Devotional Materials. Week Commencing Sunday 5th July 2020
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, you declared yourself the way, the truth, and the life. Reveal to us your truth, and inspire us with your life, that now and at all times we may find in you the way to the Father. Amen
Hymn
[Verse 1]
At the foot of the cross
Where grace and suffering meet
You have shown me Your love
Through the judgment You received
And You've won my heart
Yes, You've won my heart
Now I can
[Chorus]
Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross
[Verse 2]
At the foot of the cross
Where I am made complete (I am made complete)
You have given me life
Through the death You bore for me
And You've won my heart (You've won my heart)
Yes You've won my heart
Now I can
[Chorus]
Trade these ashes in for beauty
And wear forgiveness like a crown
Coming to kiss the feet of mercy
I lay every burden down
At the foot of the cross
Kathryn Scott (YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy7fEJwgEjo )
Prayer for people who are infected with COVID-19 or facing quarantine. Jesus, during Your ministry on Earth you showed Your power and caring by healing people of all ages and stations of life from physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. Be present now to people who need your loving touch because of COVID-19. May they feel your power of healing through the care of doctors and nurses. Take away the fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation from people receiving treatment or under quarantine. Give them a sense of purpose in pursuing health and protecting others from exposure to the disease. Protect their families and friends and bring peace to all who love them.
Prayer for protection for people at higher risk of developing the disease. Dear Lord, we lift to you our concern for people who are more likely than others to become severely ill from COVID-19 — the elderly and people with chronic health conditions. Protect them from harm and be their comfort in this time of uncertainty and, for many, preventive isolation from loved ones.
Reading. Acts 26.
Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defence: “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defence against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. 6 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. 7 This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. 8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”
24 At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defence. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”
25 “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. 26 The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”
28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”
29 Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”
30 The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. 31 After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”
32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
Sermon. ‘Paul. “A Life Changing Encounter”
Previously Paul had been taken into Roman custody for his own protection. Certain Jewish leaders had stirred up false accusations against him and even plotted to have him killed. His case was left for 2 years until the new Governor of the region, Festus, wanted to question Paul himself on these matters. Festus is joined by King Agrippa who is interested in Paul’s case. Paul now has opportunity to speak before Agrippa and Festus and the leading citizens of Caesarea.
Paul spoke first of his early life, which had been spent in thorough Jewish training. (4) Paul’s contemporaries knew of his solid Jewish heritage and the fact he had been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect. There could be no doubt about the thoroughness, seriousness or excellence with which Paul pursued his Judaism.
Paul also describes his hostility towards Christians (9-11). He opposed the name of Christ. He did not believe Christ was the Messiah or the Son of God or that he had been raised from the dead. Paul saw it as his solemn duty to oppose this new movement. With the authorisation of the leading priests, he captured believers in Jerusalem and sent them to prison. Paul even went so far as to cast his vote against Christians when they were condemned to death. He would have believers whipped in order to try to force them to curse Christ. Indeed Paul was so obsessed, that he hounded them to cities in foreign countries. He took his campaign of terror to Damascus.
At that point Paul encountered the living Christ (12-15). Divine intervention took place. About noon Paul saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around him and his travelling companions. He heard a voice “Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? Jesus makes it clear to Paul that he had not only been persecuting Christians. By attacking them Paul was persecuting Christ himself. Paul asks who it is that is speaking, to which the voice answers “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting”.
What are we to make of this resurrection appearance? The resurrection of Jesus is central to the Christian faith. Former Chief Justice Lord Darling said “The problem of whether Jesus was, or was not, what he proclaimed himself to be must depend upon the truth or otherwise of the resurrection…. In its favour as living truth there exists such overwhelming evidence, positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world could fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true” The empty tomb, the numerous eye witnesses, the change in the disciples and the fact of the Church are all such evidences. No naturalistic attempt to try and explain the resurrection away is sufficient. When Paul would later share with the other apostles that Christ had appeared to him, they knew what he was talking about because he had appeared to them also. They knew Jesus was alive! And yes that is a miracle, but then God is God, He is Spirit and he is bigger than his creation. If by His power He chooses to suspend natural laws or intervene that is his prerogative. Paul himself asked his hearers “Why should any of you find it incredible that God raises the dead” (8) even as a Pharisee Paul had believed God had power to raise the dead on the last day. (For more about evidence for the Resurrection please see “Evidence That Demands a Verdict” Josh McDowall.)
Jesus commissions Paul and sets him on a mission diametrically opposed to the one he had been on. He is now to be Christ’s servant. Paul is to serve Christ and allow Christ to work through him. And he is to be Christ’s witness. Paul must tell the world, not only about his Damascus road experience but he must speak the wisdom Christ gives him.
The results of Paul’s mission are phenomenal, and the effects are still felt today. The book of Acts records three journeys Paul made with various colleagues during which he planted Churches and went back to visit some of them to give them encouragement and further teaching. He usually worked in the significant cities of the ancient world, such as Philippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth and Ephesus. The Gospel would soon radiate out through these places of influence and change the world for ever. Further, the wisdom Christ gave Paul still speaks to us today, much of which we still have as Scripture. Paul’s letters constitute a good portion of the New Testament.
So this was a truly life changing encounter. Paul had expected to go into Damascus full of pride, a self-confident opponent of Jesus Christ, instead Acts 9:8 tells us he was led by the hand into that city, humbled and temporarily blinded. A captive of the very Christ he had opposed. It wasn’t long before Paul was preaching the very message he had sought to exterminate.
Let’s look more closely at the changes Christ wanted to bring about in those who heard Paul preach. Changes that Paul saw in his own day, changes that have taken place ever since in those exposed to Paul’s ministry through the Bible. Changes that we need to see today.
When Jesus spoke to Paul he said “I am sending you to them (that is the Gentiles) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (18)
From darkness to light (18)
It wasn’t Paul, but Christ by his Spirit, who could open blind eyes or convert people from darkness to light, and Satan to God. Isaiah had foreseen that the coming Messiah would open the eyes of the blind. Jesus used those words to speak of his own ministry: “He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind” (Isa 61:2 cf Lk. 4:18, 19) While Jesus miraculously healed the blind quite literally, such healings were to show that human beings need to be delivered from a greater darkness. The darkness of idolatry. The worship of other things rather than God. Jesus spoke against the love of money; he described those whose eyes are fascinated by it. Money seems like light to them, but Jesus says “If your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness how great is that darkness.” (Matthew 6:22)
Jesus also spoke against the darkness of pride and abuse of power. He called the Pharisees “blind guides” (Luke 6:39) because they loaded the people down with burdens they could not carry. They were spiritually blind in their abuse of power. They did not care for the people. They were proud in thinking themselves superior to Christ. (Compare that with the light of Christ. The Good Shepherd. The one who has Supreme authority, but humbly used his power to serve us and save us through his sacrifice on the cross.)
Paul in his letters also speaks of the darkness resulting from idolatry and sin. He never forgot the darkness of his own pride and hate. The self- righteousness that had blinded him. Rather, he found true light in Christ and his Kingdom. He reminds the believers in Ephesus they were once darkness, but now they are “light in the Lord” They are to live as children of light for, he says “the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:8-10). If your eyes are good your whole body will be full of light. Spiritually speaking, good eye sight involves having a love for Christ, pleasing him and showing these kingdom values-here is true light to live by rather than the darkness of sin and idolatry.
From the power of Satan to God. (18)
We are naturally held captive to spiritual forces. Earlier in his letter to the Ephesians Paul describes how the believers used to be dead in their sins “When you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 2: 2, 3)
Satan is that ruler and he is the tempter. He tempts us to justify sin and idolatry, though these are the very things that destroy us- lies, unforgiveness, greed, lust, pride, envy, hatred, war and so on. He promises light but keeps us in darkness.
Every one of us is tempted. We are tempted to do those things that underneath we know are wrong. The desire from within and pressures from society do not seem sufficient to explain the force of temptation. You have only to try to break with habits formed by temptation, and you will find yourself gripped by a power much bigger than you are. Before he found freedom in Christ, Paul said he recognised the good he should do, but instead he did that which was evil (Rom 7:19). The Roman poet Ovid said “I see the better course and approve it…but I follow the worse” The Bible teaches that God speaks into each person’s conscience. You don’t have to be a Christian to know right from wrong. The problem is that deep down we all know what is right but we still do what is wrong. Secularism has no answer to that.
The secularist rejects the devil but has no power to rescue sinful human beings held captive to the devil. The secularist is reduced to an evolutionary optimism coupled with widespread education as the twin basis for any hope that our lot will improve. But there is no power in this approach. Dr Martin Lloyd Jones in his book “Christian Warfare” rejects it:
“It is to me almost beyond understanding that anybody who looks at the modern world and reads a newspaper can still go on believing such theories. Indeed, if they never even read a newspaper how can anybody who has ever known an educated, cultured, reasonable man, who nevertheless fails drastically in his own personal life, possibly believe such things? How can they believe that wisdom and knowledge and learning, and the ability to reason and to use logic, is the solution of the problem, when what is to be seen daily in the lives of men and women proves the exact opposite. It is amazing!
He adds: “In a world of collapsing institutions, moral chaos and increasing violence, never was it more important to trace the hand of “the prince of the power of the air” If we cannot discern the chief cause of our ills, how can we hope to cure them?”
From guilt to forgiveness (18)
So then, we are like blind prisoners, only Christ can open our eyes and set us free. But what about our court record and guilt? Well, the Lord forgives us and wipes the record clean. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians writes: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthian 5:21)
Such is God’s love for us that he sent his only Son- the Lord Jesus Christ- to be a sin offering. The one who resisted sin and led a perfect life died in our place. He took the full punishment we deserved for our sins on himself. Our sin debt is too big, our spiritual captivity too binding, we cannot make any resolution to save ourselves. Only God has the power to pay our debt and set us free.
Because his father was a friend of Czar Nicholas I, a young soldier had been made paymaster in one of the barracks. He meant well, but his character was not up to his responsibility and he began gambling, eventually losing a great deal of the army’s money and all his own.
In due course the young man received notice that a representative of the Czar was coming to check the accounts. That evening he took out the books and totalled up the funds he owed, then went to the safe and retrieved his own pitifully small amount of money. As he sat looking at the books and money, he was overwhelmed at the astronomical debt versus his own small store. He was ruined! Disgrace was certain; prison was looming!
The only solution was to take his life. He pulled out his revolver, placed it on the table before him, and wrote a summation of his misdeeds. At the bottom of the ledger where he had totalled up his illegal borrowings, he wrote, "A great debt! Who can pay?" He decided that at the stroke of midnight the deed would be accomplished—he would end it all.
As the evening wore on the distraught young man grew drowsy and fell asleep. It was during this time that Czar Nicholas I, as was sometimes his custom, made the rounds of the barracks. Seeing a light, he stopped, went in, and saw the young man asleep. He recognized him immediately and, looking over his shoulder, saw the ledger and realized all that had taken place.
The Czar wanted to be just toward the army, but merciful towards the soldier
When the soldier awoke, he glanced at the clock and saw that it was long after the midnight hour. He reached for his revolver, but his eye fell upon the ledger and he saw something that he had not seen earlier. There beneath the exclamation that he had written—"A great debt! Who can pay?"—was a single signature: Nicholas.
The Czar used his own money to pay the soldier’s debt. He was just towards the army. But in so doing he was merciful towards the soldier. He forgave the soldier his debt at great cost to himself.
Do you feel your sin debt to God? Justice demands your sin debt be paid. Mercy means that Jesus has borne your sins at great cost to himself, that on confession and repentance you will be forgiven and set free from the just condemnation that would otherwise be yours.
Welcomed into the family (18)
Such is God’s love that he not only wipes the record clean. He then takes you into his own family as his own child and shares his inheritance with you: verse 18 “So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me”
God had made a covenant with Abraham- “I will make you into a great nation and bless you…and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2, 3). Abraham and his offspring, the Jews, were promised an inheritance. Now those who have Abraham’s faith; who trust in God’s provision for their salvation, says Paul, are also blessed like Abraham. (Rom 4) Through putting your faith in Christ, the Father now lavishes his blessings on you. Once you were a slave to sin. Now he calls you son. Once you were separated from God now you have his promise he is always with you and will never leave you. Once you were lost, held captive to Satan. Now you are assured of the gift of eternal life.
When a person responds to Christ, they start to show the family likeness. They now know God personally as their Father and see other Christians as their brothers and sisters:
Jackie Pullinger worked among drug addicts in Hong Kong. They were broken of the power of their addiction through turning to Christ. Here is the story of Tiu Tong. It speaks of the blessing he now enjoys in knowing God personally, the new life he has been given, and his being part of God’s family:
Tiu Tong joined the Triad gangs when he was 18. There was a bad fight and he with 2 others was found guilty of killing a man. He was imprisoned for 14 years. There he was introduced to heroine. He says “I had no future. I was an addict. The next couple of decades was like a nightmare, in and out of prisons all the time. A vicious cycle of drugs, bitterness and aching loneliness. I tried every drug centre that existed, nothing worked. I was hopeless.” When he heard about Jackie’s ministry and went to her for help he discovered Chinese believers who had come off heroine through prayer. He writes “When I arrived I felt awful but the others prayed with me and afterwards I felt so comfortable. I had never known such love and such care. I knew that this had to be God. I experienced peace for the first time. I was really impressed that the foreign workers should have left their home for the likes of me. Again I knew that was God.
I was baptised at Tai Tam. It was incredible. As I was lifted up out of the water it was as if this tremendous peace overwhelmed me, it flooded my bones. It was God, it was so tangible, for at least 10 minutes I could do nothing. Ever since then I have been free in my heart, I don’t know how to express it properly. This took place 18 months ago and this freedom has never left me. I am 44 now. I have a job I love, messenger for a firm of solicitors. How can I tell you how happy I am? God has given me a family when I had none, he’s given me everything” (‘Crack in the Wall’. Jackie Pullinger).
Christ himself gave Paul this Gospel message. Paul wasn’t preaching some kind of philosophy, he was preaching to see lives changed. He wasn’t preaching self-improvement or character change. This wasn’t a case of patching up existing wineskins but rather new wine for new wineskins. Root and branch overhaul are required- transfer from kingdom of darkness to kingdom of light. God rescuing, cleansing, adopting us, because we cannot save ourselves.
It was by God’s grace that Paul was converted. God took the initiative. Paul was to write “It pleased God to reveal his Son in me” (Gal 1:15, 16). But God had prepared Paul beforehand. When Jesus spoke to Paul from heaven he said “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (26:14). This was an agricultural proverb of the time. Jesus likened Paul to a lively bullock and himself a farmer using goads to break him in. What were these goads that already pricked Paul’s conscience and which he kicked against? Well Paul had heard the testimony of Stephen (22:20) and the faithful witness of other Christians who he had made suffer. Perhaps Paul had struggled with the emptiness and weakness of Judaism and his own inability to meet the demands of the law. Within his heart he knew he had fallen short of God’s standards. (Rom 7:7-16) And even when Christ appeared to him and spoke to him, he humbled him but did not violate Paul’s personality. Christ appealed to his reason and conscience “Why do you persecute me?” God’s sovereign grace is gradual and gentle.
C. S. Lewis sensed God’s pursuit of him before he too was converted to Christ. He likened God to the “great angler” playing the fish, to a cat chasing a mouse, to a pack of hounds closing in on a fox, and finally to the divine chess player manoeuvring him into the most disadvantageous positions until in the end he concedes checkmate.
Are you ready this morning to concede checkmate? You know the Lord has already spoken to your conscience before today. He has used those goads to make you doubt the sufficiency of mere human wisdom. He has alerted you to the seriousness of your own sin against him and others. He has shown you what it has cost Him to bring you life. He gave his life for you to bring you out of darkness and captivity into his light and freedom. He wants you to know forgiveness of sins, adoption into his family, the gift of eternal life. All this we do not deserve. It is all of his grace
And if the Lord can lavish this grace on a bigot like Saul of Tarsus, then this grace means there is hope for anyone. Whoever you are. Whatever you have done this gospel is for you.
Paul wrote:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance; Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life” (1 Tim 1:15,16)
Hymn.
1 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour, all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.
2 Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. [Refrain]
3 Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blest,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love. [Refrain]. Fanny Crosby
David Barnes 7/20