LIFE IN NEED OF CHANGE
Text: Acts 26:4-11
Introduction
1. Two brothers were convicted of stealing sheep. For their crime they were each branded on the forehead with the letters "ST," for "sheep thief."
a. One brother immediately ran away from the area and attempted to build a new life in another country. Even there, people asked him about the "ST" burned into his forehead. He continued his wanderings and finally, unable to bear the burden, he committed suicide.
b. The other brother took a different approach. He said to himself, "I can’t run away from the fact that I stole sheep. But that’s the past. I can stay here and win back my self-respect and the respect of my neighbors." The years passed and he built a reputation for integrity.
c. One day a stranger saw the brother, now an old man, with the letters "ST" branded on his forehead. He asked a resident of the town what the letters stood for. The townsman replied, "It happened a long time ago. I’ve forgotten the particulars, but I think the letters are an abbreviation for Saint."
2. We all have a past. For all of us there was a time when we didn’t know Jesus. Some of us lived a life that was godless and filled with carousing. Others of us weren’t obviously living lives of sin, but we lived far from God.
3. Even the Apostle Paul lived a life far from God.
4. Read Acts 26:4-11
Transition: Let’s go along as Paul takes us on his journey before Jesus.
I. Paul Had a Past
A. In my last message to you, we talked about Paul pleading his case before King Agrippa II. After his opening statement to the Agrippa, Paul began to share about his life before Christ.
B. In vv. 4-5 Paul says, “As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.”
1. Paul makes it clear that the Jewish leaders who were bringing the charges against him, and wanted to have him killed, knew all about him.
2. They understood from his childhood he had been trained in the beliefs and laws of the Jewish people.
3. In addition, they also knew that he was a Pharisee, a sect of the Jewish religion that was very traditional and strict. Today in our world they might be referred to as “fundamentalists.”
4. They also were aware that he had been trained in the Scriptures and believed what they believed.
5. Most importantly, like all Pharisee’s, Paul believed in the resurrection. This would be one of the main points of Paul’s message.
C. Paul then continues his speech to Agrippa. In vv. 6-7 he says, “Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise made to our ancestors. 7 In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse me for having this hope!”
1. Here Paul talks about his hope in the promises God had made to their people. Of course, the promise that Paul is talking about is the coming of the Messiah.
2. Paul believed that this promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, whom God proved to be the Messiah when he was raised from the dead.
3. But Paul says that the Jewish leaders think that he is wrong in believing this and having that hope.
4. He says that it is absurd that these people who believe in the resurrection deny that Jesus did just that!
D. Then Paul asks the question, “Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?”
1. If they believed in the resurrection, which they did, why did they think it so incredible that God could raise someone from the dead?
2. If they believed in the idea that God could raise someone to from the dead, and since so much of the Jewish faith was centered on this belief, why were the Jews now denying this is possible?
3. Furthermore, they were denying a resurrection that had hundreds of eyewitnesses, when their law only required two or three witnesses.
4. And these people were putting their lives on the line in declaring what they had seen with their own eyes, yet that is exactly what they were doing. Why would a person risk everything on a lie?
E. Then Paul begins to talk about the horrible things he did before becoming a Christian. In v. 9 he says, “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.”
1. Paul says, that like these other Jewish leaders, he himself made it his life’s work to destroy the movement that hung everything they believed in on the fact of the resurrection.
2. Not only did he not believe Jesus was risen from the dead, but he also tried to kill all those who did believe it.
F. Then Paul goes on to say, “Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. 11 Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.”
1. Paul not only didn’t believe in Jesus or his resurrection, and not only did he try to kill anyone who did, but he also, with the permission of the leading priests, went to hunt down those who did believe.
2. Because of Paul, many believers were sent to prison, and he even voted against them to be given the death sentence.
3. Much of Paul’s work was done in the local synagogues, where many of these new followers of Christ were attending. He said that he threatened to have them whipped in the public synagogue if they didn’t curse Jesus.
4. Think about that, it would be like someone coming in here and threatened to torture us if we didn’t deny Christ!
5. In addition, it wasn’t enough that Paul did this in Israel, but he even traveled to foreign countries to track them down. He was literally willing to go to the ends of the earth to hunt down Christians.
6. If you think that you have a past, yours is nothing like Paul’s!
Transition: Paul’s life teaches us that…
II. We All Have a Past
A. When we meet those who are living far from God, remember we were all there at one time.
1. “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.” (Eph. 2:1-3).
2. It’s not uncommon for us as Christians to run into people, or to people we may have a relationship with, who are living far from God. But we need to remember that we used to be just like them.
3. Paul says, “you used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world.”
4. We can look at them with distaste, or we can look at them as someone who is lost that needs to come to Jesus. We can condemn them, or we can have compassion on them.
5. The summer I spent in Europe, I encountered people who were miles from God. At first, I wanted nothing to do with them, but then God changed my heart towards those people that made me want to reach out to them.
6. The thing that God used to change me was a poster with this verse on it from Matt. 9:36. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matt. 9:36).
7. We need to have the same heart for these people that Jesus does.
B. Paul’s past also teaches us about the power to transform.
1. “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Eph. 2:8-9).
2. Another thing we need to remember is that we didn’t do anything to earn our salvation. God did all the work!
3. God saved you; you didn’t save yourself.
4. He saved you by His grace – God’s riches at Christ’s expense!
5. We are not saved because we are such good people, but rather because we serve such a great God.
6. We need to keep in mind that if Christ’s grace can save us, it can save anyone.
7. God has the power to change us, but He also has the power to change anyone!
8. So, let God use you to bring others to Him by His grace.
Conclusion
What’s the point preacher? Remember that it is God’s power to change people that’s important, and we need to have the same compassion that was shown to us for those who are lost.
