The Word Made Plain

Narrator (Male): 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 19 through 23.

Tony Clark: Let’s dive into the Word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Acts, Chapter 26, and we're going to be looking at verses 19 to 23. Father, thank you again that you have shared Your Word with us. Dear Lord, I just pray that Your Holy Spirit would teach us and guide us this morning. Let us hear Your voice, hear from You. Lord, I pray for Your anointing to rightly divide the word of truth. Lord, may I cut it with a straight line for Your people. I pray that You grant us the understanding and the sense of Your Word that we might see You through it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Acts 26, looking at verses 19 to 23. The title of this message is "Tell Your Story Again, Part Three." In these three messages, we have been talking about how Paul was on trial because he was falsely accused by the religious leaders. We saw in parts one and two how Paul described his conversion experience to the Governor Felix and now to King Agrippa. In part three, we will see how Paul describes his life once Jesus came into it. This is so important to discuss because if Jesus doesn’t come to change our lives, then what is the point of having Him as being a part of it?

Is it to somehow make our unholy life look religious? It is like what Proverbs 26:23 says, "Like earthenware covered with silver dross." In other words, looking religious on the outside, but human behind closed doors or living like everyone else privately. You look good on the outside; you're covered with silver dross. But on the inside, you’re earthenware. You’re that which is human, that which is something totally different than your outside. This is something we have to look at because if Jesus comes into our lives and doesn’t change it, then what’s the point?

Just because you add a little more Jesus in your life doesn't make you a Christian. You're just adding a little more Jesus to your unholy life. Look at what it says in verses 19 and 20. It says, "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance."

Paul said in verse 19, "Therefore," or because of everything he just told them about how Jesus spoke to him on the road to Damascus and gave him specific instructions to continue his journey there. Paul told King Agrippa he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. In other words, Paul was saying God clearly spoke to him through a heavenly vision. He was not going to be disobedient to what God said. I wonder about us. God speaks to us today through the Word of God, the Bible.

Have you ever felt like the words as you were reading jumped off the pages and into your heart? Have you heard a message that you felt like you were the only one in the room and God was speaking directly to you? I've had many people over the years say they felt like they were the only ones in the room and I was speaking right to them. They have said, "Did my wife tell you to say that? You knew I was coming today, didn't you?" That’s how the Word of God is. The Word of God reveals the secrets of our hearts to us to let us know that God is among us.

If you have ever felt that way, my question is were you obedient or disobedient to the heavenly words spoken to you? Maybe it was a few months ago, few weeks ago, few days ago, or a few minutes ago. The question is have you been obedient or disobedient to it? Paul told King Agrippa he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Obedience is a true sign that you are born again. Lies and disobedience are signs of the old life. I was on a national radio show this past Tuesday. It was a question and answer session.

The radio caller said her husband says he's a Christian but he lies all the time. She catches him in lies and when he gets confronted, he says he just didn't want to deal with the consequences. Lying is a part of our old life. Lies and disobedience go hand in hand. Psalm 58:3 says the wicked come forth from the womb speaking lies. We're born sinners. When we are born again, we now speak truth and we are obedient to the Word of God. I didn't say sinless or perfect, but I said obedient.

Obedience means we deal with our sin based upon the Bible. When I say these types of things, I'm not saying that we ought to be perfect or that we should be sinless. That’s impossible. We’re obedient to the Word, meaning that when we sin, we deal with it in a biblical way. We don’t try to cover it up. We don’t try to talk to someone to try to talk us out of it or try to justify us in it. We deal with it based upon the Bible. Paul went on to say in verse 20 that he declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea.

This one sentence summarizes the entire ministry of Paul. It started in Damascus, and it spread to Jerusalem, and then in Judea, and to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Can you imagine the Jews and Christians who heard him preaching Christ to them and defending the Christian faith? He specifically came to Damascus to arrest and bring back to Jerusalem those who called upon the name of Jesus to possibly put them to death. Their mouths had to drop at the hearing of Paul preach about Jesus, His death, burial, and resurrection.

It reminds me of the Will Smith meme where he just has his mouth open. That’s how they must have been looking when they heard him preach about Jesus. This is how the people in our Damascus, Jerusalem, and Judea should be responding when they encounter us. They should be in awe because maybe they knew us growing up, or in school, or at another duty station. Now, when they encounter us and Christ is in our lives, their mouths should hit the ground in shock.

What was Paul’s message that would cause them to be shocked? He said that they should first repent, second turn to God, and third do works befitting repentance. This threefold message should be preached by all those who call themselves Christians. He told them to repent. The Greek word is metanoia and it means to have a change of mind and heart which leads to a change of behavior. Metanoia means a change of mind and heart which leads to a change of behavior. I had to say that again for my incredible note-takers.

John the Baptist preached repentance. We know this from Mark 1:4. It says John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Jesus preached repentance. In Mark 1:15, Jesus said the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel. The apostles preached repentance. In Acts 2:38, Peter says to repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Our message should include repentance. Luke 24:47 says that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. I believe we see a lot of false Christians in churches across America today because a lot of people never came to Christ through the door of repentance. They have never had a change of mind and heart which led to a change of behavior. They have never repented. The sad indictment upon churches today is that they were never told that they had to repent.

The false prosperity gospel has done a number on the church today. People are coming to Christ for riches and not to ever be sick and have it all. To me, that sounds like heaven. What’s going to happen in heaven is not here upon the earth. We’re here and we're subject to its fallenness upon the earth. Godly people get sick and die just like ungodly people. The rain pours on the just and the unjust. The sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous. We're going to experience things.

Christians get the Rona like everybody else. That is coronavirus. Somebody said what was the Rona last week, and so I just assumed, but I can’t assume anymore. That’s the coronavirus. I just shorten it to Rona. You call it COVID; I call it Rona. That’s its street name. Everybody has a street name, a hood name. That’s its hood name. Acts 20:21 gives us the instructions on how this repentance thing works out. It says repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

We repent to God, the one we offended with our sins, and then we put our faith and trust in the one who died in our place on Calvary’s cross, which is Jesus Christ. Have you repented to God for your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ? Or do you think that you are a Christian because you started to occasionally go to church? If you haven't repented, then you're not a true believer. You might be an occasional church attender, but not a true son or daughter of God because you never came through the door of repentance.

This is what God wants everyone to do. Acts 17:30 and 31 says truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. Verse 31 says because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead, referring to Jesus. Jesus will judge the world one day. It is imperative that you repent of your sins. Metanoia is having a change of mind and heart which leads to a change of behavior.

We can't change ourselves. We need to repent. This is not a self-help program. This is not a pull your own self up by your bootstraps kind of program. This is not something you and I can do on our own. We need to repent or change the way we think and feel about our lives presently. We need to repent of what we're doing. This is a common thing that’s no problem, living together as husband and wife without being married. We love each other. We’re going to get married next year or in a year and a half.

You need to repent and change the way you think and feel about the way that you're living. That’s what it means to repent, because the way you're thinking is not right. Because you get married in two years doesn’t justify you living as husband and wife today. I tell folks all the time we can solve this very easily. Go down to the justice of the peace and make it right. Then have some big shindig later on so you can be right, so you can have guilt-free sex today. It’s guilt-free when you're married and when you do it right.

Even unbelievers know something is not right. Go to the justice of the peace. Somebody needs to hear that today. Go tomorrow, it's Monday. The court downtown is open. Get that license and get squared away. Nobody has to know, and then do something later on and act like it's a big thing. Do it right. You need to repent. You need to change the way you think and feel. If you feel it is okay because you love each other, change that. Change the way you think and feel, which will lead to a change of behavior.

That’s what it means to truly repent and be sorry to God for violating His Word, the Bible. The Bible says godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, and not to be regretted. It says the sorrow of the world leads to death. Godly sorrow will produce repentance to salvation not to be regretted. If I may be making you feel sorry right now, that is a good thing because it’s going to lead to repentance to salvation. The outcome is ultimately you're going to be right with God. That’s why it’s not to be regretted.

Once you repent, then you're told to turn to God. The Greek word for turn is epistrepho, and it means to revert back or to come again. It means to turn. We turn to God who sent His son to die for your sins on the cross. Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Because we are born into sin or born sinners, we are all supposed to die. But God so loved us that He gave His only begotten son to die in our place according to John 3:16.

John 15:13 says greater love has no man than this, than he would lay down one's life for his friends. Now that you've repented and turned to God, the results will be that you would do works befitting repentance. John the Baptist told the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 3:8 to bear fruits worthy of repentance. It’s one thing to say I'm sorry. But the fruit that shows that you're truly sorry is turning away from that sin. It’s one thing for us to say we're sorry to our wives, but the fruit that shows that we’re truly sorry is when we turn away from our sin.

There must be fruit that shows that we are sorry. If a tree is boasting about being an orange tree, I better see oranges on that tree. If I see apples and you're boasting that you're an orange tree, I’ll say you're not an orange tree. You're an apple tree. By the looks of things, you're a honeycrisp apple. Sometimes you can be a Granny Smith, kind of sour. But you're not an orange tree. Matthew 7:20 says you shall know them by their fruit. We are called to be fruit inspectors.

There's nothing wrong with being a fruit inspector. You might think I'm judging you. Yes, as a fruit inspector. For those who work in quality care, you're going to do your QCs. You're doing some quality care on the job checking out the safety. If the boss asks if you're coming in to judge them, you would say yes, that’s what we're called to do. There is a level of judging that has to do with that. People only read Matthew 7:1, but there is Matthew 7:16 and 7:20. It’s all within the context of Matthew 7:1.

We’re called to do this. The fruit that shows that we're sorry will be a changed life. If not, then we're just saying empty words. For us, when we repent of our sins and turn to God, the results will show up in our new lifestyles. This is the fruit of our repentance, a changed life. This is why I said that there are a lot of false Christians out here in churches across America, because they claim to have a relationship with Christ but they really have a relationship with a church.

I've seen that and that’s heartbreaking for me. There is no fruit. There is no fruit worthy of repentance in their lives because they never repented. This is why there’s no fruit from their lives. If all churches and all Christians are orange trees and you're claiming you're a Christian, but we see apples on you, we'd ask how you got here. You might be hanging out in the orange grove hoping you'll become like them, but you're going to continue to produce apples unless you repent.

For Paul, there was a dramatic and drastic change in his life. It was so dramatic that he started to preach about the very person Jesus he once persecuted. When Paul got back to Jerusalem, Galatians 1:23 and 24 says they were hearing only that he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. And they glorified God in him. That is a changed life. The faith he once tried to destroy he is now preaching. Only God through Jesus Christ can make such a change in a person's life.

He was on his way to the city of Damascus to persecute, possibly kill or put into prison Christians. Before he left the city, he is now preaching Christ. Only God can change a life like that. Only God through Jesus Christ can change lives. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold all things become new. Half of the people in churches across America have not had an experience like this where there's a drastic change in their life. You are not truly saved if your life is just the same and you just added a little Jesus onto it. You are not a true Christian. I'm here to tell you that in all the love that I can. But you can get that right today as well. That’s the beauty of all this.

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