The Word Made Plain

Tony Clark: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 26 verses 1 through 11.

Tony Clark: And this is something we have to ask ourselves. Yes, we talk about the Jewish people as we go through the Bible. We do.

But if we were to study your race's history, what would be what would we be up here saying? Erase the Jews. Put your race in here, and we were studying through the Bible, talking about your race. Your race's history, what would we be up here saying?

Would we say the Latinos are earnestly serving God night and day? Black people are earnestly serving God night and day. White people are earnestly serving God night and day. Africans are serving God night and day, or whatever your historical, your racial background is, you're serving God night and day. Is that what we'd be saying? Or will we get up here and just rehearse the stereotypes about your race?

Oh, we have an example there in the book of Titus. He says, one of their own prophets said that Cretans are always liars and and lazy and gluttons. And then Paul told Titus, this testimony is true. Rebuked them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.

I wonder what would we be saying if we were up here talking about your race? Whether you believe it or not, we owe a great debt to the Jewish people on how they preserved the scriptures for us to read and study today. And may God help us to be able to say someday that we earnestly serve God night and day. Or will we say, I serve God in the day, but I party and drinking, clubbing at night?

How do you describe your days and nights? If we were to follow you for a week. This is something for us to search our own hearts about. Look what he says in verse 8. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead?

See, the full gospel message is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And here in this verse, Paul points out the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Why? Because ultimately Paul wants to convert King Agrippa. How do I know? Because in verse 28, he shouts, you almost persuade me to become a Christian.

See, this is the objective of preaching the gospel, it is to see people saved. You never know that you could be preaching to the next Apostle Paul or Billy Graham, or someone who would change this world for Jesus Christ. So never dismiss or underestimate who you are sharing the gospel with. Because once they accept the gospel message, you never know the plans God had for their lives.

And that includes those wayward children, don't stop praying for them. Don't stop. That disinterested spouse, don't stop praying for him. You never know the plans God has for their lives.

I love that how Paul was preaching to everyone present, but as I mentioned a few seconds ago, but especially King Agrippa. He says, why should it be thought incredible? The Greek word is Episto. And it means unbelievable, untrustworthy, or incredible. He said, why is it? He said, why should it be thought incredible or unbelievable or untrustworthy or incredible by you that God raises the dead?

In other words, why are you blown away that God can raise people from the dead? The resurrection of Jesus Christ had already been verified by his 40-day post-resurrection ministry by over 500 people, according to First Corinthians 15:6. In other words, according to our Jewish prudent system, if something was being taken to court, let's say the the resurrection of Jesus was being put on trial. And if it was taken to court, and if you marched 500 people into court and said that we saw this man alive. They would instantly throw it out and say, this man is alive.

It's already been proven according to First Corinthians 15:6 that 500 people saw Jesus alive. So the resurrection was already a verified fact. Now, see, here's the thing, because his question is amazing to me. He said, why is it that you think that this is an incredible thing for God to raise the dead?

Miracles aren't hard to believe in when you believe that God is the creator of the universe. If you believe in the Big Bang or that we're only randomly here by chance, then you will have a hard time with miracles. You've heard me say many times before that if you can believe in the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Then you should not have a problem with anything else in the Bible.

The story of Jonah, the parting of the Red Sea, or any other things that people kind of trip over. You won't have a problem you can just believe the very first verse. If you can believe that God spoke the universe into existence out of nothing, he says, Let there be and there was. It wasn't like God put on his tool belt and and went to fashioning the heavens and the earth and nailings and things. No, he just spoke, he said, Let there be light. And guess what? Light was there.

He spoke it into existence, he created it out of nothing. The Hebrew word for created is Barrow, it means to create something out of nothing. He spoke it into existence. And if you can believe this, then what is too hard for him? What problem can we ever experience or encounter that is too hard for God to handle?

Oh, God can handle you believe, oh, God can do anything. Except this Rona. God can't do nothing about that Rona. This Rona is too big for him. Oh, really? Really? See, we believe that there's nothing too hard for him. One time in Genesis, two two times in the book of Jeremiah, and as well as Luke 1:37, it says, what's God, nothing is impossible.

Those three times in the Old Testament, it says, there anything too hard for God? I think right around Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17, another place in Jeremiah, and then Luke 1:37. What's God, nothing is impossible. Nothing. No, except this, nothing. But you don't know about this. Nothing is impossible for him to handle. This is the kind of faith that Paul had.

I just wonder, does it describe our faith? Does it describe our faith in God? If not, then the way that you increase your faith is by digging in, reading, meditating, studying God's word. Because, I've said it a thousand times. Romans 10:17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The more you are hearing, reading, studying, meditating on God's word, the Bible, the more your faith in him will increase.

I've said it a lot and I have to keep repeating things. Because I I thought as a church we were really getting it, and I from the last two weeks, I can tell we we're not getting it. So let me just keep repeating it. It's the reading, studying, meditating on the word of God. That's how our faith is increased.

Start with the book of Proverbs. How many of you have heard me say that? There are 31 chapters corresponding with the 31 days of the month. You read a proverb, a chapter each day. Today is the 15th, what chapter did I read today in Proverbs? Chapter 15. It's not rocket science, it's not anything difficult. And just start there. Just start there.

Not this, I got a little app on my phone, it gives me just a cute verse for this. Stop, stop. Well, I got the daily bread. Stop. This is the daily bread. This is it. Well, you're dismissing. This is the daily bread that you need to be into. This is where your faith is going to be increased. Do you want your faith increased in the words of man or in the words of God?

This is where it's increased. I'm just start start slow. I know some of you you get, start slow. And then slowly as you read about the God of the Bible, then your faith in him will begin to increase. Look what it said there in verse 9. Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus Christ. Oh, really?

Now, we see Paul use himself as an example of someone who believed in the resurrection theologically as a Pharisee. As they the Pharisees, the conservative religious leaders that Paul was a part of, they believed in the resurrection. They did. But didn't believe that Jesus was the Messiah. To the point where Paul said that he even tried to do everything against or contrary to Christianity. The Greek word for contrary is and it means opposite. It means to be antagonistic or against something.

And I just wonder, are you like Paul was before he was saved? He was religious, but he lived his life contrary or against biblical principles. Are you antagonistic towards some things in the Bible? You see some things in the Bible, you're you're against. You're antagonistic towards. Wives submit to their husbands, you're antagonistic towards that. Tithing, you're antagonistic towards that. Forgiving someone who has hurt you, forgiving someone who has done you harm, you're antagonistic towards that.

And there are things in the word of God. Wives, or husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. You're like, you don't know mine. And you're antagonistic towards things in the Bible. This is what Paul was. You know some things in the Bible, but you live contrary or the opposite to those things in the Bible. And if so, then you are a modern day Pharisee. You know biblical things, but your life that you live is contrary or against Christianity. If so, you are lost, religious, but lost. And you need to repent.

And we're going to give you a chance to it the end. Look at verses 10 and 11. This I also did in Jerusalem, as many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priest, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

Paul points out once again in verse 10 that he also did these things that the Jews did, but he took things a step further. He shut up the saints in prison. He also had authority from the chief priest to be the champion of eradicating Christianity from the earth. He he was even there to cast his vote against them being put to death. And this is one of the many places that shows that Paul was once a part of the Jewish Supreme Court called the Sanhedrin.

This also shows that he was the ring leader of getting rid of Christianity. When Stephen was put to death for his faith in Jesus Christ, the people who stoned him to death, laid their clothes at Paul's feet, according to Acts 7 and verse 58, his name was Saul at the time. He was so, notice the word, enraged at the Christians that verse 11 says that he punished them often in every synagogue, the synagogue was where the Christians first met. He even compelled them to blaspheme Jesus Christ, being, notice, exceedingly enraged against him.

Look at the extent that Satan will drive a person to be against Christianity. Oh, the skeptics in the world said, oh, you Christians, you're always crying that you're being persecuted, you're being mistreated. Nobody's mistreating y'all. You just. Notice, Paul said, he compelled people to blaspheme Jesus Christ. The Greek word from compelled is enokazo, and it means to necessitate, to constrain, to compel. And the Greek word for blaspheme is blasphemeo, and it means to defame or speak evil, to vilify.

So Paul was so enraged against Christians that before he put them to death or put them in prison, he tried to force them or compelle them to blaspheme or speak evil of Jesus Christ. I've told you once we started teaching through this book in 2016. When we started, I said the things that we're reading about and we're going to study throughout this book, I said, we're going to see them start to happen in America.

I said, it's already on the shores of America. Now, it's starting to permeate through. We see these things. Happening here about people coming against Christianity. Now, here's the thing. I I just I just want us to see and consider. How will we respond or how will you respond? When a Saul who is enraged against Christianity tries to force you to blaspheme or speak evil or vilify Jesus Christ.

If they were to say, blaspheme Jesus Christ or go to jail or be put to death, what will you do? Mr. or Mrs. Christian. Some of you here will say, I will die for Jesus. Stop it. You can't even live for him. You're talking about you'll die for him. How would you die for him? You're not even living for him. And now you're going to all of a sudden die for him during that time. Oh, we better get ready.

Because the spirit of Saul is alive and well today and he is putting Christians to death or being put in prison around the world. Daily. I read articles about Christians being beheaded, put to death, or being placed in jail just because of their faith in Jesus Christ. I daily, I read articles. Now, most of them are from overseas. But we already are starting to see the hostility of Christianity, against Christianity here in America. We're already starting to see it.

And Paul continues telling his story that we will have to wait and see next time. Let me conclude with this. Next week we we'll pick it up, guys, we'll we'll pick it up in verse 12. Let me conclude with this. In this message, we saw how Paul tells his story again. This time, it was to King Agrippa.

When was the last time you told your story to someone? Some of you are saying, what, I'm just, I'm just afraid. I just, I'm just afraid. Well, it's okay to be afraid. But here's the thing. You just lack the power of God's spirit. Cuz the Bible says, when his spirit comes upon us, we shall receive power. After that, his spirit will come upon us in Acts 1:8, and we shall receive power. To be witnesses for him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Well, how do I get this power? It's yours for the asking. You've heard me say this before, Luke 11:13 says, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will God give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? It just about the asking, oh, God, I need the power of your spirit to be a witness for you. Oh, help me to be bold for you.

And notice it says, if you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. In Matthew's gospel, he says, if if your son asks for an egg, would you give him a rock? He said, if he asked for some bread, would you give him a snake? He said, no, if you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, that's what he went on to reiterate that. It's just ours for the asking.

Remember Paul talked about his life before Christ. Then he talked about once Christ came into his life, and he talked about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is our testimony. Our life before Christ. Christ came in it. And this is my life now. If you cannot give those, if you can't give those distinctions, then you may be religious, but lost. But you can be found today.

Jesus said he came to seek and to save the lost. That's what he came to do. And so, you may be told, I, I'm, I'm religious. Oh. You heard me say this before, I'm more convinced of it now than ever before. Many people in this precious church. You have churchity and not Christianity. Your relationship with God is connected to church. But you don't have a walk with God. I thought you did.

I really did. I thought you were getting it. I got a lot of work to do. I got a lot of work to do. Because many of you, you just have a relationship with God that connects you to a church. And you don't have a real walk with him. As it's been rightfully said, you might be a mile wide, but an inch deep.

The mile wide, I've been in church for 30 years. But you are inch deep in maturity, in spiritual understanding. And I thought I I thought I was doing a good job. I wasn't. I got a lot of work to do. Some of you need to repent and truly give your life to Jesus Christ. I thought you did. And you didn't. You know how I know? It shows up in your life. It shows up in the things you value.

You really have culturality. Your culture trumps everything. You your culture trumps this book. And I thought you were beyond that. I thought. And I made the mistake. I thought you were beyond. No, you're not. No, you're not. We got a lot of work to do. Both of us together. I have to pray harder, I have to teach you deeper.

And you got to come here with ears to hear. And not just be a hearer of the word, believe here, be an adorer. We got a lot of work to do. Two weeks have shown me so much. It's shown me me and it's shown me you. And we both are hot mess. May God help us. May we truly surrender and give our lives to Jesus Christ. And have a walk that shows that Jesus is truly the Lord of it.

Let's pray. Father, we pray. By the power of your spirit, I pray God for your spirit to come upon us. That a spirit of repentance will come upon us. True repentance where we surrender our life to you. And Lord, I just pray forgive us, Lord, when we have deceived ourselves into thinking, because we have heard the word, we're okay.

You said to for us to be a doer of your word. You said, this man and woman will be blessed in what he does. You said, when we are hearer of the word and not a doer, we've deceived ourselves. And Lord, oh, forgive me, Lord, I thought that as your people are here hearing your word, I thought that they were doing it. And Lord, help us. Help us, Lord, forgive us.

And if there's any here who truly want to repent and give your life to Jesus Christ. Those watching as well. Just say this little prayer after me. Just say, Lord Jesus. Forgive me. I believe you died on the cross and was buried and rose again. Truly come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for you. By the power of your Holy Spirit. From this moment forward. In Jesus name. Amen.