Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: My question is to you, what is the sin that you are unwilling to let go of? We grab on to things that are going to pull us down and become a giant burden. And this is not what the Lord wants for us.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brad Matter says God doesn't want us carrying around what he's already willing to forgive and take away.

Brett Meador: And yet a lot of times we sit around and just keep weighed down by the burden of our sin and we don't even realize how heavy it is. So blessed happy is the man or the woman whose sins are forgiven, whose iniquities are remembered no more.

Guest (Male): As Paul stood before King Agrippa, he didn't shy away from the truth. He boldly asked Agrippa if he believed what the prophets of God had written. But it was Agrippa's hesitancy to respond that hinted what was in his heart. Pastor Brad Matter draws a familiar lesson from today's word. Why we can hear the truth, recognize its validity, yet still get distracted from the Lord.

Brett Meador: Paul finds himself here in Acts chapter 26 in front of an interesting crowd at Caesarea Maritima, sitting before royalty. King Herod Agrippa II shows up to visit Festus and pay honor to Festus, the governor of that region. And along with Augustus II, he brings his girl Bernice. But Paul's going to share his testimony and then he's going to sort of invite them to know Jesus, the Messiah. Well, what I want to really focus in and zoom in on this the response of this group, especially Festus, Agrippa II and Bernice. What what was the response to Paul's invitation for them to come to know Christ?

Let's take a look. Acts 26 verse 27 is where we'll pick it up. Paul said, King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. And then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds. When he had thus spoken, the king rose up and the governor and Bernice and they that sat with them. Now this is an interesting declaration that Paul makes.

Now the prophets, that's just a nice way of saying the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, the Bible of that day. They didn't have the New Testament when Paul was saying this. It'd be like you telling your friend, you believe the Bible. And they're like, well, maybe kind of, I don't know. That what Paul's saying to Herod. And he kind of calls him out on that, which is kind of interesting. I know that thou believest. Well, Agrippa answered back and he said, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. The King James here makes it sound like, well, I'm this close to accepting Christ and becoming a Christian.

And I think that's a really good translation, but it might miss a little bit of a nuance. And you say, what do you mean, Brad? Well, let me show you the NIV. It goes like this. Then Agrippa said to Paul, Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? Which one is it? Well, I'm going to say that most scholars lean more toward the King James, but not 100% and I'll tell you why. There's a little bit of a context of the situation that helps. Part of the thing we need to remember, the word Christian was a derogatory term.

It meant like a little miniature Christ. You're just a little Jesus cuz Christian was not a compliment. Here's the sense if you kind of do the deeper dive in the language. Agrippa is saying, Yes, man, you you almost persuade me to be of all things crazy enough to radically jump into something that would get me in a lot of trouble. That's kind of the idea. But there is the sense in there that Agrippa knows the Old Testament and that he knows the truth. But he's unwilling to make the jump, the leap. And I think there's two reasons.

One might be a bigger reason than the other. One reason is that I think this derogatory term Christian. He doesn't want to take what comes with his decision to become a Christian. Sadly, there's a lot of people today who don't want to become a Christian cuz they know it's going to make them change what they do if you become a Christian. And some people would rather take their sin and their worldview and stay with that and go to hell for all eternity than to rather let go of their position, their power here and now and have heaven eternal waiting for them.

There's things that hold them back and I think that might be one of them. You say, what's the other one? Well, this might be the biggest one. And it has to do with who's sitting right next to him. Who's that? Oh, I already told you it's Bernice. You say, well, what's Bernice have to do with it? Well, what's love got to do with it? You know what I'm saying? Uh well, uh in this case, I think everything, you know, the king and his main squeeze Bernice. Now Brad, why don't you give her a little respect and call her his wife?

Well, the reason I don't do that is cuz she's not his wife. But they are lovers. And so you say, okay, I I get that. So that's kind of bad. But it's worse than you think because not only were they lovers and not only were they not married, but she's also his sister. Now you say, what? Are you kidding me? Well, you have to remember the Roman Empire has become crazy with crazy sinful stuff. Do you remember Herod's father, Herod the Great? John the Baptist called him out in the same way Paul is sort of convicting Herod Agrippa II.

John the Baptist called Herod I for his relationship and his sexual immorality and John the Baptist was eventually beheaded by Herod. But now his son Paul is talking to his son saying, you need to accept Christ and become a believer in Christ, which the implication, you got to break off this perverted relationship with your sister. And he wasn't willing to do that. I'm reminded of some stories I read when I was a kid. It was a story about how these African monkey hunters would go around the African region where the monkeys were and they would get these coconuts and then attach a leather strap to the coconut and then they'd tie it to a big bush.

And then they'd empty out the coconut and put a little tiny hole at the other end and inside they'd put a nice fresh slice of an orange and just stick that in there. Well, the little monkey would come along and find the coconut and see, ooh, there's a delicious orange slice in there. So he'd reach his little monkey paw in there and grab the orange. But once he grabbed the orange, he had made a fist and he couldn't get his hand back out of the hole. And so the monkey hunter would then just casually walk up to the monkey who was freaking out cuz there's a human coming toward him.

But he was unwilling to let go of the slice of the orange. So he was stuck there trying to pull his arm out of that, but he wouldn't let go of the orange. And thus the monkey hunter would then take him into captivity at that moment. You and I are that monkey. It's a worthless thing, the slice, orange slice. But we hang on to that stuff. We won't let go and and there we are trapped in our sin in bondage. Who was really in bondage in that arena that day? Was it Paul standing there in his chains or was it Agrippa with his main squeeze next to him, Bernice?

Who was really in bondage? I'm going to argue Paul was the freest guy in that arena because his sins were forgiven. He was headed for heaven even though he 's going to die a martyr's death. Paul didn't count his life dear to himself. He knew that heaven was coming. Now what was it about Bernice that was so hard for Agrippa II to let go of? Well, let's go a little more history on Bernice. Not much of this is in the Bible, but it's all over history. Tertullus writes about Bernice, Josephus, all kinds of history. First thing, she was strikingly beautiful.

Like Jerusalem, she was married many many times. By the age of 13, she was married to Marcus Julius Alexander, brother to Tiberius Julius Alexander. Marcus died in AD 44, so just a few years after she married him, he died. So she's still a young teenager and so she marries her uncle back in the day, another weird thing. Herod of Chalcis, Herod V. At the age of 16, she had her first child and then the year after that she had her second child. So at the age of 17, she's got two children. But Herod of Chalcis died in AD 48.

Now she's on to her second husband's dead. She's got a couple of kids. So she goes and moves in with her brother Herod Agrippa II where they start having relationship, if you could call it that, incestuous relationship. Well, rumor was getting out and even though in Rome that was almost acceptable in Judea area, that was not super acceptable. So she makes a big show and says, I'm going to marry a guy to prove that I'm not the lover of my brother. So she marries Polemon II of Pontus who she subsequently deserted. Now why did she marry this guy?

Just to prove that she was not in love with her brother. And then she leaves them like just a few seconds later. Why did he marry her? Cuz she was wealthy. Bernice was very wealthy, so he married her for her money. Now her brother Herod Agrippa, he's living with her now at this time and that where Acts 26 happens where she's again after that marriage with Polemon. Now she's again with her brother and that's where this story happens. Josephus, Juvenal, others wrote about how she was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I and then her grandfather was Herod the Great.

So again their brother and sister of Herod Agrippa. Years later after the story we read here, interesting things happened with Bernice. After Caesar Nero committed suicide, Rome was in kind of a turmoil who their next emperor was going to be. But the one of the big guys that was on the docket was a guy named Vespasian. And guess what? Bernice put all in on Vespasian and she became sort of a campaign manager for Vespasian back in Rome. And she stood by his side and more than standing by her side, she became a concubine of Vespasian's son whose name was Titus.

And Titus is the guy who conquered Jerusalem in AD 70. Do you see how this starts to roll out? This is interesting. Like Bernice ends up being really a a part of the whole biblical narrative of the destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus prophesied about in Matthew 24. So these are some interesting things. Bernice ended up having huge power. She may have been the most powerful woman in the world by that time. By the way, she was helped through some of that stuff by Titus and all this, but after the backlash for keeping Bernice who was a Jew by the way, a Jewess as a concubine, Titus ended up exiling her.

Titus, the one who conquered Jerusalem just two years before he died in AD 81. So these are the days of our lives right here. Like as the world turns or burns in this case, this was a big drama, this lady Bernice. But it starts to contribute to the idea of why Agrippa that this lady must have had some kind of a presence or a power or something over people or men, but including her own brother, Agrippa was stuck and he he was in a place where he's saying, I'm not going to become a Christian. There's too much that I'd have to give up or let go of.

Which is really kind of where we remember what the Bible says. Hebrews 11:25, Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to have enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Moses is the opposite of Agrippa. Moses had it all he had it living large in Egypt. But rather than living with his sin and letting his sin have a grip on him, he ended up saying, I'm bailing on that and I'm going to even suffer with the Jews. And I'm going to do that instead of having my pleasurable sin for a short season.

Proverbs 13:15 says, good understanding gives favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard. With all this, you say, okay, Brad, got the story, interesting. But my question is to you, both to the Christian and to the non-believer, what is the sin that you are unwilling to let go of? What is the thing that you're saying, man, it's just got too much of a grip on me? It's time, my brothers and sisters, and if you're not even a Christian, you got to release Bernice. You got to let it go. You got to stop holding the orange slice.

Like these are the things that human nature we grab on to things that are going to pull us down and become a giant burden. And this is not what the Lord wants for us. You know, there's kind of two people there. If you're a Christian, you say, well, Brad, my sins are forgiven, so I'm going to heaven. That's true and I do believe we're saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves, not of your works cuz that what the Bible says. Well, then I can just keep sinning. No, Paul said, don't continue sinning like grace may abound.

God forbid, he said. Why? Because sin is brutal and a lot of people I've noticed a lot of Christians, especially the ones that were hanging on to their little pet sin and squeezing it tight. They wonder, why is my walk with the Lord not so good? And why do I feel distant from God? And why do I feel cynical about the church? And Christians are a bunch of hypocrites. Like there's all kinds of repercussions you don't even know that's happening to you. It's not because Christians are hypocrites. It's like people even feel I don't like the Bible.

Why? The full full of contradictions. Like I said, the people don't like the Bible because it has contradictions. The reason people don't like the Bible cuz it contradicts them. And then they get bitter and cynical cuz they already got their little sin they're hanging on to. And so they don't like Christians, they don't like churches, they don't really like the Bible anymore, but they're hanging on to their little sin, but they're hoping that they're saved by grace. And they wonder why they're spiritually feeling dead. Don't you remember what Isaiah 59 verse 1 and 2 says?

It says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is his ear heavy or death that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face far from you that he will not hear. This is true if you're an unbeliever, but it's also true if you're a believer. Man, your sin tends to put a separation between you and God, which man, that's that you don't want any part of that. Could that be why Jesus said, Oh my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

He was quoting from the Psalm of the Cross, Psalm 22. But what else is going on there? Jesus had never sinned. He who knew no sin became sin. Jesus never sinned, but when he got on the cross, suddenly our sin was piled on him and he cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Jesus, the son had never felt separation from God the Father in that sense. Maybe you feel separated from God. Could it be your orange slice? Could it be Bernice in your life? Maybe it 's a a habit, maybe it's pornography, alcohol, drugs.

You're just clinging to that. Maybe you've even made excuses. Well, you know, pornography is just it's just we're we're wired to you know, be attracted to that kind of stuff and that what God made me. And so you've started making, you know, rationalizations that are just ridiculous if you really think about it. But you just let that go. Or maybe you're a person who loves to gossip about people. You're like, well, you know, I'm just concerned about people's well-being. I just like to let people know what's going on so we can pray for each other.

Yeah, that's the ticket. Pray for each other. Did you hear about so and so? But we need to pray for them. But I've noticed Christians can be really good at gossip. We shroud it with prayer. Be careful, Christian. There's a separation that happens from your own sin. Let go of sin. Do you remember what Psalm 32 said? Remember David? You know, perfect example of this. David was a man after God's own heart. Is David in heaven?

Guest (Male): Yes.

Brett Meador: He is. We know that from the Bible. David was a man after God on heart, chosen by God, he honking sinner. Which that gives me hope for me. David was was bad. Killed somebody, murdered Uriah, the husband of the girl that he had adulterous affair, Bathsheba. You know that story. But when David thought he covered up his sin and got away with ha, I'm free. I killed the husband, married Bathsheba, nobody's going to know the difference. We're all good to go. Awesome. And then Nathan the prophet said, you're guilty and I know the whole thing.

And David said, I have sinned against the Lord. Now David tells us what went on in his heart and mind during that time and it's in Psalm 32. He says this. He says, Blessed that's happy. Happy is he whose transgression is covered, whose sin is forgiven. Blessed is the man whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity in whose spirit there's no guile or the word guile is deceit. You see that's what David was doing. He was covering up his sin and he was deceitful with everyone and now he's saying, oh, happy is the man that doesn't do that stuff.

And then well, how did he feel when he was covering up his sin? Well, glad you asked. Verse 3 of 32 says this. When I kept silence, about my sin is the idea, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For night and day thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer. And then he says Selah, which means think about that. Have you ever been to a place where like, why am I so bummed and he what's going on? And why do I feel spiritually dry?

And could it be that you're keeping silent about your sin, your little slice of orange or your Bernice? Could it be that you're still hanging on in the Lord just saying, oh, I just want to be there and help you, but while you keep silence, this is what's going to happen. But then David says, but after we thought about that for a second, he says, then I acknowledged my sin unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

And then he said Selah. Again, think about that. Man, here he is heavy, bummed, blue, dry and he's like then he says, Lord, forgive me. I'm a sinner and here's what I've done. And all of a sudden he feels so much better. And he says, oh, blessed happy is the man or the woman whose sins are forgiven, whose iniquities are remembered no more. This is the Bible and it's all throughout the Bible. It's not just that one story. It's all throughout the Bible. That's the nature of sin and that's the nature of God's love and forgiveness.

This is what God wants to do. And yet a lot of times we sit around and just keep weighed down by the burden of our sin and we we don't even realize how heavy it is. If you're a Christian, that can pertain to you, but if you're not a Christian, that's even more like you have no idea what you're missing out on cuz you're you're dealing with all the sin of your whole life and it's just piled up on your life and you you don't even know what it feels like to be forgiven supernaturally by the power of God.

One of the most supernatural things I think people experience in this world is once they accept Christ and realize ooh, I'm forgiven. Past, present, even my future sins, Jesus died once for all for all my sins. And oh my, the burden that you are carrying and you didn't even realize it. And it's all because you're hanging on to your little orange slice. And you thought it was so awesome and you couldn't let it go. And you were like, oh, I just don't want to let go of this. As Bernice and Agrippa get up out of the theater and walk away from Paul, end up living kind of miserable lives and probably unless something we don't know about in history, they both were doomed to hell forever because they were forgiven.

They never accepted the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Oh God forbid that somebody hangs on to their orange slice of sin only to say, I just like my little sin and you you who are you, Brad, to judge me on my sin? It's not me judging you. It's the heaviness of your own life that you're dealing with. And it's there right now, but it can be taken away in a moment. Why? Because the Bible says if you repent of your sin, he, whether you're Christian or not, when you repent and confess your sins, this is the way out.

It says if you confess your sins, 1 John 1:9, he is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And the word all means the whole thing. No matter what you've sinned, if you repent and you say, Lord, forgive me for that and I believe your son died on the cross for my sins, for that very sin, then you're forgiven. That's the grace of God. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see.

That hymn is from a horrible sinner just like us who realized what I'm talking about. He let go of the Bernice and finally realized, wow, what a wretch was I and how great it is to be saved by grace. I hope some of you if you're a Christian, man, just just go to the Lord right now and break off your sin and let go. If you're not a Christian, repent of your sin and and believe on Jesus. It says, whoever believeth on him, Jesus, will not perish, but have everlasting life. Why? Cuz the Lord forgives you for your sins and it's there for the taking.

I'll finish with this verse. It's Hebrews 12:1 that says, Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. And let us run with patience the race that is set before us. The word beset is an old English word we don't use anymore, so it's like what does beset mean? It means simply to be entangled by or distracted with. So it basically says, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so doth easily tangle us up, bondage, to distract us from what is good and right.

So let it go and let us run our race with patience. That's the challenge right now.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brad Matter reflecting on the amazing grace of God in today's word. Despite our propensity to be drawn to sin, God remains faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And Pastor Brad will have more to share on receiving the Lord's forgiveness in just a moment, so I hope you'll stick around for that. But first Brad Matter is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Each episode of Today's Word serves to enrich your understanding of God's word and support your ongoing spiritual journey. If you missed any portion of our study, you'll find all of Pastor Brad's messages online at todayswordradio.com.

You can also watch full video messages from him by going to todayswordradio.com. Also want to mention that if you'd like to share your story of how God has changed your life through these daily studies, you can email us at info@todayswordradio.com. That's info@todayswordradio.com. Well, here again is Pastor Brad Matter with some important remarks to close today's message.

Brett Meador: I'm going to just ask two questions. Number one, if you're a Christian, what's your orange slice or your Bernice that you need to let go of? Pray about that right now and man, if you right now confess that to the Lord and say, Lord, forgive me and then say, I'm going to break off of that, you can go away free from that today. Just you and the Lord right now right here. If you're not a Christian, I'd love to invite you to repent. That means to change your mind and say, I agree, I'm a sinner.

And maybe you feel that burden of your sin, but God says, oh, take my burden. It's easy. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. This is what Jesus invited you to do by accepting him. Becoming a Christian doesn't mean you're accepting the church of Jesus Christ. No, we're all a bunch of wacko sinners just like you. That's what the world they say the church is full of hypocrites. Oh, it's worse than you even know. But you're not accepting the church. What you're doing is accepting Jesus Christ as your savior. And that's much easier to accept if you ask me.

So by confession with the mouth and belief in the heart, Romans 10 verse 9 and 10 says, if you believe that Jesus died on the cross and was raised up from the grave, you will be saved. If that's you, could I pray that prayer with you? I'd love to if there's anybody here who wants to pray that prayer with me. Let's pray. Dear Father in heaven, I believe in your son Jesus. I believe that he died on the cross for my sins. That he rose up from the grave and that I'm forgiven. Help me to walk with you.

Thank you for saving me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. And Lord, we pray for these people who just confessed you, Lord. I pray that they would just know your love and your mercy and your forgiveness. Give them, Lord, give us all a hunger and a thirst after things that are righteous. Help us to let go of those things that are wrong and sinful in our lives and we know we're not going to be perfect, but we do know we're perfectly forgiven because of your love. We're so thankful for that. Now may we go out and just follow after you, Lord, with everything that we've got.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brad Matter closing our time here on Today's Word. And that's all the time we have. Next time Pastor Brad will continue another verse by verse study from the Book of Acts. Today's Word with Pastor Brad Matter is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in Westlin, Oregon.