrates every happening, from the biggest event to the tiniest detail, according to His own will and ends.

In the final analysis, everything will turn out such that the glory of God is seen in the fullest display as a result of the way that God has guided everything towards the end that He appointed it for. This doctrine of providence is a tremendous comfort to the believer because it assures us that every detail of life, both the good and the bad and everything in between, only enter our life by the Lord's permission and design in such a way that will result in our ultimate good, even if it feels very bad in the moment.

It was through providence that God protected Paul, and it was divine providence that even led Paul to the very moment in which he is witnessing right now in our chapter. Let's continue on in verse 22. He says, "And so I stand here testifying both to small and great." "And so" indicating as a result of the help of God that I have had every day. It is as a result of that, "And so" because of that help, that I stand here even now testifying both to small and to great.

Because God had helped Paul every day, Paul was still on his own two feet continuing to spread the word even here in this grand audience hall. It's an incredible opportunity that God has led Paul to in His providence right now. He has had the opportunity to share the gospel with governors and now even a king, King Agrippa. Yet this gospel is not only for those considered of high importance in society, such as these governors and kings and rulers.

Paul says he testifies both to small and great. That's a reference to the full social spectrum, from the lowest to the highest, as surely many social classes must have been represented in this audience hall. Indeed, the gospel is for all classes and ranks of people, as all people, regardless of social standing, are in equally desperate need of it. Because apart from this gospel, all people, both great and small, will stand accountable and condemned for their sins.

Look at the way the apostle John brings this out in Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 15: "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead [here it is] great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done."

"And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Every person from the greatest to the least, from the President of the United States to the beggar on the street, will all be judged before God's perfect bar of justice.

Your social standing and achievements will make absolutely no difference and provide you with absolutely no aid on that day. The only thing that can save us on that day is to be found in the Lamb's Book of Life through faith in Jesus, the Lamb of God slain for our sins. If you haven't yet, I would just urge you: repent of your sin, trust in Christ today, and ensure that your name is written in that Lamb's Book of Life. For our purposes today, remember that it was the Lord's providence that had protected Paul and led him to this witnessing opportunity before all, both small and great.

In the same way, a firm trust in God's providence will aid your boldness in witnessing for Christ. How does that work? A trust in God's providence will lead us to pray for opportunities to witness and then to keep an eye out for those opportunities when they might come as directed by the Lord. When we see them, when we see those doors open, we will be bold to take them and to walk through them if we know that none of these encounters are by accident, but each and every one is divinely orchestrated by God.

We also saw that God's providential protection of Paul was the fulfillment of His promise to deliver Paul from his opponents. Paul was eventually beheaded, we know, but the Lord did deliver him from his enemies for as long as the Lord still had work for Paul to do. In a similar way, we too will find boldness to witness all the more as we press into the Lord's promises to us. Now, the Lord has not given us a promise to protect us from all earthly harm.

Many Christians are martyred for their witness. We know this. But we can still find boldness in the promise that even if we should die at the hands of unbelievers, even this cannot happen apart from the Lord's providence. Look at Matthew chapter 10, verses 28 through 33, that draws this out quite clearly. Jesus says, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?"

"And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven." We see here that Jesus does certainly acknowledge the possibility that His people will be killed by unbelievers for their witness.

He says, "Don't fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." But He draws a comparison to the sparrows. Not even a single sparrow dies apart from the Father's will. We, God's children, are of so much more value than this. So, if not even a bird can die apart from God's will, apart from His providence and permission, how much more does it stand that we cannot be killed apart from the Lord's providence and permission?

Let's be honest. In this country, we do not yet face a likely threat of death for our witness to Jesus, though millions of Christians around the world do. The most likely threat that we will face is rejection for our witness. But even in this case, there is still a promise that should give us boldness. Matthew chapter 5, verses 11 and 12: "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Jesus says that even if people speak badly about us or don't like us because of our Christian witness, even then, there is a tremendous blessing for us because that just lumps us in with very good company, particularly the faithful lineage of those who have come before us, as he names even the prophets of the Old Testament. That promise of blessing should further remove fear and promote boldness.

But there is a promise that tops even all of these. That comes in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20. The Great Commission passage—you've heard it many times, but it's worth reading again. "And Jesus came and said to them, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'"

As Jesus commissions His church to make disciples throughout the world, He gives us the very best promise He could: the promise that He Himself will be with us every step of the way. What more could He promise than His own presence? Is there anything greater that He could promise than this? Nothing. That's all we could ever need. So, we can be bold when we remember that the Lord is right there with us for whatever witnessing encounter or opportunity we may have.

If you want to grow in boldness for your witness, trust in the providence and promises of God. But there is a third way that we can grow in the boldness of our witness that we're going to see this morning, and that comes in the second half of verse 22 into verse 23: stand on the authority of scripture. Stand on the authority of scripture. We've seen that Paul is testifying both to small and to great. But what is the message that he's testifying to?

Well, let's continue in verse 22. He says that he's standing here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. Paul knew that he was greatly outnumbered among his Jewish countrymen. The truth of Christ was not the popular opinion of his day, nor is it in ours. Paul was among the small minority of Jews who, by God's grace, actually embraced Jesus as their promised Messiah.

How could Paul be sure that he was really right when so many people thought that he was wrong? Well, Paul knew that regardless of popular opinion, he was in agreement with God's opinion, in agreement with what God had said in His word, and that's the only opinion that counts. Specifically, Paul knew that Jesus was the Messiah because the details of Jesus's story matched the prophecies made about the Messiah in the Old Testament laid down by Moses and the prophets.

Let's read it once more. He's saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass. In preparation for this point of the sermon, I decided to read a chapter out of Lee Strobel's book "The Case for Christ." In chapter 10, Strobel tells the story of his interview with a Messianic Jew who had gone through a long and difficult journey that eventually led him to embrace Jesus as the promised true Jewish Messiah. Eventually, this man went on to become a Christian pastor.

The chapter focuses on the topic of Messianic prophecies. That's really the heart of it, concluding that only Jesus and Jesus alone could have matched all of the Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Here's a quote from Strobel's book which summarizes many of those prophecies: "Over and over, Lapides [that is this Jewish man who had come to faith] would come upon prophecies in the Old Testament—more than four dozen major predictions in all. Isaiah revealed the manner of the Messiah's birth: of a virgin. Micah pinpointed the place of His birth: Bethlehem."

"Genesis and Jeremiah specified His ancestry: a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the tribe of Judah, the house of David. The Psalms foretold His betrayal, His accusation by false witnesses, His manner of death: pierced in the hands and feet, although crucifixion hadn't been invented yet, and His resurrection: He would not decay but would ascend on high, and on and on."

For those of you who like math, the chapter also goes on to explain some of the mathematical probabilities of someone fulfilling these prophecies. The probability of any one individual fulfilling just eight of these prophecies is one in a hundred million billion. That's a big number. The book provides an illustration of what that means. If the entire state of Texas was covered in silver dollars, two feet deep, with just one specially marked silver dollar, the chance of a blindfolded man picking the right silver dollar at random would be the same chance as someone fulfilling just eight of these Messianic prophecies.

The probability of someone fulfilling all the prophecies is so small that we can't even begin to grasp it. It would be one divided by a number trillions of times larger than the number of atoms in the universe. You can't wrap your head around that. The point of all this is to say that only Jesus could have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. It's that fulfillment of prophecy that Paul is pointing to. Though his message is rejected by the majority of Jews, he's only saying what Moses and the prophets said would happen, what they prophesied.

Paul had bold confidence to witness, knowing that Christ is the truth regardless of the antagonism of his opponents. As Strobel and others have noted, even the timing of Jesus's appearance in history was prophesied in Old Testament scripture. I want to show this to you. We don't have time to go into this with great depth, but I want to at least briefly show you where this comes from in Daniel 9, as I think it'll be an encouragement to you.

I'm going to quote it from the LSB, the Legacy Standard Bible, because I think it translates the point even more clearly and accurately than the ESV does here. But it comes from Daniel 9, verses 24 through 26: "70 weeks have been determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and have insight that from the going out of a word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be 7 weeks and 62 weeks."

"It will be restored and rebuilt with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined." This passage lays out a timeline for God's dealings with the Jewish people. This timeline fills a span of 70 weeks, or weeks of years. That would be 70 sevens of years, or 490 years.

The 70th week, the final seven years, is a topic of discussion for another time, outside the point I'm trying to make right now. For our purposes, note that from the giving of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the appearance of Messiah as Prince, as King, there would be seven and 62 weeks of years, or 69 weeks of years, totaling 483 years. After those 483 years, that's when the Messiah would be cut off, killed.

You should really listen to John MacArthur's sermon on this on Grace to You, the gty.org site, sometime if you get the chance, because the way he unpacks this is just amazing and goes far beyond what we have time for right now. Suffice it to say that he lays out the fact that when you account for the 360-day year which the ancient biblical writers used, and leap years and all sorts of factors like solar calculations, 483 years equates to 173,880 days, which is the exact number of days from the decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem, which MacArthur places on March 5th, 444 BC, to the day of Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem in AD 33.

This announcement of Jesus as Messiah, as King, took place immediately before His crucifixion just a few days later, that after this, the Messiah, the Prince, would be cut off and have nothing. This is amazing. This is staggering. This is astonishing. All of these things playing out in history the way they did would have been impossible for anyone to manipulate themselves. Only God could have arranged for such specific fulfillment, and these fulfilled prophecies of the Messiah provide us with strong evidence that the Bible really is true. It is the word of God.

Of course, there are numerous other prophecies of scripture besides just the ones that deal with the Messiah that have come true, which we're not even going to get into today. But when you look and you see how scripture has been shown to be true and reliable over and over again in these ways, it should give you further boldness in your witness. Why? Because you know that even if the world does not accept or believe your message, you are bringing a message from God's word which is backed with the very authority of God Himself.

You don't witness on your own authority. You don't carry that weight. You declare what God Himself has spoken in scripture, and fulfilled prophecies about Jesus provide confirming evidence that the biblical truth you're speaking about really does come from God. Even then, you need to recognize that scripture's authority is not ultimately derived by your own rational conclusions about the fulfillment of prophecy. Scripture's authority is self-attesting. It simply claims to be God's word and demands that we accept that claim on its own terms.

At the ultimate level, it is the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit who convinces us that scripture's claims about itself are true. Paul is only saying what the scripture said would come to pass, and then he gives the most important summary of what those prophecies actually said: Verse 23, "That the Christ must suffer and that by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles." That's the gospel summarized, isn't it?

The death and resurrection of Christ. This gospel message of Jesus's death and resurrection doesn't find its origin in the New Testament, but in the Old. That reminds us that there is a tremendous and perfect consistency that holds all the Bible together with one overarching purpose and message pointing us to trust in God's promised Messiah as the one who would die and rise to pay for the sins of His people. This unity across the entire Bible should give us further confidence in it as the authority on which we stand.

Notice that Jesus is the first to rise from the dead. He is the first, but praise God, He will not be the last. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, Paul follows up on this point. He says, "But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ."

Earlier we looked at Jesus's statement that we should not fear those who can only kill the body but can't kill the soul. Here we are reminded that even if someone did kill our body, even that would only be a temporary arrangement. Our death is guaranteed to be physically reversed at the time of Christ's return. I'm sure that this truth also granted Paul boldness and courage when he faced mortal danger in his witness for Christ, and it should grant us courage as well in the face of fear if we ever find ourselves fearing for our lives or in danger for Christ.

We know that even if the worst should happen, the worst they can do is send us to be straight with the Lord, and then even then, that death is temporary; we're coming out of that grave one day. Finally, take a look at the last part of verse 23. As we noted last week, this is a strong allusion to Isaiah 49:6. He says that Christ would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles. Listen to the similarity that this bears with the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 49:6: "He says: 'It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.'" We see that the Lord's plan for His chosen Messiah is grand and epic in scale. It's far too small of a thing for Christ only to save the remnant of His people Israel. No, His salvation would be worldwide in scope and reach. He is the light of the whole world, not just one nation.

Yet, as we also noted last week, the Lord calls us to participate in Messiah's mission of bringing light to the world. Jesus told Paul in verse 18 that He was sending Paul to open blind eyes, even though that was said to be the Messiah's mission in Isaiah 42. Paul says that the gospel going to both the Jews and the Gentiles is also the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy as Christ was foretold to shine the light to the whole world. That should also give us boldness in our witness.

Why? Because it shows us that in our witness, though we work and are very much involved as God's instruments, even then, it's not ultimately us doing the work. It is Christ shining His light in and through us. Paul's point is that all of this has happened and is happening just as scripture said it would. So, if you want to grow in boldness in your witness for Christ, stand on the authority of scripture. Insofar as your witness rings true to scripture, you are backed by the highest authority there is—the authority of God Himself mediated through His word. You stand on a firm foundation, and that should give you great boldness.

This morning, we've seen three ways so far that we can grow in boldness as we seek to witness. First, we practice what we preach. Second, we trust in God's providence and promises. Third, we stand on the authority of scripture. But even though these are good strategies to grow in boldness, we still have to recognize that in all of these things, the strength to be bold comes from God, not from any power that we can muster up within ourselves. We see that even in the prayers of Acts and in Paul's other writings.

Acts chapter 4, verse 29: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness." You see, that boldness is a gift granted from the Lord. The power comes from Him, not from you. So yes, seek to employ these strategies, but recognize that it's ultimately the Lord who's giving you the power and even as you grow in these strategies, that comes from Him as well. He's the one working in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Then also Ephesians 6:18-20. Paul says, "Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak." You realize even the apostle Paul said, "Hey church, I need your prayers for boldness"?

If even the apostle Paul needed the prayers of the saints, don't we? So pray, pray to this end. Isn't this just a perfect picture of the way that we see Paul in Acts 26? An ambassador in chains, speaking boldly as he ought to speak. As we close, let's pray that the Lord would help us to implement the things that we've seen so far so that we too can grow in that same boldness. Because ultimately, as we've seen together this morning, the Lord not only calls His people to shine His light into a dark world, but also graciously supplies all that we need in order to obey His call to shine the light with boldness. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, we do praise You. You are a good God. You are a gracious God. You're a merciful God. You're a faithful God. Lord, we thank You that as You've called us out of darkness into Your light, You've also given us the privilege of proclaiming Your excellencies back into that dark world. Yet we know that this is a big task. It's a daunting task. It's a hard task. And our flesh does not take to it.

Yet we know that You're also gracious to provide us with the power we need to do what You've commanded. So Father, we do pray that by Your Spirit, You would do just that. Grant us boldness. I pray that You would by Your Spirit increase the evangelistic effectiveness and witness of our church, both corporately and individually in the encounters we have in our lives. I pray, Father, that as You grow us in these ways, we would see sinners come to the only Savior, Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glory as a trophy of His grace, that Your church might be built up and edified and that we would praise You for all of it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.