The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1909-10-19
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Subject: Paul a Prisoner Before
Festus and Agrippa, Acts 25:6-
12-Golden Text: 2 Tim. 12---
Commit Verses 20, 27-29.
TIME.---A. ID. so or 81.
PIAAOE.--C aesarea.
EXPOSITION. -- ]. Not Dis0be-
cent Unto the Heavenly Vision, 10
23. Verse 10 contains the key to
Paul's life and successes Christ
spoke, Paul hearkened and obeyed.
The heavenly vision, the call of
Christ, comes sooner or later to every
man. To hearken means blessing and
JOY and victory; to refuse to hearken
means wretchedness and ruin {cf
lisa. 50:5) How Paul obeyed APP
pears in GAL 1:15, 49, Heavenly Wis
promptly, unquestioningly, exactly
! obeyed Paul began his Testimony
right where he was. The apostles
were to begin in Jerusalem (Luka
24:47), where they were. Paul was
in Damascus, so he began right there.
Paul was to be a foreign missionary,
but he proved himself first on the
spot where he was converted The
substance of Paul's message to Jew
and Gentile Repent and turn to
God and do works worthy of repent.
ance'' Comp. ch. 20:21). To repent
is to radically change ones mind; to
change ones mind about God, about
sin, and especially about Christ; ia
change from a mind that loves sin to
a mind that hates sin; from mind
that spurns God to mind that Yields
joyfully to God: from mind that res
jects Christ to mind that accepts
Him as Saviour and as Lord To turn
to God is to turn our faces, which are
away from God in fear and dislike
and disobedience, unto God in trust
and love and obedience The works
worthy of repentance" are the works
! which He commands in His word
fsee, e. G., Luke 3:8, 11-14; 1878. 8:
Eph 4:1732). The turning to God
is the inevitable outcome of repent
ance, and works worthy of repent
ance'' are the fruit and proof of the
genuineness of the repentance and
turning to God. For these causes
the Jews caught me in the temple,
and went about to kill me-" That
was a strange cause to kill a man for,
but the heart OF the Jew was "deceit-
full above all things and. desperately
wicked" (Jer. 1870. And the heart
of the Gentle to-day, of every one
out of Christ, is just like it from. 81
-. The man who breaches the plain
unvarnished truth of God is bound to
suffer in this God, hating and truth
hating world (Jno. 1919, 20; 3 Tim.
3:12). But we can stand it if Paul
did, and Jesus did; yes, and rejoice
in it, too Matt. Sill, IL; Acts +:
41). There is great utterance in
NO OH o6 tho holm.
that is from God | stand" Angry,
blood-seeking Jews against him,
loving, sustaining God for him. That
was Paul's position So he stood. So
can we. All we need is the help
which is from God" and that is at
our disposal (see also v. 16; oh. ] Al
19, 20; 1925, &c; 1879, 10; Ps. 18:i
At; 27:1-3; Ps. 124:1-3, g.; 2 Cor. 1 ::
$40; 2 Tim, All, 18; Jno. 1928,
20; Heb 4:16). Paul was now
standing before q governor, prin-
cess and king, but he never forgot
! the little ones of earth. His~testi-
mony was to small" as we'll as
great. Many of us think the wash
er woman, the servant girl, the boot
black and the coal HEAVIER beneath
our notice. Not so Paul
III. Almost Persuaded, 24-29.
Festus was getting excited. The
Spirit of God was gripping his heart.
Festus was unwilling to yield, so he
called the preacher crank. The devil
has cheated many man out of eter-
nal life in that way. He has Also
cheated many Christian out OF
larger life in the same way. We
must expect to be called crazy, IL we
get our message from God. That IL
4 Trnn GAG
52). Note PauTs unfailing courtesy.
Many a man is loyal to the truth and
is called mad for it, and then goes
to scoring his traducers- But in Paul
unfiinching fidelity went hand in hand
with unfailing courtesy. Let us learn
a lesson Paul now turns directly to
Agrippa with tremendous, startling
and soul-awakening question: sing
Agrippa, believest thou the pros
phets?" 1t was a master stroke. IN
Is a good question TO put to the un-
converted Jew to-day 1t is goOd
question to put also to unconverted
Gentiles, and then show them how
wonderfully the prophecies have been
fulfilled. The argument from prophecy
is unanswerabie. Many are trying ia
break its force, but they have failed
utterly They have succeeded ia
turning the eyes of some foolish peo-
pie from the contents of the pro.
phecies to questions of authorship,
but il any one will study the prophe-e
cies themselves, instead of wasting
time in the endless jangle of words
about them, he will soon find that
God is the real author, that the posi-
ton of the destructive critics cannot
be true, and that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God. Agrippa's answer
is full of suggestion: almost thou
persuadest me to be a Christian
While the Authorized Version is not
literal translation of the original,
it comes far nearer to being literal
translation than the Revised VersioA.
The literal translation is: In little
thou persuadest me to make Chris
tian.'' 1t is said that Agrippa said
1his in sarcasm. Perhaps SO; but
like many another, the attempted jest
reveals the real state of the heart
Agrippa was deeply moved. He saw
the cost Of further consideration OF
the claims Of Christ.
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