FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
Acts 26:12-18
Acts 26:12 (NKJV ) “While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. 14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
INTRO. In this passage, the Apostle Paul has been taken before Herod Agrippa II. Paul has been proven innocent of any charges made against him 4 times (before the mob, the Sanhedrin, Felix and Festus). Yet, Paul has been detained as a prisoner because Felix and Festus didn’t have the courage to do the right thing and let him go. So, Paul has appealed to Caesar because he had no other options.
Festus has a problem with Paul’s appeal. When a governor sent a prisoner to Rome, he had to send a report with the charges against him. Paul was innocent. Festus has nothing to write down. There were no witnesses against him.
Fortunately for Festus, Agrippa made a courtesy call to him. Herod Agrippa II was a Jewish man and Festus thought that maybe Agrippa could help him untangle the mess.
Festus was the superior to Agrippa. Agrippa was grew up in Rome. His sister, Bernice, came to Festus with him. Agrippa and his sister lived in incest. Bernice was also the sister of Drusilla, the wife of Felix the former governor.
Herod Agrippa I, this Herod’s father, was a terrible man. He beheaded James and imprisoned Peter. He’s the Herod in ch. 12 who decided he would have an “All Hail Agrippa Day” and was eaten by worms and died.
Herod Agrippa II was the grandson of the Herod of the gospels who killed all the male babies in Bethlehem after Jesus was born. His uncle was the one who had John the Baptist beheaded. His whole family heritage was rotten!
Agrippa II was Jewish in nationality but Roman in his perspective and background. In the Jewish war, which brought about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, Agrippa tried to stop the Jews from revolting. He was unsuccessful and when Titus Vespasian moved his troops against Jerusalem, he joined the Roman army and fought against his own Jewish countryman.
His wife, Bernice (Josephus tells us of this incest) was wicked. She first married her uncle at 13 yrs. of age and had two sons by him. Later she married a man named Marcus. But in between these marriages, she started the immoral relationship with her brother, Agrippa. There were other men she had flings with, and they all ended up dumping her because of her relationship with her brother. In fact, Titus Vespasian took Bernice as his lover, but when she got back to Roman, the talk was so bad that he dumped her, and she went back to Agrippa.
Why is Bernice always there? She is attached to Agrippa like the corona virus (an ugly disease); she is the symbol of his immorality. What a picture of moral darkness!
Paul gives his “defense” or “tells his story to Agrippa” for two reasons: 1) Because it is true, and 2) Because he wants Agrippa to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was trying to get Agrippa into a position where he understood the Gospel and could make an intelligent decision for Christ. He wanted to bring Agrippa from darkness into the light of Jesus! So, Paul once again gives his testimony. Notice in coming from the darkness into the light, Paul says he was:
1. HALTED BY THE VISION v. 14a
Acts 26:14a And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me
Paul and all the men who were traveling with him from Jerusalem to Damascus all saw the light from heaven and they were stopped in their tracks! Sometimes God allows some drastic things to happen in order to get our attention. Has God ever used something drastic in your life to get your attention? For some of you, He’s using this corona virus. He wants you to come out of the darkness into His light.
2. HEARD GOD’S VOICE v. 14b
Acts 26:14b and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
Sometimes, the reason we don’t hear God’s voice is because we’re not listening. Sometimes the prosperity we’ve enjoyed as a nation may din the voice of God. And we are deaf to God’s voice. Sometimes the politics of the world distracts us from hearing God’s voice. Sometimes it’s the prurience of our own desires that stuffs spiritual cotton in our ears to the point that we DO NOT hear God’s voice.
We’re listening to the wrong voices! ILLUST. Certainly, these days we’re experiencing, is nothing like my generation has ever known. If you just watch the news all the time, it can get depressing. But, folks, we’re too blessed to be depressed! If the worst happens and a believer dies, he just goes to heaven.
Maybe you need to get your Gospel music CD’s out…Google the Gospel Singing Jubilee on YouTube, watch some of the Cathedral Quartet, or the Happy Goodman Family, the Collingsworths or the Lesters, or Squire Parsons, or Greater Vision. What and who are you listening too? You need to be downloading good stuff on your phone…YouVersion bible, etc.
3. HEEDED GOD’S VOICE v. 19
Notice Paul’s remark to Agrippa in:
Acts 26:19 (NKJV) “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
Paul listened to the voice of God and did as God had instructed him. He harkened, that is, Paul obeyed God! Listen, friend, if you’re going to move out of darkness into the light, you’re going to have to obey the voice of God Who is calling out to you today! Notice what Paul said:
Acts 26:15 So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you.
The reason the Lord halted Paul was to get his attention, in order for him to heed God’s voice! Look at v. 16, “…for I have appeared to you for this purpose…” What purpose? “to make you a minister and a witness both of things…you have seen…and things I will…reveal to you.”
I want you to also notice that even though now Paul is walking in the light, he was still:
4. HARASSED BY THE VIGILANTES v.17
Acts 26:17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
Everywhere Paul went, he tried to first reach his Jewish countrymen by going to the synagogues all along the stops on his missionary journeys. Each time he riled up the Jews! Several times, in acts of vigilantism, they tried to capture or kill him.
2 Corinthians 11:23 (NKJV) Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
Paul risked his life for the Gospel of Jesus! He wanted to bring them in from their spiritual darkness to the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, despite being harassed by vigilante Jews, finally, because he came from darkness to light, Paul:
5. HOPED IN THE VICTOR v. 18
Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
The Victor is Jesus Christ! He alone can open blind eyes. He alone can turn people from darkness to light. Only Jesus can break the power of satan.
What’s the hope that Paul offered? FORGIVENESS of sins and an INHERITANCE in heaven to those who are SANCTIFIED by FAITH in Jesus Christ!
Famous Atheist
A little over a month before he died, the famous atheist Jean-Paul Sartre declared that he so strongly resisted feelings of despair that he would say to himself, “I know I shall die in hope.” Then in profound sadness, he would add, “But hope needs a foundation.”
Our Daily Bread, April 17, 1995
Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
What is the foundation of my hope? It’s that Jesus Christ came into the world, born of a virgin. He lived a sinless life and died a horrible death on the cruel cross of Calvary for my sin and for your sin. He was buried but, thanks be to God, He rose again and He EVER lives to make intercession for us before the Father in heaven!
Hope for the Christian is not “wishing” for something to happen but it is knowing that what God says WILL happen!
Hebrews 6:17 (NKJV) Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
Numbers 23:19 (NKJV) God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
God keeps His promises! He will bring you OUT of the darkness INTO the LIGHT!
Look at these verses:
Romans 15:13 (NKJV) Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:19 (NKJV) If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
Titus 2:13 (NKJV) looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
We have hope in Jesus Christ! No matter what is going on in the world!
God Ain’t Dead!
Years ago, Pastor James DeLoach of the 2nd Baptist Church in Houston saw a picture or painting saw a picture of an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney...there was charred debris of what had been that family’s only possessions. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying. Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, “Hush child, God ain’t dead!”
That vivid picture of that burned-out mountain shack and those words “God ain’t dead” should burn in our minds. It should be a reminder NOT of the despair of life. But a reminder of hope! I don’t know about you, but I need to be reminded that there is hope…not in the world, but in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In spite of life’s troubles and failures and viruses, I need mental pictures to remind me that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world. That’s coming from darkness to the light…the light of Jesus!
James DeLoach, associate pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Houston, quoted in When God Was Taken Captive, W. Aldrich, Multnomah, 1989, p. 24.
Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.
