Scott Brown's sermon, 'Representing the Heavenly Vision,' explores Paul's defense before King Agrippa in Acts 26. Paul recounts his conversion on the road to Damascus, highlighting the profound impact of the heavenly vision on his life and ministry. He contrasts the heavenly vision with worldly visions, emphasizing the importance of sharing one's personal testimony as a means of evangelism. Despite accusations of madness from Festus, Paul maintains his commitment to the truth and reason of the gospel, urging Agrippa and all listeners to embrace the heavenly vision. Brown challenges believers to remain steadfast in communicating the heavenly vision, even when faced with opposition or ridicule from the world, and to build their lives on heavenly rather than worldly foundations.

If you would open to Acts 26. Then Agrippa said to Paul, you are permitted to speak for yourself. So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself. I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all of the things of which I am accused by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore, I beg you to hear me patiently.

My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee and now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise which of the promise made by God to our fathers to this promise our twelve tribes earnestly serving God night and day hope to attain for this hope sake King Agrippa I am accused by the Jews Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and Being exceedingly enraged against them.

I persecuted them even to foreign cities While thus occupied As I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, along the road, I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and all those who journeyed with me. 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. So I said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, who you are persecuting.

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. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both the small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.

Now as he thus made his defense Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself. Much learning is driving you mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus. But speak the words of truth and reason. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things.

For I am convinced that none of these things escapes his notice, since this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe. Then Agrippa said to Paul, you almost persuade me to become a Christian. Then Paul said, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me today might become both almost and altogether such as I am except for these chains.

When he had said these things the king stood up as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them and when they had gone aside they talked among themselves saying This man has done nothing deserving of death or chains. And then Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you that your word is truth and that is sufficient for everything that we need.

I pray you be with Scott as he brings your message. May he boldly proclaim the gospel as Paul does. In Jesus' name, Amen. It's always our desire when we come together on Sunday mornings to open up Holy Scripture. And our primary objective is to give the text a voice, to try with all of our might through the time that we've spent through the week to find the heart of the message, to find what the author was trying to communicate, and to get the details of the text as well as what is the big picture.

And we always hope that we can sum up what a text is saying in some kind of phrase. And of course, Scripture is so vast, it's so deep, it's so full of wisdom that it's often hard to get it in a phrase, and it's always a struggle. And this morning you have a title of this message that attempts to get at the meaning of the text, and I know that it's only a reflection of what's here, but what we see here is the Apostle Paul, a great and courageous man who is representing the heavenly vision in front of the dignitaries. That's what he is doing. He is taking something from heaven and he's communicating it to those that he is standing in front of.

And I want us to look at that this morning as a pattern for life, as something to base your entire life on, to do what Paul is doing here in front of these dignitaries. Now There are only two visions that one can live by. There's a heavenly vision and there's a worldly vision. There are only two visions you can communicate throughout your life, and it's a worldly vision and a heavenly vision. We are always building a life, always on one of two visions, a heavenly or a worldly vision.

Every single person in this room now today is building a life and is communicating a message that is either worldly or it's a heavenly vision. Or it's a heavenly vision. And the Apostle Paul, as he stands before these dignitaries, is taking as best he can from heaven and then communicating it to those who are around him. It wasn't too long ago that a man came up to me and that I had never met but I had read the things that he had written. And he handed me a pamphlet and he said, Hello, my name is such and such Scott Brown.

This is my life's message. And he handed a pamphlet to me and I read the pamphlet. But I would just ask the same question, if you or I were to do that, to hand someone a pamphlet and say this is my life message, What would it be? Would it be a heavenly vision or would it be an earthly vision? And it's so important that we who build, build with heavenly materials.

The Bible says by wisdom a house is built. Now I just want to submit one idea to you here before we move on in the introducing of this text, and that is that I know that every adult in this room is building a life on a particular vision. And I also know that every little child here, even the three and the four and the five year olds here in this room now, they're building a life on a vision. And I would just say this text would appeal to us to not only build a life on the heavenly vision, but to spend the rest of our lives communicating that vision. And that's what we see the Apostle Paul doing.

So for Paul, the heavenly vision was the hope of the promise made by the fathers and the prophets, which was fulfilled in Christ. Paul's foundation of his life, his vision for life, was a heavenly vision and it was Christ. It was the light of the world. It was repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a gospel that made a difference in people's lives.

There was repentance and deeds in keeping with that kind of repentance. And Paul says what we should always be able to say, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. And that's what he says in this text. For Paul's life message was the heavenly vision. And in the same way, so should we seek with all of our hearts not only to live but communicate with all of our hearts throughout all of our lives in the midst of every situation as the Apostle Paul did.

Now in contrast with this great compelling desire deep within the breast of the Apostle Paul was something completely different going on in this text. Luke in Acts 26 reports that it was with great pomp and fanfare that the dignitaries filed into the room to hear the testimony of the Apostle Paul. And Luke uses a very interesting word to describe this scene. He chooses a word, great pomp, and it's the word fantasia that he uses. We get our word fantasy.

And Luke uses the term, no doubt, to represent something that is light and fleeting and momentary in interest. And Luke uses a word that characterizes the pomp and the motivations of the people who are gathered with the word fantasy. He uses a word that indicates that there's something fleeting here. There's something small here. And this is what political power and pomp and worldly position is.

So here Paul is surrounded by the pomp and the allurement of the world Maybe just like the Lord Jesus when the debt when the devil had him looking over the kingdoms in the earth and said you can Have all of these Paul was there and he could have testified to increase his own pomp and circumstance, but Paul was not overpowered by the display of power there in the room. He had something greater in his mind. He had the heavenly vision in his mind, and so he was able to testify in a particular way. It's a fascinating scene that is here on the table. Remember Felix kept Paul in prison and he was waiting for his money, he was waiting for his kickback, which never came because he was replaced, and Festus was put in his place.

And Festus was like his predecessor. His kingdom was of this world. And he was also looking at everything not from the heavenly vision but from a worldly vision. But so we see that the winds didn't blow pleasantly for Felix, he waited in vain and his replacement had a different problem. Festus didn't understand the law of the Jews, but someone did and that was Agrippa, the king.

And so, though Festus did not understand Jewish theology, he did have someone that was coming through town who had responsibility for the temple, and that was King Herod Agrippa. And Paul stands before these people and he says, I stand and I am judged for the hope of the promise made by the God of our fathers. Well the first thing we notice in this text is, as we have just said, the pomp and the circumstance, the pressure, the pride that's there in the room, and then there's the Apostle, and he has a message for those who are there, and he gives them the right message. And we also notice Paul speaking, and that brings us to the first point in our outline here. Paul speaks happily under pressure, verses 1 through 3.

Paul says that he makes this defense happily, and he stretches out his hand, and he speaks in a way that he always does, and that is under the anointing power of God. And so even though Paul is speaking among wolves who in the past have torn apart the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is calm and he is happy, which is the way that all men and women should approach those who hate the gospel, because you never know what's going to happen. Of course, Paul himself was a hater of the gospel and something happened to him, so we should never lose faith for one second for what a gospel testimony might bring. And Paul is happy in the position that he has been placed in.

He believes the words of the Lord Jesus, be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world. He's happy because he has a message of hope. He's happy because he has a message from heaven. It's not fantasia, but it's real and it's eternal in the heavens. And so the audience here is Herod Agrippa.

And Herod Agrippa comes from a long line of family members who have killed the saints of God. It was Herod the Great who killed the babies in the days of Christ's birth. It was Herod Antipas who killed John the Baptist. And then it was Herod Agrippa the first who put the apostle James to death and now we have Herod Agrippa II, a long line of gospel haters standing before the apostle Paul. Agrippa is an example of many wicked rulers.

They know religion. They understand the words. Agrippa understood Jewish law, and he was actually responsible for the sacrifices of the temple. And It was his job actually to appoint the high priest. Yet he was an immoral man.

His wife, who is with him in this scene, is actually his sister. He's violated the laws of God regarding marriage and sexuality. He is like many of the modern rulers of the earth today. They understand religion, but when it comes to reality, they flaunt their rebellion against the laws of God regarding gender and sexuality in marriage. And of course, in our own day, these are the great battles that are being waged today.

And the church has a responsibility to stand by the heavenly vision even though the rulers of the earth do not." And so Paul, first of all, acknowledges that Agrippa has understanding of the issues before them, and Paul is standing firm and he's ready to speak. He is standing, having girded his waist with the truth, and the heavenly vision is deep within his heart. And so the words that he uses are a blessing to the people because the word of God never returns void. And Paul comes in and he uses the words of Holy Scripture and he casts a vision of heaven in the midst of it. The second thing that we see Paul doing, not only does he testify happily of the heavenly vision, that he explains his early life in verses 4 through 11.

Look at verse 4. He says, all the Jews know my manner of life from my youth. He is speaking of his life as a youth now and he brings up his past he is giving his testimony beginning from his youth and he's telling the story of how he loved the promises from a boy and he followed them and he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was of the most conservative of the Jewish believers of that day. His heart desired to do the right thing and he was he grew up as we know as a student of Gamaliel, one of the great teachers of the day.

And he comes and he identifies with Agrippa. Agrippa also believes in the fathers and the promises. Paul identifies himself with the Old Testament and the Old Testament longing for the Messiah, the hope of the promise made by our fathers, the promise to the twelve tribes of Israel. Paul never distances himself from the Old Testament. He embraces it completely and carries it forward into the new covenant.

Paul has loved the promises all of his life. He sees no contradiction of his love for those promises in the law and his new faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been clinging to the promises along with all of Israel. He loves the promises and he's longing for the fulfillment of the promises. But he says here that he misunderstood them until his experience on the Damascus Road.

We see the longing for the promises of Israel right at the beginning of the book of Acts. We've memorized this passage of scripture, Acts 1-8, and when they had come to him, they said to him, Lord, is it at this time that you are restoring the kingdom to Israel? They were longing for that time, for the kingdom to be restored. Why? Because the prophets had spoken of it, of a time of reformation, a time of restoration, when Messiah would come, had been prophesied hundreds of years before.

All of Israel was longing for the fulfillment of the promises, was longing for the Messiah to come. And they say, is it at this time that you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? And he responds, It is not for you to know, times and epochs, which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But this you do know, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest parts of the earth and this promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off And so Paul is bringing together all of the hopes of Israel and reminding them that he too has had hope in the promises of God since he was a little boy. You might think right now if you're a little boy or a little girl, you little boys or little girls do you have hope in the promises of God?

Are you like the apostle Paul who from a boy or a little girl believed that God's word was true? Well, if so, you are just like the apostle Paul. You believe the promises of God and you desire to live godly and you even chose to be the most conservative among the believers among your day. Well, that's exactly what the Apostle Paul did. He is saying here in his testimony that he believes in the resurrection of the dead, he believes in the prophets, he believes in the heavenly vision, He believes in the resurrection for the dead.

And then in verse 8, he turns to them and he says, Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? I've always believed in the resurrection from the dead, and so has all Israel. And Agrippa, you also believe in the resurrection from the dead, although the Apostle Paul, I believe, knew that he only believed it in his head, but he did not believe it in his heart, as so many do. Paul then recalls the terrible things in his past to resist Christ. He did believe in the heavenly vision, but he resisted the voice of the Messiah.

And he was not trying to make himself out to be a perfect man, but one who is the chief of sinners. And he says, I did many things contrary to Jesus of Nazareth. He said I did it in Jerusalem, I shut them up in prison, I received authority, I punished them in every synagogue, I even went way outside into foreign lands and I persecuted the church. I threw them in prison. I made them blaspheme." And he tells about his days of misguided faith.

And I was reading one of the commentators and in reflecting on Paul's testimony he quoted Isaiah 66 5 where he's where Isaiah says your brethren who hated you who cast you out for my name sake said let the Lord be glorified that we may see your joy, but they shall be ashamed. What does that mean? That means that there are people who believe that they are working for the Lord. They believe with all of their hearts that they are doing the will of God and they are doing it for His name's sake, but there will be a day when it will be revealed to them and they will be ashamed. Paul was one of those right there.

And so Paul, he speaks of his early life as a faithful Jew under the feet of a gemaliel desiring to know everything of the law of God and then he recounts his conversion and how God rescued him from his his misguided beliefs And in verses 12 through 18 there's a recounting of his conversion. He's done this before. He's going to do it again. Isn't it amazing? Paul can never forget about his conversion.

Paul was converted 20 years earlier and he still cannot keep it from top of his mind as he's testifying to the great rulers you would think he would speak maybe of greater things than this but no he goes back to something that happened 20 years previous he goes back to the time when he had no heart to turn to God, when he had no wisdom to turn to God, he had no inclination toward God at all. In fact he was on his way to hate the followers of Christ and God struck him. He didn't do any study to change his mind. God was not slowly working on him to change his heart? Absolutely not.

God struck him and threw him down on the ground and said, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me? There was not a shred of faith in his heart except that God gave it to him on the Damascus road. And so Paul tells of his conversion here and he says that he was sincerely doing what he believed he should do, but that he was kicking against the goads that there was a That that God was God was sticking him God was prodding him but he was kicking against it that his conscience was actually working on him and The Lord Jesus says why are you kicking against the goads and then down on that day? He stopped he stopped kicking against the goads now. What what can we learn from this?

Here's one thing that I'm really struck by. He is standing, Paul is standing in front of these dignitaries and he tells a story that could get him in trouble. He tells a story that has fantastical details that no one could believe but he tells them anyway because he's fearless to testify to the grace of God. He knows that God can turn any man's heart. And so he says what is true regardless of how rejectable it might be.

That's true with our message as well. There are many things in the gospel that just, they grate against the flesh. They grate against human wisdom. How about the virgin birth? How about the resurrection from the dead?

How about all the miracles? That's why Thomas Jefferson took his Bible and ripped out every mention of a miracle because it was displeasing to him. It made him hate the gospel. We're tempted often to tear a page out here, tear this part of the message out, to try to get somebody to turn to God. Absolutely.

That's not what Paul did at all. He told some of the details of his conversion that no one could believe. That he saw a bright light and he was thrown down and he went blind. How believable is that? Just as believable as the miracles were to Thomas Jefferson when he made the Jefferson Bible.

And the wicked of this world do, they do have a critique for those who repeat the words of scripture and the things that happen that God has done, but we should never shrink from it. Paul did not shrink from giving these details. So I've just been convicted by Paul's honesty here. And I would just like to ask all of us to consider the ways that we've shared the gospel before. Do we try to hold back certain details so that people won't be offended?

So that they won't think that we're weird or something like that? Well, the Apostle Paul was bold to say what really happened, and that's what we should do. He trusted the heavenly vision. He was there to represent the heavenly vision. And then there's this story of God's interrupting his life and he says that all of this happened for a purpose.

And he gives five reasons why God rescued his life. And I'll just go through them now. He says God rescued him to open their eyes Because because they were blind Paul was under charge by God to open blind eyes by bringing the Word of God. That's the same responsibility that we have. There's only one way that blind eyes will be opened and that is the Word will be presented And God will open the eyes, but he uses us to open the eyes.

That's what he's saying here. And then to turn them from darkness to light. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. Darkness Characterizes everything of this earth. That's why Peter said be saved from this perverse generation we live in the midst of a perverse generation, you know, and honestly I I so believe that we live in the midst of a perverse church A church that feeds itself on the entertainments of this world.

A church that's comfortable listening to the wicked idolaters of our day in music and with their very eyes and their consciences don't even activate. It's because the wicked and perverse generation has infused the church. This modern media culture has filled every home with every idol of the day. And unfortunately they are so beautifully presented that even the believers of the world drink them in and they drink both they drink the poison day by day when even when holy scripture has been so clear I will set no wicked thing before my eyes." And so the Apostle Paul is turning them from darkness to light. This is what salvation is.

It's a turn from darkness to light. It's not only the rejecting of something, It's also the embracing and the seeking of something else and that is light. And then to turn them from the power of Satan to God. When we're sharing the gospel, representing the heavenly vision, it's important that we communicate That there is life under the authority of Satan and there is life under the authority of God and there are only two ways. There is no middle way.

There is no middle ground in this world. And then that they would receive forgiveness of sins. Meaning that they would be restored to the favor that was lost by sin and that they would receive it to be delivered from the Divinion of Satan. Our message and Paul's message is a message to turn from darkness it's a message to receive forgiveness by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and It's and it's to be saved from the death that comes from the wages of sin And so Paul Paul here puts his finger on what's wrong with the world. And that is, what's wrong with the world is that it is blind.

It's blind to the gospel of the grace of God. It's blind to the heavenly vision. And who will bring the heavenly vision? Paul says, I was appointed to open their eyes and bring them to repentance. Now you say, well I thought it was only God who opens the eyes.

I thought God was sovereign in salvation. I've, you've been, you've been teaching that God, that God elects. You've been teaching that those who are saved, God is known for the foundation of the earth and that it is He who turns the heart. It is He who opens the blind eyes. Well, what does this mean then?

If Paul says he was sent to open the blind eyes. What about God here? And the answer, the answer is clear and that is that who opens the eyes and that is this. God works through his servants to open the blind eyes as he did with Paul. We co-labor with him to open blind eyes.

He ultimately opens the eyes but he uses human vessels to preach the gospel. Now this is a great opportunity to explain the doctrine of the sovereignty of God in evangelism and to explain our part in it because yes God does open the eyes and yes God does use human servants to do it and this is the wisdom of God we should never neglect the preaching of the gospel because God is sovereign that would be wicked that would be disobedience the Bible has nothing of this There's not a shred of evidence that the doctrine of election should cease us from speaking the Word of God, or to be lazy, or just to say, whatever will be, will be. That's not our position in the world the Bible doesn't ask us to to have that kind of position in any way good Calvinists are passionate evangelists as Calvin was We labor to bring the gospel and God brings the fruit. And Paul says that the God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. And he also says that it's his job to co-labor with God to open the eyes of the blind.

And we have a responsibility to talk to preach to pray and to persist God is sovereign and we are responsible to work and labor and be faithful in that Hyper Calvinism keeps its mouth shut Calvinism opens the mouth in Praise to God of the heavenly vision to be an instrument of opening blind eyes Why do you think the Apostle Paul was even standing there? Why did he even go to the meeting? He went to the meeting believing that God was sovereign and believing that he had to deliver the message. And that is how you explain the doctrine of election and the importance of evangelism. And then Paul moves to his post conversion life.

He speaks of his conversion and then gives many details about it. And as he's giving his testimony, he preaches the gospel of repentance. He preaches the gospel of blindness and the opening of blind eyes all in the way. Now, Before we move on to the next point, let's just pause for a moment and think about this. What is your testimony?

Paul just gave his testimony here. He gave really what some might call an embarrassing testimony that had details in it that might not be very acceptable to the hearers, particularly naturalists as was Festus. You know, The Romans didn't believe in these things, and yet the Apostle Paul comes and he communicates points of his testimony that God wrought in faithfulness to the heavenly vision. So here's the question. Think about your testimony.

All of us should be ready to give our testimony of the grace of God, of how God opened our blind eyes. You never know how God might use it. This was a particular testimony that God gave Paul. You know, I wasn't riding a horse the day that I was saved, so this kind of thing did not happen to me, and probably neither did it happen to you. But what did happen to you?

How did he rescue you from darkness? Be ready to tell the story and build the heavenly vision into every part of it. So Paul here, he gives us an example. He's a mentor to us in evangelism here and he's showing us that we should give our testimony, we should speak of the gospel of the grace of God in our own lives. It's important.

We all have a personal story. So he tells the story of his conversion and then He moves on. He moves on to a whole other subject. He speaks of his life after his conversion. You know, what happened to you after your conversion?

Well, we're going to find out what happened to Paul after his conversion. And the first thing he says, he says, oh, he says, King Agrippa, after I was converted, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision. He was telling Agrippa about the Lordship of Jesus Christ, that there is a heavenly vision and that God calls all people young and old to follow the heavenly vision and so Paul after his conversion dedicated his life to the heavenly vision and he was not disobedient to it. His post conversion life was a life of obedience. We live in a day and age where many people's post conversion life is a life of anti-nomianism, disobedience, rejecting the commands of God and calling it the grace of God.

But it's making the grace of God vain. It is trampling on the blood of Jesus Christ. When people are saved and then they say that now the only thing that matters is the law written in my own heart and they reject the objective law of God but Paul says no there is a heavenly vision and it was what drove me from the moment of my conversion if there's someone who is converted and they continue to reject the law of God, they've not been converted the way that Paul was converted and the way that people are converted. No one comes to the Lord Jesus Christ without making Him Lord. And That doesn't mean that we have everything right.

That doesn't mean that we quit sinning. But it does mean that in our hearts we are moving further and further to the heavenly vision. We all stumble in many things. And yet, God is patient and merciful to us. But it's the attitude of the heart that's important.

And when there's the attitude of the heart in the church that says, I can do whatever I want because I've been washed in the blood." That is not the gospel that Paul was preaching to Herod Agrippa, and it's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so Paul says that his post-conversion life was a life of obedience to the heavenly vision. And so he brings a grippa back to the objective external testimony of God that speaks to every life. God is not pleased that we would live our life out of our own hearts, out of the own thoughts and meditations of our own wisdom, but out of God and His wisdom. God is in a replacement process where He's redeeming us, He's refining us, He's renewing us in our minds, replacing worldly wisdom with heavenly wisdom.

He is so kind to do it slowly enough not to destroy us so that we would go mad in the process with discouragement. Paul brings the heavenly vision before him and it is repentance, he mentions that, It's turning to God away from your idols He uses the word repentance To and it means you're going one way and you turn around and you go the other way you start running from the world Instead of keep nursing it and keep instead of keeping the world your friend, you run from the world. And of course that doesn't mean that you run from worldly people, but you run from worldly thinking and worldly imagery and worldly words and worldly life. That's what repentance is. Paul is preaching the gospel of repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's doing nothing different than the Lord Jesus did when he was in his own ministry and that John the Baptist did when they said, in effect, bear fruit in keeping with your repentance. Paul was preaching the gospel of repentance to Agrippa. He was calling him to reject his idols and to turn to the living God and to stop nurturing these these demonic thoughts that he had been entertaining and living by. So this is what a post-conversion life should look like. It should look like obedience to the heavenly vision and then communicating it.

That's what Paul does here. And then in the midst of this, Festus and Agrippa respond to this testimony. And the first thing that happens is Festus outbursts in an interruption. And he says, he says, Paul, you are beside yourself. In other words, you've gone crazy.

It's like what my friend used to say, your dipstick is not touching oil. You're not thinking, you've lost your mind. And he is saying that Paul is Paul is crazy now this is a common this is the common attack that is used against God's people we are called crazy It is said that we've lost our minds, and that's exactly what they said of the Apostle Paul. Notice here, It's an ad hominem attack. He's not attacking any position.

He's just attacking the person. An ad hominem attack attacks a person, not a position. And that's a very common satanic method of attacking people. And so he's not dealing with argument, he just smears his character. When you can't find anything wrong with somebody's life or somebody's argument, then just call them a name.

Say they're crazy, say they're nuts. And that's exactly what this man, Festus, does. And Paul responds, he says, I'm not mad, most notable festus. He responds very respectfully. He says, but festus, most noble festus, I am speaking the words of truth and reason.

And this is what our faith is founded upon, both truth and reason. And just because someone says it's not reasonable doesn't mean that it is. The enemies of God always say that it's not reasonable. They always say that we've lost our minds. Get used to it.

This was 2, 000 years ago. Has the message changed at all? Read some of the hip modern popular atheists that are selling millions of books today. They're just saying the same thing. You've lost your mind and this is not reasonable.

The argument has not changed at all. And it's always the same old argument. Paul says, If we're out of our mind, it is for the sake of God." That's what Paul said. Well, the world hates the church, and they will always say that we've lost our minds. Now, let's just think about this for a moment.

Paul has just been accused of being insane. They said the same thing about John the Baptist. They said that he was the son of the devil. They said the same thing about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he had lost his mind. And even some of his family members were saying it.

The apostles who were fishermen, they were despised. Why? Because they didn't have any learning. Now we have the apostle Paul who had a lot of learning and they say he's lost his mind too. It doesn't matter if you're a fisherman, it doesn't matter if you've been educated, it doesn't matter who you are, you can be the Lord Jesus Christ and they will say you've lost your mind.

So let's just get used to that. Let's not Let's not be too disturbed when the world says that of us. It has said that of all of God's servants. And then Paul makes his final appeal in verses 29 through 32. And Paul says, I wish you that you were just like me except for these chains.

I wish I could have been in the room. Did everyone laugh when he said that? Most people when they read that laugh. And I expect that there were smiles or at least a smirk when the apostle Paul said that as he was constantly appealing with the words of love, with a happy heart as it says right at the beginning and he he says he says to them that I wish that either in a short or a long time not only you but also all who hear me would be like I am And what did he mean by that? He meant that they would become people who were living by the heavenly vision and not the worldly vision.

People who would be saved from this perverse generation. That's what he was calling to. He was calling for an escape from the demeaning activity of Satan in a person's life. Well, so who won the debate? Paul was debating, Festus was speaking, and so did Agrippa II.

And who won the debate? Well, this debate ends with the authorities having the last word. But it wasn't the last word, was it? Because of all of this happened under the hand of the sovereignty of God. It all happened as a result of the fulfillment of prophecy.

Paul knew that even though they pretended to have the last word, it was not the last word at all. He had already heard the words of the Lord Jesus, the prophecy, take courage for as you solemnly witnessed my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also. Paul knew that this was not the last word and that there would be more opportunity. And we don't know what he did right after the verdict was announced and the verdict went like this, he's not a criminal, but he's lost his mind. Okay let's get to some applications here of this.

The first application is this. I would just like for us to step back and look at this passage and look at Paul's overwhelming concern in all of his arguments here. And I would like us to take it to heart and make Paul's concern your concern. Paul's, Paul was not so much concerned about his defense. Paul was not so concerned about winning the argument as he was Concerned about the conversion of the hearers that was his concern his reputation meant nothing to him conversion of his hearers meant everything and so he wasn't there to try to in the midst of the debate become profound or the winner of the argument but the conversion of the here that was his objective now Perhaps you've you've read or heard many debates that many of the people of God have had with atheists.

Here's how it works. Either the atheist invites the believer or the believer invites the atheist, and there's a debate. But often you get the idea that each one is trying to out-profound the other. Okay? Forget that.

That's not what Paul does at all. In our arguments, let's quit trying to be profound. Let's just bring the words of Scripture. Let's tell the story as it really is. People will not be saved by our out-profounding them.

It isn't going to happen. But Paul's main concern was the conversion of his hearers, not to exonerate himself, but to extol the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and to cast the heavenly vision. What a freeing thing that is to just be able to have holy scripture there and the story of your own conversion and trust God with it, that He will open the eyes of the unbelievers when it is His own time. So Paul remains faithful to the heavenly vision in spite of the audience, in spite of the profundity, in spite of the pressure, in spite of the carrot of a life of leisure that he could possibly get by getting sprung from prison by having the right arguments. But no, he doesn't care about that.

He cares about conversion. Okay, secondly, we've already said this, I'm just going to restate it. Don't be surprised, don't be put off, don't get red-faced when the world thinks you're crazy because this is the fare that we must eat. And here's the truth of it. Does anyone want to argue with me that the world has not lost its mind?

Look at the world. Look at the fruits of the worldly lifestyle. Go to India. Go to England. Go to Sweden and argue with me how wonderful the world is.

Go to the ghetto. Go talk to the person whose marriage is just broken in half Go talk to the person who's committing immorality go to the people who've rejected the gospel and Try to argue with me that the world's wisdom is superior than the wisdom of God. No, it's the world that's gone mad. It's the world that's insane. And we need to understand that.

Satan will always demean, he will steal, and he will kill, and he will destroy. And anyone who takes his food is mad and has lost their minds. So the world may think you're crazy, but it's not so. It's exactly the opposite. The world has lost their wits.

You know, it's interesting. There are people in the world who say very demeaning things about us, our kind of people, who have taken the positions that we've taken, who have tried to apply the word of God the way that we're trying to apply it. And they've used a lot of defamatory words to talk about us. They use a lot of words that really, once you say them, you know, it's really kind of all over for you. But here's my take on this.

Look at, take this crowd right here. Now I don't know the last time that you were at a modern rock and roll concert, okay? Just take, if you could just take a 20 by 20 snapshot of that crowd, and then take a 20 by 20 snapshot of this crowd. Do you know what you get in this crowd? Here's what you get.

You get love. You get the mercy and the kindness of God. You don't get lasciviousness. You get modesty. You don't get boys who are trying to be something they're not, but you get real men who are gracious but they're strong and they're not this feminized version that's out there today.

You get happiness, you get sweetness, you get the heavenly vision. That's what you get. And the world may think that we're crazy, but it's not true. What you get is something truly wonderful. I was speaking to my wife on the phone, who's in Texas with my daughter, who's getting ready to have her baby.

And she was praying for me and she just spent some time in praise toward God of the church that God has given us. The sweetness, the beauty, the happiness that's there. She was talking about the rich treasure that we have as a church and This this is the fruit of the heavenly vision cleave to the heavenly vision don't let anyone dissuade you from the heavenly vision let every man be proved a liar because God is true okay the third application is this. Are you on a detour? Paul was on a detour?

Let your, your detours are like Paul's detours. I like this word detour because one of the men in our Bible study used it. He talked about Paul was on a two-year detour, and you there heard him talk about it. It was great. Paul was, Paul did not plan to go into prison in Caesarea for two years.

He was on a divinely appointed detour. And again we see that the evidence of the sovereignty of God, which orchestrates all events for his own glory, he uses these false accusations, a crowd getting ready to tear Paul apart, and the authorities rising up to get him out of town under the cover of night, being escorted by hundreds of centurions, taken to Caesarea, put into prison for two years. It all happened because of a bunch of wicked liars said things that weren't true about the Apostle Paul. Paul didn't intend to go to Caesarea. It was not on his road map to go back there.

And so he's on this detour. All these false charges had a good effect, and they put Paul before the most powerful leaders in the region. And while Paul is on his, this two-year detour of imprisonment, God provides this opportunity that we've just read about to present the gospel, to present the heavenly vision. Paul is ready in whatever circumstance he finds himself in to present the heavenly vision. That's your responsibility in the detour you're on.

Have you ever not been on a detour? Let me just ask you that. Well, if you don't think you are, you are. You never know what's going to happen next and what track you might take. But while we're on the detours of life, let's make sure that we know deep within our hearts that these are divinely appointed moments.

These moments These moments are our finest hours, and we need to understand that. And just to undergird this, this was a fulfillment of prophecy. Paul was in this place because God was fulfilling prophecy and he was taking Paul to Rome. And on the way many things would happen unexpected to Paul. Hey, hey whatever happened to those 40 assassins that were trying to kill Paul?

They took a vow not to eat or drink until Paul was dead. Well guess what? It's been two years now. What happened to those guys? Are you afraid of the threats against your life?

Here's what I believe. Two years out you'll look back and see how God was orchestrating every bit of it. He even put it in the hearts of those assassins to take that stupid vow, to belittle and humiliate them, and to bring praise to God, and the wisdom of God in all of his operation. He will use 40 assassins to praise his own name. But here Paul is out, you think Paul is thinking, hey I wonder if any of the 40 assassins are out there in the crowd here today.

I don't know, but Paul definitely understood that this heavenly vision would take him to that destination that he so longed for. And then the last application is this. Let's be clear brothers and sisters. Let's let every single human being in this room be clear on something. Do I have everyone's ears?

Please, oh, would you children, please just give me your ear in this last few minutes, because all of us are really building on either a heavenly or a worldly vision and let's be clear about our life mission. Our life mission is to take whatever is of heaven and bring it to earth. Whatever is communicated in the Word of God and let it fill every part of home life and work life and every kind of life that we live. God has called us to live the heavenly vision and to communicate the heavenly vision no matter how powerful anyone around us might be. Whether it be a family member, don't even let a family member dissuade you from the heavenly vision not even a grandparent or a parent or even a spouse or even your child sometimes parents are distracted from the heavenly vision because their children don't like it some children are distracted from the heavenly vision because their children don't like it.

Some children are distracted from the heavenly vision because their parents don't like it. But let each individual in this room today know that God has given a heavenly vision. Carry it out no matter what anyone says. That's what the Apostle Paul did. His life message was this.

I believe He spoke it with perfect clarity to Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He says, I'm standing trial on the, for the hope of the promise made by our fathers that God does raise from the dead. He was a minister and a witness of the gospel, that He would take His life and turn many from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to the dominion of God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, that he would bring about a gospel of repentance, that they should repent, and that the evidence of the gospel would be that they would be performing deeds appropriate to repentance and that we would say as Paul was able to say to King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, you have put this in front of us for reasons only known to you.

Oh, I pray that you would raise us up as a holy nation, not disobedient, not hard-hearted to one thing in the heavenly vision. In Jesus' name, amen.