I'm Not Crazy - I'm Saved

I’M NOT CRAZY, I’M SAVED

Acts 26:24-25

Intro:

The great Apostle Paul is on trial before King Agrippa and the Roman Governor Festus.

Paul is given the opportunity to give a defense for his actions. Paul uses this setting as an opportunity to share his salvation testimony.

When these pagan rulers hear Paul testify about all that happened to him, and what the Savior has done for him, Festus speaks up and calls Paul a “mad man”.

He tells Paul that all of his education and learning has driven him over the edge! He says, in effect, “Paul, you’ve lost your mind! You’re a lunatic! You’re crazy!”

·Paul, You’ve gone crazy! Your not the man I use to know

The word “mad” comes from the word that gives us our word “mania”. It means “to rave, to be mad, to be out of one’s mind.”

Mania is defined as:

·Obsession; an excessive and intense interest in for something.

·A psychiatric disorder characterized by excessive physical activity, rapidly changing ideas and impulsive behavior.

These pagans who are listening to Paul give his testimony and they knew of Paul’s life before He came to Christ.

They concluded that he has gone absolutely, stark raving mad! They think he is crazy! When Paul hears this charge he responds by saying, “I’m not crazy, I’m saved!”

When the world looks in on this thing we call Christianity, when they look at this life we live for Jesus, they conclude that we are crazy! I would say to them, I’m not crazy, I’m saved!

I want to point out three areas of Paul’s testimony that Festus and the others thought was crazy.

Let me show you the reasons why Festus, and the others who heard Paul preach that day, thought Paul was crazy.

I. HIS TEACHINGS SOUNDED CRAZY: Acts 22:13-22

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 me15 “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

What were the claims that Paul made?

1. He Said He Saw A Light - v. 13. Paul said that at noon, a light shined around him and his companions that eclipsed the power of the sun.

2. He Said He Met The Lord Jesus Christ - v. 14-18 The One Paul said he met on the road to Damascus, was the same man everyone knew had died on a cross outside Jerusalem by order of Pontius Now, here is the crazy preacher preaching that this dead Jesus was alive again.

They knew that Jesus had been crucified, now here was Paul and bunch of other people, preaching that Jesus was alive.

·They were upsetting the applecart.

·They were disturbing the peace.

They were preaching the doctrine of the resurrection and people thought Paul had lost his mind

Paul’s statements may have sounded bizarre to the pagan Romans, but to anyone who knows the Lord Jesus Christ, they make perfect sense!

Here’s why:every Saved Person Has Seen The Light and had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,” 1 Pet. 2:9.

1. Everyone who is saved can remember what it was like to be “dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph. 2:1.