This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at christkingum.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. In preparation for the reading, I want to let you know that when the Book of Acts begins, Saul of Tarsus is enemy number one of the Church. Since he considered Christians to be heretics worthy of at least prison, if not death, he had made it his life's goal to hunt them down anywhere he could find them in Jerusalem. And then when he took care of Jerusalem, he was commissioned to take his posse elsewhere and search for Christians in the surrounding cities. And then this funny thing happens on the way to Damascus. Saul goes to Damascus intending to lay hands on any Christian that he could find and seize them. But by the time the resurrected Jesus is through with Saul, Saul is seized by God's grace. And a Christian by the name of Ananias lays hands on him and Saul leaves Damascus a converted Christian. So God had a different commission for Saul to obey. And it was to carry the good news about Jesus to Gentiles and to kings and to the children of Israel. And that is exactly what we see happen to Saul, whose name is later changed to Paul. We see that happen all throughout the story of Acts. Paul reaches out to the Jews with the gospel. And when they repeatedly refuse him time and time and time again, Paul ends up ministering to the Gentiles in the name of Jesus. And ultimately because he's doing that, he's brought before kings and governors, in order to give an answer or a defense for his actions. And God does great works through the Apostle Paul. We read about them. But we also read about Paul's constant opposition and the persecution by the religious leaders of the Jews as he traveled from town to town. And everywhere that Paul did go, the Jewish leaders were sure to follow. Eventually Paul ends up in Jerusalem only to be arrested while he's in the temple on charges that he taught things contrary to God's law and that he had defiled God's holy place with Gentile worshipers. And while he's in custody, we also find out that more than 40 Jews swear an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they plot secretly to ambush him on his way to testify before the council. However, God had other plans for Paul. That he would not only testify about Jesus in Jerusalem, but also that he was going to testify about Jesus in Rome. So the plot of these 40 plus Jewish men to kill Paul was found out in its foil. And Paul is sent to Caesarea under the protective custody of the governor Felix. And even though Felix believes that Paul is innocent, he wants to keep the Jewish powers that be happy. So he keeps Paul in prison for two years. When a new governor takes over by the name of Festus, which I'm sorry, all I can think of is Matt Dylan and Festus from TV whenever I hear that. But we have a governor by the name of Festus. Festus offers Paul the opportunity to go back to Jerusalem to face his accusers and declare himself of the charges. However, Paul turns the tables on Festus. It says that as a citizen of Rome, he has the right and he demands to be heard by the emperor Caesar. So Festus obliges Paul. But he's unsure about what to write to the emperor and explanation about Paul's case and why he's coming to be seen by him. Because not only does Festus believe that Paul really hasn't done anything worthy of death, he actually thinks the whole affair is just a dispute over these silly superstitious religious matters about which he knows little and cares little. And so it just so happens that King Agrippa and Bernice come to visit and Festus employs them, especially King Agrippa. Because King Agrippa was not only politically savvy, but he was also very knowledgeable about these matters because King Agrippa was a Jew. So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, we're told, and they entered in the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. This is a big shindig, guys. And then Festus gives the command and Paul is brought in and we pick up the story now in Acts chapter 26. So Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak for yourself, then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense. I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I'm going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they're willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I have lived as a Pharisee. And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, to which the twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly worship day and night. And for this hope, I'm accused by Jews, okay? Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the debt? I know myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and I did so in Jerusalem. I not have locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priest, but when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme and in raging fury against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. First connection, I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission of the chief priest. At midday, okay. I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun that shone around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goats. And I said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise, stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me, and to those in which I will appear to you. Delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. 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 and 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. The Paul said, I am not out of my mind most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words, but 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 change. 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 said free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Beloved, this is the word of God. Thanks be to God for his word. Let's pray one last time. Father, open our hearts in our minds that we might hear you and receive your word this day. Establish our footsteps in the way of your word that no sin or iniquity would have a dominion over us. We ask it all in the name of Jesus Christ, our risen King. Amen. So Paul cuts to the chase, and in his defense against all the accusation of the Jews, he reminds us of this proverbial truth that where there is conflict, the issue is rarely the issue. Mary, folks, you know this proverb well. There's conflict in the house. And before you know a gentleman, it's not really about the fact that you are leaving your socks and shoes out in the middle of the floor. It's really about the fact that you're not spending time with your wife and communicating with her. And wives, you get the angst of your husband and you realize that it's not really about all of the money that you possibly spent that weekend on the shopping trip. But that it's really about the fact who knows what I'm going to leave that blank. But we all know who've been in relationships and especially those of us who are married, that the issue that is discussed in a conflict is rarely the issue. And Paul brings this truth to light because the Jews who had doggedly pursued Paul from town to town accused him of a variety of things. They said that he upset the Jews by speaking against them as God's covenant people, that he was teaching things against God's covenant law, and that he was saying things against the temple as God's holy place, even defiling it by bringing these pagan Greeks into it. However, from the very start Paul makes it clear that when you boil down all their complaints about him and all their charges against him, the real problem with him was ultimately about one thing. It was about the resurrection. You see, from his youth, Paul had lived as a Pharisee and everybody knew that. In fact, he excelled in his life as a Pharisee. He adhered to the rigorous doctrines with incredible zeal. He followed their strict religious code to the letter. And so it was no secret in Jerusalem that Paul was indeed a Pharisee. And as a good Pharisee, Paul believed in the resurrection from the dead. A hope in the promise made by God to the patriarch for fathers of Israel. And that hope of the resurrection was the very heart of the gospel that Paul preached. Once he was converted on the roads of Damascus. And his hope in the resurrection had come to divine his very life as a Christian. However, irony of ironies, when Paul preaches this resurrection hope that he says the 12 tribes of Israel all seek to attain through their worship, these people persecute him. Charge him for teaching things contrary to their doctrine and practice, accusing him for having preached the very hope that was promised them by God. So it's no surprise that you kind of hear some angst in Paul's voice when he incredulously asks King Agrippa. If the promise made by God to our forefathers was the hope of the resurrection from the dead, why is it now incredible which in the Greek better translation would be unbelievable? Paul says why is it thought unbelievable by any of you that God raises the dead? Why is it unbelievable for anyone to believe that God raises the dead? That's still a good question to ask. Why is it so unbelievable that God raises the dead? Why is it? Why is Easter so unbelievable? Quite honestly, I would say that Easter is so unbelievable to our world because Easter is so unbelievable. Let's be honest, Easter is weird. If any of us were at a funeral and the body popped up in the middle of the service, you know we'd all freak out. None of us would sit calmly there and go, well, of course. Easter is unbelievable. And this, unfortunately, I think is a truth that the church has long since forgotten and even abandoned this honesty about the absurdity of Easter and the resurrection. Under the influence of gnosticism, our belief in the bodily resurrection has slowly been replaced over the years with a more spiritual kind of resurrection. Jesus' resurrected body complete with scars and an appetite for fish. Well, that has slowly kind of changed over the years until a more ghostly Jesus appearing before his disciples. Some have even gone so far as to say that Jesus really didn't bodily resurrect. Instead, the resurrection kind of took place in the hearts and minds of the disciples by the spirit. This is where some in the church are with the resurrection. How far we've gone. We've kind of traded in the new heavens and the new earth inhabited by a people with new resurrected bodies. Over the years, we've kind of traded that in for this ethereal cloud in which our souls are kind of free to just float around. That's our picture of the heavenly reward. Also, I think in our efforts to make this story of Jesus' resurrection more understandable, more reasonable, more practical, more explainable, it's no longer now a question of if we can believe in the resurrection of Jesus, but more why would we bother believing in the bodily resurrection of Jesus? Because we've so tinkered with Easter in his resurrection that now the only Easter we're left with is something that's tame and predictable and irrelevant and basically utterly boring. To the contrary, the resurrection that was promised us by God to our Israelite forefathers. And the resurrection that was the hope of Paul and the substance of his gospel witness is unbelievable with good reason because the real Easter, the Easter we read about in the Bible, that Easter is wild. When Matthew and Mark and Luke and John talk about Jesus' resurrection, one of the most repeated themes that you see in their gospel accounts is that of sheer terror. We're told guards are so scared that they shake and become like dead men. An angel is on the scene constantly having to tell someone, don't be afraid. People are bowed down with their faces on the ground in fright. And Mark ends his version of the story if you believe that his original gospel account ended with the first eight verses. Well, if that's the case, Mark ends the story with the women running away from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, saying nothing to anyone because they were afraid. The real Easter folks is wild. This is not an Easter brought to you by Hallmark. There's no Dewey Meadow bathed in the warm globe spring. There's no fuzzy bunnies or fluffy baby chicks. There's nothing cute or cuddly or pastel or chocolate about this Easter. In Acts, Paul's witness to the resurrection paints a picture of an Easter that's completely alien to us and to our world. It's happening terrifies and grips the soul. It sends running people running speechless. Paul talks about the resurrection and preaches the resurrection in such a way that we realize this event is redefining reality and shaking the foundations of our world view. God raising Jesus from the dead with the promise of raising other people wasn't some abstract doctrine that the disciples came to know and lovingly ponder. No, the resurrection grabbed them by the short airs. Show them about. Resurrection isn't some metaphor, analogy or morality tale meant to warm our hearts and inspire our lives. Now, this Easter folks really happened. Incredibly, unbelievably as it may be, but it truly happened nonetheless during the cold darkness of the night watch within the depths of a limestone path. The limestone tomb, the actual flesh and blood and bone body of Jesus Christ dead for days was now raised unto life and the world will never be the same again. That's the Easter we read about in the Bible. So it's easy to see why it was unbelievable for many people back then and why quite honestly it still is unbelievable. But you need to know something, most of Paul's audience did believe in the resurrection of the dead. Most Jews, except for the Sadducees believed in a general resurrection of the dead at the coming of the Messiah. So they opposed and persecuted Paul not because they couldn't believe how God could raise the dead. Now, instead they opposed and persecuted Paul because they didn't want to believe who Paul preached God had raised from the dead. That was the sticking issue. You see, in the plotting of the chief priests and the elders in the Gospel of John, we find out that in this conspiracy, Jesus's death was supposed to secure the peace of Jerusalem. One person would die for the city so that they would not lose power and control over Jerusalem. So Jesus was a part of his death, a part of the reason why they persecuted him and crucified him. However, Paul and the other apostles were constantly rubbing the chief priests and the elders' noses in Jesus's crucifixion. You read the sermon accounts all throughout the book of Acts and you'll find that they're always publicly accusing these men of killing Jesus, publicly proclaiming that Jesus had risen from the dead. And so they were constantly stirring up the people wherever they went. So these people realized that if truly Jesus was raised from the dead, that meant that none of them were beyond his reach. And that there was nothing that they could do now to stop Jesus from finishing what he started. And you know what, Paul had come to that discovery firsthand on the road to Damascus. As a devout Pharisee, he was convinced in his own words that he ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And yet, what happens when Paul leaves Damascus? He does so proclaiming the name of Jesus of Nazareth. When Paul left Jerusalem to go to Damascus, he went in service to the chief priest, commissioned by them to persecute Christians wherever he could find them. But then on the way to Damascus, Paul met up with a resurrected Jesus. And when Jesus was done with him, Paul returned to Jerusalem. And when he did, he came in service to Jesus now, commissioned by Jesus to make Christians wherever he could. And when he got to Jerusalem, again, irony of all ironies, Paul is persecuted for being a Christian. Paul tangled with the risen Jesus, and we see who won. In fact, Paul's defense for all of his actions, as we read it in that axe account, essentially he just blames Jesus and Jesus' resurrection for who he had become and what he was doing. And he basically tells King Agrippa, look, King Agrippa, when a heavenly light that is brighter than the sun, blasts you on the road to Damascus and forces you and your party to the ground, when you hear a voice from heaven telling you that when you persecute Christians, you're actually persecuting Jesus who happens to be alive and well and seated at the right hand of God the Father. And that now he's appointing you to be a servant and his witness to both Jew and Gentile to open their eyes so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in him. King Agrippa, guess what? When that happens to you, you don't disobey the heavenly vision. And so Paul did. He basically said, you got a problem with me? Take it up with him because it's his doing, not mine. See, the Easter that we read about in the Bible confronts us with the Lord of it all together, different sort. The resurrected Jesus is not manageable and he's not predictable. He will not be put off until a more convenient time. He won't be manipulated. He will not be sidesteped. In fact, the resurrected Jesus has completely turned our world upside down. For not only can he not be silenced, like some bad 70s horror movie Jesus can't be killed. He keeps coming back. Jesus is unstoppable. He's been exalted to the right hand of God the Father and there he reigns until all of his enemies are defeated and made his footstool. Satan has been cast down by his hand. Death has been swallowed up in his life and his resurrection is this inescapable sharp stick that is constantly poking you, going us on to turn to God in fruitful repentance and to die to ourselves so that we can live for him. That's the resurrection of Jesus, which is by the way, that's what a God was. It was used by shepherds. It's a sharp stick. It was a way of getting them to move where you want. Good idea, parents and kids from trouble. Get a little sharp stick. That's the resurrection of Jesus. You can't stop it. It's always poking us, telling us, die to yourself, live for him. Repent and turn to God and produce works that are keeping with that repentance. You see, life can't be lived anymore by this world's business as usual attitude because the eternal flesh and blood existence of Jesus makes demands upon us, upon our hearts and how we feel, upon our minds and how we think and upon our lives and how we live. In short, even though that's all too late, Jesus is not like us, but Jesus lives to make us like him. His resurrection isn't something for us to explain so much as it is something that should explain us. The resurrection of Jesus should be molding us and making us and shaping us and defining us, becoming the very reason why we live the way we live, being the very reason for the hope that is within us. Basically, folks, Easter is huge. Our entire faith rests upon it. Without the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, basically we're wasting our time here. Might as well just go on back to bed this morning and every other Sunday morning for that matter. Because this Easter thing that we read about in the Bible isn't really real. If Jesus's body is still in the ground somewhere, then it means that this sermon is noise, the witness of our worship is a lie, and we're fools for trusting Jesus for anything, if His body is still in the ground somewhere.
Without His resurrection, we're fools. Because Paul says elsewhere in Corinthians that without an empty cross and an empty tomb, we who are alive are still in our sins and those who have died before us are lost also because they died in their sins. If Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, then He's no better than a gardener tending a tomb. He's just another guy like all of us who died unjustly, yes, but who died nonetheless and who stayed dead because He was just another center like us. If Jesus did not raise from the dead in body, then the Lord's Supper isn't the Lord's and it isn't a Supper. But I'm here this morning to remind us once again that Christ is risen and we say together He is risen in deed. Beloved, now we're talking about opened eyes, being turned from darkness to light, being turned from the power of Satan to God. Now we're talking about a faith that promises the forgiveness of sins and sanctification from our sins. We're talking about a faith that puts us in a place among the very people of God. When we talk the resurrection of Jesus, we're talking about the stuff of eternal life. And not some nebulous abstract, free floating soul towards a glowing light kind of eternal life, but a real true eternal life lived in a new body that is liberated from the albatross of sin and death. And we enjoy that not alone because those who have died before us in faith died not in vain because they're going to be raised with us too. We're going to see them. I swear I wasn't going to do this. We're going to see them again. We're going to hear them again and we're going to touch them again. And all of that is brought to you by our Lord Jesus, our risen King. And you know what? All of that's just the tip of the iceberg because you see Easter didn't happen in a corner and Easter's not going to stay in a corner. Because the bodily resurrection of Jesus marked the beginning of his reign under our skies and on this earth as it is in heaven. Jesus' resurrection was the beginning of him destroying all other domains and authorities and powers that are opposed to his and the beginning of his putting his soul of his foot to the throat of his enemies and making dust the food of the servant. Jesus' resurrection means the old has gone and the new has come and beloved it is still coming, a new heavens and a new earth and nothing will be the same again. Now like Festus, an unbelieving world is going to try and dismiss this whole affair that we're talking about this morning is just some silly religious superstition. Oh, that's just those Christians simply out of their minds for really believing that Jesus has raised from the dead. And as the church we need to be careful that we don't listen to that. We need to be careful that we don't end up dismissing Jesus' resurrection as just our private conviction or our personal belief. And that we tuck it away neatly in the recesses of our minds in a place where we'll never have anything to do with our public life. No. Paul says in second Corinthians that through us God has chosen to spread the aroma of Christ and his resurrection everywhere. So the resurrection life of Jesus is supposed to be the very thing that defines our day to day nine to five bread and butter brass tax lives. And the resurrection of Jesus is supposed to be the heart of our witness to the world, to all its people, be they smaller great, throughout all of history be it shorter long, and in all of its affairs be they private or public. We exist in order to confront all things and all people with the gospel of Jesus Christ asking the question, do you believe it? Which is why this sermon is a repeat for the most part everything that I've just said you've heard in part or in full. And we've passed and especially on a few Sundays ago, but that's okay because see repetition is one of the primary ways God uses us or uses to mold us into the shape of his truth and into the image of our savior repetition. I think I have time for this illustration. I learned this, the power of repetition when I was on a mission trip in Romania. And I'd been over several times and was back on a third trip. And the small group that I was a part of we were in the capital city of Bucharest and we arrived at the hotel where we were going to stay that night and fly out the next morning. And you have to understand something at this time Romania was still relatively new out of the shadow of communism and being a post-Soviet block country. You drive through the streets and see the bullet holes and the wall all over the buildings from the revolution. Romania was one of those countries where children were purposefully maimed as infants so that they would grow up with disabilities horrific disabilities all for the purpose of begging money from you. It was major culture shock when I first landed in Bucharest and really even after three trips had not gotten over it. And so it was with key notices we pulled up to this hotel the little overpass there that we saw a young guy who had a twisted leg basically pulling himself along to a car. And we saw someone from the hotel somebody in authority yelling at him be raiding him saying something in Romania and we saw him get in the car and drive it away. And basically we discovered he was kind of like ballet for this hotel. We pulled up and he was one of the most gracious people we had ever met and we discovered he spoke English and he spoke it well. Far better than our pastor said he was words I'd never even heard before the English language. I don't even know what they mean. Well he quickly befriended us because he found out from us that we were Christians on a mission trip. And lo and behold he was a Christian as well. And as I got to know him that evening he again he was very gracious we needed to exchange our money. Most of the banks were closed he took us to the only safe place where you could do that we wouldn't be ripped off. He accompanied us everywhere we went to care of our bags everything. And in talking with him I found out a little bit about his story. He was born to a prostitute who because of the children in the room I'll try and be sensitive about this who basically did not want him but failed in her attempt. And that explained the reason why his leg was so mained. He lived in the brothel where she worked was basically left alone in the small room where they lived as she went off to work. In the providence of God this building because of the money that it made was able to afford a satellite. And so he was able to get on his TV something other than the three channels of the man sitting in the white t-shirt and sunglasses talking Romanian over and over again. That was all that was on TV every single trip I was over there. But he was able to pick up some distant channels. And one channel in particular he was gripped with because of these movies that they repeated over and over and over again. They were James Bond movies. He learned how to speak English by watching James Bond movies which is why he had the vocabulary that he did and he spoke with a beautiful English accent. I was amazed at this. The next morning we got up to leave and he greeted us at the door, put our bags in. We gave him some money that we had not exchanged because we knew it would be worthless to us once we left. He was adamant that he did not want it. He believed strongly as a Christian you should work for your money and I've never seen a young guy work harder than him. We gave him what was left over he took it and then he gave me this as a parting gift. It's a little booklet called The Coming and Rain of our Lord Jesus Christ and in it he wrote basically in Romanian saying that he hopes that God blesses me through my life. And he told me that this book he read over and over and over again once he learned English and it was through this that he realized that he was a sinner and needed a savior and low and behold the resurrected Jesus met in that day. And I learned of my brother in Christ whose name was Abram which I think is English equivalent would be something like Abraham or Abram. The power of repetition this is why the church doesn't celebrate just Easter Sunday we celebrate seven weeks of Easter so that we don't forget because again that repetition is necessary. God uses it to mold us into the shape of his truth and make us into the image of our Savior. And so on this beautiful Easter Sunday I proclaim to you again Christ is risen and we say together he is risen indeed the victory that swallows up death belongs to us now. It has graciously been given to us by God our Father through the resurrection life of Jesus the Son which we now get to enjoy here and now in part and one day later in full with the new heavens in the new earth and all by the work of God the Holy Spirit. So church of Jesus Christ I conclude this morning the same way Paul did is letter to the current in saying because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ be steadfast in movable always a bounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain happy Easter. I know it's not April 20th today's May 19th but it's still Easter Sunday it's not our calendar that's wrong it's the world that's got its dates messed up. Because you see when Jesus was raised from the dead everything changed and now every day is Easter. Thanks be to God let's pray Lord we pray that by your spirit as we've heard your word that it would be for us that double edged sword and it would pierce us through and divide us and expose to us all of our sinfulness but also reveal to us your overcoming sovereign grace that where our sin abounds your grace does much more about. And that Lord as we come to your table we would not approach it as a funeral remembering some long departed friend but instead we would enjoy it as a supper because by your grace through your Holy Spirit we ascend into the heavens and we get to join you at your table and celebrate the victory that you have won for us Jesus because you are a risen Lord may that joy define who we are. And confront the world that we go into when we leave this place may that joy constantly force them to question do I believe that. And Lord we pray that you would use us to draw men and women and children from all over to yourself that they would join us in the triumphal procession that you lead us in because you are Jesus our risen King. We thank you and we pray this amen.